Move or Improve?

The decision you’re thinking of making between moving to a new home and improving your current one can be a really tough one, so we’re exploring the pros and cons of moving versus improving. In the process, we will pay attention to the costs involved and the options you’d have to fund your home improvement at no extra cost.

Moving

The likely costs tied to your possible choice to move would include the difference between your old home and your new house, sale costs, removal costs, and hidden costs.

The difference between your old home and your new house

The difference in property values is one which you’ll normally have to fund, done so through taking out a bigger mortgage. It’s therefore best to find out what the costs of the subsequent mortgage arrangement and valuation fees will likely be.

Sale costs

Sale costs are usually quite extensive, including agents fees, stamp duty land tax, conveyancing fees and their associated costs, and disbursements (which include a local authority searches fee, drainage and water search, environmental searches, land registry search fee, bankruptcy search , and a land registry transfer fee).

Removal costs

Removal costs on the other hand will depend on the volume of goods you have to move and the distance between your old and new home, as well as whether or not you pack the goods well yourself or indeed if you’re looking to have a company protect some of the larger items of value for you.

Hidden costs

As an average expense, a new home comes with around 5,750 in a whole range of hidden costs which include the likes of repair bills and problems such as structural defects, subsidence, and rot. Likely hidden costs for some redecorations, maintenance and repairs might have to be worked-in to your budget, while a survey of your prospective home purchase might protect you against these hidden costs.

Improving

If you’re looking a lot closer to your existing home, with the right approach you can fund your home improvements at no extra monthly mortgage cost. If you consider your materials carefully too, you could really save yourself a lot of money when completing any renovation. For example, consider stone veneer instead of solid stone as this is more affordable. You could also consider premium paint as although it usually costs more per litre, in the long run, it’ll last much longer than any cheap paint and will not need to be replaced.

You can find improvements that will decrease your utility bills each month, no matter what the season. For example, if you install double-glazed windows they will reduce energy loss by over 50%, thus you won’t need to spend as much money on heating or cooling your home. You can also hire someone like Tri-State Exteriors & Roofing to repair or replace your roof so less energy is lost through any missing or damaged tiles. Of course, you will have to make sure that the amount of money you are saving each month will be worth the cost of having the improvements done, but in most cases they are.

A 3-bedroom house can be transformed into one with four bedrooms for less than 10,000, a project which could even have you enjoying an en-suite bathroom thrown into the bargain while adding some value to your home! Since a bathroom doesn’t need an external window, it can be moved to the master bedroom if the master doesn’t already have an en-suite, otherwise, it can be moved to another room which can be created by making a room between the front and rear bathrooms.

A knocked-down internal wall located between the dining room and kitchen can create some space that is a lot more usable, resulting in an open plan of which the alternative can be turning the wall into a dining area to separate the kitchen from the dining room.

For an extra bit of space, you can have a chimney breast removed.

Your living space can be enlarged via the construction of a small rear living room extension, with plenty of ideas and detailed plans available from your Mortgage Brokers as to exactly what is possible.