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Real estate advices

Love it or list it? Whether to extend your home or move on

Love it or list it? It’s a problem faced by most people at some stage in their lives: your home no longer offers the space or types of room that you need anymore.

Your family might be expanding and you need an extra bedroom, or siblings sharing just isn’t working as well as it did a few years ago. You might need a home office, you now really want that big kitchen/diner that you’ve always dreamed of, or you want a garden suitable for your family’s needs. In some cases space or building potential is totally maxed-out, leaving no alternative but to move.

However, many properties offer the potential for an extension, whether it’s space in the loft, garage, side/back of the property or even a cellar suitable for conversion, the decision isn’t always an easy one to make. If you’re weighing up whether it’s better to put your property on the market and move, or to extend and improve your existing home, here are some key factors to consider:

Go big or go home- extending your current property

With house prices having risen in many areas to be out of the reach of many and with high stamp duty, house extensions are becoming more and more common as growing families seek more space.  

If you love the location, have great neighbours and/or your children are settled at a good school close by, extending your home is a viable option. Extending it also brings the bonus of adding value to your property: by upgrading a two bedroom house to one with a third bedroom, it will increase the potential selling price in the future quite considerably.

When planning an extension, think about its practicality and also the appeal to future possible buyers. A three or four bedroom house that has a small downstairs space still will be harder to sell in the future. It’s also inadvisable to over improve. For example, you are unlikely to recoup the costs of upgrading a house by adding extra bedrooms or a huge kitchen extension if it’s located on a street of tony two bedroom properties- you have to think of ceiling prices.

Moving on?

If extending your present home isn’t an option, then selling up is the obvious solution. Unless you are intending to stay in a property for several years, you might not see the full financial benefits of an extension anyway. Moving house doesn’t necessarily mean leaving the area you love and could be well worth it in terms of the extra space you gain, as well as financially.

Bromley Property Company’s Digital Marketing Manager, Becky Freeman, sold her property with us a year ago:

“We lived locally in Coney Hall and loved the area, but we had had a third baby and needed at least another bedroom in our then-property. We were considering have a loft conversion done, but as it was a fairly small loft we would’ve lost a huge amount of storage space, and we didn’t have a suitable garage joined onto the house to use. In the end we found a bigger property, closer to the older children’s school, and decided to spend money on moving there instead. There’s still work we’d like to do in the future (the dream kitchen extension!), but we love the fact our new home has a bigger overall footprint already so it was worth the move”

If you’d like advice about whether to love it or list it, and on moving within your current area, or whether you want to know if doing any building work would increase the value of your property, Bromley Property Company can help.

Looking for more property advice? See some more of our current blogs

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Lewis McKale

Director, Residential Sales, Lettings & New Homes

lewis@propertycompanygroup.com

lewis@bromleypropertycompany.com

07507 656 668

020 8462 7155

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Lewis has over 20 years experience in the property industry. As a young negotiator he worked for large South East London Estate Agency and he also worked his way up to Associate Director at a City based Estate Agency by the time he was 25.

He jointly owned and sold a successful business in the East End of London before deciding to come back to his roots and set up Bromley Property Company in late 2016.

Lewis is a life long Bromley Borough resident and hails from West Wickham where he attended Wickham Common Primary School and then Hayes Secondary School.

He's married with three children, all of whom attend local schools. Both himself and his wife are very active with local autistic charities helping with various events.

Football plays a big part in his life, playing for Charlton Athletic youth team in his early days and he is an avid supporter of Bromley FC.

The competitive drive that pushes him on is what helps fuel his passion for the business. This and his in-depth knowledge of the borough is a great combination which helps deliver the results his clients have come to expect.

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Kyle Peters

Director, Land & Commercial

kyle@propertycompanygroup.com

020 8462 7155

07801 577 782

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In a career spanning more than 20 years Kyle has bought, sold and let Real Estate of all types and sizes in every sector of property industry. Throughout this time he was a long serving founder member of one of the South East’s most successful Commercial & Development property agencies. In addition to a successful agency career he has held senior client-side positions in asset & property management and investment and development acquisitions affording Kyle a holistic viewpoint and greater understanding of the entire process than some agents.

Technically knowledgeable and with a keen eye for detail he has a deep understanding of how to effectively market a property and revels in getting amongst the strategy of a transaction to ensure his clients expectations are regularly exceeded.

With a natural flair for identifying development opportunities and adding value Kyle works regularly with a number of clients on acquisitions and development & planning consultancy and has specialisms in the retirement, care and affordable housing sectors.

Born and raised in the Bromley area, outside of work Kyle enjoys spending as much time as possible with his young family, travelling and all things car related.

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Stuart Jackson

Sales & Lettings

stuart@bromleypropertycompany.com

020 8462 7155

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Stuart has worked in the property industry for 10 years now.

Previously working in the East End of London specialising in Shoreditch and The City but deciding to come back to his roots and work in Bromley, Stuart brings his enthusiasm, knowledge and hard work to the company and local Bromley residents will all benefit from this.

Stuart is also a local lad that grew up in Keston, attending Keston Primary School and Hayes Secondary School so his local knowledge is second to none. Currently living in Shortlands Stuart prides himself on his excellent customer service levels and is always available to talk about property and will accommodate viewings whenever he can 7 days a week.

Stuart works very close with Lewis in ensuring that Bromley Property Company offer a customer service unlike any other local estate agent making sure all of our clients be it Vendors, Landlords, Buyers or Tenants are all looked after and dealt with in the best way possible.

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Angela McKale

Admin & Marketing
 

angela@bromleypropertycompany.com

020 8462 7155

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Angela has worked supporting Lewis and his team for the last 5 years now and has taken the admin side of the business over and helps to ensure that our clients are given a service that is as efficient as possible.

She is responsible for that majority of the companies marketing and she also looks after the properties on our website as well as ensuring our clients are written to promptly.

Helping to run diaries for the team and ensuring everyone is kept on their toes is a real help and she helps keep things organised and ensures the business runs as efficiently as possible.

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Trevor Doran

Head of Property Management

management@bromleypropertycompany.com

07740 055 025

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Trevor has over 30 years’ experience in maintaining and managing properties.
20 years in the home improvement industry rising to director level served him well as a landlord and since 2009 owning and running his own business specialising purely in property letting and management.
A lifelong Bromley borough resident Trevor runs Bromley Property Company’s letting and management department and continues to operate at the highest possible levels of professionalism and service as the portfolio grows.
Sport and fitness play a big part in Trevor’s life as he tries to keep up with two athletic children currently in sixth form and university. He also follows the fortunes of the ever-improving Bromley FC.

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Amy has worked in Lettings and property management for 10 years starting as a Lettings Negotiator for a corporate Estate Agents in Dartford.

She then worked for an independent Estate Agent in Bexley as a Property Manager and then as Branch Manager for 3 years.

She took some time out when she had her daughter and started working again in Property Management 3 years ago.

Amy has a BA (Hons) Degree in Fashion and enjoys making clothes and she is also classically trained to Grade 6 in Piano.

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Becky Freeman

Digital Marketing & Social Media

becky@bromleypropertycompany.com

020 8462 7155

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Becky brings with her nearly a decade of digital marketing and multi-award nominated lifestyle blogging experience, and has worked with both household names and smaller companies to create content and enhance their social and online presence. She has appeared in various Interiors & lifestyle magazines, written for publications including The Guardian, and appeared on Channel 4’s ‘Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas’ winning her category of Christmas table styling!

After a disappointing experience trying to sell her house with a local high street agent, West Wickham-based Becky had heard great things about Bromley Property Company, swapped to us and quickly sold, and says she couldn't rate Lewis and his team's knowledge of the area and honest valuation highly enough.

As a bit of a property geek with a background in both business and lifestyle marketing, Becky is now on board to oversee all things digital for us through her agency Becky Freeman Digital.

Living and raising 3 children in the local area, Becky loves Bromley and all it has to offer a young family.

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Mary Radovanovich

MAAT, MICB PM.Dip., Accounts
 

mary@bromleypropertycompany.com

020 8462 7155

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Mary has been in the accounting industry for over 23 years and has a license with the AAT and ICB. Mary prides herself on excellent customer service and strongly believes in building a close working relationship with her clients.

Mary deals with the invoice payments and tax for the group as well as assisting with all aspects of accounting.