Over the past 18 months, many of us have spent more time at home than ever. If you have been working from home, teaching your kids in the dining room, or just generally spending more time in the house than you usually would, then you may found yourself craving more space. This might have lead to you question if now is the time to extend or renovate your existing property.
My Personal Situation
Over the past 18 months, myself and my husband have both worked form home. We converted the front room of our house into an office space and we have been working from there. However, this isn’t ideal, as it means that our three-year-old son no longer has a play room. In order for him to have a play room, we have been looking into getting a conservatory.
Our family is also growing. Not only is our son getting older by the day, but we hope to add to our brood in the not-too-distant future. Our home is also in need of redecoration; it’s a 19th century property, that hasn’t really been decorated since we moved in ten years ago.
It is important to us that as our family grows, we have space to accommodate everybody. As well as all the children in the house having their own bedrooms, we want to have the space to host family get togethers. It is important to use that were able to host bit family Christmases and birthday parties. That means making the most of what we have and extending the space.
Things To Consider
Making structural changes to your home, or deciding to modernise, does, of course, cost money. The Bank Of England sets the interest rate and it currently at 0.01%, which is exceptionally low. That means that borrowing is cheap, so now could be the time for people like us to take advantage of the low rates by remortgaging.
If you’re thinking of remortgaging, then you need to decide on what you’d like to change within your house, before working out the cost. You’d then need to figure out the payments, so you can work out if this is something you can afford to do. If you’re happy with the results, then this is something you should try to push ahead with. Interest rates can’t go down much further and as they start to rise, the cheap deals will begin to dry up.
Other Options
You may decide that you’d need to do too much work on your current property to make the space work for your family. If that’s the case, then perhaps selling up and moving would be a better option.
In the UK, there has been a housing boom, despite the pandemic. According to Nationwide, prices were up 11% compared to a year ago and they remain about 13% above pre-pandemic levels. It’s been a surprise to see the market performing so strongly, especially as many experts predicted a property crash at the start of the pandemic. But it’s thought that low interest rates are contributing to the boom.
Deciding What To Do
It can be tricky to work out if remortgaging or moving house would be the bets option for you. So thing about the positives for both options, ponder the negatives and play around with the numbers. If you closely consider your options, then the answer should become apparent.
Note: this is a paid collaboration.