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Original poster

would you buy a house if it was absolutely a dream house if it was not in a dead cert catchment area (London)

68 replies

Levantine · 06/02/2012 16:03

me again Grin

The estate agent rang again to tell me that our buyers want to be in MY flat within seven weeks

We saw a dream house on Saturday, but due to baby boom and the building of a block of flats, even though it is 0.3 miles from local primary we may well not get in (plus have to transfer DS1 who is already in reception)

It is enormous, room to let an annexe if we ever needed to, so no financial strain, close to shops, park, good transport, near friends etc etc

DS1 could be taken door to door to current primary by bus while we wait for a space for him

Should we? Would it be mad, and impossible to resell?

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MarshaBrady · 07/02/2012 10:45

It was a disguised disclaimer. I don't want you and MrL to wake up in the night three years from now and shake a fist and say that Marsha on mn, we should have bought that house Wink.

You need more time to think, have another look. Look at some houses close enough to the schools you like.

randombloke · 07/02/2012 10:52

Ha ha...don't worry MB we won't blame you.

I think we do need more time but unfortunately the flippin estate agents selling our place lied about when we would be able to exchange contracts and our buyers have consequently handed in notice on their rental place so we have to be out within 7 weeks (so he says). He didn't exactly manage their expectations and now has put more pressure on us.

Also we are just not getting any sleep at the moment because we seam to have spectacularly failed at sleep training DS2. He was up most of last night. I'm sure he's picking up on the general level of stress 'chez nous'.

Hey ho...

MarshaBrady · 07/02/2012 11:12

Does anyone on that street get into the school you want (it will probably change but at least you'll know how much of a chance there is in general), is it possible to find out from the school.

And can you find out where they do send their children if they don't get in. Do they do the long drive to your current school or a closer one?

MarshaBrady · 07/02/2012 11:20

Could you rent next to the school you like then buy when he is in?

Original poster
Levantine · 07/02/2012 11:26

I think children have pretty much got in up until now - there is such a bulge with five and unders in London at the mo, but it sounds as if the block of flats will change the catchment permanently - it's only single form entry.

Had a long chat with the secretary who was lovely - she thought DS1 would probably get a place at some point, but in year transfer better chance than reception admission

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jeee · 07/02/2012 11:30

I would be a lot more concerned about secondary catchment areas - my DC go to a very average primary school... and it's absolutely fine.

None of mine have reached secondary school age yet (eldest is waiting on March 1 to find out where she's going), but in my non-existent experience, the sink secondaries seem much worse than the sink primaries.

noUggscuse · 07/02/2012 11:59

I fully agree with jeee. Most primary schools are good, its the secondaries that i would be concerned over.

If you move, then surely a local school will have spaces? Even as a stop gap? You may even like enough to stay. An hour every morning/afternoon sounds exhausting for such a young child.

bigTillyMint · 07/02/2012 12:00

Levantine, if you are happy to take the bus/wait for a place at the coveted primary school, then it's a nobrainer, isn't it?

As for secondary, as jeee says, a sink secondary is not what you want, but that is 7 years away and so much can change over time. The coveted sec school my DD (and DS will follow in Sept, fingers crossed!) attends was, even 7 years ago, that desperate sink school.
Anything could happen by then Smile

Original poster
Levantine · 07/02/2012 12:02

I know all about your former sink school! we're talking about just up the road from there - my best friend went there in the eighties - it's unbelievable how it's transformed isn't it

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bigTillyMint · 07/02/2012 12:05

Oh! How did you work that one out? Grin

Are you buying near me?

MarshaBrady · 07/02/2012 12:05

If the school says you are likely to get a place, then that sounds good.

It all depends on how long you have to wait.

Original poster
Levantine · 07/02/2012 12:14

I read the secondary threads pretty obsessively at the mo Grin

I think you might be further east - we are looking pretty much every around the hill in Forest Hill - this is CP though

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Original poster
Levantine · 07/02/2012 12:14

everywhere

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LadyWellian · 07/02/2012 12:16

Tilly does your school feature a 'pod'? I believe we may have been on threads together in the past (DD didn't get a place there but it was our 3rd choice and she is blissfully happy in 2nd choice that was 1st realistic choice).

If it's that one and the admissions procedure doesn't change in the next seven years then it scarcely matters where Levantine lives as long as it's roughly on the same planet.

If it's the one by the station, then it's a different matter, obviously.

Original poster
Levantine · 07/02/2012 12:20

I think we are talking pod

TBH the lottery is already so oversubscribed it might have collapsed under weight of numbers by the time DS1 is 11, so I am almost discounting already

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Original poster
Levantine · 07/02/2012 12:22

correct me if wrong obv BTM

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jasminerice · 07/02/2012 12:24

I'd prioritise school over house. There's no such thing as A dream house. There are loads of them out there. You just have to be patient.

LadyWellian · 07/02/2012 12:26

Hmm. Is DC2 also a boy? Would FHB be an option? And if house is in CP, how close to HACP? I hear that is the flagship of the Carpetright empire.

If your DCs were girls I'd get my SE4/SE13 evangelising hat on (the primaries are largely very good or very improving too) but I think it's less clear cut for boys.

bigTillyMint · 07/02/2012 12:42

We are talking pod Grin LadyW, did your DD get S? I know many happy girls there. Infact, of all the children I know, I don't know of any who are unhappy with their school. There are lots of good schools in this area, believe it or not!

And many good primaries, although Ofsted may not have deemed them outsatanding, but then, what do they know? Grin

Original poster
Levantine · 07/02/2012 12:48

would be in the lottery zone for HACP - too far for FHB I think

If we had girls I would be in SE4 like a shot!

OP posts:
LadyWellian · 07/02/2012 12:49

Tilly, DD got PHFC (or just 'P' as it used to be known before it started empire-building), but she has lots of friends at S and some at 'pod' too.

I wasn't keen on the idea of S and wasn't even going to visit, but I had to pick DD up from the open morning after a sleepover and was actually quite impressed. We did only put it 5th though.

miaowmix · 07/02/2012 12:52

I would buy the dream house.
Hijack, but can somebody tell me the dream girls' school in SE4 - we're not far away and am thinking about the future... PM if you don't want to broadcast it please? Smile

bigTillyMint · 07/02/2012 12:52

LadyW, I had forgotten P! I really liked S. Infact all our choices would have been fine!

Levantine, have you been to visit any of the more local possible primaries if you weren't to get into your favourite?

Rhubarbgarden · 07/02/2012 12:52

I wouldn't get too hung up on primaries. A good friend moved her family to a house right next door to the best primary in their area, so she could be sure her kids would get in. The house is cramped and overpriced; her ds has been at the school one year and she is less than impressed with it. She is now considering pulling him out and sending him to a private school. She wishes they'd stuck with the bigger house they used to live in, as they will now end up moving again in the next few years with all that inherent cost, as they simply need more space.

Fwiw I'm currently considering buying a house in a primary catchment deadzone, as it's a house we would be in for twenty years or more. I'm figuring we'll get dd in somewhere, even if it takes time on waiting lists. I agree with the poster who said that secondaries are the main worry.

LadyWellian · 07/02/2012 12:53

Levantine so are there any secondary schools you would be in catchment for? I'm not actually sure whether 'a bit too far from everything' is better or worse in admissions terms than 'close to a school we aren't keen on'. I suppose the risk with the former is you get allocated a school you aren't keen on that might be miles away.