Relocation for school entry - house buying/renting options

Larches

Long story short - we may be looking to move within the next 12-18 months (partly a school catchment thing) and are trying to work out the best way to go about it. I'm sure some of the fine folk on here will have been through a similar experience and may be able to offer some tips. We are in the fortunate position of having recently paid off our mortgage so that definitely puts us at an advantage in a way, but things are complicated by the fact that we're aiming to move from the Midlands to Yorkshire and are not (yet) all that familiar with the new area.

In an ideal world, we would rent for a while to give us time to get our bearings, move chattels up gradually and avoid the need to buy under pressure. However, that could obviously get very expensive if we're paying two lots of council tax, insurance, utility bills etc for any length of time, and in the meantime we are already looking into areas and will be making a few recce trips too. The idea of buying straight away is simpler in some ways and we could put up a reasonable deposit, but the thought of trying to co-ordinate a house sale and (distant) purchase together with school admissions is making my head spin, not least as we'd probably have to be settled in the new house before we could even start the school application.

Maybe one of the more obvious solutions would be to rent out our current house to cover the cost of either renting or buying at the other end, although never having let a property before we are wary of how much hassle that might be, and extra complication when we decide we're ready to sell.

One other option that occurred to me is remortgaging the existing house to pay for the new one, but this is also new territory - I thought about calling a mortgage broker or two for advice, but I expect they'll tell me whatever suits their business interests so would have to read up on it some more. It would be great to hear from forumites who have experience on this though.

I'm also painfully aware that the housing market seems crazily overheated at the moment, so even aside from the bidding wars problem we need to be very careful not to buy on a high and sell at a later point when values have dropped again (hard to know if/when that will be). We're also currently in a 4-bed detached in a relatively affordable area, whereas the new area is pricier, so we're wary of settling for a downgrade unnecessarily, just because prices are currently inflated (e.g going for a semi or terraced, which concerns me as I'm a very light sleeper).

So... views on that lot would be welcome, especially if you've been through something similar. If you've got this far, I appreciate your patience as I'm sort of thinking out loud here - thanks in advance if you can help us to pick through the options and get our thoughts straight.

Cakeguts

Without saying which bit of Yorkshire it is difficult to come up with a strategy. Some parts of Yorkshire are very expensive and always have been.  Others are much cheaper. If you are looking at a very expensive area then renting before buying in the area is going to be a good option because it means that you are instantly proceedable as a buyer when a property that you like becomes available. For this to work well you would need the proceeds of the sale of your present house in the bank ready to go.

Letting a property is very problematic.  You won't be able to guarantee that you can get vacant possession and a sale of your house ready in time to buy another house. Add to that the fact that the tenants could damage the interior of you current home and you would need to return to it to carry out repairs before putting it on the market makes letting it seem a very expensive option.  There is also no guarantee that any tenant will pay the rent and evicting them could take almost a year. 

The simplest solution would be to sell a house and buy a house but in terms of getting an idea about a new area the best solution is always to rent until you work out where you want to live.

manc_doc

We've been in a similar situation recently - we were moving for my work, but also had a child in school - so had to find a place to move to where there was actually space in a decent school in the right year group!

When will you be applying for school? Or do you have a child already in school?

How large is your search area? We probably researched for a couple of years in total, (on and off!) but as I say work was a limiting factor for us. We decided in the end though, and once we'd settled on that it was much more straightforward. One tip - don't forget to check high schools too, as we had to discount several areas which had great primaries but poor secondary provision. 

We sold our house and had to decide whether to rent near our previous house, or move to the new area and rent. 
We decided to rent so that we could secure a school place in the new area, had an overlap of about 1 month between selling and rental and had a break clause with a minimum 7 months' rental. In the end we found a place to buy and completed one month before the end of the tenancy, so only about 2 months paying 2 sets of bills/council tax etc. 

It definitely took the pressure off finding the house to buy, as we'd secured the school and the area was nice, and broke the chain so even if the purchase fell through, we could still enjoy the new area. In the current situation, renting could also allow the market to cool a bit (though I appreciate the rent is in itself an additional expense, but worth it for us to avoid the stress).

Renting your house out sounds like it would cause more problems than it solves if you might need the capital any time soon. Are you in an area you could Air BnB to get some income to offset some costs?

Not an easy one, good luck! I think the key is to be as clear as possible about where you want to go, as that makes the rest easier. 

Larches

Thanks both, some really good points there, and your thoughts on letting are pretty much confirming what was going through my mind - it seems like a scenario we'd rather avoid (Airbnb is one thing I hadn't thought of... not sure how much demand there is in our area though I would guess not a lot).

In terms of location, we're still a bit uncertain as we are waiting to hear what's happening in regard to remote working, and there is the possibility of adding job changes into the mix so it's all horribly complicated! However, our aim is to be in or near York and working from home mostly, with occasional commutes into York or Leeds, but failing that we might have to allow for a more frequent commute into Leeds so may want to be a bit closer that way, though we'd much rather be in a smaller town or edge of city rather than right inside the urban sprawl. We're hoping to get some clarity on this aspect soon.

School-wise, we have one child approaching the end of Y4 so we're looking at secondary entry the year after next. Am in two minds whether it would be better to try and co-ordinate a move to the new area in time for the start of Y7 or whether to aim to move earlier, which would mean finding a primary too (though finding a good secondary place would be our priority) but may allow some time for friendships to develop before moving to secondary (though dear child loves the current primary school and doesn't like the idea of leaving early, or moving at all really, but the secondaries in our area leave a lot to be desired).

@manc_doc it sounds like you managed it well and I suspect a similar approach may be our best bet. Although I don't relish the idea of having to move and then move again (and potentially have some items in storage during the rental phase), I can see how it would a major advantage if we could simplify the chain situation (and maybe gain a buyer's advantage that way) by renting in the short term, although obviously we'll be at the mercy of our own specific variables (work, schools, available properties etc) when it comes to how long we end up with rental outgoings and overlapping costs. It feels a bit daunting at this stage, but your example gives me hope that it'll all come together!

sew_what

Larches said:

School-wise, we have one child approaching the end of Y4 so we're looking at secondary entry the year after next. Am in two minds whether it would be better to try and co-ordinate a move to the new area in time for the start of Y7 or whether to aim to move earlier, which would mean finding a primary too (though finding a good secondary place would be our priority) but may allow some time for friendships to develop before moving to secondary (though dear child loves the current primary school and doesn't like the idea of leaving early, or moving at all really, but the secondaries in our area leave a lot to be desired).

Secondary school applications are made in the October before they start - and you'd need to be living in the catchment of the school then to be sure of a place, especially in oversubscribed schools.
https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/school-admissions or https://www.york.gov.uk/SecondaryAdmissions have more information for the areas you might be looking at.

lookstraightahead

I could be missing something here, but you seem to be making things really complicated.

Why don't you sell your house (could take ages), then move into rented in the new area, then look to buy? You could do your research now on schools and move there - either renting before you've sold while house is still on the market (more expensive) or the two might just coordinate. You're then in the catchment area whether you rent or buy.
financially yes whatever you decide you
might have to take a hit on, but as you seem aware, being a landlord is a business, which could be counterproductive with lots of hassle, lots of rules and regulations, and potentially tenants that need to stay in the property for years longer than you intended. 
I moved three hours away two years ago. Sold rented bought. Managed to reduce the cost of the purchase because I wasn't in a chain.

Larches

lookstraightahead said:

I could be missing something here, but you seem to be making things really complicated.

That's just a natural talent I have. I do genuinely like to weigh up all options, but there is a fairly clear consensus emerging for sell > rent > buy and I agree that makes the most obvious sense, especially in terms of getting into catchment in time for the school applications without rushing a house purchase that we may later regret. @sew_what reminds me that we need to be actually living day-to-day in the new place if relying on school catchment (and possibly anyway) so that may decide the timing for us, especially if aiming (as we probably should) to time a move for the end of Y5 / start of Y6 to minimise disruption on the school front.