Bigger house with extra bedroom but more money/work??

[Ladyoftheapple]

We currently live in a 3 bed with 4 children. We are planning on extending downstairs here just to add an extra playroom, we couldn’t afford to do double storey to add the extra bedroom. our current house has a nice big garden.

The question is would you move to a house that has a 4th bedroom, it has everything we have here including the playroom we want to have but the garden is about a quarter of the size. We’ve also spent a considerable few years updating all the rooms here to our liking. This new place we would need to restart again, changing each room. It is also about 70k more than ours is worth. It would add £200-£300 to our mortgage each month. Do you think this is worth it for the extra bedroom? Thankyou

Would it be more awkward that some kids are sharing some aren't in the new house?

If you can't comfortably afford it then no

can you not use the extra downstairs to add another bedroom

No it will cost a fortune to move and make the changes. Put a garden room in your current garden instead.

Depends how important a garden is to you.
personally I’d move as ultimately updating the new house is going to add more value.

also building an extension costs and will take time and mess and if you aren’t going to do both floors it’s a bit of a half done job for whoever you sell to next.

It’s a difficult one! I like the sound of your garden which makes it a very desirable property especially as they are getting more rare. How much is stamp duty going to cost you?

I’d stay put in the current house with the much bigger garden. You then always have the potential to add the extra bedroom upstairs if you can afford it in future.

When you get the ground floor extension done, make sure you get the foundations done to the standard required for a double storey extension. Then it’s easier to add the additional floor on when you have the money.

It depends if the extra amount on the mortgage would be a stretch and age gaps of the children. If they are all around the same ages then sharing is fine. Can any of the bedrooms have a dividing wall put in?

I had four in a three bed. We divided biggest room as eldest were a boy and girl and the two younger, both girls shared the middle room. I had the box room. Due to the age gaps the eldest moved out in time so each girl had their own space. You can make the three bed work if you need to.

How old are the children. I wouldn't move. Is one of the bedrooms large enough to make into 2 or use the extension as another bedroom. As you said you have a big garden. Is there any way to have some sort of living space in it.

Have you priced how much a double storey extension would cost? Probably less than the extra 70k difference in moving to a 4 bedroom house and would eliminate moving costs.

Kirstie would tell you to Love It and reconfigure using the ££ stamp duty …