Would you extend?

[springmachine]

Would you extend in my position?

We have a 2 bed end of terrace Victorian house.
We've spent a lot to totally renovate it and we've now got a beautiful home.

However, we need to put a downstairs wc in somehow.

I can't decide if we sell and move to somewhere that's already got one or an easy place to add one or if we go through the process of extending ours.

Good bits about our house:
It's got a 2 car driveway (very rare in the area we live)
Lovely long garden.
House itself is very spacious, full of character and I love the way we have it.
It's very conveniently located for our work, one set of parents and we have local friends.

Bad bits about our house :
Neighbours 2 doors down cause us a lot of agro.
It's not my 1st choice location

I have been speaking to technicians about getting drawings done to put planning in, but the work will still cost around £20k.

I'm not too sure we would get a better house for the same amount of money though.

Any wisdom?

I'm not too sure we would get a better house for the same amount of money though

Would a quick look on Rightmove or similar answer that, if you look at houses in your area at the amount of money you’re thinking of?

From my searches on Rightmove we would need to increase our mortgage by around £40k or so to get something suitable. The stamp duty itself would be in excess of £10k

I've just used the money saving expert moving calculator which estimates the cost of moving for me to be around £20k!
That's crazy no?

Well, now you know that getting a downstairs toilet put in your existing house is the cheaper option!

So moving solely because of the toilet wouldn’t make sense.

@HopeGarden
Very truer!

Are those figures real though? Seems crazy amount and can't imagine people bothering with moving if it's that expensive each time without even factoring sorting out new House to your taste or adding furnishings once in

Would you have to extend to fit in a toilet? Could you not squeeze one in under the stairs?

Look real enough to me. You can save some money using online EAs but most of them get poor to lousy reviews.

Moving costs a lot. To give you an idea, we're moving from £200k to £300k property and the agent fees, solicitors, stamp duty, survey and moving van costs us about £12k

Are those figures real though? Seems crazy amount and can't imagine people bothering with moving if it's that expensive each time without even factoring sorting out new House to your taste or adding furnishings once in.

Totally real! Moving is crazy expensive. Estate agents take such a big whack, then there are the legals, searches, movers. I’ve always found buying and moving to a new house costs about £10K if you’re also selling, plus the stamp duty of course.

We will probably extend in the next few years, even though the house/plot isn’t perfect for it - the stamp duty for what we’d need would be around £30k plus closer to £15 for moving costs. Makes a good renovation look cost effective!

Personally I'd extend. We used to have a victorian terrace and one side neighbours were lovely and the other side - well, not so much. BUT better the devil you know and all that. If you like the location/ can't move to your first choice location and the only thing "wrong" with the house is that bit of extra space which you have the room to extend then I think it's a no-brainer :)

Your house sounds lovely. I would extend too rather than move.

Have you considered a conservatory extension, something like this: www.ultraframe-conservatories.co.uk/extensionplus/ranges they look so nice and might also be cheaper than a standard extension.

Although, I don't know whether they could fit a WC in! Would have to find out. You can have underfloor heating and electrical these days, maybe you can have toilets too?!

I'd extend.

If you just want a downstairs WC have you thought about putting one in a pooch off the front? This can work out cheaper, waste pipe locations depending.

Or under the stairs like PP suggests?

Or nicking a bit of space off the back of the dining room or front of kitchen with a door from hall (I am imagining a typical terrace layout here).

Moving is massive on the hassle factor - more than extending I think! So think about that not just pure costs.