What would you do, Extend or move?

[BigBoy]

So A little back story;

Bought the house 13 years ago, (Original thread with the last update) before we were married. Renovated it ourselves to suit us then, 13 years on and I work from home, and we have two children (boys 9 & 7) that share a bedroom due to me working from home full time and the wife 2 days a week.
The house does not work for us anymore in its current configuration, We NEEED another toilet, and the boys need their own space/bedroom before they kill each other or I do! We only have £80k left on the mortgage and smashing that down with over payments for the last few years.

What we have currently, and what I have proposed as the least invasive extension to add the space we want.


Now my problem with this is although the extension will give us the space, the lounge will still be walk though (I hate this and always have) and the window into the old kitchen that will become the office/games room does not let in much light as its on the side of the building looking at the house next door.

Moving is an option BUT as we live in bath we would get £350-400k for our property as its ex-council and semi-detached (attached is local authority property, but awesome tenants who have been there longer than we have). This then gives us a budget of £500k Max (before fees and so on). Finding something that fits what we want without moving out of the city/current school catchment area is not going to happen based on current available stock and historic sales.

So my dilemma blow £100k on an extension that may not even give us what we really want and potentially spoil the property, or move out of the city (really don't want to do this) and have to get a second car to ferry the kids to school for the next 10 years!
Does anyone have any insight into how to better extend the property (going up is not a viable option) or reconfigure the extension to make it more useable?

Help me OcUK your my only hope!

 

[Rroff]

Sadly 500K won't go far even in the surrounding areas these days - though there are some really lovely properties in nice areas that might just about be in budget.

Without a massive amount of upheaval and a lot of money spent I can't see much potential with the current setup though there is a fair bit of garden space to play with - is there any options in the loft/attic?

 

[BigBoy]

Sadly 500K won't go far even in the surrounding areas these days - though there are some really lovely properties in nice areas that might just about be in budget.

Without a massive amount of upheaval and a lot of money spent I can't see much potential with the current setup though there is a fair bit of garden space to play with - is there any options in the loft/attic?

Sadly not, the ceiling height is too low for a loft conversion even with full width dormer.

 

[aaronyuri]

If you can afford it, you should move. Extending a house is never the same as having one that was built larger. That said, 500k isn't going to go very far in Bath. Is moving to a cheaper area really that off the cards?

Sounds like, based on your circumstances, an extension is the only viable route. It also doesn't strike the impression that your 100k investment will turn into a 100k+ increase to your property value, either. That's also something to consider.

 

[Rroff]

Is moving to a cheaper area really that off the cards?

The Bristol side tends to be expensive, not sure about the north east, and anywhere south of Bath the prices have gone up a lot in recent years, especially anywhere with good links to Bristol. There are some really nice places though not far outside Bath which would be what I was aiming for especially if bringing up younger kids.

 

[BigBoy]

Sounds like, based on your circumstances, an extension is the only viable route. It also doesn't strike the impression that your 100k investment will turn into a 100k+ increase to your property value, either. That's also something to consider.

Totally this, £100k extension will only add £25-30k to the property value, so investment return will be considerably under value

The only way extending wors would be to completely reconfigure the down stairs of the property, but the wife does not want that much upheaval. (Stupid wife).

As for the villages/towns on the out skirts, I grew up in the towns South of Bath and my older children live out that way. My wife grew up on the south side of the city and that's the ideal place for us (better schools i.e. not private but good state schools), also where her mum and dad are still.

Because of me working remote it does not matter where I live, the wife works between Bradford On Avon and Trowbridge three days a week (two days at home) and wants to keep commute time below 30mins if possible and as she is always traveling during school times that restricts the radius of travel.

We are going to view a property not far (walking distance) from home that has already been extended, and has a larger garden but will still need us to 'make our mark' on it. It has promis will have to wait and see.

Why is life never simple!