Reasons we want a new home

According to this website, the top reasons to build a new home include:

It's NEW!

No one else has ever lived in it before, so everything is clean and brand new.

Contemporary Floor Plans

Designs evolve. Old, obsolete homes may not address the way people live today. 

Customize Your Home

Build your home to order. You help design your own living environment, just the way you want it. 

  

Safer And Healthier

Wiring systems are up-to-date. Hazardous materials, such as asbestos, formaldehyde and lead, have been eliminated from new home building products. 

Energy Efficient & Technologically Current

Energy efficient windows. Better insulation technologies. Better control of air infiltration, resulting in healthier indoor air quality. Modern heating & cooling system. 

Financial Advantages

Build home equity. Roll the cost of upgrades into your mortgage and pay over time.

etc.etc...

The real reason why we're looking to build a new home now, is simply because our neighbour is doing the same.

woah *insert the squeaky sound of a record being played in reverse if you will*

It is NOT a "keeping up with the Joneses" kind of a thing.

a) they are a really nice chinese family so their last name isn't Jones

b) we do want to enlarge our living space to accommodate the needs of our quickly growing kids; and 

c) here's the story with what's happening with the Joneses neighbours.

Here we are Circa 2015

We live in house 'C'. An intermediate terrace sandwiched between two other houses. It gets a lil' dark, but no big deal so far.

What's happening now tho' is that our neighbours (Joneses "B") have demolished their home and are looking to rebuild it as a semi-detached property.

The issue for us, is that when we rebuild our home, we will no longer be allowed to redevelop it as an intermediate terrace; but rather we are obliged to build a semi-detached home as well. 

Now, having to change to a semi-d means that we loose ~30sq meters of living space because of a setback requirement. To make up for this loss of space, we will, in all likelihood have to add an additional storey (see MAN CAVE) and this means that the build we were dreaming of in the past needed to change.

So there - we don't NEED to rebuild. we just needed an excuse to do it.

Oh and the man cave thing.