Choosing where to live- heart vs brain

[Potaytoe5]

Hi all, I'd appreciate some advice.
We'll be putting our house on the market soon and we started looking at areas we'd like to live in, and driving past some houses there to get more of an idea.
I feel stumped.
I know it will all come down to the house itself, but I feel like we need to plan ahead as we'd rather move sooner rather than later due to DC's school- if we decide to move areas, that is. I feel like I like where we live, but realistically we'd prefer a detached house as our 'forever home'.
Is there anything else I should take into account? Crime rates are similar, I checked the flooding levels as well.

AREA A
Currently live here
A bit mixed, not a lot of detached houses, will probably end up in another semi
Some very spacious semis, near a road but with big gardens back and front, a lot of them extended, overall spacious
Near current school, which gets mixed opinion but DC loves
In catchment of the best secondary in town (currently, but DC is still v young)
Walkable to town
Easy drive to work, but we mostly WFH
Houses are cheaper, we'd have a lot of money leftover for holidays etc
All current friends live near here

AREA B
Suburbs of the same town, but very bad traffic to town, it often takes 30 min to just get to town centre (only need to go to the office 1x a week though)
Overall much cleaner, greener, and I guess 'middle class'
Could get a detached house there, which we'd like, probably with a smaller garden
We'd have less money left over but still enough
Some of friends don't drive so we'd likely see them less
In catchment of the best regarded secondary school, seems to be going through a rough patch- but we still have years before DC finishes primary
Local primary should have some spaces and seems much nicer than the current one, with more events and trips taking place- current school doesn't organise much, as most parents can't afford it

A sounds best, but I am someone who prefers location above all else. The word suburbs fills me with dread.

And this!! I find the concept of a forever home so unachievable. No one knows what will happen tomorrow

I think some people are taking 'forever home' too literally but it's clear OP is looking for a longer term home until DC are out of education - circa 15 years

There are some proper 'period' semis in Area A, but looking at what's available today today there is only 1 and out of our price bracket!
The other ones are 1930s semis, very similar to our current house but slightly more spacious/bigger gardens and very affordable (only about £80k over the value of our current house). A lot of them don't really offer much of an upgrade on our current house though. Would love to be able to get one of the nicely renovated and extended ones though.

I am worried that secondary school in Area A will go back down in rankings as it's a bit less consistent past few years, whereas area B is always somewhere near the top... it might just come down to whether there's a suitable house in the Area A.

Thank you for your opinions on location importance down the line, don't fancy ferrying teenagers about too much although it will probably happen anyway.

Yes we don't really fancy moving again in 5 years.

Will your household income rise over the next 5-8 years? You might find that money for hols expands a bit.

Local friends and an easy school journey improve the quality of life no end, IMO. Walk round the corner to collect from a play date , walk themselves to school in Yr 6, walking distance or public transport for secondary and public transport that enables teens to be independent. All important.

I would go for B if you can make the financial reach.

Yes, sorry, I meant a big semi in A for all the reasons stated.
A.
I get either ors mixed up a bit, sometimes.

For me the Secondary school would rank highly in importance - I’m saying that as someone who moved for an Outstanding Primary but now needs to move again for a decent Secondary catchment! Very annoying, the time just flies.
I’d also place more importance in the actual GCSE and A Level results than any ranking….
so another vote for Area A here!

@NicLondon1 area A primary school is a bit underwhelming, but DC is happy there and progressing, so I shouldn't really complain. Both areas have secondary schools with very similar results, but Area B is more affluent so you would expect better? They're also seemingly much less friendly there than Area A school, I've heard it from several people now so it must be true.

TBH I am still not sure which area is 'heart' and which area is 'head'

I think you need to decide on a secondary school. i would probably look at the school with the most consistent results.
If results have been coming down, have they had a change in leadership? That might be a red flag.

Read Ofsted reports and look at the league tables. Have a look at FB to see what people are saying. If you have friends with older DC talk to them. Don't just use 1 source, get a rounded view.

A half hour drive into the town centre is a long drive, that sounds like a large 'town' and I'd have though the area you are in with lots of period properties would be more popular than an out of town modern estate.

We moved from a 3 bed detached to a much larger 4 bed semi slightly nearer to town (same school catchment). Our semi is 1920s and solidly built but we can still sometimes hear the neighbours if e.g. we're reading in the sitting room quietly and they have family round. Not a big issue really.

@Pipsquiggle Looking at secondaries it doesn't seem to be that much of a difference over time, although Area B has a 'reputation' of being better.... I've researched and asked parents, looks like Area A school is both good academically and supportive, whereas Area B is currently just hanging onto its reputation. It is very hard to predict what will happen in 6 years but I like the sound of our current catchment school better.

@JaninaDuszejko It's only half an hour drive in peak time, traffic is very bad that way! Otherwise it should take about 15 minutes.
Area we are in is mostly terraces with a few bigger semis.
Are you pleased with your house move from a detached to a semi?