move or extend?

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Hi,

I live in a 3 bed end terraced. We've got two kids and are thinking of moving, and where we live (Sheffield) everything goes to sealed bids so it is a bit of a palaver buying a house there.

But we like our house and the area so we are contemplating extending instead.

We are unsure as to whether to convert the attic or extend the kitchin and out a conservatory on as well or do all three. We're not sure of the cost and whether the extra cost would be well spent (i.e. could we recoup it if we sold in the future).

So baically I'm wondering what is the first step in the process of this sort of decision making? Would it be to get an appointment with an architect and talk through the possibilites? If so do you know what the rough cost of such a consultation would be? Or is it best to speak to estate agents to see if it is money well spent? Or would you just get builders in to give you quotes?

Thanks in advance...
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lynda, moderator

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loft con's take some time to recoup the cost, ground floor jobs usually yield the best results.

a good architect first, an honest recommended builder second and don't go anywhere near a money grabbing, double dealing estate agent at any price.
 
I've extended my current and previous homes with extensions. Neither time have added a whole load more to the value of the house than I actually spent.
However the benefit of extending is that you can have exactly what you want in terms of layout, finish etc.
 
noseall said:
loft con's take some time to recoup the cost, ground floor jobs usually yield the best results.

a good architect first, an honest recommended builder second and don't go anywhere near a money grabbing, double dealing estate agent at any price.

Take it you like estate agents them noseall :LOL: ;) :LOL:
 
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Agree with noseall , estate agent doesn't give a toss about whats best for you they just want your house on market , if you are happy with area where you live , and your house can accomodate extensions without exceding the ceiling value of your road imo i would extend , try www.ourproperty.co.uk to give you a idea of recently sold properties in your area.
 
All areas will have a maximum value for properties. If we take an average road of suburban 3 bed semis, then prices may vary by about £30-£50k from a basic one in good order, to one that has been extended.

esentially if someone wants to spend at the top end of the market, then they generally want to live amongst similar higher value properties, not a top of the range house in a road of lower value ones. Percieved status has a lot to do with it.

Having said that, there is always someone who wants to buy a well done, extended house - be it a family after a larger house locally, or just someone upgrading who want value not status.

Its very easy to spend £30k on a £10k extension. The shell will cost the same, but only you can make the decision as to what standard of fit out you require.

Lofts are generally cheaper (in comparison to similar size extension), and can ba a good way to get an extra bedroom. Kids love lofts, and they will recoup their costs as a family home. If you have a pokey kitchen, then yes extend it and add a diner. If you just want to extend to make already fair-sized rooms bigger, then they may not be such a sale clincher.

An Architect (ie RIBA registered) will cost you more than you need to pay. You need a competant 'designer'. I would not pay (nor charge) for any consultation. If the designer is any good, he will sell himself. Your first step is to have some consultations to gauge what is possible, and the designer should be able to give some rough cost estimates and prepare plans to YOUR approval (and not his convenience). Then you need detailed plans, and your permissions sorted. Then you get builders to quote. You only talk to an estate agent when you want to sell.

Do your homework first. See what other local properties are selling for, and then weigh up the costs of extending.

But don't fall into the trap of making your decision purely on financial grounds, and seeing the [paper] value of the house in terms of selling in a few years time to make a profit. If YOU want a big snooker table in your extension, or a massive conservatory then do it for you, as you will be living there. It is very, very rare for an extension not to recoup its cost at sale time
 
I wouldnt recomend a loft conversion if you need a bigger kitchen likewise if its more bedroom space you need then I wouldn0t consider a consevetory. :confused:
First think hard about your life and why you want to move/extend both are a major headace :cry:
if the answere is need bigger then realy think about what needs to be bigger then start thinking HOW

if you decide on extending and Im not convinced loft conversions are any cheeper £/square meter of qua;ity liveing/floor space than 1 or even 2 story extensions
then get some graph paper and a tape measure and with a plan of your house as a starting point see what you can come up with If your ideas meet your needs then useing :evil: £800 /sqm of added floor space as a very rough guide you will get some idea of weather you would want to proceed,

if you can look around for other properties of your house type that have been extended knock or drop a note through the door and ask if you can look around for insperation. :rolleyes:
Once you are fairly sure adout what you want get your drawings done properly and get a few quotes in
if you start know you may be lucky and have it all done by next xmas
best of luck and enjoy this xmas as your life will never be quite the same :D
 
Thanks for the advice everyone.

It looks like we've got quite a lot to consider.

We had our house valued three years ago and the estate agent said it was at the ceiling price. Not many houses go up for sale on our road or the next one so it is difficult to gauge the actual value. In Sheffield, estate agents encourage sealed bids so whatever houses are on for , it will not be the actual price they go for.

I don't think we would recoup the cost of having both a loft and extension. On the flip side if we were to move to a house that had the 4th bedroom and extra downstairs room, without increasing our commuting distance, I reckon we would be paying 75K over what our house is worth. So I guess I need to weigh up both scenarios and have a chat to a designer like was suggested.

Cheers for the advice again :)
 
We decided to go for an extension before we even bought our current property! :LOL:

The reason, the location is perfect, exactly what we wanted, but the house isn;t quite big enough for us, and we don't even have kids yet!

Ours is a 3 bed semi, in a small 1930's farmworkers plot. The bathroom is on the groundfloor and small, the kitchen is small and it has only the lounge coming off it. Upstairs, we have a small bedroom (to convert into an office/study), a reasonable sized guest room, and the master with ensuit.

I saw the potential immediately, for a 2 storey extension to the rear...about 4mtrs x 6 mtrs...that allows us to move the bathroom up into the study room, the current guest room becomes the study, the master ensuite becomes guest room and the new upstairs room is the master ensuit. Downstairs, we knock the lounge/kitchen dividing wall thru to open it up - lounge becomes diner, what was the bathroom now becomes washroom/wc (washing machine, dryer, beer fridge), and new room becomes lounge... :cool:

Now all we need to do is...do it!!

Best of luck :D
 

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