To extend or to buy? Any advice and experience appreciated please

becky_2255

Hello all.
I hope I have posted this in the correct area of the forum.

I would really appreciate any advice and experience from people who have been in a similar situation.
Recently our family of two became three. My husband and I have decided that we would definitely like at least one more child, however we are out growing our two bedroom house.
We have lived here for over 7 years and have been extremely happy here. Its a nice quite street albeit not in the most desirable area, with lovely neighbours. Its commutable for both of us although in an ideal world it would be nicer to be closer to a train station as my husband commutes to London.
So we find ourselves with two choices. To move or to extend?
We live in Havering and the property prices have soared. If we were to move we could afford a 3 bedroom house with an additional reception room downstairs that we would convert into a playroom. So we are looking at a 3 bed house with a bathroom, kitchen, dining room and lounge with a larger garden and a slightly closer commute to the train station.
Or we stay where we are. We have room to extend to the side and back of our house. Currently we have a lounge, kitchen diner, bathroom and 2 double bedrooms. We would be looking to extend to a 4 bedroom house with an additional toilet or shower room with a large kitchen diner and a separate play room. (would this be realisitic with the budget of 100k?)
Fortunately we brought our house at the right time so we have made a good profit on it. This means that we would look to add 100k to our current mortgage to buy a new house or to build extension.
The cons for extending would be that our house could potentially reach a ceiling price and that when we came to sell it would this could be difficult. Also our garden would be decreased in size a fair bit, but we would have a much larger house for our money than if we moved. Currently i'm swaying towards the extending than moving, but my husband is not sure.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? what worked for you? do you have any advice or tips? Neither of our families have ever extended their homes, therefore they are cautious about this prospect. Any help would be appreciated as I feel like we are going around in circles.
Thank you for reading.

Cakeguts

Find out if you can get planning permission for the extension. If you can't then you will have to move.

trailingspouse

You say your current house is in a not-so-desirable area. You can change everything about the house apart from the location - for that reason, I would be inclined to move if you can move to a more desirable location (taking in to account access to schools).

kinger101

Moving means no legals or SDLT, but disruption from the building. The extension might not increase the value of the property by as much as you spend on it.....their tends to be a ceiling price. A local estate agent might be able to advise on whether an extension is worthwhile from that point of view.

clw1

What are the local primary and secondary schools like in your current area? if they are not good then I'd move now. But if they are good then I'd personally be tempted to extend and get a 4 bed house.

becky_2255

Thank you so much for your responses. You've certainly given me lots to think about. Thank you for your time xx

glasgowdan

Large extension work could mean 12 months disruption with spells where you have to move out into a travel lodge. It's a lot of hassle for a family.

Doozergirl

I cannot imagine there are many places in the south east where extending would not pay off. Even renting in the short term when the worst work happens may work out cheaper than moving. If the main extension can be built without knocking through until the last minute, that would be the least disruptive.

Get your balance right for the plot on the size of the extension.

I would eek every penny out of a plot before ever considering moving on

cashbackproblems

Would extending give you the space you need, as pointed out they can be very costly 80k+ on top of months of disruptions, builders going awol etc and if the area isnt great you wont get much price increase relative to the spend

Stamp duty will be a fraction in comparisom