Schools and house moving dilemma - what's the solution

Fly_Baby

peachyprice wrote: »

Why are you wanting to move out of your rented?

There seems to be plenty of reasons to stay if you can i.e. good size, cheaper than mortgage, guaranteed good school, so what's pushing you to buy at this moment in time?

TBH, if it was me, and I was happy renting, and I really wanted the best school, I would stay put until the first was at least in secondary school, assuming sibling places are high priority.

In the meantime save the difference you would be paying between rent and mortgage plus your usual savings, then when the time is right you'll be able to afford the right size house in the right area, or have a lower mortgage.

IMO home ownership isn't the be all and end all if it means sacrifices in other important areas.

We have been renting for 8 years: first we were not ready to buy due to work, then we couldn't afford anything, so we saved up a good deposit. Now we can afford a house but are stuck with schools.

It just seems that we will be renting forever... All our friend either own their property or are looking to buy right now. And that three years on, house prices will go even higher and we wouldn't be able to afford anything - again!

Fly_Baby

I really don't want to buy 'something' in the good area, just because we can afford it, because I didn't like the single house we saw in this area - even those beyond our budget. I was simply looking for something like our current one, nothing spectacular.

I don't want to pay a huge mortgage for the house in which I will develop a claustrophoby. Maybe I am too picky, but I do want to love the house that I will choose to be our home (and I should for the money we pay!).

I hadn't even looked at the "bad school area" before but once I did I loved the houses there. How is it even possible that it is so bad for schools - it has a couple of primary and infant schools - they are between average and poor too.

Fly_Baby

Allegra wrote: »

I guess if the school really is that bad, then you need to do whatever is necessary to avoid the kids ending up there. Whether that means buying an inferior house in a desired area, or continue renting until the kids have got their places, that's your call.

Good luck, anyway

Thanks!

Is that an option - buying an inferior house in the desired area? It seems that in our situation it is either a two-bed property or a flat, still at 300K plus and the mortgage alone higher than our rent by £300-400 pcm.

Or maybe we haven't been looking long enough (1 month).

Spendless

I'd just keep renting and keep looking but I moved before DS was 2 and took both Primary and Secondary schools into account. The current school he's in what Secondary is that a feeder to? Would you be happy with that as a Secondary school and if you moved away but left him at his Primary where would he be in the criteria for it?

silvercar

Admissions criteria change, what appears to be a safe address now may not be in 3 years.

Jo_F

You can't always judge a school on it's Ofsted grading.

When my daughter started high school, it was right at the start of the BSF program in the area, turning 9 schools into 5 super schools, as they were pulling her building down to rebuild, the whole school was moved into the old 6th form college. A really old building that wasn't really big enough, as a result of all the messing about morale in the school plummeted, Ofsted came in and put the school into special measures, as it was, 4 out of the 5 schools were in special measures by the end of the first year of the BSF.

2 years on, they have just been awarded 'satisfactory' status by Ofsted (actually happened this week), but in all the time that they were in special measures, there is actually nothing that I can fault the school on, it's very well run, most of the pupils seem to be ok, the staff and friendly and approachable, and the pupils actually seem to care about the school.

To me it seems that the Ofsted status doesn't actually reflect what it going on inside the school, it's like a call centre script, just certain boxes to tick and no room for additional information, most of the problems that the school had were down to the unsettlement of moving, then moving again into the new building, teething troubles there, the status doesn't seem to look at the whole picture, like the dedication of the staff, the determination of the whole to get themselves out of it.

All I can say is don't just judge them by the status, check the schools out for yourself, its not always the end of the world.

clairehi

Fly_Baby wrote: »

Thanks!

Or maybe we haven't been looking long enough (1 month).

you havent been looking long enough!
could you buy a 2 bed and convert the loft to a 3rd bedroom? worked out cheaper for us than moving to a 3 bed house

bestpud

I would stay in the 'good' area, even if it means renting for another 3 years.

My older children went to a sink school and my youngest child will go there over my dead body!

They also went to a primary in the same catchment but dd2 goes out of our catchment and I am so glad I made that decision.

I firmly believe parents can only truly appreciate the value of a good school when they are able to compare it with a poorer one.

I hear parents moaning about the school dd attends and I think to myself they don't know how lucky they are that losing a sweatshirt, or their child not getting the role they wanted in the play, is their biggest concern!

However, don't go down the temporary renting route as you could end up being caught out. Whatever you do, make it legitimate.

JodyBPM

bestpud wrote: »

However, don't go down the temporary renting route as you could end up being caught out. Whatever you do, make it legitimate.

Is temporary renting not legitimate? The admissions where we are locally just state where you need to live at the time of application/admission, they don't state that you need to live there for any length of time afterwards??? Based on that I would have thought it was perfectly legitimate as long as you are renting in catchment at the appropriate times?

Just curious, as its something we *may* want to consider in the future, and I hadn't realised there was anything wrong with it (legally anyway, morally I accept its questionable), but I may have interpreted the admissions document incorrectly.

esmy

If you like your home and the schools close to you, stay put, keep adding to the deposit until you have the offer of a place for your child at the school you want, then look to move.