Confused as to buy a second home or not

[Anita1984]

Hi all, i would like to get some advise on the below. we are living in Ireland. we are a family of 3. myself, DH and DD (11 YO). We bought a house in 2016, a detached house in a small development in a semi rural area, 12 km away from our work. 250k mortgage is still pending.
There is a secondary school near our estate, however we are planning to move to the sub urban to get into a good school. we are thinking to buy a new build detached house (price ~500k).

we dont want to sell our current house as it has lot of positives like downstairs study room, sun room, not over looked west facing garden, converted attic, big car park area, overlooking big green area etc....
Standard of the secondary school and the age of the house are the major concerns( built in 2004) meaning energy efficiency is not great, C rated house.

We are thinking of letting this house and buying a new build detached house to be in the catchment for the good secondary school. However we are in dilemma because of the steep price of the house, east facing garden, no study/sun room/attic and garden is over looked by row houses. I like the kitchen, living room and utility layout though. The new build is in a posh area.

Currently we are able to save 2500 pm. if we buy this house we wont be able to save that much, we may be saving 1000 pm.

My DH is now saying he is confused as to buy the new house with the steep price, east facing over looked garden etc. also we will be having two mortgages if we buy the new house.

I am a foreigner living in Ireland, dont have anyone to guide us on this.

WWYD if you are in my situation? Would you live in the semi rural set up and close out the mortgage or would you take a chance and buy the second house too? Has any of you moved to a different area for schools and paying two mortgages? would east facing garden bother you? our current house is west facing and we get lot of sun from south into our dining area and sun room as we have green area to the right side of the house too.

Any advise/ suggestions are welcome!!!

Sorry for the long post and thank you very much for your advise on this.

Why not sell the current house and buy something a lot nicer? I think having two houses quite near each other is odd. You will have to deal with tenants and if you were in the uk you would pay tax if you sold your second property if it gained in value. No idea about Ireland.

You would presumably need to live in the second house to gain access to the school, so that would hsve to become your main house I assume. Why not buy one house in catchment?

Do you both have pensions? It great you can save but two houses seems an odd decision to me - unless it’s a holiday house!

Are you planning in renting out your rural home? That should cover the mortgage.
You don't seem that in love with the possible new home, and as you will be in it for a few years at least, I wouldn't make so many compromises - is it the only option?
I moved for schools and rented our my old home. Have to say after a couple different tenants it didn't feel like it was mine anymore so I sold it in the end.
I'd be inclined to sell your old house, buy a house you really like in the new location, then if and when the time comes to return you buy an even better house than your old one.