Which plan should we go for?

[Housebuyingdilemma]

Please help me come up with a solution for this situation...

We have outgrown our current home (two bed flat in a nice Herts village with commuting links to London) and need to move up the ladder. However, we have had no viewings yet (after weeks on the market). Smaller properties in our area (small like ours) take time to sell but 2-3 bed houses go very quickly. So we thought we could try and get a buy to let mortgage for this one and move to a house as our next property.
We have enough equity in this flat and just enough savings to buy a tiny 2 bed house in our area (great state schools, both primary and secondary) with a 10% deposit. our mortgage in principle is now in place for both this flat and a residential house.

Now the dilemma: I badly need office space, due to nature of my work. And we want DCs to sit grammar schools exams (3 years for the older one, five years for the younger one). For reasons I don’t want to write we are positive both will be successful (please please please this is not a stealth boast in any way and I could be talking out of my arse here so be kind!).

Which of the following plans look best?

Plan 1:

Buy a large house now in an up-and-coming area with not-so-good schools. This area is quite close to our current home and both DCs could keep going to the same school as now so no issues about primary school right now. Then we can move in about 3 years again to get into a grammar if we get an offer. We will then sell both properties to buy a home. We are aiming for Barnet or Sutton and we will have enough savings to buy in catchment for a good secondary school any way if DC is not successful. Or, we could get a bigger house in our current area (great secondary schools but no grammar). This plan means we can have a large house now and I can have the office that I badly need. I am aiming for a promotion in the next few months to a year and need to put in the hard work to pass a certification which means I need to organise myself and have office space.

Plan 2:
Push our budget to the maximum and buy a tiny 2-bed house close to the great secondary in our current area. This means I might have an office in the loft, a rubbish garden and less than ideal parking. House price only go up around here. Not that I want to make a profit, just that we won’t lose our money when we sell. We will have surety of great secondary schools.

Neither will be our forever home.

I wish we could sell our flat as I am not keen on becoming a landlord but things are not moving fast and I badly need the office for my work. We have friends who are keen to rent long term in our area so no problems about that.
I am also scared of all the hassle of being in a chain at such a crucial stage of my work.

So I am basically going round and round in circles. We just received the mortgage details so do not wish to waste time.

Which plan would you choose?

I know it is too long so thank you!

How definite is getting into grammar from the up coming area? People where I am passed the 11 plus but were too far out to secure a place. If you’re going to move again anyway I’d make it all about school and then the next move will be about ticking all the boxes.

Neither.

Sell the flat now.
BTL are a disaster right now. The cost alone is not worth it let alone the stress and hassle.

Just bite the bullet and move to barnet now so many good schools. (I know both areas and Sutton is not my cup of tea....)
There a lot of extension posibilites on properties round there and a lot of them need renovating so you can make some value add

Plan 2 seems to have a lot of advantages. Moving both children where they have to start at schools where they know nobody sounds tough . The Sutton grammars are also notoriously difficult to get into .

Have you thought about other areas with grammar schools (most of Bucks for example). If you don’t need to be closer to London then it seems a bit unnecessary to spend the money to be closer. Like others I would also be very wary of buying a new house before you have sold, no one quite knows what the property market is going to do over the next couple of years. Also if it takes you a little longer to sell the market for your onward purchase might be a bit better. I would really focus on decluttering etc and making your flat super desirable, and also carving out a bit of space for a home office- even if the kids have to compromise. When you do move I would go wherever you can be sure of getting a grammar school place- all your other factors seem secondary.

If you have a friend who wants to rent your flat then that is a good arrangement in my experience. I have a friend currently renting my flat, another inadvertent landlord here, and it works out nicely for both of us.

Thank you for all the replies!
Seems like no one likes plan 1.
Regarding grammar schools in Bucks, I have started to look into it although I am worried that we would be too far from family and friends. Sutton and Barnet are quite good for being closer to them.
Good to read about experience of letting to a friend. We have known them for over 20 years and they wish to rent long term.
Seems like we need to go for either

1. A flat in Barnet or Sutton, or
2. A tiny house in our area.

Stroud is great for this too (top ranking grammar) but it’s too far from family.

@Whereverilaymycat

How definite is getting into grammar from the up coming area? People where I am passed the 11 plus but were too far out to secure a place. If you’re going to move again anyway I’d make it all about school and then the next move will be about ticking all the boxes.

We are too far out from Barnet so yes we lose that advantage completely for any of the grammar schools.