Moving to Petts Wood Orpington - why this house not selling

[olivia117]

Hi everyone! We are considering moving to the Petts Wood, Orpington area for our 2-year-old child to attend Crofton Infant School in a few years and Darrick Wood School for secondary school in about 9 years (we do not plan to push our child for the grammar schools). We have started viewing properties, but so far haven't found anything within our budget of approximately £700k that we like.

(1) There's a large detached bungalow on St Thomas Drive that seems spacious and pretty, catch both schools, although it is slightly over our budget and requires some renovation. However, what's holding us back is that it has been on the market for several months and hasn't sold, despite being marketed by multiple agents (rightmove listings). So it's possible that there are something wrong that everyone sees that we just don't.

Could anyone with local knowledge help tell us some possible reasons why this property hasn't sold yet?

We have identified some potential drawbacks, but we're not sure if they are significant enough to prevent the property from selling:

• Possible surface water pump controller/alarm mounted on the house front wall (photos)
• Priced a bit high
• Medium surface flood risk
• Close proximity to Kyd Brook
• Close proximity to Crofton Woods
• North facing garden
• Require some work/redecoration

(2) Additionally, there are some other houses on Nightingale Road and Crescent Drive that fit our budget. However, we are concerned that these areas may not be within catchment for Darrick Wood School for secondary. We'd prefer not to move again in a few years due to the stress involved. Does anyone know if there are good secondary schools for children living on those roads, excluding grammar schools? Or most of them would have to move again for secondary?

(3) Also there are bungalows on Derwent Drive and Greenfield Gardens which are quite small and require a lot more work/extensions. Still, the main concern is they seem to be on the edge and can fall out of Darrick Wood's catchment. Does anyone know if children living on these roads can attend Darrick Wood School?

We would appreciate any comments or advice you can offer. Thank you!

It looks a bit dated to me. I know nothing about the local area but as a house it's nothing to shout about. Ceiling in one of the rooms looks odd like they've wallpapered it which means that the ceilings might need attention. But nothing structural is wrong from the photos.

I think agent has made the rooms look small though

I think it's the location. It's a bus to either Orpington or Petts Wood stations, and the bigger shops. You'd definitely get into Darrick from there though.

Crescent Drive, Derwent etc are all closer to the main bit of Petts Wood. Personally I'd rather live in Crescent or Nightingale than St Thomas Drive.

But it would depend on the year whether you'd get Darrick there. If you look on the council website you can see furthest distance offered (as the crow flies) but that's only first round. There is a lot of movement on school places and I think anywhere on that side of PW you'd stand a good chance of getting Darrick in the second round of offers.

If you have boys there are also good single-sex school options. Less good choices for girls.

I don't know the area well but that house looks so small for a growing family. Those two loft rooms have very restricted ceiling height. I guess you could extend sideways into the garage but nothing else on the street has done that. I think you'd be better off going for a larger semi detached for space.

I’m selling in an adjacent area and there are lots of houses just staying on the market because they are too expensive for what they are yet the sellers do not drop the price.

I don't know the area, but I'm stunned at the price, for what is a very ordinary and dated house, that requires a ton of work.

Where I live (near Edinburgh), with that budget you'd get a massive 5/6 bedroom house with a sea view, huge garden and no works needed. The house in your link would be £250k tops.

Sorry not helpful!

I have no idea on the price because we don't live in the area but some points that would put me off:
No dining area in kitchen and kitchen and living room not directly connected so impractical for family meals.

Separate bathroom and toilet downstairs and only a shower upstairs

Is there definitely parking for more than one car? Not obvious from photos.

It obviously needs modernising but that wouldn't bother me if I had the budget to do it, it's fine how it is short term.

Sloping ceilings really put me off but that's more a personal preference

There may be something you can't see from the photos, for example the bedrooms may be smaller than they look from the floor plan because of the sloping ceilings.

The sellers might have just been refusing offers and holding out for the asking price which is maybe a little high

I think the fact they haven't dropped the price despite being on the market 8+ months (they have swapped agents instead of dropping the price) tells you that they are not willing to be flexible on price.

Also - small rooms and layout not very family friendly. If there is a flood risk then I would take that seriously as well.

@Groveparker01 Thank you! Sorry we did not make it clear that our child is a girl. Indeed we also think Crescent Drive, Derwent, etc. are really lovely. Do you know what parents on those roads would do for their child to go to good secondary non-grammar schools? We could only think of either (i) stay and be at the mercy of the second rounds for good non-grammar schools, (ii) move again, or (iii) grammar schools.

Our first priority when consider moving to the area is good primary/secondary schools for our DD and prefer not to move again within 5-6 years. Also we can't assume our DD would be competitive and lucky enough to get into one of the grammar schools. We want to avoid all the above 3 options. That's why we were thinking of trading off the proximity to shops/train stations (as long as we could reach those by bus/car/bicycle within 15mins) for guaranteed catchment for both primary and secondary.

@Nextdoor55 Indeed we agreed, the internals look a bit dated and do require some work. The work required in the short-term would not be too time consuming/costly, but long term we might consider doing some extension to add more space.

@WonderingWanda Agreed. We have noticed that most houses on this road only do either rear extension and/or loft conversion. This house has one of the bigger loft conversions.

> you'd be better off going for a larger semi detached for space

We would totally be open to that option if there were one that fits our requirements that does not require too much work. So far we have seen very little supply of good house in this area.

@dbeuowlxb173939 Thank you! Indeed the 2 things you pointed out also put us off a little bit, we were just assuming we'd be able to alter the house slightly to make it work, but it might turn out not to be as easy as we thought. There also seems to be only one parking space at the moment.

So these 3 factors might be important to several people.

As well as anything stated above - nothing's shifting at the moment.

I think most people wait for second round offers! There is loads of movement after offer day. I think Darrick did offer as far as Crescent Drive last year but it depends where you live on the road! And it changes year to year. Last year Darrick offered to 1.042 miles on the first round so you could measure the distance from potential houses and make a judgement?!

Girls could also go to Bishop Justus or Coopers but in my opinion neither are amazing (I don't like church schools anyway though the facilities at BJ are great). Or there is also Chislehurst School for Girls which is struggling with staffing a bit I think.

Also Crofton doesn't usually go out further than a mile so the nearer you are to Darrick the less likely you are of getting Crofton. But you'd get Darrick primary instead

@NewFriendlyLadybird @JellyMouldJnr @Blondiebeachbabe Thank you! We share this view as well. The house seems expensive for what it offers. We wanted to find out if there's anything obviously wrong with the house that we were just blinded to, before we get more serious with it and make offers.

Have you looked in the roads the other side of the main A232 eg Grange Road etc The closer you are to Petts Wood the lower your chances of Darrick Wood especially around Nightingale Rd etc (although most years children living on the Orpington side of Crofton do get in). The other advantage of living that side is that you are close to Orpington station and have a choice of primary schools including Crofton Tubbenden and Darrick Wood

When the decor is dated like that it often means are partial or full retire will eventually be required…

Not sure if you know how much things are costing at the moment, and cost will depend obviously on spec, but it’s hard to spend less than 10k on a bathroom for example. The costs of even a simple cosmetic refresh can be way more than you might think.

It's tiny and extremely dated. I'd not be considering it unless I had the money to knock it down and rebuild.

@peppermum60 Thank you! We have not looked specifically at that area, as that side seems have a lower the chance of getting to Crofton primary (we know, we wanted too many things!) But eventually we might be open to that option as well.

Could you help us understand better which area the "Orpington side of Crofton" covers? We heard a few people mentioning that but we did know exactly where its boundaries are.

Looking at the pictures, there’s a little bridge to the shed / summerhouse and on the map there’s a blue line next to the house.
Is there a stream in the garden? Might be a negative with young children and also increase flood risk.

If you stand facing Crofton schools Petts Wood to the right Orpington to the left. So the "Orpington side" is the area to the left.

Does it back onto the woods? That might be putting people off. Also train noise? It carries quite far.

But you've got 2 train stations in walking distance (less than a mile!)
Bus routes on Crofton Lane

It looks like its an elderly couples home, perhaps in a nursing home now, so maybe not a rush to sell.