Possible house move... Wife seems excited. Myself... meh

Diagro

Diagro

Diagro

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I've been trying to get my wife to move house for years. She's been very much against it due to various reasons.

Recently a house came up near her family (Same road...). Its a 3 bed semi with planning permission to become a 4/5 bed house.
Very recent (2021) large extension to create a large kitchen etc. All very nice, looks to suite our needs and exactly what she wants in a living space.

However, there are some issues for me... The loss of master bedroom ensuite is one, and the second is that the bedrooms are still the same size we have now. Two larger ones and one mini one.
Yes, there is permission to extend over the garage and create a very large master bedroom with an ensuite.. which would leave the kids with a large bedroom each and then a small room for an office space.
But I'm not aware of how much this extension would cost. I expect no change out of 75-90k.

The house is £350k... Which is around 30k more than all the previous 3 bed's on that road which have sold in the last 12 months.

Our current house is a 3 bed detached. Valued at around £320k. However, the kitchen is TINY and the other rooms are not great in regards to usable living space.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the look of the house. However I've never been into noise from neighbours... I don't know how well these houses are built from the 1990's in regards to party wall insulations.

My question really is... am I mad for thinking its fine to go from a 3bed detached to a 3 bed semi? the new house has everything I'd want (apart from ensuite missing)...
I'll add, that the houses I've been looking at are £450k plus detached. So this house would be a massive saving.
 
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tamzzy said:
fair enough
also factor into the fact that you'd need to be living in a building site for the best part of 6 months at least
and the last time i checked (18 months ago) builders around the birmingham area were charging £1800/sqm for extensions for shell and first fit only
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If (Big if) I decided to extend, it would be a timer frame structure with the rest done within 4 weeks of it being up. We plan to not sell until we have moved in and done everything, I have the funds to sustain a 12 month stop gap between buying and selling.

We're going to view on Friday... so i'm going with a massive chip on my shoulder. Which will need a massive seagull to prise off... However, I'm trying to keep an open mind...
 
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panthro said:
Too much of a gamble. Neighbours could be fine and quiet, then they move and the new neighbours are noisy. I could never go back to living with shared walls unless the joining walls were fully sound proofed.
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This is actually super interesting!
I'll look into the costs of sound proofing the party wall if it happened.
I've done this to our companies office wall, Rubber sheeting, Mass loaded vinyle, thick boardings etc. Worked amazingly well. Only used 50mm for thickness. So in a house, can see it as a doable project.
 
tamzzy said:
just make sure that seagull don't take a dump on your head at the same time :P


i would be careful going with non-standard construction as it may be a PITA and devalue the property when it comes to sell (just a thought)
i think getting mortgages for non-standard properties are harder and may put buyers off
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It would just me the super structure, Timber frame and SIPS panels instead of breeze blocks. Brick outer skin as normal.

Company called MTE is building 20 homes on the other side of town using the same system.

Bonus of it, is it would be up and water tight within a week! (foundations take 2-4 weeks etc prior).

Amazing stuff really
 
Buffman said:
Unless you've already got your house ready/up for sale you're unlikely to be able to sell quick enougg to purchase this house.

Id high level use 3k+vat per sqm for any extension without any details.
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I don't need to sell.
I've been offered a bridging loan to cover the shortfall, which is tied to the current home. I'll have 12 months to sell
 
Columbo said:
Well no detached and no en-suite is a deffo no-no for me. I have a teenager who spends hours at a time doing god knows what in the main bathroom.
I wouldn't by choice choose go back to a semi or with my own bathroom unless circumstances meant I had to.
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I'f we used the planning permission, It would add a Massive bedroom with an Ensuite. I'm talking 8m*3.4m Master bedroom. Quite frankly ridiculous.
 
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Columbo said:
The sounds amazing tbh but how much is that going to rinse you for though and does the budget allow?
Also are you up for the disruption, mess and inconvenience of what would become a building site for a period of time...

When I had my extension built on my previous house, my house was not my house for about 3-4 months, we occupied it yes but alongside and endless stream of tradesmen 4-5 days a week.
I hated it so much at the end that instead of extending further last year, we moved instead because I'm just not for that again.

Some people done mind it, but the mess, dirt, dust along with a total lack of you own space is something I just didn't like at all.
Having said all of that above though, the biggest nope for me would be it being a semi-detached, my previous neighbour was a lone pensioner and we had to sit and listen to his coughing fits every single morning (before he sparked up his 1st of 30 fags that day) which he flatly refused to go to the doctors for and his abnormally loud TV at night because he totally refused to go get tested for a hearing aid.
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My Plan (IF I say yes), is to Buy the home with a Mortgage / Bridging loan.
Then Extend it prior to moving in.

Once in, sell our current home.
The owners, had quotes of 60-80k to build the extension. I can likely get that lower with a Timber & SIPS construction.
Budget would not be an issue here.

Yes, the neighbours do worry me, however, at the moment it's an older lady (70's), on her own. No dog, but a cat.
Who knows though.... Sound proofing is a thing for Semi's. However can be very disruptive when being done.
Might see if I can budget that in prior to moving too.

Ofc... I may just say no to the wife and keep waiting for a Detached 4 bed to come up in the school catchment area.
 
Columbo said:
Sounds like a good shout tbh if you have that option to be doing the build prior to moving in.
I'd 100% be doing that personally over trying to exist alongside a large building project at home. I detested every minute of it, especially towards the end when a random tradey would turn up in the morning to do a job and a random trades would then turn up in the afternoon to finish a different job...was so frustrating.

Is there a view on the value of the house post build completion and whether the build costs would add enough to the value to be in positive equity?
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Good question.

I'll ask the estate agent what they would value it at if it was done.
 
dl8860 said:
What is better about the semi than the detatched ones you've been looking at? If price wise they work out the same AFTER paying for an extension (and taking on all the risk that entails) then I don't see the benefit of the semi myself.
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Its the internal layout in the areas that would be used the most.

The previous extension was completed around 2 years ago. So the kitchen, fittings etc are all VERY recent and modern.
Nice large garden with a cabin type office space at the rear. Ideal as I've recently been told I'm to work from home. Where I cannot do so now due to lack of space.

The house is quite a bit larger than the current house. Even more so when extended. Feel free to have a look: (bearing in mind, I'd only offer around 330k at the most) HERE
 
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bigmike20vt said:
have a look at zoopla and see what similar properties go for..... a few miles can make a big difference and there are vast differences across the country, for instance our semi is worth around £380k but if i could air lift it 15 - 20 miles into Cambridge it would be worth pushing a mil
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Smaller 3 bed detaches go for 300-350.
Semi's with similar bedrooms have gone for 280-320, However, none with the ground floor space this one has.

I'll chat with the agent and see why they valued it at 350, Zoopla values it at 322. Which is likely what I'd offer

Zoopla says it was listed for 325 back in Dec 2023... So yea, no reason to add 25k, apart from chancing their luck. (Although, they have planning permission granted and a large office built in the garden since that listing. However, that doesn't warrant a 25k boost to the homes value. )
 
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tamzzy said:
Haha no definitely not. Was just a joke to say I'd offered more than you'd be prepared to pay for it. :P



I have found it quite peculiar that homes with planning permission approved are usually listed for a few grand more... probably it's to show that there is extension potential. Personally would ignore this as it only costs like £270 to put in the proposal to the council lol
Have a look if there is a corresponding listing on Rightmove, you can use the extension on chrome called property log to see the listing price changes.

Personally if it was listed 9 months ago for £325k I wouldn't be paying more than £330 (£335 at a push). My initial offer would probably be £320...as long as you'd be prepared to walk away
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Good plan. Thanks for your input. Everything helps me get an idea about what to do.
I'll be viewing it tomorrow at 2pm.
 
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