Owning your own home

No smug wine shop near by, which is an honest concern, because we are spoilt atm.

Built wine cellar in remodel. Stock up at Majestic. Job done.

Dunno how much Fox's extension was but I'm not sure how famous you'll get for 75k... Mate of mine in Catford spent £130k doing a bog-standard loft conversion and kitchen extension (open plan, bi-fold doors, island, etc). It's really nice but not unusual/architect-y.

75K was an estimate to get it nice and livable... the guys I get to do my my building work are super cheap but decent, pals of mine just spent 140k on getting half their house redone, I'd only be after a small but well designed middle class conservatory so think it would scrape in under 100k. Your mate obvs didn't buy enough bronze/copper.

Very interested in these building works discussions. Keep getting tempted to put an extra floor on the top of my house (it's a two storey modern ish house but with flat roof, neighbours are all pitched so higher than us).

Trying to work out how much that might cost to do is one of the considerations before we decide to potentially fork out for the first steps (architects plans, planning permission)

pics?

Can confirm the downside of having an instafamous home is the bill :((

Be careful what you wish for Chris!

I'd do it. In 3 years time what would irk you more, not having a year of fun or seeing what that gaff would now be worth?

Any chance of sharing that link again? Sorry, I didn't save it...

To be honest I don't think I'd need to spend loads, I'd rather have garden than house, so a cheeky sliding glass door and I'd be done. I'll work out a way to get instafamous somehow without spending too much.

@andyfallsoff a pal had a roof extension done and it cost her 45k I think?

@Tenderloin but nothing is guaranteed, except death and taxes.

Bloody stamp duty too... strewth.

Could only find a couple during construction unforch.

Which link, general write up type thing?

You can listen to me on Radio 4 talking about if you like, hah.

To be honest in my experience you should take what you think it will cost and double it. So you're looking at £150k :)

Yeah With pics? Listening to you on Radio 4, while I appreciate the impressive boast post, may be crossing a line for me, dipping a toe in stalker like behaviour.

Thanks though.

All the pics please.

Who did the work and are they happy with it? On the cusp of sorting this out (also in Catford) and a few more people to get numbers from would be great.

That sounds more reasonable than I expected! Was that a straightforward case of building up, conversion or something else?

Everyone I speak to has different ideas, guess I'm not going to know until / unless I start to get bespoke quotes for what I want - it just means incurring some speculative architects costs prior to even having PP

Join the wine society. loads better than majestic. and get champagne from @Vince.

did you say something about a house?

We bought a house 3 years ago that was cheap because it needed loads of work doing to it. It cost 50k and took six months to get it liveable, but in my view it was well worth it.

The six months of living in one and a half rooms was pretty painful, and I still find the odd bit of plaster dust on something. But after six months that 50k Had easily increased the value by 100k, and we now have a nice house in an area we want to live in.

I bought a house 15 years ago which needed a lot of work doing to it.

It still does.

we've been fortunate in that we decided to buy in walthamstow in 1997.

Hahaha, house tripling in value probable doesn't approach fair compensation for 20 years there...

It's not so bad.

We've got hipsters and everything, now.

Lived there for 18 months now. It should feature on the Bristol Stool Chart.

Definitely agree about the champagne. His non-vintage is an absolute beauty. And I need to order more.

I'm a member of Naked Wines, which I can totally recommend, as you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are directly funding the winemakers, and the wines are fantastic.

SHOULD I STAY WHERE I AM THEN?!?!

I DONT KNOW.

Because if I don't buy this place I'm not sure if there will another opportunity, next stop Walthamstow or Forest Gate (shudder).

It's a real shithole, one room has sold everywhere.

Not sure why you would find it much more stool-like than any other similar bits of London.

The study...

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I'm taking the piss. We live in the nice bit. We have a garden, a park and more artisan bullshit than we can eat. It's actually quite lovely.

Can you do both or is it only possible if you sell? Also, second home stamp duty is £££