Date Published 08 November 2017
Not many people move house for the fun of it. Why would they when the cost of moving is high and the experience itself can be stressful. Unless there is a genuine reason to move – such as a job offer, to release equity or simply bursting at the seams – the spiralling cost of moving home means that taking the plunge and actually doing it takes a bit of thinking about.
Let's take the latter reason for a possible move. Your house is full to the rafters and you desperately need more space. However, there is a very understandable and basic emotion gnawing away at you. You love where you live. You love the house, the neighbourhood, in fact everything – it's why you bought the house in the first place.
So instead of moving, you decide to stay where you are and plan to make your current proeprty bigger by going in to the roof space, or building a ground floor single-storey, or a bigger two-storey extension. Where to start?
A loft conversion, providing it's not going to create too pinched a room and does not leave the house ‘top heavy', is sometimes a great option. Extending outward is rather different. Among all the design-led decisions, you might want to consider one other thing: much as you like the house, even after extending it are you planning to live there for ever? If you aren't, extending the house to suit your current needs may look like a good idea now but might not prove to be so smart when you come to sell.
One of the most important aspects of extending is whether or not the addition will enhance and balance, rather than over-develop, the site as a whole. Several times we have seen houses that were originally perfectly proportionate to the plot on which they were built but which have since expanded, spoiling the look as well as taking up too much surrounding space.
Extending is a fine idea to explore and to cost, but it is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It also can be one that you might find is more expensive for you in the long run.
For a no-obligation appointment to advise you before extending or improving your home, or if you are simply curious to know what your home might be worth in the current market, please call us, we would be delighted to come and see you to offer advice on current and future prices if you do extend, together with advice on what the market may be looking for so that you can make the most of the extension you plan to do. We look forward to being of assistance.
