Moving into a new home can give you a fresh start, but what if you’ve always loved the home you’ve lived in? There are two main ways that you can get more space in your home and start anew; either decide to move house or extend your existing home. Each option comes with advantages and disadvantages, ranging from relative costs to property space. Below are some of the most important things to consider to help you choose whether you should move house or extend your property.
The Benefits Of Moving House
Downsizing: If you’re in a position where all of your children have moved out and started their own families, you may be more interested in downsizing instead of increasing the space that you have. In this case, moving house might be the better option as you can find a beautiful smaller home in a nice neighbourhood, which is perfect for yourself and your spouse with a quaint guest room for visitors. On the other hand, you may actually find you need more space in the home after retirement, to accommodate new hobbies and visits from a growing family.
Proximity to family: As grandparents, it’s important that you can offer your grandchildren a comfortable place to stay in the event that their parents go away on vacation or extended work trips. If you live further away from your children and your grandchildren than you would like, it can be difficult to see your grandkids regularly or help out with school runs etc. In this case, moving house allows you to find a property that is within the closer to your family.
A Fresh Start: Above all, moving house can be incredibly exciting as it’s a brand new start for you and your spouse. You will be able to browse through your dream properties in order to find the perfect home that your family can visit on a regular basis. This is particularly important if you’ve begun to notice issues in your existing home that need to be repaired. Instead of putting more money into a house that you won’t want to spend your retirement in, you can find the perfect property that has all of the amenities you could ever dream of.
The Disadvantages Of Moving House
Time Consuming: There’s a lot of time that needs to go into moving house, from liaising with estate agents, to moving your belongings from one property to another, to changing over all your utilities. Overall, you can expect to spend a lot of time packing everything up, moving it elsewhere, and then unloading it all in your new home. You’ll also have to consider the time of your friends and family, as you will undoubtedly need their help during the move.
Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT): Another consideration when moving house is SDLT, depending on the type of property you decide to buy. If you intend on buying a freehold or leasehold property you may be required to pay Stamp Duty. Depending on the price of the property, the total amount of SDLT will vary, but regardless it’s an additional fee that needs to be taken into consideration, along with agency fees, solicitor’s fees, moving fees, and more. The list goes on.
Uncertainty: Another important factor to consider about moving house is the sheer uncertainty of the process. Unless you have a substantial amount of savings behind you, listing your home on the property market doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is going to want to buy your house. Or they may not want to buy your property for the amount you’re listing for. This means you won’t be able to shop around for homes until you have received the guarantee that someone is interested in buying your house. This level of uncertainty can be difficult for many home owners interested in moving house within a short timeframe.
The Benefits Of Extending A Home
Emotional Value: There’s nothing in the world that can come close to the emotional value you place on your home. Take a few moments to consider all of the great moments you’ve experienced, whether it’s Christmas dinners with the whole family, or playing football with your children in the back garden. When you opt for a home extension instead of moving house, you can keep the existing property that you love, just with an addition on the back, side, or front.
Avoiding Stamp Duty: Luckily, if you decide to do any extensions on your own property you won’t have to worry about paying any form of stamp duty, as this only applies to people who are purchasing property. Considering the price of the homes you’d be looking into if you were to move house, you could be saving yourself thousands of pounds.
Choosing to Move: Another huge advantage in opting for a home extension instead of moving is you’ll have the option of choosing whether you want to stay in your house while the renovations are ongoing or if you want to stay with family members. There’s no point in time where you’ll be forced to hire a moving company to bring your belongings from one property to another, and you can stay within the comfort of your home. It helps you to remain independent during the entire renovation process.
The Disadvantages Of Extending A Home
Upfront Costs: There are usually different ways you can pay for a home extension, but a sizable portion will usually come from personal savings or a pension lump sum payment. You won’t be able to rely on the sale of your house to give you a comfortable financial cushion to fall back on, as the renovations will be your sole financial responsibility. This is why it is important that you ensure you’re financially stable enough to maintain reasonable retirement savings as well as finance the extension of your home.
Unforeseen Issues: As with any type of home renovations, you may encounter situations where the cost of the renovations will increase due to unforeseen issues and circumstances. As an example, your contractor may find that the ground where the extension will be added is unsuitable, therefore they’ll need to hire additional plant, adding fees to your total. It’s impossible for anyone to account for every aspect of a renovation project and your final costs might be more than you had originally bargained for.
Working with a combined architectural designer and building contractor like BDS takes much of the uncertainty and risk out of building a house extension, making it a viable alternative to moving house. If you have yet to make up your mind about what works best for you, take a look at our free Essential Guide To Extending Your Living Space. In our new eBook we present a case for both moving house and investing in an extension, explaining what is involved with each so you can make the best decision for you. Download your copy by clicking here.
