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?

Yes renting an option - but we have to show school admissions we have sold current house and then we have to rent for 2 years or the school place gets taken away. In the meantime rent each month is £1000 more than our mortgage would cost so that would eat into our capital. Could be a good option if house prices round here are going to fall - but are they? I think I’m too risk averse.

If we go for option 1 we could sell up again in few years if we can’t bear it being tiny, I guess. Should be easy to re-sell if we do it up a bit due to great location.

Definitely not option three. An average school and minimal independence for teens sounds unappealing.

We have moved around a lot, mix of renting and buying.
We have normally gone with an equivalent of option 2, and it’s been fine every time, we’ve made it work. We’ve lived on busy roads, places where we’ve been a 40 minute walk to the station, had to drop and pick up Dc at school by bus as too far to walk etc, but you get used to it.

Once when we were renting, we went with an “option one”. The location was amazing, and we really made the most of it, but the tiny living space was really stressful whenever we were indoors. I’m so grateful we weren’t living there during lockdown! We only lasted a year there, and were relieved to move a bit further away for more space.
Everyone is different, but I know I would never pick “option one” again.

Option 3.
Its a 15 minutes walk to the bus stop, that easily buys teens independence.
Better house. Secondary means a new start and friends anyway, so friends are a non issue imo.

Probably option three for me.

While option two is the compromise, it doesn't really satisfy anything.

But it very much depends what kind of life you want. Do you do family walks, do the kids ride bikes, do they like sports? Or are you very much about bars, restaurants, cinema etc?

Until you pin down what you want from an area and consider how much you actually use it then it's difficult to say.

If option one didn't totally max the budget it would be the obvious choice but it sounds like you'd really struggle to make it work

Option 2 if I was pushed, thought the busy road isn’t ideal.

Because none sound really appealing though i would consider renting for a few years.

Option 4 - rent out your house and rent one in the area for an outstanding school. Move back once youngest is in the secondary.

I think that's unfair of the admissions. People sell and rent for many reasons. They surely can't penalise those kids. It's basically saying that if you have a split in a relationship and sell up then rent your kids are not welcome here.

None of them sound suitable. I think you should keep looking

Option 1. Save up what you can to extend or improve later. Maybe think about renting a desk space close by, this happening lots where I live, and may benefit you and your OH in the short term if space is tight.