dilemma re sacrifice!

So we sold our house and have to move soon.

To me the reason we sold our house was because it was too small and i wanted more room for a growing family. I wasnt too sure if the area we live in was where i wanted to live forever (in papatoetoe) or where i wanted the kids to grow up but it isnt the worst neighbourhood...

Anyway my husbsand seems to have taken a shine to Pukekohe and after a day of searching down there yesterday we found some lovely houses. Two my husband likes are in the good school zones which makes the prices a bit higher, but because of this they are a bit smaller. The third one we like is not in the good school zone but is roomy and has so much potential.

he said to me that one of the main reasons he wanted to move there and get the kids into the schools was he was sick of them being in the minority!

So the dilemma!
Do we sacrifice a bit of space for the school zones he wants. ????

one of them the house size is bigger, its in a good neighbourhood and is near to the reserve and has berries and fruit trees on it... the minus being it is down a shared driveway, a long one at that, a carport instead of a garage and oh down a long driveway - grocery day would be a real pain! It has a view to die for though from the back porch and it is child proofed as they have an 18mth old.

the other one doesnt have as much lawn, also a shared driveway but it may be possible to gate it off if the other family were ok with it. the house is bigger but i dont think the lawn is. This one is the cheaper of the 2 in the good zones.

The one in the not so good school zones though has a huge old lawn. One old lady owner so its an old fashioned garden. and the potential inside is fab. We wouldnt need to do anything to move in but there is heaps we could do to make it ours, paint, pull up carpet, modernise the kitchen...

i see what you mean about going sideways too!

How "bad" is the not so good school? ie, I know that most of the schools in Paps have gone down hill a lot since I lived there so is the school in Puke "better" than whichever school your son goes to?

Houses in Papatoetoe are ridiculously expensive!! It seems very very popular with immigrants now, mainly Indians so they must have pushed the house prices up.

Converting a carport to a garage is pretty easy and inexpensive.

I'm not sure what you mean down a long driveway - can you not park close to the house?

With the inside potential how handy are you and your husband, is renovations something you are happy to do yourself or would you get someone to do them for you? It may not be much of a savings in the long run.

The old mantra of property still holds - location, location, location - a smaller house in a better area will still give you a better return than a larger house in a not so good area.

Which school appeals to you most? I would be choosing the house closest to the school where I want my children to go.

I would also recommend getting the best property you can for the amount you want to spend. A property in a better location that might cost you 10-20K more now is going to be worth a lot more in 5-10 years time than a cheaper property in a poorer location. A property in a good school zone is also going to have better re-sale value than one outside of zone.

How easy or hard it is to move into a place shouldn't really be a consideration. its only something you have to do once. Its not a daily occurance.

Maybe you mean decile 10 as decile 1 is the lowest...

I don't really get the problem with the driveway either if it has a carport so whats the big deal about grocery day? To me even if it had no parking you could take the car down the driveway, unload and then move the car. And like caliandjack said converting it to a garage is no big deal.

Our house has an awesome view, its not something I'd trade to look at someone else's house in a hurry.

As the owner of a large lawn that DH moans about mowing all the time, unless your a keen gardener (I am not) I'd go for the slightly smaller one.

Being at the end of a shared drive is always preferable to being at the top.

Bizzy we had to look at all of this as well. We ended up for the house that havent had maitenance but has all the space we wants. The garden is totally overgrown but it is the worst property in the best area we could afford. If that makes sense.

We thought there was just a lemon tree. Well it seems it has an apple, fig, grapes and even a fejoa tree (found that one yesterday).

My advice look at the schools. See where you can get the kids in and which schools you dont want to sent them. Then look at the houses in that area.

I know that is why we settled on Waiuku. To go to Auckland it is the same distance whether it is puke or Waiuku.

Then look at if you are going to want to stay in this house for the next how many ever years. Or is your next move one you want to make more permanently. (if it is more permanently look at what is more important.)

If however it is just a step up then look at what will give you the absolute best return for money so that hopefully the next one up is hopefully your dream home.

Hope it helps and hope you get your dream home real soon.

BTW what are you sort of looking? Like how many bedrooms, landsize ect. Perhaps some of us can look out for you as well.

Yep definitely second this. My mum taught in lower decile schools and has just moved to a decile 10. Her experience is that there are some amazing teachers in the lower decile schools whereas the one she is in now the teachers think they 'know it all' where they are actually stuck about 10 years behind current teaching methodologies.

Check out the ERO reports but even better see if you can talk to some parents in the area. They'll be the best indicator.

cheers - decile rating isnt that big an issue for me. i mentioned it because i know to some it is... and it turns out that the school the kids go to now is a decile 2 (and i never knew, i thought it was middle of the road!)    

its funny that schools seem to be becoming so important. i based the decision on which school to send gabriel to on how nice they were on the phone and that one had a pool and i could find the main entrance!