Adding a basement thoughts?

[Mamabear12]

We are thinking of adding a basement to our house. We live on a street where two people have done this. But I’m wondering if it would make the house difficult to sell later? It would give us a lot more space and cheaper then moving house when you add tax you pay from selling house plus the increase cost of buying a bigger house. What are your thoughts?

Any advice from someone who has done a basement?

Adding a basement of any reasonable size can be very expensive, and unless you're in one of the more expensive parts of central London, it is often cheaper to move.

Have you had quotes in for the work yet?

Typically you don't pay tax on the sale of a property if it's your main residence.

Typically you don't pay tax on the sale of a property if it's your main residence.

I imagine the OP means stamp duty on the onward purchase, which for a £2m house is £150k which is half the way to a decent basement conversion cost.

You need to be in a very high property value area to make a basement conversion 'worth it' as it is a very expensive way to gain space.

I imagine the OP means stamp duty on the onward purchase

that's what I thought, but this was how they phrased it:

when you add tax you pay from selling house

Sorry. I meant stamp duty. We were told it would be about 300k for basement. We live in an area where houses are 1 million plus. But just a few a 8 mins walk the houses go for 2.5-4.5 million. We live in a 5 bedroom house. But the bedrooms upstairs are on the smaller side. We like having the extra rooms. Although, the four of us mainly use 2 bedrooms!!! As our children like to sleep w us and they have their beds in one room. The other rooms are au pair room, play room, guest room. If we wanted more space we would be looking at spending about 500-800k more to get a bigger house plus stamp duty. Which is why spending 300-400k on a basement seems more appealing. We would like another child, which would then make it the house we live in seem small. And yes, I know, I probably sound greedy for space. But I grew up in a country where you have big houses and a lot of space. I am just worried if we build a basement it might make our house difficult to sell. As out house would then become at least 300k more then the other houses on our street. However, the a lot more room. Although, one other house is building a basement now on our street. And another house has the basement , but it’s used as a flat.

Does it make sense to build the basement? I’m thinking yes, if it costs a lot more to get more space in the area. But I worry about the added stress of building.

We are in London and had quotes of more like £500k for a basement (about 1000 sq ft) once it was all properly costed up. Also houses with basements are not selling for that much more than houses without, maybe 100-200k more. Because of that and because of the extra time and hassle (for neighbours as well as us) we decided not to. Also I don’t think we’d use the space that much tbh. I know a couple of people with basement dig outs and they have large playrooms but the kids still end up playing upstairs. And I like lots of light so would never choose to go down there.

Thanks, we were quoted 300k and know of someone near by with similar house who paid 280k. If we wanted more space in our area, we would be looking at paying 500k more (and the space added is barely any, just slightly larger bedrooms). To get more then a few feet of more space we would have to pay 800 to 1 million more at least. Plus at least 100k stamp duty. This is why I’m thinking basement makes sense. After doing research I’m more inclined to do it. It would def add a few hundred to the houses value. However, the main reason for doing it would be for us. We would put big utility room (so we can hang and dry clothes there instead of always having it in the kids bathroom and in the way). Guestroom (so family can stay there when visiting). Currently, it feels a little tight in the house (all out family live out of country and visit 8 times a year for a week). And yea I get that kids end up playing in the main area of the house most of the time. We have a playroom upstairs, but kids usually hang out in kitchen or living room. But if I send them up, they can happily play for one or two hours (they just need to be told to). I do sometimes wonder if we wouldn’t use it as much as I think. Which is why I’ll continue to do research and ask around.

Well if you are going to be there long term it could become a hang out when your kids get older - you definitely need more space for kids when they are teens as they like to hang out away from you - or perhaps you like to hang out away from them!

We are looking into this too - DH wants a basement den when we extend but I'm inclined to go for one of those garden room things as we have a large garden, but our neighbours have a basement and it is fab for utility and teens den.

Look at as many as you can in similar houses and then decide how useful it would be versus any other type of build you could do. Also chat to an architect if you are spending that much money - there may be better options.
Keep us posted.

Yes, I’m going to do research in the area and view some basements next week. No other way to add space in our house other then basement. Everything has already been done! Otherwise, I would go for the other extensions first as that is easie. 😀 that’s what I was thinking as well, when kids are older. Plus we would like another child. And perhaps another dog 😀 I plan on researching a lot and we wouldn’t do any building for a year or two. But I’m starting research now as I know it’s a huge project.