Remortgage and refurb or buy bigger new build

[MelDan]

Hi all
I’m a single parent, aged 46 and I’ve lived in my current house 18 years - I was finally able to buy out my childrens father 5 years ago and the house currently has £200k equity. However the house hasn’t been decorated for 18 years and needs a total makeover / I would like a new kitchen, toilet downstairs .. I could go in and on. My dilemma is

1. do I sell up the family home and buy a brand new build for £500k - this house will be at the top of my range but will be all singing and dancing - my mortgage will be £350k and over 25 years and 45 mins away from where I am now. Convenient for me to get to work but terrible for my kids (20 and 18) and my partner

2. do i stay where I am in my old house borrow £100k and do it up - my mortgage would be £250k over 14 years. I won’t get the extra bedroom and en-suite but think I would get the below?

Render the house £5.5k
New front windows £6k
New porch and front door £5k
New kitchen and dining room - single level extension £35k
New kitchen and appliances £15k
Bi-fold doors £5k
New boiler £5k
Utility room with W/C - side extension £18k
New family bathroom upstairs £5k

I am so confused - anyone else been through this - did you stay or did you go?

Stay where you are…..unless the company building your new build is very small and reliable. New builds of the 2010s-20s (well, certainly part of the early 20s) will eventually become the pariahs of the estate agency world - the current quality being put out by the larger to medium firms is by and large terrible and building control services are turning a blind eye to huge amounts. Stay where you are and refurb - it’s painful but you will end up with a better investment (remember brand new new builds lose value as quickly as brand new cars!).

If you spent 100k on your current house would that add the equivalent or additional value onto it? Every house has a ceiling price so it's worth considering that in car you did have to sell at a later date

Good question - I think it would add to the value in the long term but in the short term because I’m not adding a bedroom it won’t be significant increase in its value

Ohhh Rhodes new build are so tempting - everyone is telling me to stay I just don’t know if I can live though the work lol

Will your kids be moving out soon or do you think they'll be with you for a while?

Considering your kids are quite old now, I'd be happier to suffer the disruption of refurbing your current place.

How accurate is your pricing? The only reason I ask is we are having a single storey extension and some walls knocked down to make it open plan. With the new kitchen we are looking at spending around 75K. The builder is 55K, kitchen is 21K. This was after 3K spend on architect, planning permission and building regs. Personally I would stay, I hear a lot of horror stories about new builds and the snagging lists that go on for years. But you need to get proper quotes for the work if not already.

11 extra years of mortgage, 100k plus all the interest on top of it is huge. Plus it sounds like the location of the new build is less than ideal. Plus the resale value of new builds. Plus the unknown of new neighbours, new area etc. If you are happy where you are now I would definitely stay there and renovate. It's also less financial pressure as you could decide not to do certain things should your circumstances change, I'll health, need to retire early etc