loft conversion or try selling again

[Evecob]

Hi all,

Just wanted peoples opinions on what might be best. We were supposed to be moving this month but unfortunately our sellers pulled out due to ill health. We were going from a 3 bed detached no garage or utility room, to a 4 bed detached with garage and utility.

We are trying to re-evaluate now and decide what is best, we love our area, we are in a village off a big city, its only a 10-15 min drive to the city centre, with good school catchments, so in that sense we are happy to be staying, but with a baby and toddler, we want a bigger room for baby and storage. We have bought a bigger shed and reorganising the house and thought perhaps a loft conversion would help solve those issues.

We had an architect round earlier this week who says it is possible to do a loft conversion with ensuite and use the landing for stairs instead of having to use 3rd bedroom. This hopefully will let us have storage under the stairs too. He hasn't given us a quote yet.

i'm pretty sad about no utility and our garden is on the small side. Plus no garage so a little concerned about our selling capability after loft conversion. Our house is detached with a large kitchen diner and good off road parking for 3 cars though.

We don't have the funds to pay for the conversion outright, so would need to increase our mortgage/remortgage for the conversion. We aren't sure how much a decent conversion would be, we live in cambridgeshire, but assuming between 30-40K for a reasonable one. What would be best? Would we make our money back if we converted? or would we be better off paying moving costs for a house that fits us better?

A good idea would be to call in your estate agent and ask for their advice. Would doing the lift conversion add value to your home and how much vs the cost.

We did this prior to carrying out building work a few years ago. Had the house valued this past summer and briefly had it in the market (took it off as viewings of our home as well as going to view homes was too stressful while DH was WFH and going through restructuring, too much stress for him to cope) but the house was valued roughly 300K more than if we had not had the work done. Lots of viewings and an offer.

You have pretty much everything you need now in your current location and possibility to get more space which are pretty big plus points.

Asking a local estate agent is the best idea. My DiL was going to extend their house until they were told it would add no extra value because the house was a semi and not detached. We converted our loft and extended the lounge and kitchen but we have had 25 years use of the work and have had our money’s worth.