We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Genuine newbie, genuine question
QueenOfTheDesert
Posts: 30 Forumite
I have been looking around here for a while for the right place to get advice but there isn't really one board that covers all the elements. As it is house-price related I thought here might be a good start and wondered if the regulars would give me an opinion on my situation.
My child is very gifted at school and currently in private education but the school only takes her until age 16 (currently nearly 14). She will be put forward for scholarship at various schools outside our immediate area (rural Suffolk) as there are no 6th form colleges nearby that are rated which means we will most likely have to move. The question is that not knowing where she will be going to school until quite near to the time we need to be living there, how do we go about it?
In our view the market will remain slow at the top end for some time as chains are still not completing so our large family house will not sell quickly so trying to buy, sell and exchange to a time limit is not something we can rely on. We aso don't want our child being disrupted around the time of starting a new school so we all need to be settled as soon as possible ideally.
In previous times we would probably have bought a new house in the preferred area and put the existing house on the market and not worried about how long it took to sell, maybe even have rented it out, but the prospect of having two expensive family houses on the go when tenants are hard to find and prices will probably drop at least another 10% is not attractive in fact it's downright scary.
Renting is not an option as we have numerous pets and also smoke so I really do not know what to do, when to do it or even where to start although my instinct is to start doing something this spring while houses are, hopefully, moving and I still have a whole year to play with so all thoughts, suggestions, ideas very gratefully received!
My child is very gifted at school and currently in private education but the school only takes her until age 16 (currently nearly 14). She will be put forward for scholarship at various schools outside our immediate area (rural Suffolk) as there are no 6th form colleges nearby that are rated which means we will most likely have to move. The question is that not knowing where she will be going to school until quite near to the time we need to be living there, how do we go about it?
In our view the market will remain slow at the top end for some time as chains are still not completing so our large family house will not sell quickly so trying to buy, sell and exchange to a time limit is not something we can rely on. We aso don't want our child being disrupted around the time of starting a new school so we all need to be settled as soon as possible ideally.
In previous times we would probably have bought a new house in the preferred area and put the existing house on the market and not worried about how long it took to sell, maybe even have rented it out, but the prospect of having two expensive family houses on the go when tenants are hard to find and prices will probably drop at least another 10% is not attractive in fact it's downright scary.
Renting is not an option as we have numerous pets and also smoke so I really do not know what to do, when to do it or even where to start although my instinct is to start doing something this spring while houses are, hopefully, moving and I still have a whole year to play with so all thoughts, suggestions, ideas very gratefully received!
0
Comments
-
Do you keep a camel?
If not ask Hamish & go against his advice..Not Again0 -
[STRIKE]Whats a camal?!1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »[STRIKE]Do you keep a camal?[/STRIKE]
If not ask Hamish & go against his advice..
[/STRIKE] Amended :A
Queen, you shouldn't smoke, its terribly bad for your health, and your looks :AWe cannot change anything unless we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses. Carl Jung
0 -
I'm sure you'll hate this suggestion, but I'll try it anyway. At 16 couldn't you find a nice family to take your daughter in close to her new school? She could still come home weekends. I would have thought that might even be very good for her - independance from the family whilst still being well supervised and cared for. It *could* be less unsettling knowing the family home that she's familiar with is still there any time she wants to go home.
Other than that I'm stumped. It's a tricky one and I hope it all works out well.0 -
-
Deleted_User wrote: »I'm sure you'll hate this suggestion, but I'll try it anyway. At 16 couldn't you find a nice family to take your daughter in close to her new school? She could still come home weekends. I would have thought that might even be very good for her - independance from the family whilst still being well supervised and cared for. It *could* be less unsettling knowing the family home that she's familiar with is still there any time she wants to go home.
Other than that I'm stumped. It's a tricky one and I hope it all works out well.
I don't hate it, in fact it's something I hadn't thought of and could buy us some time so thanks for that!
It is tricky and makes me wonder how people who move into catchment, for example, manage it because unless you are very lucky, at some point you are either going to be commuting horrible distances or disrupting the children at absolutely the wrong time or am I the only parent that worries about that sort of thing?0 -
Well firstly don't give up on being able to sell before you've tried. You may have problems but then again you may not!
Secondly, if you look around you may find someone who is prepared to rent to you with your pets, especially if you agree to put down a higher deposit. The smoking thing shouldn't be a problem if you agree to smoke outside only (not much fun right now I guess).
Could you rehouse your pets for a while?
The alternative is to take a risk and have 2 houses for a bit.0 -
I can't believe you'd put all that pressure on your child... selling the house etc.
Do you only have the one?
You don't need a large family home in the 2nd area. What about keeping your existing house and buying a small 2-bed place just for the 2 years she's in education, you could even go home to your proper family home at weekends/holidays.
Or, rent a small place in the new area - there are landlords that do take pets etc.0 -
If your daughter really is so gifted send her to the local sixth form, she will still shine and get in to Oxbridge and meanwhile she will get to live in the real world and mix with real people and maybe understand that just because you go to an expensive school you are not better than other people - plus her presence at the local sixth form will improve it as well.I think....0
-
Well firstly don't give up on being able to sell before you've tried. You may have problems but then again you may not!
Secondly, if you look around you may find someone who is prepared to rent to you with your pets, especially if you agree to put down a higher deposit. The smoking thing shouldn't be a problem if you agree to smoke outside only (not much fun right now I guess).
Could you rehouse your pets for a while?
The alternative is to take a risk and have 2 houses for a bit.
Good point, I guess half the problem is not knowing at this stage and also not being able to do a thing as there are too many variables.
With previous moves we have always started by choosing our area - that's what you do isn't it? Well, we don't know what our area will be, in fact we can't even choose somewhere roughly in the middle of the most likely schools as they are too spread out. The control-freak in me is, well, freaking!0 -
If your daughter really is so gifted send her to the local sixth form, she will still shine and get in to Oxbridge and meanwhile she will get to live in the real world and mix with real people and maybe understand that just because you go to an expensive school you are not better than other people - plus her presence at the local sixth form will improve it as well.
In an ideal world maybe but the truth is she is at a private school because she was bullied out of her (state) junior school for being gifted and I cannot see it being any different age 16 except the bullies are bigger.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 352.1K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.5K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 454.2K Spending & Discounts
- 245.1K Work, Benefits & Business
- 600.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.4K Life & Family
- 258.9K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards