Should we move house?

[SallyPatch]

Hiya - just wanted outside thoughts on whether you'd stay or move in our situation?

Me, husband and 2 young kids - no more kids to come, and no pets.

We currently own a 3 bed terraced house, bought for £110k, done it up and probably valued at £150k ish now.

Previously lived elsewhere but now settled close in same village both our families are in. Close to both families, and lots of local friends.

Our issue is we really feel we are outgrowing our house - we really could do with at least 1 extra room and ideally a WFH area for me - even a "top of the landing" or "under the stairs" area - currently WFH on a desk in the kitchen.

We have a single extension on our house so great size kitchen, living room is ok. No play room to speak of.
Eldest's bedroom is great, youngest's is tiny.
very little storage room upstairs.

One thing that holds me back is that the house is actually a labour of love, holds so many memories... and we have absolutely wonderful neighbours either side of us, and get on really well with most of the other neighbours in the street.

My main concern is moving and really regretting it, because of not getting on with neighbours etc, and pricing ourselves out.

To get the kind of house we would want to upgrade to (4 bed, flat garden, ideally drive and/or garage) we'd be looking at adding at least £100k on to our mortgage, so god knows how much extra per month/how much longer we'd have to pay it.

When youngest finishes nursery next year we'll be around £450 p/m better off but it'd be great to put that towards holidays and savings as opposed to a bigger house.

So - do we move to a bigger, "better" house and risk losing great neighbours and memories, and have to pay lots more per month

or - do we suck it up and stay put?

(this doesn't even touch on the fact that there are barely any nice houses going locally to us that we'd actually want!)

We are in a similar position. Our house would do, we could manage, but are looking to upgrade to bigger. Currently mortgage free, so looking at a new mortgage of around £150k.

Our house is quite small, and only one bathroom , so with our children not far off becoming teenagers we really need more space so we’re not all on top of each other constantly..and all trying to get into the one bathroom at the same time.

I wouldn't stay in a house just for the neighbours. I get it, we live on an amazing street with brilliant neighbours, however, they come and go.
Your neighbours could move at anytime, so nor moving because of them seems a bit silly.

I cried the day we moved out of our old house. It too was a labour of Love and it held so many happy memories.
Havent looked back since! I still have the old memories… but now we’re focused on all the benefits of our new home and fixing it to be exactly how we want it to be - can’t believe I cried!
Go for the space and make it fabulous over time.

We are in a similar situation in that we have a 3 bed terrace with 2 huge bedrooms and a tiny bedroom. We are now moving as DC2 is turning 15 and really does not fit in the tiny bedroom anymore. In hindsight I wish we had moved when he was younger as we are now moving to a bigger house but realistically DC1 may be moving out at some point in the next 5 years and then we will be paying for a house that is too big!

Could you first do a loft extension, small further extension for playroom off kitchen and / or build a log cabin in the garden for storage / office / play space.....if after you still feel you've outgrown it you can then move and probably have made it more saleable / added value.

I think with UK amd global uncertainty atm - I would enjoy the extra £450/month and/or pay down existing mortgage.

This reflects why we are choosing to move next year despite being in almost exactly the same position as the OP.

I'm going to be super sad, but I feel like it's going to need to happen eventually and would rather rip the bandage now.

I think extend if possible.

My immediate reaction to your question is stay. You have great neighbours and as you say no houses coming up. Can you put a home office in the garden? You can always review it again r3 moving in a couple of years.

I’d move, you still have maybe 15 years left of family life (depending on how little your kids are). That’s a lot of queuing for the bathroom. And it sounds like you can afford it - the cost will diminish over time and may become more affordable if your incomes go up or you come into any money.

You won't want playrooms for long. A loft converstion and maybe a garden office may be enough.

Thank you all so much for your responses so far.

We are unable to do a loft conversion as we lack the height and we already have a shaft going through the attic so I'm 95% certain that's not an option!

Garden room could be, but would eat into garden space, but is a consideration!

I do think DC2's room size will be an issue as they get older.

PP is definitely right about neighbours coming and going, I do see that.

I guess then is 1 more room worth the extra expense?!

A bigger third bedroom might be worth the expense! Not necessarily 4 bedrooms. Look for space you could use for an office. I see playrooms as a luxury. My DC liked to be around me. I had a sitting area at the end of the kitchen with lots of built in toy storage. Dc in a totally separate room isn’t necessary. Later we did put a tv in a second lounge but we never let them use a computer shut away from us. So I would recommend even sized bedrooms for DC and maybe a garden office. I’m a huge fan of built in furniture and I like our office shut away when not in use.

I would move if you can afford it for a bigger 3rd bedroom (or 4 bedrooms including one small one that could be used for a study) & an extra bathroom. These things become more useful as the children grow bigger.

I would move.

I don't feel the cost of work done on houses at the moment is really reflected in the selling price. Extensions seem to be ££££ and a lot of hassle.

To add space maybe better to add a garden office. Cheaper than an extension for the space added. If your garden is relatively small then it is not going to be much use for kids playing in once they get past the first few years. Kids of 10 or so need bigger areas.

Look for other ways that you can gain storage space. For example a shed. If all else fails and you have a lot of stuff you can always put it into storage. The costs of that can stack up well against extra mortgages, but be wary of the storage type and the effect it might have on your goods.

Can you reconfigure internal walls to take space off some rooms and put it into others.

On the moving side, I would say 4 bedroom detached do tend to be the sorts of houses that are good from an investment perspective, Tends to be more of the small flats and new builds that do not put on so much value over time.

Your kids may be off to uni at 18, and you end up living in a big empty house. So if they are say 10 already then it is only 8 years to manage the space.

Given the age of your kids, i'd be trying to think ahead and asking yourself is this really a house you could see yourself in for the whole childhood period. Once your kids start progressing through schools, you'll find yourself more and more worried about whether they'll have to move schools, whether they might be separated from friends, logistically when is the best time in the school year to move etc. If you think that the move is inevitable at some stage, then it might be better to do it sooner rather than later.

I am going to slightly disagree with the neighbours thing. Good neighbours are really useful, especially as kids get older and you want somewhere they can knock in case of an emergency.

The other thing to consider is secondary school catchments? Might be worth moving for that possibly?

Has this thread helped OP?

Hi all, thanks so much for the replies.

It's been really helpful to have other perspectives!

My MIL is also of the opinion that if we are going to do it, it's better sooner rather than later.

Sounds silly but in my head I was thinking "4 bedrooms" as opposed to "3 good sized bedrooms so that's definitely a consideration too!

School catchments won't be affected as kids are in a language school and we'd be looking to remain in the general area we are in now.

Problem is this area lacks the kind of houses we are looking for 😂🙈 seems everyone wants a 3-4 bedroom detached with flat garden and drive 😂😂😂

We've written a list of wants for our move, so we have it all written down and can see areas where we're willing to compromise.

For example we started off wanting (and therefore exclusively searching for) 4 bedrooms, but actually 3 bedrooms with 2 decent reception rooms, a utility, office and garage is waaaaaay preferable to 3 bedrooms, 1 reception and a garage. So started looking at 3 bed and finding a lot more properties which suit! We'd be willing to forgo the office if it had a garden that wasn't overlooked, where we could build an office later. Sometimes it helps to get it all written down then you can see what you're willing to compromise on.