As your needs change, it can be easy to start looking at property sites and dreaming of a new home. Whether you dream of going bigger, smaller, more modern, more period, or you just want a change, there are plenty of properties out there with amazing specifications and, often, price tags to match. Moving home doesn’t just involve the upheaval of packing and unpacking your life; stamp duty, legal fees and other costs can make it prohibitively expensive.
When it comes to making your home work for your ever-changing family and growing needs, as well as optimising your property’s value, extensions may be a wiser choice than moving home. In this series we talk through everything you need to know, from thinking about extensions to choosing the right architect and builder.
Consider your options
When considering an extension, there are a range of routes that you can go.
Out: making your kitchen or downstairs living area bigger, or adding an accessible downstairs bedroom or bathroom.
Into your garage: If you have a garage that could be better used as a snug, bedroom, office space or utility area, this can be a relatively cheap and paperwork-free option.
Up: attic space can offer much more value as an additional bedroom or office rather than the traditional storage area.
Out and up: if you have the footprint and the budget, a double extension could completely transform your home, adding additional space upstairs and downstairs.
Things to consider
The main motivation for building an extension is to improve the space for you and your growing (or shrinking) family. However, it is important to consider resale, too; few homeowners have disposable cash that they are happy to lose money on an extension. Before you decide what to do to your home, take a good look at property sites and see how much homes similar to yours are, and how much more extended properties are marketed for. You can also get in touch with a local estate agent to provide a valuation for your property now and once extended. The agent may even be able to advise you on the most sought-after extensions, to help you to make sure that you invest your money wisely.
Property prices in your area are likely to be capped; check with the agent what the current upper limit is likely to be, as this can help you to determine your budget. Once you know roughly what you want to do and what budget you are likely to want to work with, you need to look at permissions to make sure that you are going to be able to do the work that you want to do.
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