To move or not to move...

[CityortheBurbs]

have namedchanged for this...

We are currently staying in Knightswood, in an end-of-terrace, 3 beds 1930's house. The plot is nice, with a shed, the view is good (if you blink out the towers in the background and focus on the golf course); we're not overlooked at all. Would be great to get more use of the garden, but the weather is, well, a bit wet.
We've recently converted the loft to make a bedroom for us, with en suite. On first floor, there is DD's room, plus a spare room where we've happened to accumulate all our junk. downstairs is a gallery kitchen, which is in bombed state (DH's part DIY job - work in progress - 3 years on); a smallish not very practical lounge, plus a dining room which is quite dark and cold.
So not bad. No period features at all. Just a house.

But knightswood drives me mad. I don't drive, I don't find the bus very practical with DD, the train station is approx 20 minutes walk, and inaccessible to pushchairs. I miss the busy West End, the opportunity I had to nip out to the shops for a short walk etc. I also worry about schools for DD (2yo) - not sure where we'd go, what schools are like, and how we'll cope with having to pick her up mid-afternoon after school (far from work if in Knightswood). Have no clue about the placement route, and whether it is feasible.

I rarely work from home, because DD's nursery is in the West End, so when I've dropped her, it's easier to just go on and go to work.

We have just about the finance to extend the house (corner plot makes this ok), knocking the kitchen wall to make it a dining kitchen, and extending to the side, to get a better lighting, view of the garden, plus side office. That would improve our current quality of life in term of the house itself, but I worry that it won't be enough to make up for the access problem, and schooling concerns. The building work would also probably push the house cost past it's true ceiling value.

On the other hand, we could rent our house (can't sell at the mo), and use the money as a deposit to buy a flat in the west end, where I'd be able to walk to nursery, work, shops, have a social life (none at the mo), and go to the gym with friends who live there.
We will never earn enough to get a fancy west end house with garden, so we would have to compromise for outdoor space :( which seems unfair to DD. Schooling would however be more straightforward for me / work (hillhead or notre dame).

I am very concerned that the idea of living in the WE sounds better than it truly is. We have seen a few flats, all do compromise in some way, either in state, space or absence of garden / parking or crap communal areas.
But staying in Knightwood truly drives me mad, so may not be a long term solution either.

Any advice, insight?

I live in kelvindale and it totally ticks all my boxes, the semi detached houses sound similar to yours in Knightswood, 3 bed (ish) with a garden and 2 receptions but we are a stones throw away from the botanic gardens and it is a quick stroll through to byres road. Kelvindale primary is lovely and I am very happy to send my little girl there in a couple of years. I have a car, but we just got a brand new train station and the buses into town are good. It also only takes a few mins to walk to the pubs and restaurants in hyndland.

I feel like it's a wee secret that not very many people seem to know about (..puts on smug happy face:) ). I love it here. If you want affordable, walkable, west end with a garden it hits pretty close to the mark.

crap - i wrote a great big chunk and the internet crashed and ate it.
thanks for all the feedback!

anyhow - we made an offer on a flat bang in the middle of the WE, and it got accepted!!!

DH, who at the start wasn't fussed, is now very keen, while I started very keen, and not find myself doubting (esp. now with the sun, the daffs etc..).

staying:
+s great view, garden, big shed, planning permission to extend (at a substantial cost), nice little features we added (roll top bath, wood burner, eco combi boiler, ensuite loft conversion), nice-ish neighbours (although not a community feel / more in a polite kind a way - we don't really fit in)
-s reliance on DH to go anywhere, or public transport of hell, not sure about schools (access to / from work especially, as well as standards), house on the small side (i.e. small rooms, no hallway with mucky pushchair straight in leaving room scenario), far away from work / never at home to enjoy it anyway, still more DIY needed to make it our "home"

moving to flat in WE:
+s nice investment, huge flat, high ceilings, potential to work from home / be at home more often, no reliance on DH for transport,
-s communal areas not great, stairs (1st floor), garden is ok but obv. not private (but secure for DCs), back in a "flat" situation with neighbours left right and center, more work / DIY to do

those aren't comprehensive lists whatsoever, but a start!

So we'll have to make a decision this WE, to see if we push this forward (scary in a way) or stay where we are (scary, for other reasons).

interesting plumviolet, and it sounds lovely.
I have seen a few houses (not many though!) advertised there, but it always felt a little far out.
I'm off to have another look!

Yay! Glad to hear you're staying in the WE - waaaaaay better than the south side (wannabe WE IMO ).

Obviously, I was and still mostly am a die-hard WE-er but we moved to Bearsden a couple of years ago and I don't regret it. We've got great schools surrounding us, our council tax is less than the shoe box we used to own in Thornwood and we've got a HUGE backgarden and lovely neighbours in a cul-de-sac.

the train station is only 5 mins walk from us too so any time we want a WE fix it's easy. Also Bearsden and Milngavie have lovely shops and boutiques that feel similar to Byres Rd.

I don't know - I am so confused it's bloody ridiculous, and now the sun decides to make it's once yearly appearance, and I'm tricked into thinking it's summer all the time in Knightswood (mind you, we didn't spend the afternoon in the garden, oh no, but in... Queen's park).
I am mostly worried about robbing DD of a garden, a what a house "feels like" (bloody ridiculous, but moving to a proper house was my parents' life achievement). I am totally glossing over the fact that we never go to the garden due to mostly shite weather. :(

mind you, as we get itchy feet every 3-4 years or so, we might move again when she'll be a little bit older, so it's not like it's a move-for-life.

Still I look around, and I am not sure. Looking at the stove right now. I love it. And the view from the window. So nice and open. It's all lovely, until the moment I start to feel trap, blow a gasket, or need to go to random appointment / work. Then I go mad.

It's the first time in my life I am struggling so much with a decision (for comparison, I moved countries about 4 times. Never struggled with the decision, despite leaving friends & family behind most times).

I just want my cake and eat it

And quite right you are to want your cake and eat it too!

That's why I'm saying, move to Bearsden! You're still within WE travel AND you get great schools AND lower council tax AND the house and garden

you wouldn't be able to go out in west end in eve from bearsden easily, public transports not very frequent in eve.

I know exactly how you feel, we went through your dilemma about six months ago and i was convinced that a lovely 3/4 tenement in the west end with big windows and the high ceiling was the way to go. The room dimensions are amazing too. Everything on your doorstep, lots of trips to meet friends etc.

...But then i think about the other things like parking (probably not so important to you if you don't drive much, but i couldn't cope with the 10 mins trying to find a spot nearby with shopping, dog and baby and the wrestle up the flights of stairs that ensues), the garden, your OWN front door and the absence of noise from people walking about/tv/baby crying etc above and below you in a flat.

We have an 18mo dd and are expecting our second (surprise bfp) in june and we were in a similar "should we move" dilemma but we decided that we are now going to stay put and are currently putting an extension on the side and converting the attic. Initially our main problem was that our 2 bed was too small for us with new babe on the way, but we love the area so much we decided to go through the hassle and just do it.

If you don't like knightswood you definitely should move. Seriously, life is too short to spend time somewhere that just doesn't work for you. Also if the schools are causing you concern that would be a real deal breaker for me. If the flat move is what is right then do it, but personally I would maybe think about renting somewhere for a bit to make sure that it is right first before you tie yourself into another mortgage. Particularly in the current property market.

Good luck though with whatever you decide! Xx

the last builder's quote tipped us over - the cost was potentially too great to ever be recouped in a future sale. And any building work can't make up for our "issues" with the area.
so.... we've put an offer on the big flat bang in the middle of the WE.
I am feeling a bit funny about it, and it probably will not fully register until we have moved and all (in July, in theory).

A bit of a rollercoaster of emotions.

(off course, the deal will only be sealed when we exchange missives, still that hurdle to jump...)

thank you for all the advice!

I moved from WE (flat) to Knightswood (3 bedroom house) and love it.

Have never waited longer than about 3 mins for a bus into town. Buses are just full of old people who chat away to my DD in the pram.

The area has wide paths everywhere making it easy to get around with a pram. All the mums and dad that I have met in the local parks are lovely and really friendly.

Some days we go to Victoria Park for a change from Botanics or Kelvingrove.

Knightswood Primary has a "very good" Offsted report so not sure why folks are worried about the schools, maybe that report was not issued at the time this blog originated.

Here is what I do not miss about WE:

Noisy neighbours slamming doors, walking about with high-heels on, on wooden floors!
Students walking past the flat making noise, keeping everyone awake.
Litter
Taxi's beeping horns way past 8pm

Hope this info is of use to anyone thinking of becoming a Knightwooder!

Zombie thread maybe... but fun to read this over again!

I must say that after 5 years back in the WE [which I am so glad we moved back to], we are moving back "out" to the Burbs (not Knightswood, though).

Noisy neighbours, tick; heels on wooden floors, tick; taxi beeing their horns past 8pm, tick; weirdo drunks pressing our buzzer in the night; tick, drunk students womiting around the street and close, tick

But this alone is not what is making us move - with no kids, we'd stay. It is the schools, and the fact that we do not have the £££££ to buy a fancy mega house near Kirklee bridge or Dowanhill!