Trade up or Improve - advice required

[Justaboutnotmanaging]

We have a bit of a dilemma and would love to get some outside opinions.

We live in a small 2 bed place in London, within 45mins of all the places we often frequent (family, friends, work, events etc). Been here a while, so have a good amount of equity, around 50% LTV.

It's just the two of us, but we need more space as we both work from home 60% of the week. There are no TTC plans, but it's something we could be open to in the future.

We have two options, but not sure how best to proceed:

Improve: We could spend £40k extending and adapting our ground floor space to include an extra room, which could have multiple uses. We could then stay here another 2-3 years. It's likely that this spend would increase the value of the property by £40k.

Move: Given the current circumstances, the next 12 months may prove an affordable time to move up the ladder and buy a bigger place. It would mean having to double our mortgage, but this is affordable for us and we could survive on one salary. We would buy something we could stay in for at least 10 years.

What would you do in my position?

Depends , would you want more than one child , what are your job security like ?
I would sit tight for a year or so till things became clearer.

Sit tight and do nothing or improve/extend?

If having children, I would like two. Job security is average at the moment

I would sit tight save up ready to make the next move up the ladder.

Up

Move. Especially as you are up sizing. Prices are cheap and mortgage rates low. There is never an ideal time. There’s always something wether it be external (Brexit, Coronavirus) or internal (new baby, getting married) etc. Good luck!

I would move.

Why are you assuming a £40k spend will increase the value by the same amount?

I would move but there may not be much going on the market at the moment. If you contact estate agents they may know people who are considering moving but aren't sure if it's the right time?

Thanks all - seems the general consensus is to move...

@Thisismytimetoshine, based on recent sold prices. Our street is mixed, some have done the extension, some have not. Of the ones that have sold, their appears to be £40k difference between an extension/no extension. It would cost us £40k to do the extension...

@Redwinestillfine, we spoke to a few agents, all encouraging us to sell naturally. Apparently, many also are thinking along the same lines of potentially now being a good time to negotiate a reduced price.

An extension can be massively disruptive if you both WFH. I'd look to move when things improve.