Should I move to a smaller house in a more expensive area?

[Fiona2011231]

Could you pls advise what I can do in this case?

We are living in a 3-bed house which we bought for nearly £250,000 a few years ago. The local primary schools are good enough for us. However, from our point of view, the secondary schools are not inspiring and we would need to move sooner or later.

But it seems that if we increase our budget to £400,000 (our maximum at the moment), we will have to settle for a smaller, perhaps 2-bed house, in more expensive areas with outstanding schools.

I suppose many have had to choose this for their children's future. But in the end, are you happy with your choice?

Or maybe there is another better choice that I have not thought about yet.

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Schools change. Is secondary school next year or ten years off?

Also depends on number of children as you can afford a hell of a lot of school fees for 150k - plus stamp duty etc etc

Agree with both of Cheshire's posts. If you move now in 5 years that school could be improvement needed. Many schools get complacent with their Ofsted and standards slip. We are in the same situation and when ever I look at houses in catchment at the same value as ours I feel sad, so small. That may sound spoiled but I suppose I love having the house I do and all the space. We have decided to wait and see as DD is only 5. A lot of things can change in 5 years.

Are there no other options such as an area where you could afford a three bedroom house and the secondary schools are good but perhaps not outstanding?
How many DC do you have? I don't think I would move knowing a long term plan is for teens to share but if you have 1 DC a 2 bedroom house could work.
What are the results of your local secondary school like, have you ever visited it?

You can also afford a lot of grinds for 150k. I wouldn't move to a smaller house as your children grow older.

I'd go for the better area with better schools every time.

How old are your children?

I have contemplated this idea for a very long time, even though my DS1 is only 6. The idea was to move to a better area with "posher" surrounds and an outstanding (currently) secondary with excellent results.
I have visited that secondary this year on an open day. While it looked OK, I had doubts were how many parents from that "posh" area give extra tutoring for the kids to perform well (which I could not afford to give if we stretch with the mortgage), also their examples of school trips were soooo expensive (S.Africa, S.America) that I wondered if we can ever afford it.
Also my DS1 may need extra support and there is no way of knowing if that particular outstanding school would be good for him.

So this is what I decided - wait until DS1 is in Y5, visit secondary schools then and if there is absolutely no other suitable school, move then.

By the way, one of my friends who chose to move to the "cheap" area that I am in, works with troubled teenagers. She said majority of issues, like drugs, teenage pregnancies etc. come in private, expensive schools.
Expensive areas also come with their issues. I trust her opinion. I used to be obsessed about moving to a "better area"... not anymore.

Meadow my DC are in their teens and 20's now and I found that a small percentage of DC go on the very expensive school trips and for some reason Open Days seem to mention them quite a bit.
My DS went on a ski trip, but he was 1 of the 50 that went out of a school with 1800 pupils. I live in a nice area in the South East.
I wouldn't worry too much about the school trips. There have been some where nearly the whole school year went on but they were 3/4 nights to Wales and France with the option to pay monthly.

Thank you so much for your kind replies so far.

My first son is in year 1, while the second son was born in 2013.

A person above suggested "wait until DS1 is in Y5, visit secondary schools then and if there is absolutely no other suitable school, move then".

If we wait until Year 5, is it too late? I suppose everyone would try to get into an area with outstanding school at least two or three years before their children are due to secondary school?

Thank you

I was going to say yes after reading your title. I would choose a smaller house in the nicest part of town over a bigger house in a not-so-nice part of town (and I've done both, and learned my lesson!). But then you said £400k for a two bedroom house and my eyes popped out of my head. No, that's crazy.

Where are you, out of interest? I'm in the South East and no stranger to insane house prices, but that's bonkers.

Stay where you are and spend the money saved on school fees. Problem solved and you';ll probably get a better school than the best state options.

I am not sure OP where you are but in London you can go to visit secondary schools on Y5 (in autumn), make up your mind and move by Y6 autumn (when secondary applications are made) - you would have the whole year to make the move. Many families do it year on year, so moving 2-3 years in advance does not give you any advantage.

My DC are Y2 and 4yo, and I used to be trully obsessed about "better area". If you want to be in that area anyway - do it not depending on schools. For me, for example, moving to the "better" area would mean difficult commute to the current primary and work - and I chose not to do it, at least not for now. I may move now but only because we need 3rd bedroom and not because of better secondary.

I would move to a more expensive house that is the same size for outstanding schools but not to a 2 bedroom house with 2 DC. I agree year 5 is cutting it fine but you do have a couple of years to get a plan.
How close is your current area to the possible new area? How would you work it out with schools for your youngest DC, would you ideally like to move before he starts school.
Are the secondary schools near you average, below or above average. Do examine the results and go and see them. Do you have the choice of more than one school?

Thank you again.

It is heartening to know you may move in year 5, as it will give us more time to think.

I live in Havering, where the house prices are relatively cheaper than many places in London.

Someone asked why I try to buy a £400,000 house. I have friends moving to Sutton, Orpington and North Kingston recently. Apparently there are outstanding schools there and they all have to buy houses at £400,000 or more.

And when I talk about a £400,000 house, I'm talking about mortgage, not cash. :)

Below is my answer to chickenfajitaswithnachos. Hopefully others can give further advice based on this info as well.

How close is your current area to the possible new area? I suppose it is far.

How would you work it out with schools for your youngest DC, would you ideally like to move before he starts school? It seems ideal to move before my second son starts school, but then it means I will have to move in the next two years, while my first son is at year 3 still.

Are the secondary schools near you average, below or above average? There are some good secondary schools, but as far as I know, there are no outstanding schools.
Regards,

I wouldn't like to raise teens in a rough area. Is the anything wrong with where you are apart from the school? If not I'd stay put. You'll regret the two bedroom house with 2 teens. There are lots of other ways to invest in their education.

Don't listen to your friends. If you are going to move out of Havering, go to Essex. Sutton/Kingston are ludicrously overpriced. Essex so much better value.

I just looked at the Havering School's league tables and quite a few of the schools have very good or good results. You need to look at the results in detail, check the results that the 'high attainers' of the school get. If 70% of the school pass 5 or more GCSEs at grade C or above including Maths and English do you think there is any reason why your DC would be in the 30%. Check what percentage of GCSEs are A or A*.
As an example, my DS's comp has a 70% of pulps get 5 GCSEs, a quarter of all GCSEs are A or A and just under a fifth of pupils get 7 or more A or As. I think those results are pretty good considering it is our local catchment school that everyone in the village goes to and not miles away.

If you're in Havering it definitely makes sense to move to Essex rather than Sutton. I used to live in Morden (horrible!) and although I know the schools are good, Sutton itself isn't all that.

I'm in Billericay now. The two secondaries are rated Good IIRC (my daughter is 3 so not an immediate concern for us!) but you also have the option of schools in Brentwood and are also within catchment for the grammar schools in Chelmsford and Westcliff.

Schools change. Unless you don't like the area, stay put!

I personally think leaving it till year 5 could be cutting it very fine, you could get stuck trying to sell. I would look when your eldest is in year 4. Where I am you can apply from 1st August in the summer holiday before they start year 6. Closing date is 31st October in their year 6.

I moved a few years ago, mainly for a bigger house and partly for the secondary school but was lucky enough to be less than 3 miles from the primary that my children attended. The outstanding primary school my children attended pushed up the house prices unsurprisingly so we moved to an area where the primary was good but the secondary was outstanding.

Ds1 walks to secondary and I have to drive ds2 to school everyday as he is still at the outstanding primary.

Your considerations seem to be would you need to move primary schools if you are moving quite a distance?

Would you really be happy in a smaller house?

And take a very good look at the admissions policy for secondary schools you may be interested in.

Not my son's school but another one has looked after children first, then medical, siblings, children of staff members then feeder primary schools, then if it is your closest school, then any other. It is over-subscribed every year.

What is the school admission policy changes in the 5 years after you move away?

Contented a bit OTT question. How do you cope with daily driving to the school 3 miles away? I am thinking to move 2 miles away, which would mean driving to DSs' school for the next 8 years! Is it worth it?

I think you need to do your research. I don't think an outstanding school becomes a special measures school overnight (no doubt there will be a MNetter along in a minute to say exactly that though!). I think schools are generally pretty consistent - certainly where we are. We moved to a much more expensive area specifically for the secondary schools. We have a 3 bedroomed house, with 3 children. It is the same size as our previous house, but the mortgage is double. We plan to extend at some point, but can't afford it yet.

It is a "nicer" area, the area as a whole is more family friendly / children orientated and knowing that we won't move again until the children have finished school is brilliant - for them and for us making friends / putting roots down. We lived in our previous area always knowing that we would move out of it before the children started school and I always felt a little in limbo - everything was temporary and for me personally, I hated it. In your shoes, I would try to find a house in the better area with potential to extend.

There is quite a large surge in children trying to move into our area in Year 4 and 5 - I think 5 is late because you may not get a place, you might not be able to sell your house and it may be quite a lot of pressure if you're bound by a latest date for applications.

Thank you again.

Mandy214's comments are exactly my thought and fear. What if it is too late when I move in year 5? What if my local schools cannot improve very much? (I believe schools have tradition.)

Other replies are greatly appreciated.