WWYD- stay and extend or move?

[whataconundrum]

Hi all

Looking for some sage advice from you all with regard to the choice of whether to stay and extend or move house.

We currently live in a 4 bed link detached house (just two of the bedrooms are joined to next door, the living area isn't) Total sq meters is 110 sq metres inside and garden is 100 sq metres.

It is not my dream home and the downstairs living space is smaller than upstairs but to buy anything equivalent with 4 large bedrooms, we are looking at an extra 300k borrowing on top of existing mortgage. As an alternative we were thinking of adding a rear single storey extension of approximately 30 square metres to add a playroom, office and utility.

Other considerations to factor in:-

We have a baby and a toddler
We both have full time jobs that require commuting into london
Childcare costs will be thus 2k per month when I go back to work
Approximately 35k in instant savings for moving costs/part payment towards extension
Current house is 1.5 miles from station, if we moved it would be closer to station to avoid parking at station (need to drive to drop off kids at nursery) but it is a pain to make sure we both get the same train back to use the car.
Garden would obviously be made smaller by extension
I'm mindful of brexit
Good schools in current area and area to move to (not very far away)

Therefore I put it to the jury, what would you do? Stay or go?

300K extra borrowing to get an equivalent house but with better downstairs space and closer to station? Is that right or is there an extra 0 on there? Are you in London? If that's the right figure then the extension option seems a no brainer to me, especially as you are in the expensive childcare years. Depending on how you want to fit it out plus where you are in the country etc. I would have thought your extension would cost c£50k so you'd be saving at least £250k before counting moving costs, that is a huge amount of money. You already have the majority of that in savings so minimal extra borrowing, or you might even be able to bring something which meets your requirements in at less than that - e.g. do you definetely need a playroom and an office or can you use one of your bedrooms as a combined playroom/spare room or space room/office space (perhaps with a sofa bed). If so then a smaller extension would be possible and might be affordable for the £35k...

Of course if you really hate the house (as opposed to it simply not being 'the dream') or the area is horrible and dangerous then it might be worth getting the bigger mortgage but I have to say I'd want quite a lot more house for my money if spending that much more...

I would extend. We spent around £40k on downstairs extension to gain huge kitchen with island, utility room and toilet. I would love bigger garden and to be detached but didn't want to borrow £150/200k more to have that. We have lived there 14 years - but it will not be our forever home. I'm glad we did it - it literally pleases me every day and is a pleasure downstairs now. Big bifold doors make the garden feel bigger to make up for what we lost in building.

Thanks for your responses.

Yes, the figure is 300k extra. We are not in London but commuting distance from london and yes, that money works be for closer to station and bigger downstairs although even that amount is being conservative.

So the layout would mean we would keep the same size kitchen but the playroom would open out onto the garden with bi fold doors. I guess we could remodel the downstairs but I don't mind the size of kitchen or its location at the moment!

Also area is lovely as hy the woods and green open space with a new primary school that has opened recently.

I would definitely stay. The 300k extra us just too much to move.

You could knock through two of the beds into one. Put a room in the attic to regain fourth bedroom. Do your extension and still have more than half left. Just keep an eye on the budget.

I would move the kitchen so it accesses the garden or if the playroom is part of this kitchen space but closedoff (with ability to change use when your children no longer need it). Look into broken plan.

Also in your extension do a Playroom and utility, use your spare room for the study and have it as a two in one room to double as a guest room.

That way you will have larger more usable spaces downstairs.