extending vs moving up

I saw something in one of the papers a week or 2 ago relating to the inability of people to buy a larger house because of skyrocketing prices.  They were discovering that adding conservatories and even single and double extensions worked out to be a lot cheaper than trying to buy somewhere, say, with 4 bedrooms instead of 3 (or I suppose in London 3 bedrooms instead of 2).

For most of us coming from the States often 3 bedrooms often means 3 good sized double bedrooms but here it often means definitely 1 double bedroom, possibly a second double bedroom and a 3rd "bedroom" that is really a box room/study.

I can see why people have kids later in life and often stop at 1 or 2.  Of course, many people struggle to buy at all but I guess if you've had a house for years they weren't as pricey as they used to be but certainly the jumps from no house to starter home and then starter to next are getting to be quite huge.  Add stamp duty that isn't linked to inflation and that house that could fit you and your 3 kids becomes completely unaffordable.

Has anyone gone down the house extension route?  I imagine it causes a lot of disruption and costs a small fortune but has it worked out well for you?

I have friends who recently bought a 3 bed bungalow here in Exeter. They plan to do a loft extension in a couple years and are dreading it because of the disruption. But, it will add HUGE value to the house (unless, of course, the property market tanks in the next few years).

My ILs are in a similar situation.  They bought very cheaply in the late 80s, and although their house has increased in value a staggering £160,000, they would not be able to buy a property more suited to them with the profit, so they extended.

A mess, true, BUT they don't regret it at all.  They're very pleased with the result.

Moving is a huge PITA.

For them, it wasn't about adding value to the house, because they plan to stay there for good, it was about increasing their enjoyment of their living space.

Actually, my family did the opposite, although it was a few years ago before the crazy rise in house prices. My parents considered adding an extension to our house - they even went as far as getting planning permission - but in the end, they decided it would be cheaper to move than to extend. My parents found that spending several thousand pounds on an extension would not increase the value of the house by enough to make it worthwhile and that buying an already extended house instead would work out better for their finances.

We sold our detached 4-bedroom, 1.5 bathroom house and bought a previously extended semi-detached house with 4/5 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 kitchens, 2 living rooms, a dining room, study, ultility room and conservatory (the extension included a flat above the garage) for only £135,000, Because it was extended from a fairly small 3-bed semi, the asking price back then was similar to the other non-extended houses on our street, although the prices have risen immensely since then.

Hi Matt!

Extensions have been extremely popular in our area and especially our Indian community people. I challenge anyone to find a Indian owned house that hasn't been extended!!

It's always made sense to 'improve rather than move' in 'most' cases - if your means stays or is likely to stay the same, it makes even more sense.

All those houses built in the 1920's and 1930's which are as you descrbe, 1 Double bedroom, a possible 2nd smaller bedroom and a 'box room' which are cheerfully advertised as '3bedroom houses' are prime candidates for extending. I live in one, we extended it as long ago as 1987 (moved in in 83) and have been extending it bit by bit ever since. We didn't quite go whole hog and slap on a double story rear and side extension, we've only gone single story to the back and side and a complete refurb in 2002. My aunty did go double story and side as they needed an extra large bedroom.

If you look around theres ALOT of extended houses, I'd definitley recommend it if you are planning to stay a little longer and/or how your finances pan out. finding a dream house is possible in the UK if you are prepared to pay some serious amounts for it and of course this being a US and UK site, the comparisons of what you get for your money means it's about 3,4,5 times the price for something similar to a 'dream home' in the US (most parts of the us!)

The renovation work is stressful. No doubt, theres ALOT of arguing, sorting things out, problems, workmen doing work right or wrongly, to contend with - be prepared for long building times from start to final finish - my aunties one took around 2 years start to end (the building work itself took about 2 months! they were damn fast !)

As for adding value - the golden rule is to extend carefully - your property should be worth a max of 20% more than oher homes in your road/area - any more and it wont match the area and possibly leaving your house on the market for longer when it's time to sell ( ie no point having a 5 bed, 3 living room, loft conversion and 3 bathroom house when all nearby homes are 2/3 bedroom semi's)

Some 'additions' will cause your value to actually drop ! - i.e dont extend in a way that you lose a bedroom or dont just add a loft conversion if it's not done by a proper company and doesnt include a bathroom.

Costs - be prepared to be scared! if you 'dont know anyone' then by going with a full building company, it's mega bucks i mean mega pounds! - if you do know some builders or get a recommendation, then you can negotiate whilst getting a good deal. Don't use the super cheap possible rogue traders.

Our 'recently' added side utility room and complete refurb of the house top to bottom cost us around £25K in 2002 of which 5K was the room itself. My aunties large(ish) extension of the same time, double story, extended kitchen, side extension and complete refurb of the whole house was around £75K!

i do know of a house nearby which has fallen into the trap of making the other houses nearby look small and his being worth about 60% more which is an insane double story rear, double story both sides and loft room conversion which is setting him back about £160 K!!!  I spoke to the guy after driving past and wondering why so big, so i stopped to chat to him - turns out he wants his 3 kids to have a room each along with his mum & dad so they dont ever have to move again - which is fair enough, but should he ever need to sell, i think he'll have a hard time!

Theres loads more to this, and again it depends on how far you want to go which will be the decider in terms of price and work done - but in most cases is better than moving.

Hope this helps a bit!

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

We are planning on extending our soon.  Seems most of the people I know around here are needing to do the same.  Buying at the next level is just too costly and too much of a headache for all it entails.  We also love our neighbors and that is worth a lot to us. 

We have a standard 3 bed (ha!) semi and it is just not big enough anymore.  We are lucky enough to have a relatively large back yard so we won't be short of garden space when it is all said and done. 

I know it will be a few months of headache, but can't wait for it to happen.  I fantasize about utility rooms and a downstairs toilet!  Sad, but true!

We are currently in the process.  Planning permission has been a nightmare    I guess my advice would be to allow plenty of time.  If you're even thinking about doing it, and it will require planning permission, go ahead and apply for it as soon as you have an idea of what you want to do.  We were told it would probably take about 4 weeks for our application to go through.  Well, 4 months on, our application was refused and we're looking at another 4-5 months for an appeal.

In our case, we're very quickly being priced out of being able to afford anything else in our area and it only makes sense for us to extend.  Although, I should say, we probably could afford something bigger if we bought a wreck and mortgaged ourselves to our eyeballs...but we also plan to move back to the US, so anything we own here will have to pay for itself - meaning the rent will have to cover the mortgage. 

I'm not sure what we'll do.  Nothing on the cards just at this moment as DW is finishing her maternity leave in a months time so I think she'll be back in work for a little while as we figure things out.

The problem around here is that the fixer-upper 4 bedrooms are £350K and the nicely done ones seem to be closer to £450K.  But being in a mid-terraced house I don't even know if you could do a double extension without it infringing somehow.  Certainly a single extension is doable but we put down a new patio only a year ago so it'd be a shame to build over that.  I guess at the time we didn't think too much about more space and didn't think the market would go so wild.  Stamp duty alone on £400K is £12K, that's probably more than half a single extension!
Worst of all that could easily buy 2 really nice houses back in Baltimore possibly with change to spare!  Maybe we need to start looking in Slough - just kidding Dennis!!!

Haha Matt, I'll make it 'known' that your place isn't to be messed with if you buy around here! - i know people who know people!

Everyone is semi stuck becuase of all the increased costs - cant move becuase bigger houses cost so dam much in the first place and even extending is a serious extending of your finances as well as the building itself!

Only you know how 'worthwhile' extending is - taking into account your plans and finances and aspirations etc - good luck!

DtM! West London & Slough UK!

I'm not sure what we'll do.  Nothing on the cards just at this moment as DW is finishing her maternity leave in a months time so I think she'll be back in work for a little while as we figure things out.

The problem around here is that the fixer-upper 4 bedrooms are £350K and the nicely done ones seem to be closer to £450K.  But being in a mid-terraced house I don't even know if you could do a double extension without it infringing somehow.  Certainly a single extension is doable but we put down a new patio only a year ago so it'd be a shame to build over that.  I guess at the time we didn't think too much about more space and didn't think the market would go so wild.  Stamp duty alone on £400K is £12K, that's probably more than half a single extension!
Worst of all that could easily buy 2 really nice houses back in Baltimore possibly with change to spare!  Maybe we need to start looking in Slough - just kidding Dennis!!!

Not sure where you're living, but you can usually build a single story extension without having to apply for planning permission, as you're allowed to increase your house by a certain percentage of the volume.  A two story extension almost always requires planning. 

Unless of course you're in a flat, in which case you'll need planning permission if you want to sneeze! 

Everyone is semi stuck becuase of all the increased costs - cant move becuase bigger houses cost so dam much in the first place and even extending is a serious extending of your finances as well as the building itself!

I got a shock this morning when I saw a flyer advertising one of the houses in my road that is up for sale. As I mentioned above, my parents bought our 5-bed extended house for £135,000 about 8 years ago.

The house for sale at the other end of the road has an asking price of £300,000 - which doesn't sound that much compared to other housing prices around - but it's a detached, 2-bedroom, 1-bath bungalow with a total of 5 rooms (http://www.alder-king.com/properties-sales-aldrps-THY070148-1184840751)!!

Less than 10 years ago, a house that size would have sold for around £100,000!!

That is a heck of a lot for a 2 bed 1 bath, is that village particularly nice?  Around here it seems that you can be 1/4 mile down the road and the price difference can be £100K or more for similar house!

That is a heck of a lot for a 2 bed 1 bath, is that village particularly nice?  Around here it seems that you can be 1/4 mile down the road and the price difference can be £100K or more for similar house!

It's a large town of about 14,000 people - I've lived here all my life except for 3 years at university in Exeter and 1 year in the US. It's not the most picturesque area of the country, but the town was voted one of the top 10 places to raise kids in England a few months ago and the hosuing in the surrounding countryside is expensive.

The house in the picture is opposite a primary school, round the corner from a secondary school with 1,200 pupils, opposite a bus stop and right near the fire station (although my house at the other end of the road is directly behind the fire station). The average age of the residents in these roads is over 60.

What's scary is that I guessed our house to be worth maybe £250,000 now, but with a 5-room bungalow on the market for £300,000 on our road, I dread to think what our 15-room house at the end of the cul-de-sac is now worth!! Even before the extension, it had almost twice as many rooms as the one for sale.

One of the old stone farmhouses just off the high street sold for £800,000 about 3 or 4 years ago and the majority of the older, stone houses in the nearby villiages are on the market for upwards of £500,000.