Would you move at all/or to this house

[Ladyoftheapple]

In our current house, we have kind of made do but could do with an extra bedroom. We have had lots of problems with this house- mould/damp. Water had been coming in under the back door from the patio and penetrating the walls and under the flooring. This is because the outside ground level is higher than the damp proof course. My husband has now dug out at the back and plans to either slab it (if we sell) or start an extension as we could do with an extra room/play room downstairs. Presently, we have kitchen, dining room & lounge. This house also has water coming in from the front too which is causing the hallway wall paint to bubble. We assume this is also due to the fact a concrete ramp had been installed out of the front which is also higher than the damp proof course 😒. These are things we have only
come to realise recently as we definitely aren’t builders 🙈. We also currently live next to a large field which is beside our back garden which has been bought for industrial use. I think our best bet is to move on. My husband is less impartial because of the amount of work we’ve put in here. It’s only recently come together and we’ve really put our stamp on it. We’ve been here nearly a decade and from when we bought it, it is unrecognisable. We haven’t spared on nice decor and solid wood flooring, new kitchen, new bathroom, new everything really and most of it my husband has done himself over the years. I saw a house nearby that has another bedroom (albeit small) and the extra room downstairs without us having to go through the hassle of extending here. This house will add about £50k to our mortgage though but is also within walking distance of our child’s secondary school, whereas, currently we have to drive everywhere. We went to look at this house, but my husband only saw the negatives, it’d need repainting, new carpets and basically new interior again, possibly a couple of new windows and a garage door. My husband feels like we would be back to square one again as it has taken us years to decorate fully whilst working/caring for our children. What would you do in our situation ? Thankyou if you’ve gotten this far

Just to add, in our current house, the bedrooms are larger, we have double the garage space and our garden is about 4x the size but requires more maintenance

Damp's fixable. This is the biggest concern:

We also currently live next to a large field which is beside our back garden which has been bought for industrial use.

Have any planning applications gone in for this yet?

Do you know what type of industrial use and how it will affect your standard of living?

Once planning goes in, buyers or their solicitors will find it and it will absolutely tank the value of your house if the works are close to you/ruin the view.

@KievLoverTwo we have an industrial estate nearby and this field can be accessed from there so I assume more buildings such as; plumbers merchants, builders merchants, car mechants etc. I’ve looked for planning and none has gone in yet, it has only recently sold 😫

Hmm, it’s hard to sell a home in good standard at the moment. You’re going to have to heavily reduce the price on a home with damp and expensive work needed.

Too many cons on the new house lots of pro's for the existing one. I'd stay put and fix the damp. Put a decent wall between you and the field if/when the industry comes about. Keep husband happy - it would be him doing all the work and I don't think I'd want the extra £50000 on the mortgage. I'm fairly certain an extension would come in at a lot less but get estimates to check

I’d move but also deal with the issues with yours first. An extension will cost £50kmin so same sort of price. Have you had yours valued as is? Windows in the new one will most likely be repairable. You can cover carpet with rugs.

what age is your current house? Is the damp due to the wrong materials?

Do you want to share your current floor plan - as others might have ideas to eek the space for additional bedroom etc without extending (particularly if the garage is integrated).

What are the lost costs of moving - EA & legal fees, Stamp Duty, remortgage fee, removals etc. on top of the £50k.

Having said that dropping the driving is attractive but staying could save you loads to spend on Ubers? Or can they cycle?

@Slimmernowhere is my floor plan… thank you ☺️ our garage is not attached to the house

I would make the lounge diner a magnificent huge OTT kitchen diner opening on to the garden and the existing kitchen a TV snug. Would also if you felt you needed to extend into the garden on the RHS just behind the stairs to create another room either a posh lounge accessed from the hall at the bottom of the stairs or family room connected to the stunning new kitchen making it L shaped with the whole back of the house being glass.

Also see that there are only 3 beds, would create a 4th either in the loft or above new ground floor extension if you did that on the RHS.