Buying house within desired catchment area before even getting pregnant. Any comments?

[xiaolinghuchong]

DH and I are currently living in a two bed first floor maisonette in zone 2 London (no decent schools nearby). We are looking to have our first kid (not pregnant yet). At the same time my parents are expected to permanently move in with us which means we definitely need a bigger place than a two bed. We have thought about a few options but cannot really decide on one.

Option 1: buying a house within the catchment area of our desired primary school in a London suburb NOW. But I have read about schools can deteriorate quickly and there are people who lost money on their properties because of that. (Not to mention that they still face the problem of having to find another decent school for their kids). Also the catchment area and admission policy may change over time. Given that we still have at least another 4-5 yrs to go, the risk sounds rather high to me...

Option 2: sell our current house, rent and then buy just before the kid turns 3 or 4. However, with London house price spiralling up so quickly these days, we are worried that we may not be able to afford the family house anymore in 3-4 yrs time.

Option 3: Doing a loft conversion of our existing property and then buy just before the kid turns 3-4. The downside is that given that we live in the house, doing a loft conversion could be a big hassle. If we are looking to move out in 3 yrs time anyway, is it still worth the hassle to do the work? Also our current Victorian flat had some structural issue many years before. We are concerned that doing a loft conversion will bring back the old problem.

So dilemma really!! Any thoughts?

It really depends. Where are you thinking of going? You could buy close to a 'sure bet' super desirable state, and I'm thinking of tetherdown, brookfields for example. Unlikely to deteriorate v rapidly in next 5 years. It's a toughie - the world , and your plans can change a lot in a few years. And house prices in London do seem on an upward trajectory...

Option 1 does indeed happen, more often than you think

Option 2 yes being priced out is a possibility

Option 3 timings of house purchases can really drag on (eg we found I was pg with DC2, we sold our little cottage to first viewer, found current home the next weekend, moved house at EIGHT months pg omg. This was um er 12 years ago)

How about option 4 - move to an area you like NOW, all of you in a really lovely home, lots can change in five years

Dreamingofcakeallnight, at the moment I am thinking of Esher/Kingston/teddington/Richmond area, or further out to places like Godalming.

Thanks DeepThought, hmm, options 4 could be an option I think.

I would look for a home you like, within the catchment of a good school, but mainly look for a place that suits you now. And then move if you need to when the child is around 2. That sounds a better way to stay on the property ladder than doing the lift conversion and having four adults plus baby in a maisonette.

We bought our

We bought our place long before having kids. Things I wish I had looked for - being handy/close to a park, and living in a close or cul de sac. Cars zoom down our street faster than the speed limit as it is used as a shortcut. The train station is at the end of our street - handy for commuting. But in terms of getting a park outside our house to unload buggy, shopping it is a nightmare.

What's your budget and which it of London do you want?

Yes schools cn go up and down. But if you can afford to move to one of the streets right by both Honeywell an Belleville, it's as her to a sure thing that option A will pay off - there's no way that both those schools will go downhill simultaneously.

I think you have look at what you need as a family and other things that make an area nice. Quality of life is as important as quality of primary or secondary school. All those areas you mention are lovely to live in and I don't think you will go wrong with schools. Prehaps its worth looking at Surbition or Thames Ditton as well as the areas mentioned.

If you find that your child is in a poor school then you can top with a tutor. Obviously if your child is unhappy at school then that is a bigger issue.

Controversially I think I'd say that 'good' schools are overrated.
Of course, that's easy for me to say because my children go to one, but when we moved here I cursed myself for not having looked up schools beforehand but instead having gone for the house we liked (I was pregnant at the time). Our local school was supposedly dire (people said things like 'nobody goes there', when clearly quite a lot of people did), under subscribed, only one form out of two in y6 because there were so few pupils. I thought I must be a right idiot for not having looked at sats etc beforehand.

Anyway, I went to visit it and I really liked it and decided to go for it. It was still substantially undersubscribed when my first child went there.

Roll on three years and the catchment was tiny, good/outstanding rating etc etc people saying 'oh you're so lucky to live near that school'.

What I'd take from this is a) schools change and b) so what if a school is merely adequate rather than brilliant. Your parenting will be clearly very supportive given that you're even thinking like this. Much better to go for a house that you really like in an area you really like. I think your unborn children are very lucky that they're coming into a family so close-knit (there's no way we could live with my parents!).

We live in one of the places you mentioned and property prices have gone through the roof and people are becoming priced out . This is due to the excellent primary and secondary schools . I can only see prices increasing year on year . So I would move to the area you like then you can start your NCT classes etc and you child has a bunch of friends they will go to school with and great socially for you . All areas u mentioned very family friendly .

Buy a house that suits you now in a nice area you like.

I bought a house when pg with DS that I aimed to move from when he was 3 to improve school chances as it was an area with insufficient school places of any standard, never mind naice schools. Things changed and we really loved our house and the area, so when he was 3 and I was pg again, we extended to build a "granny annexe" for my mother with a view to her helping with childcare and us supporting her and me working a bit more to pay for private. Within 4 months of DD being born, my mother was in a care home with an unforseen condition so that plan went up the chimney. We were unable to rent the annexe out, DS had an absolutely horrid time at sink school miles away and we ended up moving across the country mid-way through DS's yr 1 to a completely different area in order to "balance the books" of affordable housing, nice area and school without police presence in the playground at drop off.

Schools change. You may never get or stay pregnant. DC may have SN or other physical conditions that make your current "dream school" unfeasible or simply undesirable. You may emerge mentally unscathed from extending the maisonette while 4 or 5 people are living in it, but be unable to sell it because of some unforseen change in your location or be unable get a mortgage on a new property because your work situations are dramatically changed by redundancy or ill health. Keep one eye on the future, but plan for now.

I think you're overthinking things (and, believe me, it takes one to know one!). Most primary schools do a pretty good job, and the vast majority of kids with supportive, engaged parents do well wherever they are. I'd move now to an area that you and your parents all like, and which you can see would suit family life for when you get to that position. Put down roots, get involved with your local community, then when your children start school they'll be settled, they'll have made friends already and they'll almost certainly do well.

I'd say buy very near to a very good school. Most very good schools won't go downhill that quickly, but if they do, and you have lost a bit of money, you are in no worse a situation than if you have to move for a school anyway. However, you are more likely to be already on the doorstep of a school you like, without the need to move again and waste money on a second stamp-duty. So, although it is a risk, you may end up only having to move once.

Saying that, we accidentally ended up on the doorstep of a 'good' school, very popular, lots of people move for it, but the head teacher changed and whilst it is still very popular, I don't like the head teacher (in fairness, we never visited before because we weren't even married let alone thinking of children). So, we are thinking of sending our children to a school 2 miles away. However we don't want to move because we primarily moved in because of the house and the area, not the school.

Actually I think primary schools can change incredibly fast.

When we first moved here, the talk was all about how to scan your way into a place we were out of range for. Within 2 years it had suffered a v public (ie national news) scandal and gone into special measures.

Another v desirable school has had its intake substantially changed by new council rules on distance (lots more pupils from, literally, the wrong side of the tracks.

I know someone who did the whole moving out of owned house into rented place for a school now in special measures.

Interestingly the first school I mentioned is already good again and seems fine.

You just don't know so go with what you do know - a house and area you like.

Thanks so much for all the advice! Looks like we should be mentally prepared to move twice in the next few years.