House extension/renovation: How important is making your money back?

We were in a similar situation to the OP. We had a 3 bedroom semi which we had altered over and over again to make the most of the space available. In the end, with a 14yr old daughter and a 18yr old son plus a couple of dogs it became more and more difficult to keep up. It came to a head when a neighbour commented “i dont know how you manage in that little house”. I was gutted tbh.

I looked into extentions above the garage and came to the conclusion that
a) builders are pretty crappy communicators
b) its like rolling dice getting a good one
c) £30k/£40k/£50k take your pick, none of them could give an estimate.

So i had a house worth £150k which was way more than other houses of similar size on estate. It was fully paid for and i could pay for the extention cash with savings. But i would then have a 3 bed semi still (Big bedrooms) worth much much less than the £200k i would have put in it.

We looked around and found a new build house which was double the size for £264k. We were paying a big mortgage payment on the old house to pay it off and we have taken a 25% mortgage on this house so our monthly outgoings are way less than before. Its A rated so heating bills are less and i sold my camper van for double i paid for it so that furnished the entire house.

The biggest plus has been the way family life is. The kids have great big bedrooms all kitted out to their requirements. You can see how happy they are with them. The dining/kitchen is huge and has such a nice open layout with couch, tables, island etc etc. The family tend to sit and chat in there now so the living room literally is for going to for some peace and quiet. Its been lots of manual work for me but so far i havent had a single regret.

If there was a house double the size of where I live for only 30% more than what this place cost then I’d have snapped your hand off for it! Sounds like you were pretty fortunate.

curiousyellow. Sorry have i misstyped that?

Previous house was £150k.
New house is £264k and double the size.

Thats way more than 30% more. I decided it was better to spend the money on the bigger house instead of sinking another £50k into an extension on previous home.

TBH the style of house i am now living in is now only available at £300k so yes it was good timing.

Don’t think so, I’ve just misinterpreted it. I thought you put in 200k, and the house you purchased was 260k, I guess that means minimal stamp duty too?

Sounds like you spent 2/3rds more to get what you wanted and you got exactly what you were after unless you’re including remodelling/redecorating/moving costs into that? If you are, then that’s unbelievably lucky. Good for you! I’m not finding anything similar even if I were to take the plunge, so extending is the right decision for me. Let’s hope it goes to plan!

I think stories like the above only work if the houses are are cheap in the area you live, goes to show you have to take your individual area and situation into account

True, @LittlestHobo has found a great area in that case.

Let me stalk their posts to see if I can find it.

In all seriousness, you spend long enough somewhere and you’ll get anchored to it. So upping and moving to somewhere else completely is out. I’ve floated moving to Peebles in the past when my plan to turn the garden into a pump track was vetoed. Shame that didn’t work out eh?

I think stories like the above only work if the houses are are cheap in the area you live, goes to show you have to take your individual area and situation into account

Very much so. When a pretty average house is £600K then spending £100K on an extension is clearly a much smaller % than if the house was £150K as the extension will cost the same so switching from a £600k to £700k gets far less of an ‘upgrade’ than from £150k to £250k

dunno even at 200k in a 3 bed i still struggle to make the math work for moving.

Locally(but on the other side of the city) moving to a 4 bed thats not on one of the luxury estates – sticking to a barrett build

id be looking at smaller rooms all round , less outside space , less garage space and a 60% more cost + fees

But at £200K stamp duty is not a factor, at £700K it is a big factor and can be 1/3 the cost of the extension and it is also a throw away cost which doesn’t help.

are we crossing the streams ? I’m in support of the extension even in lower cost housing unless in exceptional cases as outlined above.