Would you live in a mobile home for 2 years whilst building a house to get a better education for your children?

[Mysteriousgirl2]

We are a family of 5 happily living in a detached house in a rural area. The secondary state schools are poor here though. When we first moved, we assumed that we could afford private education for our kids. Basically, we’ve recently come to the conclusion that we really can’t. Sending 3DC with all the price rises year on year just isn’t going to be affordable. And that’s with saving really really hard throughout their primary years.

We are going to look at a building plot in another county next week. There’s excellent schools in the area and I think it would be a much better investment. DH is not keen on buying a house that he hasn’t built or worked on (he’s not strictly a builder but we’ve self built our home here already). We wouldn’t be able to buy a ready made house which compares to ours now in this new area so this is a way in for us.

Is it worth moving to the other area to get into the better school catchment?

It’s a much more affluent area - therefore more engaged parenting and better school environment. Where we live there is a high travelling community (honestly not trying to be a snob or knocking it) but in our experience the focus on education just isn’t there and it impacts the local school.

But if we did it, we’d need to live on a building site for at least 2 years in a mobile home..

Can your DH really build a house in 2 years alongside his day job?

Buy a wrecked doer-upper and convert to his standards?

Good mobile homes are expensive: rent nearby while you build / do up instead?

Your children are young enough that I’m sure they would be fine. It’s you and DH who will possibly go crazy!

Make sure you cost it all out really carefully. Price of materials has increased massively. It would be unfortunate if it ended up costing so much that you could have stayed where you are and paid for school fees with the same money.

No I wouldn't, that's a huge chunk of their childhoods spent living in presumably subpar accommodation, if you could afford 2 mobile homes could you not afford to rent?

I'd struggle but yes I would.

@Mysteriousgirl2 I did it for just under 2 years with 2 kids (and a cat!) We have only very recently moved out of it into the house.

It's definitely manageable. The first year was fine, but it definitely started to annoy me a lot more in the second year as time went on. The kids were absolutely fine with it, but they were young and pretty adaptable.

You need to get one that's double glazed and has central heating. Do you have much furniture etc to store? If so, where will you store it? Storage costs are pretty high. Where will you put a washing machine?

I'd say go for it. Look at it as an adventure and take the minimum amount of stuff you need. Use it as an opportunity to properly declutter.

You'll never be so glad to live in an actual house once you've spent 2 years in a mobile! And even better it will be a brand new house that you've built yourselves!

No, I wouldn't. They grow up so quickly and you'd be spending those precious years only half in their world. The best of you and your DH may be given over to the all consuming build. I would move for better schools though. Find a place in the right location and make changes to that house to make it your own. Ban episodes of Grand Designs until it is completed.

But the OP will have made a couple of hundred thousand in equity on the house, and can afford to sell and move somewhere new.

In this economic climate who can presume that?!

You ever heard of Maslow ?

@Mysteriousgirl2 I've just read that you plan to put a lot of stuff into storage. I'd definitely look into storage costs first as you might find it's cheaper for you to rent than to store a lot of furniture for 2 years! I was shocked by storage prices when I looked into it.

We did move into a mobile and we actually just dumped/gave away big items like sofas. It was cheaper to do that and buy new when we moved. I had a couple of good items I wanted to keep and thankfully we had family who were happy to keep some stuff in their garage for us.

The risk is huge doing a self build though. I wouldn't put 3 dc through that. What's so bad with buying an average sized home within your means?

Worst case scenario on self build is terrible life changing stuff. Worst case scenario on a standard house is.. not as bad..

I wonder if the self build being completed has left a hole in your life and your marriage and now you're trying to fill it with yet another self build. I did the same with renovation, realised it too late. I would have been better off getting a finished house and picking up some actual hobbies..!

Hi @Mysteriousgirl2 I'm going to say yes as the kids are still young, but we've done it three times now. The stress of the build is way more than the stress of cramped accomadation.

I've just read some of the posts re storage, if you have the space could you buy a shipping container then flog it when done?

I know a family of 5 who lived in a mobile home for just over a year in same circumstances - whilst their kids end for local independent.

The mum (know them through a club our kids go to) use to tell me she got some right looks but other than that it was fine!

I thought that too. He can “work on it” by, say, fitting a new bathroom or whatever. His being “not keen” sounds like a daft reason to disrupt the lives of young children to such an extent.

🤣👍

Yes, to moving house for better school, but no to self-build if your husband has ft job somewhere else, too. Otherwise, children will not see their dad, you will not have a husband for at least 2 years and don't start me on the (inevitable!) arguments between you two about the house! I know what I am talking about, as we are in this at present 🥲
Never again I am building my own house while holding a job and having young children (older than yours, OP) around!
Prices for materials tripled since covid/brexit/somethingelse. You might need to price everything up before starting.
Having said that, I would change location for the schools alone.

My main concern would be that the school you are aiming for would have changed by the time you get there. You need it to remain good for the next 14 years for your youngest DC to have progressed all the way through.

Personally I think it's a lot of upheaval for quite a lot of risk.

If you were thinking private you presumably have spare money to throw at any gaps in your local education provision. That's assuming you have an "ok" local school as opposed to an "absolutely dire" local school

I’d do it. If the children would have better educational opportunities, I’d take the hit for two years.

Given the age of your children I would do it and do it quickly. Your 7.5 yr old will be starting secondary by the time you've sold, got planning and built

Even if the school I’ve got in mind changes, there are a few really good options around the new area, whereas our current area has only one bad choice.

We’ve done a self build before so we are aware of the costs etc. Also our parents both have farms with safe indoor storage that we’d be able to use for free.

For those who are saying renting is cheaper; rents are at least £1500pcm. The mobile home costs are £3000 each (we know a supplier and have looked into it) but we’d need two. So mobile home on site is definitely cheaper.

No. My Dad lived in one of those big static 'park homes' for a period and don't underestimate how cold they are in the winter. Remember constantly feeling of being damp as had condensation on all windows. Really unpleasant.

My aunt and uncle did for 3 years while they built their home, with four kids. As long as there is outside space to play in I can't see a problem.

I'd do it too. But then we're about to take on our third build project with small kids

i wish we had done this instead of renting.

I probably would do it if the plot afforded a nicer life on the whole.
the kids won’t care but expect it to be a hard slog with cold, damp, trying to get washing done (launderette will be your friend). And homework. If any of yours are nearing important years at school I would T risk it. Don’t under estimate the amount of stuff that will get ruined with damp and mould though

I wouldn't even consider it. I'd much rather compromise on the house and buy the best option available at the time. The thought of living in a tiny, cold space through winter is horrible.