Could you live comfortably as a family of 4 in this?

[KimGa]

Hello, I’ve posted multiple times with various questions as I’m in such a quandary. Here is another, forgive me. The background: we have lovely 3 bed extended semi with parking and big garden, but outside catchment for decent secondary school. Not willing to consider secondary school we will get. Need to move this autumn. Can’t afford any houses we like in the catchment area. So going back and forward about whether to proceed with sale and go into a rental if we can get one - but financially it will be the worst choice (we’ll have to use part of equity from sale to fund a year in rental as monthly cost is double mortgage - will we get back on ladder in 12-18month?) or shall we buy something smaller/worse than what we have?

A smaller house has just come up which could work as it has 3 decent sized bedrooms and no onward chain. No parking and very small garden. This is the floor plan. We have a 10 year old and a 5 year old and husband wfh (will have to have a desk in bedroom, but he is used to that). Think we’d put 10 year old in the basement for now as we still have to go to 5 year old in the night sometimes.

Do you think if it was you, you could manage quite happily in this for 5 years or no?

Plenty of space. However, the no parking and lack of garden would make it a no for me.

Calm the fuck down

Good idea to use the lounge as a bedroom and make the basement into a reception room.

Be fair to the Op The basement clearly has a window. I don't actually think a room can be marketed as a bedroom without a window.

It sounds like you know this house will always feel like a compromise. Of course it's manageable, we have a small house, need to think carefully about storage, regularly get rid of stuff, don't invite people over that much, don't have a dishwasher. You can manage in that house, but there are compromises and only you know how much of a compromise it will be. I think you are maybe asking the wrong question. How much are you willing to give up in terms of garden, day to day ease of parking, storage etc for a certain school? Which will have the bigger consequences for DS and your family?

We are in the same boat. Good school+bad house or middling school+nice house. For what its worth I think that a "good" house might be worth more than a "good" school for overall family happiness, wellbeing etc, but that is my view.

I wouldn't move. Keep your kids on the waiting list for your preferred secondary. Your current setup sounds ideal. Get some good tutors with the money you'd spend on this move.

I think you’ll manage with that square footage. Are you in London at all?

Not a chance I'd move to this house. Off street parking, dishwasher, big garden etc are priceless.

It would be absolutely fine. The stb 11 year old won't need a 'playroom' and is plenty old enough to be in the basement. My DS 2 and 3 shared a room until they were 14 and 16 and DS1 had the box room in my 3 bed semi. The school is more important.

I would no way use the lounge as my bedroom. It is too far from the bathrooms. If your son would be OK in the basement, your plan sounds fine. Have an Alexa / Baby monitor for easy communication.

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but it sounds like you need to be in the new house by the 31st October, the deadline for applying for secondary schools.
Given that is only 4 months away, are you in a chain free position? I only ask because, the chances of moving in that time frame is quite slim and I wonder how you would feel about the house if you didn't complete before the deadline and couldn't use the new address for school applications.

Well, that's an easy one because we lived that ourselves. We have two children, now adults and never lived in anything above a 3 bedroom house. Didn't have more than one bathroom until the children were in their mid teens. I honestly never thought anything of it and definitely didn't feel deprived in any way.

Despite having enough rooms for our children to have their own, they chose to share for many years.

It's more difficult to downsize if you've had a bigger home with more space. The space isn't really an issue, it's the comparison.

You're absolutely right--missed it! Still wouldn't put the ten year old down there. As for a later poster who wouldn't want to be so far from a bathroom, I assume it would only be a year or so until the basement could be switched back.

The on street parking would be my only real issue here. Small gardens don't bother me at all, but the lack of parking would be a deal breaker. We live in a city with mostly street parking, but made sure we bought one with a decent drive and sacrificed other things to get it.

The space sounds just about workable but there are a load of other compromises on top — parking, kitchen, tiny garden, no office space.

My gut says you'd fit, technically, but you'd forever feel like you're living at Number 12 Compromise Street and it would make you all miserable.

You could consider taking the shower out of the basement room and having a washing machine plumbed in with a stacking dryer on top. That might free up a unit in the kitchen for a dishwasher.

The house is plenty big enough, but what's so wrong with the school you are in catchment for? If it's the Ofsted report, how long ago was that, and what were the reasons for a bad report?

Are you aware that it only takes a change of head teacher or of a couple of the SLT for a school to go from being very good to not very good, or vice versa, within 12 months.

I really wouldn't base my choice of place to live on how well a school is performing a year before I'm going to use that school (or not use it).

The obvious solution is to let your house and rent in catchment for as long as necessary.

Not condoning it btw but plenty of people do so.

Also, the school landscape is constantly in flux. It only takes a good/ bad Ofsted or academisation for schools to fall in or out of favour. Do your research, visit the schools and make your mind up - do not rely on local gossip.

Cross posted with MrsOwainGlyndŵr but agree 100%. You need to find out what the schools are like in reality.

The one favoured by the chattering parents at my school, my DC and I loathed on sight. The local 'one to avoid' was praised by families who actually attended. My DC got into our favoured third school because another school opened that year and skewed the catchment in our favour. Another was taken into a successful academy group and has been turned around into a fantastic school. You just never know.

wow that house is narrow! But the overall SQM looks really decent.

Have visited the schools. Dh and I are both in agreement that it’s a compromise along the lines of this house or rent, we are not prepared with the compromise that is taking the school we would get. Every time we walk past it we see seriously antisocial (dangerous) behaviour.

We do live near it but we got in to nice infant and junior schools a little way away as there are more choices for that age group.

Admissions policy of school we want states that if we have owned another house in the borough within the last two years we have to show proof we have sold it. Rental contact must be shown and must be for at least 12 months. So can’t rent out current house and go back to it.

Regarding time scales we are allowed to change address on our application up to 9 Dec. We have to exchange by that date. This house has no onward chain so in theory do-able. Our buyers are coming out of rented and have already had survey, searches etc done on ours as we were buying another compromise house but it fell through.

I love the idea of swapping downstairs shower for washer dryer stacked so that we can have a dishwasher in the kitchen, not sure if we will regret loss of shower in teenage years though.

I think the size is fine. Could you afford to extend the kitchen to the side? That would instantly make the kitchen / dining room a better space.

The size in sq metres is really good for a 3 bed. Could you get a desk in the 5 year olds bedroom for her to use after school and DH to use for work? Obviously wouldn't work during holidays but it might help him separate work area from sleep area most of the time.
A side return extension in the long term could make for a beautiful kitchen if you can afford it and can also afford to lose that part of the garden. In my experience that part tends to be in shade and turns into a bit of a dumping ground anyway (with Victorian houses at least).

I think it would be fine, but agree you will want to reconfigure. I wouldn't have a problem being two floors away from a ten year old, but don't think I'd do it when the stairs are arranged like that (down, into the kitchen, out though another kitchen door and down again.) I'd probably go with using the basement room as a reception and the reception as your bedroom.

I would like to bet the downstairs bathroom could be rearrange to allow for both a stacked washing machine/drier and the shower if you really need a separate drier. Certainly keep the plumbing and then you can put the shower back in if you decide to extend the kitchen later.

And I live in London. I've never had off-street or dedicated parking and the only times I ever missed it were the odd occasion I had to try and get a sleeping baby and sleeping toddler into the house. Once I was past that stage it was fine.

That's huge compared to the house I grew up in!