All sorts of reasons can usher someone from flat to house. We can reach a point where our current home simply no longer meets our requirements and it’s time to upsize. We all love space and the studio or one-bedroom flat that once seemed perfectly roomy and suitable is now pokey and confining. Of course, selling your home and then going through the process of looking and waiting for the right one to come along, dealing with all the money issues, legalities, negotiations and hurdles is not for the faint of heart. But regardless of that, it could still be the right move for you. Here are some of the possible reasons the time could be right for a larger home:

• You’re having children. If your life is following the well-trodden trajectory of moving from singleton to spouse, then it may be that your union is about to be graced by the addition of little ones. Each chapter of a life generally requires a home to match. When a baby’s on the way, there’s a period in which you can still cope with a one-bedroom flat. Even once the child is born, it’s still possible to get away with it for a while. But then your infant becomes a toddler it’s better to uproot and move now, before schooling begins. A larger property with outdoor space means more room for kids to run around, play games and grow and is the perfect setting for you and your family to make beautiful memories.

• You’ve saved up. You don’t have to be forging a family of your own to want to upsize. You could simply have coupled up with someone or even be single but simply wanting more room. Anyway, why wait until matters force your hand. Upsizing without the pressure of children on the way means upsizing with less stress. If you’re an independent adult and you’ve spent your twenties saving, then moving somewhere larger and nicer may well be part of your plan.

• You want an investment for later in life. Upsizing now means that farther down the line, you can downsize, giving you funds to augment your retirement pot or simply allowing you to free up capital for other pleasures.

It’s estimated that around 75% of people think of a Georgian property when they imagine where they’d most like to live. The term covers the architectural styles that were in place between 1714 and 1830 when Georges I, II, III and IV reigned in uninterrupted succession. There was also a Georgian revivalist period in the early 20th century. It was a stylistically diverse period, incorporating a love of symmetry inspired by classical Greece and Rome but using more restraint. And even smaller, more modest buildings were graced with this love of the ancient classical period. But if you’re taking the plunge and moving to a Georgian house or flat, it’s worth being reasonably clued up in advance about what it will actually mean on a day-to-day basis. It’s not quite a simple as moving all your belongings there and then getting on with life.

Living in a Georgian house

Fortunately, the advantages are plentiful. Need more be said about the beauty of the architecture. The era was one of the most undisputedly glorious in UK history. There’s an understated grandeur and elegance to all things Georgian, especially the Palladian and Regency periods. Then there are the proportions. Lovely high ceilings, great shapes, and large windows letting in plenty of natural light. Some find the neo-classical Georgian phase a little too fussy, but it’s all a matter of taste. It’d be an oversight not to mention the durability of Georgian homes – the fact that they’ve lasted this long suggests that they’ll keep on lasting for some time to come.

However, for every advantage there’s often an equal and opposite disadvantage and Georgian homes are not with challenges and problems. Some Georgian terraces really were thrown up in a hurry and if you’re refurbishing, you may uncover some poor construction. The parapet roofs of Georgian buildings can also be tricky; from ground level it’s impossible to assess the kind of state they’re in. Furthermore, a parapet roof will have a lead gutter behind it. Slates can fall into it and block it, leading to damp problems.