buying a new house with a view to move for secondaries

[Forrestcat]

We have found a lovely house near a nice primary school for our three-year-old. However, in the area there arent any decent secondary schools so the plan would be to move in 6-7 years somewhere closer to a nicer school Would this be foolish?

To explain, there is no way that we could afford a three-bed house next to a nice secondary school as we live in London, at best it would be a two-bed flat. My strategy at the moment would be to buy the house, enjoy it and live in it until DC gets older, and then sell to move for school and yes, maybe we'll end up in a two-bed flat but at least we would have lived in a nice house for some of the time. My parents think it's stupid and we need to think more long-term and that got me all confused. Moving further out is not an option as we both need to be onsite for half the week and moving jobs is difficult. What would you do?

I think that's fine for London, I would assume that people move more often there? Unless they're absolutely loaded.

I stayed in both my London flats for five years or so each and moved because of life stage changes.

Now I'm outside of London I think we'll stay put for at least 10 years but even if we moved earlier I don't think this move would have been shortsighted

I guess you'd just want to ensure that you could add some value to what you're buying. With the property market looking a bit uncertain you'd want to try and protect yourself from any short term fluctuations so you're not losing money when you move on. Although you'll never be able to predict what those fluctuations will be!

Schools can change a lot in 6-7 years. I think it's fine to move for the primary and then again if you need to closer to secondary.

I also don't think you can put a price on enjoyment of living. We spent a lot more moving from a three bed to a two bed in London but the two bed was much nicer, had a garden, and we absolutely loved our five years there. We'd have made more money if we'd stuck it out in the three bed but I think we made up for that in just loving the nicer environment.

Do it and enjoy it!

Coming at it differently, its incredibly difficult to move areas once you have children in school. Its not impossible, but very difficult. For applications for secondary school, you usually have to be resident in the area when you apply (so October of the year before they start) which means moving some time in Yr 5 at the latest - your child leaving friends etc, you'd just get whatever place was available which may or may not be near your new home etc. I'd think about it very carefully.

Sorry, I mean you'd get whatever place was available for primary when you moved (if schools are oversubscribed etc).

I think it’s risky to do that as you would have to get the timing just right to get in the school of your choice and your child might miss out.

There are 20 secondary schools in my city and almost all are oversubscribed in year 7 and most other year groups are completely full. So people move into the area because of the schools and have to send their child to the less desirable/lower achieving schools on each edge of the city anyway.

I also think you should look longer term.

Do you need to move into the catchment area for the primary school in order to get a place?

Will you need to move into the catchment of the secondary, or will you qualify as coming from a feeder school?

I think it can be risky to depend on moving during a specific time frame, as the house costs fluctuate and sometimes it can be nearly impossible to sell.

I've only lived twice in any house for 8 years in my 59 years - most were 3-5 years. Living in a house got 5-7 years sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Plus you never know what can happen in that time.

Interesting to hear everyone's views. We are currently in rentals so while we would be buying a house in the catchment of a primary school that's just because we are buying. In the future, one option would be to move close enough to a secondary in Yr 5 (keeping DC in the existing primary and just getting the bus) - or perhaps by then we'll decide to leave the country/London.

Am also conscious that schools do change so buying a flat next to a nice secondary now does not guarantee that it will be a nice one in the future but that way we actually get to enjoy a house now.

As people have said, schools can change a lot so no point moving for a secondary now.
Also, there are plenty of areas in London where you won't need to move too far to see a jump in house prices/secondary options. Therefore its perfectly possible to keep your DC in the original primary school and commute a little for the last year.

Also agree you need to enjoy where you live. I could have moved into a small flat to get an outstanding secondary but I have chosen to buy a house instead and stay in the current catchment of an OK school instead. We're Y5 now so will let you know how that goes.

What is your budget?

our budget is around 650-700 so sort of not high enough for a family area with a nice secondary and quick enough commute into CLondon.

Having done similar I wish I’d got the area right first time. Prices went up quicker in the good secondary area, the time went so fast, a difficult chain and things going wrong meant we didnt get the house we wanted to make the secondary application deadline but had to settle and I’m driving against the traffic to get the younger one back to school, because there are no places at the local primary school. Honestly, don’t be me.

Yes, thats what am concerned about. but we're already priced out of buying a family home now so it's either buying a flat now next to a nice secondary or leave it until later.

I also think that the secondary schools which seem terrifying and awful now (because teenagers, when you don't have them, do seem terrifying and awful) might not feel half so bad when they're filled with local kids you know from the primary school.
I said "over my dead body" about my local school when the kids were small but that was the hand fate dealt us and actually, it's been fine. It's not all that scary now my children and their friends are part of it.

We’re doing this. We have a similar aged child and are in the process of buying a three bed flat in the catchment area of an outstanding school. Our budget is similar and we will have to move in 8 years time. The other option is paying a very high rent next year close to the school if we don’t manage to buy.

@Bumbledee are you buying next to an outstanding secondary already?

No, buying next to an outstanding primary in London zone2/3. I don’t think there are any outstanding secondaries here. We’ve had enough of renting and if we wait to buy we’ll be absolutely priced out of this area that we love.

ok so totally same us .... where were you thinking of?

I think moving just for primary is fine. We did similar but had a 8 years before secondary.

700k isn’t so bad for an area with good schools.

@Forrestcat we are buying in London borough of Lambeth there are quite a few outstanding schools in Wandsworth and Lambeth with good transport connections to central London. We’re hoping by the time we have to think about secondaries we’ll be ready to move out of London. :)

If there's not an area that gives you a good primary and secondary, that you can afford while still being commutable for your work I'm not sure how much more 'long term' you can be thinking than what you are planning now. I have this with my family often, they suggest we ought to do things in a better way that just doesn't existing (unless we happen to find an extra few £££ we'd somehow forgotten ) frustrating but just smile and nod and do what you're planning anyway, you know what works for your family.

OK, firstly check when the outstanding primary school was last inspected by ofsted. Outstanding schools can go 10 years without an inspection, and a lot can change in that time!
Dont move now for a great secondary. Like you say, it'll be 9 years before your child goes and schools can change dramatically in that time. Move for a good primary now, worry about secondary down the line.

I think it will be fine - we did this and hoped secondaries would improve but they didn't really. So we moved over the summer between primary and secondary out of London to an outstanding school 5 mins walk from new house, went straight in at number 1 and got in a week or so later. It's hassle to move houses and took a few months to settle but our circumstances changed at end of primary years meaning out of London was viable. A lot can change in 7 years of primary - schools, your jobs, your kids, where you want to live.