Move or Loft Conversion?

[HouseHangover]

We have spent several years doing up our standard 3 bed detached house. We did a sizable single story extension to give us a large kitchen, family room, diner area plus converted the garage so its now used as part playroom for the kids and part gym. Downstairs we still have a separate lounge, porch, boot room/utility and WC. Separate garden office. So we've got plenty of floor space downstairs and its modern and we love it. Location is great.

Upstairs however, its pokey. 3 bedrooms - 2 doubles and a box room. One family bathroom. We need a bigger 3rd bedroom as DS2 (13yrs) is squished in there, plus we will eventually need another shower room (I don't fancy sharing one bathroom with 3 boys/men!).

We're putting our house on the market, and photos have been done and expect it to be listed on Rightmove next week. We're looking for large 4 bed, with extra room for an office which will be around £650-700K.

However, the moving costs alone will total £35K (solicitors, estate agents, SDLT, removals) and it seems like such 'dead' money. Not to mention the much bigger mortgage on the next property. I've been looking into a loft conversion, as we could get a lovely big master suite up there, plus a decent shower room. I've got someone coming tomorrow to take a look, but very rough estimate is £75K for this work. Downside is it will likely need to take a bit of the box room to accommodate the new staircase to the loft - so we'll still end up with only 3 bedrooms (as box room would be tiny, so likely could only market it as an 'office' instead of bedroom) so DH is worried about ability to recoup the loft costs if we wanted to sell in future.

Any thoughts on best option? Assume others may have had this same problem before so keen to hear from anyone!

Have others in the road added extensions?

There is a ceiling price for properties and you have to decide whether the work would mean that you’ve exceeded that and it would therefore be difficult to recoup later, as your DH says. That doesn’t matter as much if you decided to stay long term, because you’re doing it to suit your family circumstances.

All the houses in our cul-de-sac are extended in some way. Ours is probably the smallest, despite the large downstairs extension. But most have extended over the old garage, or bought an original 4 bed and added another bedroom on top of a side extension. No one has put a loft conversion in yet though (not sure if that's an issue... its covered by permitted development).

The ceiling price is the thing I'm worried about. As I say, ours is likely the smallest/cheapest in our cul-de-sac bit but average price of all houses on the road leading to the cul-de-sac (which are typical 3-bed detached, without many extensions as they have less land footprint on the road leading whereas the cul-de-sac plots are all corner plots so have more extension opportunities).

I'm intrigued by the loft as I feel whilst £75K is a lot of money, £35k of that cost would have been wasted on moving costs if we opted to move so in my head the loft conversion is costing me only £40k (very flawed maths though, I know!)

Not really. 40k for a lovely master bedroom and bathroom is desirable. Get an estate agent advice. Cul de sacs are more desirable to start with.

We live in a cul de sac bungalow two to three bedrooms downstairs, previous owner went into the roof and did bedroom and bathroom we now have a guest suite which suits us.

who gave you the 75k cost?
as you mention no one else in the street has had a conversion, are you certain the fabric of the house is physically able to cope with a loft conversion?
Obviously the relevant extra joists etc will be installed (if done by a competent builder!) but is the roof line suitable in the first place?

Was your downstairs extension build with foundations able to cope with an extra level? Have you considered extending up over that extension rather than the loft conversion?

In the end you have to do what’s best for your family. I would add the former if overall the property is nice, suit your needs, location is good etc etc. In other words, if you would only move for the bit of extra space, and you can add in your property, I think adding the dormer is the best option.
You also have to think that moving comes with risks. You may as well get a not so good surprise in a new property, which is quite common.
Investing in property, unless you are a developer, or know that you will sell in 2/3 years, the money you spent having a nice and comfortable space pays off.
You never know what the hypothetical future buyer will need/want in a property.

£75K was rough estimate from our builders (same ones we've used for other work in the home) for a loft extension including staircase, installation of shower room (sanitary wear and tiles not included), one master bedroom and structurally including a rear dormer with velux windows to the front, electrics, heating etc. The firm I've got coming tomorrow are specialist loft conversion builders/carpenters though, and they're doing a full assessment, plan and survey to give a quote so it could be more or less than £75k. We have enough headroom in the loft for a conversion and builders didn't seem to think our roof would be an issue (again, perhaps something the loft specialists will explain tomorrow though).

We won't go over existing extension. We have pitched ceilings and large velux windows and it looks great downstairs for that reason - really bright and spacious. If we built on top a lot of that height and light will be gone and its a feature we're not prepared to lose! Our kitchen would become very dark, and its the main social area of the home and a space we really enjoy currently. We discussed going over the garage conversion but that wouldn't actually give us the extra bedroom and bathroom space we need, so we quickly discounted that idea!

I think you’re being very sensible looking into all options @HouseHangover 😊 You’ve said yourself right at the start - you love your house and the location is great.

How likely are you to find the house that you want within your budget within your desired area? Are you likely to have to move out of school catchments etc?

If your current home had the bedrooms and bathrooms you wanted, would selling be on the radar for any other reasons? Or is it purely a space issue?

What else would you gain by moving? Bigger garden? Better location?

Or would it just be the extra bedroom and bathroom?

The downstairs of your house sounds lovely. I’m a big fan of loft conversions so I’d probably be leaning towards staying and extending, especially if it’s just an extra bedroom/bathroom you’ll get.

I know no one knows what the future holds but do you plan staying in your home long-term? If so, then I wouldn’t worry so much about recouping your money - you’re paying out to create an enjoyable space for your family.

£75k sounds a lot for a loft extension but I’m in the SW so maybe things are more expensive where you are, or the structural work is more complex. Would be interested to hear what quote you get from the company coming tomorrow!

I'll definitely keep you all posted with the loft specialist's quote and thoughts from tomorrow @SpidersAreShitheads !

I don't think I'd even consider moving if it wasn't for the lack of extra double bedroom for DS2 and the desire for another bathroom. At least not until the kids are gone (which is going to be a looongggg time!)

@HouseHangover In that case I’d definitely be leaning towards staying and trying to make the space you want 🤞🏼

This really says it all. Do the loft and solve all your issues. The chances of finding another house in the location you like, the size you like, with the room sizes that you want, done to your taste and within the budget you want are not huge. Not impossible of course but it’s likely you will end up needing to do some sort of work to a new property and that will be money on top of moving costs. Unless you had another reason to move (location, schools, etc), I would stay put because it sounds like you love where you are. Forget house values…you are not moving soon anyway.

I think if the lack of bedroom space is the only reason you are thinking of moving then you should absolutely consider a loft conversion, we use one of the rooms in ours as a WFH office space and that alone has been so worth the investment. I would get a few quotes, we used a company called home tales for ours, and maybe make an old fashioned pros and cons list!

We have made 2 bedrooms and a bathroom in our loft as have our attached neighbours. Perhaps you could consider that with your kids upstairs while you take a master on the 1st floor with an en-suite where the study is?

I’d also go for the loft conversion!

do let us know re the quote-that does seem quite high!

How many kids do you have and what ages are they? Your house sounds really similar to ours size wise, and we love it. I've gone round in circles about loft conversion/ build over garage / move as we are going to run out of space. We've finally found a house now that trumps ours completely in terms of much bigger, more bedrooms, bathrooms, bigger garden, far better location and we're about to throw everything we have at it!!!!

We did a loft conversion for this reason. £100k minimum for extra bedroom plus moving cost to go from 2-3 bed.

Lost was quoted about £50k was probably about £60k by the time I factored in extra bits, decorating whole house, furnishing etc.

I don’t regret it - we had two doubles and lost a bit of width on one - so now 1 huge 27ft loft room, one good size double and one smaller double.

plus second bathroom which is obviously really useful.

resale is a bit lower still than a 3 bed semi but we have as high a house as many of them with a layout that works better for us - I work froM home so the large loft room gives me a separate office area that doesn’t feel as if it’s intruding on the bedroom.

If you love the house and location, a loft conversion is often the more sensible option because it gives you the extra space and a second bathroom without the huge moving costs or taking on a much bigger mortgage.

Yes, you may lose the box room as a bedroom, but in many areas, a proper master suite with a shower room adds more value than a tiny third bedroom ever would, and families often prefer usable space over a cramped room. Moving will cost you around £35K in fees before you even step through the door, and you will still likely end up doing work to the new place. If you plan to stay for several years, the loft is usually worth it. If you only see yourselves there short term, moving may make more sense.

A builder can also check whether the staircase can come up in a way that does not sacrifice the box room, which would make the decision much easier.

We got someone from these guys, were pretty decent: www.loftcompare.co.uk

Try not to get too hung up on whether you would recoup your costs if you decide to extend into the loft, I know that is easy for me to say that. Your house is for living in and if you like the area it’s a win win for me. You never know if you move whether you will feel as settled in your new house, it’s a big risk to move, never mind the stress of it all.

We have a not-dissimilar house to you and decided to do the loft. I was very torn as it’s a lot of money to not gain an extra bedroom (we also lost some space from the box room but the box room was so small we couldn’t get a full size single bed in there prior to the loft conversion).

But for us, the location and plot were ideal and we don’t actually need a spare room most of the time - it would be very nice to have one but not nice enough to add an extra £100-£150k to our mortgage and extra time to the commute while living in a less nice area. What we needed was three good sized and functional bedrooms.

Well we all know what Kirsty would say🤣
I have a loft conversion with ensuite (which I've kept for myself and sons share the main bathroom). We took a slice of a double bedroom for the stairs,could you see if this is possible then you don't lose a room, it's still big enough for double bed and furniture👍