move or extend

[greenhighlighter]

Will try to keep this as short as possible!

Me and DH own a 2 bed new build, we moved in December 13.
No help to buy or any other schemes.

We bought for £210k, We oww £177k. Houses in are area (need to stay in area as we both work there and local catholic school - I do look up to 5-7 miles from our current home).

Since we moved in we have married and had twins. So space is becoming a bit limited especially as the lounge and kitchen feels small!

So, my thoughts are either extending the lounge and giving up a large portion of our garden. this would be funded by additional borrowing on our mortgage.

or moving, (not that I can find anything within budget which is between 300k-325k) but along with stamp duty and additional borrowing and legal and moving costs, I am not sure what to do....

Any advice??

Extend. Costs of moving esp if you know there is little in your budget are too high now.

How big is your garden? Most kids seem not to use them as much as they used to now they have electronic devices to entertain them and more living space will be more useful for you. Good luck.

We are in the same position. We are looking to move. I wouldn’t take any room off the garden, my dc are out there all the time in the summer, they need space to run around .

We have 2 dd on 2 bed house. I say hang on for as long as you can where you are. Overpay and save if possible.

Then revisit in 2 years time. You don't have a big budget or have paid enough off mortgage yet.

If your new build is part of an estate, check your local council planning portal to see if anyone else has extended same model of house, It can save you a lot of thinking and sketching. You'll also be confident of getting planning permission (if it is required)

How much garden would you be losing?

What are the other houses like on your street? Have they extended? Or would you be the biggest house there?

Cost it first. You have 177k owing, and extensions can be v pricey. Extensions can cost over 100k! No point giving yourself a 300k mortgage for the same small house, you know?

Thank you all for you replies. Exactly what I am thinking on all your posts!

This is our estate - not our home.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67046996.html

I'd say our garden is a little smaller.

I would also need to check for any covenants... I may not be able to extend until year 5... hmm

Breakfast - good point - just checked and their has been two conservatories - so guess I don't need to check the covenants if we did decide to extend.

Given how much is left on the mortgage, I'd go for extending too, but it might make more sense to do the attic as an additional bedroom and re-configure the ground floor rather than losing too much garden with a full extension.

Would you have space to:
Move the downstairs loo under the stairs,
Shorten the hall so it finishes just after the new loo
Make an L-shaped open-plan area of the current kitchen & living rooms?

I would move. If you extend, you might get a bigger living area but your garden will go to nearly non-existent. It won’t give you more bedrooms either so the extension won’t really future-proof the property. I’d also be surprised if you got the permission to extend as the plot is tight already.

Looking at the link and other properties in the area, it seems that you’d get a 3 bed with a much larger garden so a better proposition for a family with 2 children. The interest rates are low so you could fix for a few years to give you a bit of a peace of mind.

I was just about to say the same thing as moonlight - can you go upwards?

"not that I can find anything within budget which is between 300k-325k"

I think this is quite critical. I was in a similar position - I live in a city where there seem to be very distinct price points. There are loads of lovely houses that are £600k, but the ones that are £300k are often exactly the same as those that are £200k, just in a posher postcode. After about 3 years of constant looking, we decided to extend to get the space we actually needed.

I'm not telling you to extend as well in this post - I'm saying focus on what you actually NEED. If it's not available in your market and extension isn't a possibility, maybe it's time to change your market a bit? Without being ridiculous or spoiled about it, get a house/location combination that is right for you.

I have thought about doing the loft as well as extending the lounge at the same time, so me and DH could have the loft room, and we have the two rooms one for the twins and the other for any future children.

But by adding the loft room we would lose part of the second bedroom at the back for the stair case, which is not a big deal as most 3 bedroom homes have a 3rd box room, I have had a surveyor out to quote and that came to 33k - I then went back to looking to move instead thinking that may be cheaper/better alternative/larger plot, be better value for us in the long run.

I keep swaying between moving and staying put and extending.

Whisky, its not about postcode at all, I do look up to 20miles from where I am, but because of DH's work place and childcare (which is free because my mum has my twin girls whilst I work, I cant afford to put the twins into a nursery) moving out to come back in for me and my DH seems silly and a waste of travel time and petrol so that's why I look up to 10 miles away.

I just need an extra bedroom and I would love a larger lounge - if I can get that without having to move - perfect. But is it feasible & realistic. Will I be making my already 'small feeling home' smaller, will it be a waste of money.

green - I didn't mean to sound critical with that suggestion that you move! There are all kinds of reasons why you might want to stay within an area. What I meant is that it's wise to work out what is possible for your lifestyle - having constraints can actually be helpful! - and then figuring out the best course.

It sounds as though you're thinking of further children, so I'm guessing a 3 bed is absolute minimum, and a 4 bed would be more ideal? Would that be possible in your budget? I don't know your estate, so this might not be right, but in many newer homes, room sizes are quite small with little storage - would you think about moving somewhere built in a different era where room sizes were a bit bigger?

Do think about practical stuff, too - what happens if interest rates go up (which is going to happen) etc.

Whisky - I know :) I would love to move into a home that is a 4 bedroom - we did see one come on the market today, within budget - but it did need a lot of work and possibly central heating/new bathroom/new kitchen. As long as it's liveable and clean.

All do-able over the years of course, but whilst the girls are young and my DH isn't DIY inclined at all, it'll be a big expensive challenge. Another reason why I think oh just extend out and up fgs lol