Which choice for our future?

[KimGa]

Two Dds, one in year 5, one in year 1. We live in an extended 3 bed semi and want to move mainly because the secondary school we will get when we apply this autumn is undesirable. However more space would also be good as dh and I now mainly working from home (he’s in our bedroom, I’m in the living room).

Option 1. If we move half a mile down the road we get into catchment for outstanding secondary with amazing reputation amongst all our friends who have dcs there. All our dd’s friends will be going. It’s our hometown we’ve always lived here and been happy. But our budget only gets us something smaller than we currently have and needing renovation. No spare cash to extend, only a bit to make good what is there. 3rd bedroom small, kitchen tiny. No room for home office for either of us. Location is amazing in terms of being central: train station / town / cinema / sports. Also existing friends and family round the corner. Walk to schools and lots of independence as girls get older. But we are unlikely to ever be able to afford to extend.

Option 2. 3 miles away gets us a house in catchment for a good secondary, all the space we need - but it’s on a noisy busy road and next to a railway line and will mean waiting for an in year primary place to come up for dd2 and driving back across town for dd1 to finish juniors (and her space to come up). Where we are it’s infants>juniors, where this house is it’s all primaries. Slightly under max budget. It is further away from town and train station so independence is possible as they get older but not as easy as option 1. Will mean leaving behind friends etc for a school that’s not outstanding but better than what we’d get where we are. I know one or two people locally (kids don’t).

8 miles away gets us a massively bigger house - each child will get a double sized bedroom with en-suite. Schools also pretty good but for secondary a 15 min walk to a bus stop and then 15 min bus journey needed. More rural which has never been our thing before. 30 mins to a train station for a short ride to town etc or 20 min car journey - so possibly less independence as they get older. Less going on on the doorstep, definitely more ferrying about as they get older. And the starting over in terms of friends. House everything we want though. More spare budget for hols etc. School good but least favourable of the three and don’t know anyone locally.

Which would you go for as we approach the teenage years?

Option1
Make the house liveable. Save save save and slowly extend, Location is everything!

Option 1 definitely

The first one

Do not go more rural now - unless you are prepared to do a LOT of ferrying around of teenagers.
I would go option 1 - maybe look at a garden room for an office?

Option one and look at space saving ideas. A garden room for example could be an office.

In what way is the school undesirable? Are there any other school options?

Honestly none of those moves sound appealing - too big a compromise one way or another

Option one for sure

As another poster asked, how undesirable is undesirable? Why is the school undesirable?
Of your choices, I'd go with staying put or option 1 with a garden office.

We are not happy staying where we are. The school is rough, poor pastoral care as well as results. A good friend I trust has just pulled her son out of it because of problems.

Of course option 1 is the best choice for our children and I want to make it for their sakes, but it’s just going to make daily life for dh and I so much more difficult. The kitchen as it stands has 1 cupboard, a sink and a cooker. No space for fridge/freezer (it’s in the lounge). No dishwasher or counter space. We will have the wall down if we can afford an rsj which will make a small kitchen/diner which will slightly improve things, but will still struggle for all the appliances. Getting a larder in impossible, I’m currently spoilt with two. I also worry about living with it this way for a year and then living with all the work as we attempt to secure a builder who all have massive waiting lists round here.

There is only 1 toilet in the upstairs bathroom. I’m used to a 2nd bathroom downstairs and a utility room. Not sure where I’ll hang wet washing etc, but I guess I’ll just have to find a way. We may be able to squeeze a loo under the stairs though washing machine is currently there.

Does no one think option 2 with the house the size we want and good school the best compromise? The bad parts are uprooting the children of course and the busy road/railway. Wonder if I could live with that more easily than the loss of indoor space. And somehow it would feel like a step up the property ladder for all the extra money rather than a step backwards given it’s a 4 bed detached. Of course if we wait for a house of this size in this location without the road/train it will be out of budget.

There's no way on earth I'd take option 1. It's not just a small house it is a tiny house and once it has teenagers in it will feel even smaller.

I grew up in a small house and my folks had no money to renovate or extend. I had a tiny bedroom as a teenager and that was fine because we had a large dining room so I had a desk there. We didnt have space for a dishwasher, we had an under the counter fridge and a freezer in an outhouse. But there was loads of cupboard space nevertheless. Without that my mum would have gone insane.

I would go for option 2, so you get a little bit of the best of both worlds. If you are wfh you absolutely must have dedicated work space and enough room to get away from each other.

Option 3 sounds far too remote.

Also option 1 will max as out so much I don’t think saving even for a home office will be possible within 5 years 😬

I wouldn't choose option 1. Option 2 is a good middle ground.

Option 2, but wait for a house on a different road.

But we have effectively just done option 1 ourselves.

Option one sounds tiny! If I had to I would do option two - three miles isn't leaving people behind.

But ultimately I would try and make staying put work

I'd do option 3 and get the older one a bus/train card for independence. Def not option 1. Unless there was no other option.

Option 2. Do NOT go rural, the kids will be stuck for things to do and you'll end up driving them EVERYWHERE.

Is there definitely no way they'd get into the school you want (option 1) where you live now? Is it that over subscribed?

Also I've used paragraphs but the app will prob just remove them 🙄

Difficult to know but space is important especially if you work from home.Your budget sounds stressful if you stretch yourselves also.I imagine you live in an expensive part of the UK have you thought about moving to a new area?A big move I know but just a thought now you both work from home .Good luck

Just putting in my 2 cents to also say option 1! You can still make it a beautiful home on budget even if strapped for space.

Being in a similar situation to you, Option 2 sounds the best to me.

But I would do some
serious research into
all the schools. Reputation is not always deserved - both good and bad. And one parents experience may not be representative. I’d also research the chances of you getting into the better school if you stay where you are.

I would do option 3. The house suits you best and the car journeys aren’t too bad. The school sounds fine as well.

Option 4 - find a different house

Rent in catchment of the great school in town?

I have visited schools and researched admissions criteria / distances to school in previous years until I can’t research any more. We will not get the outstanding school from where we are. It is hugely over subscribed. Everyone else in our street with year 5 children are selling up too.

Although we work mainly from home we do go into the office 1-2 days a week so can’t totally relocate miles away. Also want to stay fairly close to family.

Waiting to see what else comes up is of course an option but we really have to have move completed within the next few months and the market is a nightmare in terms of house sales being progressable - if you can win a good one in best and final offers the owners can rarely find what they want so hardly anyone is going anywhere round here.

These three options are all no onward chain so feel progressable. Though any one could be under offer when I speak to the agents again shortly 😬

Also our offices have us on a desk booking rota - we can’t be in full time now they’ve reduced office space so going there every day not an option.