Our wee terrace was meant to be our starter home when we bought 9 years ago. It was 750 sq ft, 3 bedrooms, though two aren't much bigger than box rooms. No parking, tiny courtyard garden (which is an absolute sun trap!), fantastic central location in the conservation area.
We're still here, we've had two DC, one of each, and we've extended a bit - knocked through and into the side return to make a large kitchen diner instead of a galley kitchen, and put in a downstairs loo.
We genuinely love it, it feels like home. We've been on the market twice in the last nine years, but never went through with the sale. We love the location - it's so handy for everything (school, transport, city centre, shops, entertainment, countryside - it really couldn't be better situated).
We'd always assumed we'd have to move as the DC got older as they'd need more space - but do we really have to? They do have a room each, albeit small. As they get towards adolescence, they'll be walking distance to school and town and the train to London. Would that compensate for a bedroom you can't swing a cat in?
We're in our mid 40s, and I'm not thrilled about the thought of starting a new 25 year mortgage. We've got £175k to pay on our current house, and we've been able to make regular overpayments. In the current climate I'm just not sure taking on a bigger mortgage is a great idea - not to mention rising fuel costs and having to heat a bigger house. Our current house is a mid-terrace, and we could definitely make it more energy efficient.
We could possibly extend a bit further, into the loft, though it's not big enough to make a dramatic difference.
If you've got this far, well done, and what do you think? Would we be doing a disservice to the DC to not get them more space as they grow? Or are we best staying in our little home and making the best of it?