wwyd,roof, schools

[sabbledabble]

We live in a lovely house and ds is due to start school Sept '22. There are 2 primary schools we have a hope of getting into, one is a CoE school, which has a few places for non-church go-ers, we're not churchy so not sure we would fit in. The other is a low performing school, though rated well by parents, don't think I would be happy with ds going there.

The plan was to sell our house and move to a different area with better primary/secondary schools, however, it's very difficult as there is such a lack of school places where we want to be and houses are £££s. We do have a good budget but there will be compromises.

We were just about ready to put the house on the market, but noticed a leak issue which we thought was fixed has now come back worse. All the roofers who've looked at it, plus the ones who previously repaired a different bit of roof have said the roof is in terrible condition and needs replacing. We now think there are several options and just don't know what to do. 1) get a new roof soon and take the hit, prices are crazy high on the market anyway, we've made money from internal improvements so would get likely get some of the roof investment back, but then look to move spring/summer time, 2) get a new roof but stay where are and ds goes to one of the local schools but then move for secondary, obvious downside we are not keen on either local school! and would prefer ds to keep friends for secondary 3) patch up roof best we can and put house on market, it will no doubt show on survey and buyer will try and take money off or pull out but we won't have put the big investment in.

Any opinions :-) ???

[MojoMoon]

If you want to live somewhere else, just put the property on the market and be prepared to accept offers which reflect the fact it needs a new roof. Eg if a similar property is worth 400k, your property is worth less because it needs a new roof.

If you are worried about buyers pulling out and wasting your time, be upfront about it needing a new roof and price it appropriately.

All property sells when priced appropriately

[Knittedfairies]

I'd get a new roof now; there's still the best part of 2 years before your son starts school, and time for the low-performing school to improve. I wouldn't want a leaky roof hanging over me - literally and figuratively - it would put me off as a buyer if you hadn't done it when you knew it was an issue.

[TW2013]

Friends don't always transfer for secondary, even if they are in the same class they often reinvent themselves which I think might be worse. Being in the same class but then rejected. Generally you can also move a child fairly easily in the first few years of primary.

Can you market it taking into consideration the cost of the roof so it isn't a shock to buyers and priced accordingly. They might be looking for something which can have a loft extension so a dodgy roof might not be an issue.

[viques]

I would get the roof replaced. You have plenty of time to do it before your child starts school, and if you don’t do it then the problem could get a lot worse, meaning you have damp, problems, damaged decorating etc. None of which will help if you want to sell, and will moreover be unpleasant for you to live with. If you were going to move to a pricier area you would be better to make sure you get the optimal price for your current house. A dud roof will make you a sitting duck to get a lower price than the house warrants.

You also can’t guarantee what happens, in two years time the not so good school (which is probably fine if parents like it) may have a change of head/ staff and shoot to the top of the pack. And how do you know it is performing badly? Are you looking at data or Ofsted? What other things does it offer that makes parents like it, is it strong on sports /drama /music, which don’t show up in performance data but make a huge difference to a child’s experience. Is it a happy school, where kids are taught confidence, self reliance. Does it have a good community feel? So many things make a primary school special, and are not always translated into “results” .

There is also a loooong gap between starting primary and starting secondary, plenty of time to review options.

[sabbledabble]

low performing as in only 50% of children reach expected std by end of KS2 compared to 75-80% of schools in the area we could move to, national average is 65%. plus it has very few after school clubs.
offsted rated good, and has improved year on year since new headteacher and change of school status. they've started to take a 2 year intake now so that might change it also.

[sabbledabble]

thanks all for the replies!