Would you move?

[Madmog]

We (two adults and one 12 year old) live in a two bedroomed house which is fairly big considering - two large double bedrooms. We are happy here, in a quiet road and have the best neighbours in the world, not just immediate ones. School is 5 mins one way, a large selection of shops 5 mins the other and bus stop 2 mins.

The downside is when people stay (maybe 5 nights a year) and have to sleep in the lounge and it would certainly be handy to have another toilet. Also, if our daughter comes home with a group of friends and they pile into the lounge to watch TV/play on the wii, we find ourselves having to find jobs in the kitchen/bedrooms to give them some space.

My husband has just got promoted, so we are in a position to buy a 3 bedroom house, which would mean we could have a separate dining room or possibly the small bedroom could be set up as a study so one of us can do something on the computer (which is presently in the lounge) if our daughter has friends. Also, it would be a good investment for the future.

Just wondering what others think.

Any chance of extending your current house? Maybe adding a downstairs loo and smaller second lounge/study?

Unfortunately our house is at an angle to the fence, so we feel we couldn't extend far enough back for it to be beneficial, without going into the side of the fence.

Any chance of a loft conversion? Daughter cpuld have a big room up there and could be a den as well???

If you can find something larger in the same area, would that work?

Think carefully before you swap somewhere you love and are happy with. It sounds like your current house has almost everything going for it, once you have sold it there's no going back.

I think you should stay put. Soon enough your daughter will be past the wii stage and it'd be cheaper in the long run to give her extra pocket money to hang out in the local Starbucks (which she may want to do). On the flip side an extra toilet when you've a teenager would be good...any room to squeeze that in?

I think you should stay put. A garden room would solve the problem - give your daughter somewhere to escape with friends, and give guests a spare bedroom. As you say, the third bedroom in a new house may be a single...so still wouldn't solve the guest problem. Also, it would just change your dilemma from needing to find jobs to do in the kitchen/bedroom, to needing to find jobs to do in the kitchen/bedroom/office! Basically, the new house does not necessarily solve the problems, and it's certainly not worth the hassle/expense/risk. Every house has a compromise: what if the next house has dreadful neighbours. Good neighbours are priceless. Just set up a computer space in your bedroom/landing/corner of the kitchen, and look into the garden room possibilities.

I'd definitely move, if you can afford it I can't see any reason why not to

Maybe build upwards if you love the house and area especially if others in the road have done it. This question always divides opinion. There is no harm getting drawings done so you can see how it would look.

Is there a way of extending sideways to add a downstairs shower room? and then putting a garden room in the garden for your dd, with a decent sofa bed for your guests? That would probably be cheaper than moving.
Our neighbours have just had a gorgeous garden room built, and use it as an office cum spare room.

I agree. With what you spend on stamp duty and legal fees you could add a loo and a garden room.

Thanks for your comments everyone. We can't extend out to the side as there isn't much room. Mentioned to DH last night about putting an extension where we have our conservatory, which would include a toilet and a short of extension of our lounge diner but at least daughter and friends and us would be separated by the dining room area. He wasn't sure, but might plug that one again. Thought we could put a log burning stove to make it cosy for us (not our daughter!!).

Funnily enough it's an old estate and people have only done porch extensions. We don't think we'd get any objections from immediate neighbours as one lot considered an extension themselves and the other side really would not want us to move so anything to keep us here!

In retrospect I think we should only move if the property is exactly what we want.

I agree tell your DD when she has Freinds to go to her bedroom, it sounds like a decent size room? I wouldn't leave a property you're happy with! Plus before you know it your now 12 yr old will have left home...time zips by. You don't want to be up-sizing and then having to downsize again!

If you move you're looking at £10k-£20k costs (stamp duty plus all the other expenses). Maybe you could look into what kind of garden room/extension you could get for that price? We really miss our old neighbours having moved earlier this year... If you like the area and neighbours an have enough bedroom space I'd be inclined to stick put where you are with a small ground floor extension to give you an extra loo.

We had a conservatory on the rear of our house which we changed to a solid build extension and also extended it across the whole of the house. We put underfloor heating in and a downstairs loo and shower room.

We have a sofa bed in there which means if guests stay they have really a self contained annex, no need to come upstairs at all. (such a relief not to have to clean/hide/descum the children's rooms every visit)

Also teens love the space and it means we get our living room back.

It was well worth the money, could you maybe get a builder out to quote and at least have an idea of cost.

I spent an hour or so printing images off google to show them for a rough quote before we employed an architect as we really had no idea if we could afford to do it.

I wouldn't move - it sounds LOVELY. Moving will cost you a fortune, and there'll be no guarantee you'll get nice neighbours again.

Definitely look into extending your lovely home. Conservatory, loft conversion, asking an architect if you can convert cleverly into the back corner of the garden, etc.

Good luck! It'll be lovely! Very exciting. x

As the location is so perfect, I wouldn't move except for something absolutely exceptional. On the other hand, there's no harm in having a look at what's for sale in your area... Do you know roughly how much it'd cost to upgrade to your specifications?