It’s a common issue – you love your home, but you need more space. Maybe you’re keen to gain a home office, or perhaps you want a gym. You might even have a new arrival on the way.
Whatever the reason, your current house, lovely as it may be, has started to feel a little cramped.
There are two main options available to you, but which one suits your situation better? You could get some plans drawn up and investigate options for extending, or you could start exploring the local property market.
Each option has its advantages and disadvantages, but there are some key things to consider when deciding which one is right for you.
Make Sure the Books Balance
Your budget is one of the first things to take a long hard look at when you’re weighing up a move vs. an extension. Of course, you’ll need to work out exactly how much money you have available for the project.
Beyond this, however, if you’re thinking seriously about an extension, you need to balance the cost of the building work against the value the extension will add to your house.
At some point, you may well want to sell your extended home, and spending £50k on an extension that adds only £20k to the house value will leave you out of pocket in the long run.
Next, put some serious thought into how much disruption you can realistically tolerate in your home environment. Building work is noisy, dusty, and rarely runs to schedule.
If you work from home, or you have young children, you might find that a move is the less disruptive of the two options.
One of the most stressful aspects of selling a home can be the lack of control over timelines and the pressure to be able to move fast when the right house becomes available.
This is where some house buyers in the UK are using services that find guaranteed cash buyers to avoid the uncertainty of a chain. This can help keep disruption to a minimum.
Long-Term Goals – What’s Driving You?
Beyond the practicalities we’ve outlined, there remains the real big-picture question – what do you want from life in the long term? What really lights you up?
The choice to extend might look sensible on paper – the budget says stay where you are, and you think you could handle the building project – but your dream house has just come on the market and it’s right near that company you’ve always wanted to work for.
If your budget can realistically stretch to the move – no multi-million-pound mansions – then don’t dismiss this option just because it’s not the most logical choice.
Like many things in life, choosing between extending your home or moving house comes down to a healthy mix of informed decision-making and gut feeling.
You wouldn’t want to make an impulsive leap in the dark, but it would be a mistake to let rigid thinking and timidity stop you achieving your dreams. Moderation, as always, is key.
