Would you move, extend, do up the kitchen or stay put in my circumstances?

[fallingasleeprightnow]

I live in a small 3 bed semi, have done for 3 years. Commutable distance to London (which dh does for work) and I live a 4 mile drive from work. My house was a good first time buy but we always thought we would move in year 4 as we would have a child by then, unfortunately it hasn't worked out like this. We have toyed with doing up the kitchen for a while, however, our house would really need to be gutted to do all the bits and pieces we wanted to make it look like a nice long term home, yet being fairly small, we hadn't intended on staying though we are getting royally fed up with not having a really nice home that we hoped for.

We are considering relocating to the next town to a nicer house (further from London and my work) if we don't do up our kitchen, however, it's also in our 5-7 year plan to possibly move counties down south where I'm originally from as the pace of life is slower and housing is cheaper. This would require us both relocating jobs obviously and finding comparable salaries to what we are on now. Is it even worth bothering with the kitchen anymore? We've been putting our plans on hold to do up house/relocate as we've been ttc without success but we just both feel in limbo. What would you do? Hope this made sense.

Can you do a compromise - new kitchen cupboard doors and lots of repainting, so it feels new to you and nicer, but without spending so much you feel tied to the house?

@FriedasCarLoad we did repaint the whole house ourselves last year using very good quality paint, however the walls are so rubbish they just need re-plastering as everything is chipping/cracking. Drilling into the wall to even put up a mirror can take hours and the walls are so awful bits just fall out and collapse so you have to start all over again and then get the filler out.

Buying and selling cost a fortune.
The location works for you - it doesn’t sound like you hate the house and you don’t need more space.
You also said you want to move in the next few years...
I’d renovate and put a new kitchen in (assuming it adds value)

Ps. Lining paper on all the walls if they are crumby - it sorts a multitude of sins

Do you dislike the current town and don't want to be there?

If you're ok with your town, then I'd stay put and sort the house out. It's cheaper and less stressful than moving. It will also keep your commutes more reasonable.

Sorry you are having problems TTC, it took us 4 years and 2 rounds of IVF to get DD so I know how frustrating it is to put your life on hold for an uncertain outcome.

I agree with PP, it sounds like the location you are in really works. Is there potential to extend in future if your situation changes? If so I would invest in a new kitchen etc but keep in mind the possibility of extending and try to work your plans around that if you can.

New kitchen etc will definitely add value and even if it isn’t as much as you spend it will probably be cheaper in the long run than incurring extra moving costs. Plus it should make the house more attractive when you do decide to sell- and you’ll have had a nicer house in the meantime.

Good luck.

So if you don’t do your kitchen you will move to an intermediate house and the do the big move down south in 5-7 years if I’ve read your OP correctly? If I was you I would skip the middle move completely, total waste of time, effort, money and a longer commute to boot, make the house you are in now into a lovely home, then concentrate your efforts for the big move down south, you will have a lovely house to live in whilst contemplating the big move.