Best place to live for £400k near Fulham/West Brompton

You keep getting stuck because your expectations are completely unrealistic. Have you actually logged onto Right Move and put in a Shepherds Bush postcode and seen what you can buy for £400,000? It doesn't sound like it.

Have you looked at the Rightmove commute tool?

Seeing as she has boys and she wants them to commute to Fulham and West Brompton stations, it’s most likely the Oratory, which whilst a top state school, is not a private school so I can see why she wouldn’t want to move her children from there.

Edit to say I'm wrong!

@unmp

Which school do the children attend, OP?

I'm not sure why they live in Croydon but go to school in Fulham.

Where did OP say her children are privately educated….?

I think it will be tricky if not impossible, the cheapest areas are often not as nice or not well served for public transport.
A relative lived in Greenford which was pretty cheap for a London Borough, (you might have got a 3 bed house for 400k there but probably needs complete renovation) but it was over a mile to a tube or rail station which adds to time commuting. And not convenient to the area you want to travel to anyway

If you go further out, outside the tube network you pay a lot more for rail fares

You have no chance of getting a house. Perhaps a flat near Piccadilly line.

If you want a house in a nice area you will have to rent. Or not spend £20k per year per child on school fees.

This one looks to be close to Osterley Tube, Piccadilly Line which would be great for the OP regarding the school.

Whereabouts are you exactly? You’d be well looking somewhere like Hounslow which is direct tube to Earls Court which is a stones throw from West Brom tube.

Or a 3 bed flat in Isleworth with large private read garden near Syon Lane station for £415k?

Having been fully refurbished throughout, this beautifully presented three bedroom first floor maisonette is offered to the market with no forward chain. Located in a quiet cul-de-sac, moments from Syon Lane station, local schools and amenities, the property offers two good sized double bedrooms, single bedroom, a bright and spacious reception room, modern kitchen and luxury family bathroom. Externally the property offers a large private rear garden. The property also benefits from a long lease in excess of 900 years, access to loft space, gas central heating and double glazing throughout. Resident permit parking is available.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149136137#/?channel=RES_BUY

I’m guessing your boys might go to the Oratory?

If so, it’s normal for boys to travel from all over the place. Maybe you can try and find out where others live and see where there’s a big group coming from and look in that area? That way they’ll be travelling with others.

What about a 3 bed flat in Acton with a private garden for £425k

A purpose built three bedroom apartment moments from the North Acton Playing Fields. This first floor flat offers in excess of 700 sq.ft of accommodation and has a private garden.

Canada Crescent is just over half a mile from both Acton Main Line (Elizabeth Line) and North Acton (Central Line) stations both of which provide excellent access into town.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/148668839#/?channel=RES_BUY

You're not going to get a house in Shepherds Bush or Acton for 400k!!
The only areas of South London you might be able to would be Croydon, Thornton heath, Mitcham... but unlikely close to a station.

I think you need to decide which you would rather, keeping your kids at their current schools or moving to a house. I am not sure you can have both!

Your plan as it stands won’t work. You would need three times the budget.

Would you consider somewhere like Croydon? East Croydon to West Brompton is an easy commute.

Even with double your budget, you'd struggle. Time to face facts, I'm afraid!

OP, stop looking. You need to completely change your plans. That amount of money for a 2/3 bed is not possible in any way shape or form.

Sorry OP, house prices are crazy and you need to change your mindset or aspirations as there is nowhere remotely nearby where you can get a house for that budget.

I am willing to look further out, at Shepherd's Bush

Do you really live in London?? You’re willing to look at Shepherd’s Bush? You’re not even getting a 1 bed flat for £400k never mind a 3 bed hours.
It’s not 2007.

Why do the children need to travel so far for school? If you want to move to a house on a very limited budget then it makes more sense to also have them move to local schools they can walk to. But that’s unlikely to be anywhere in London - I can’t think of any part of London, even the least desirable areas, where you’d be able to buy a three bedroom house with a garden for £400k. You’d almost certainly have to head outside the M25.

So, if you don’t want to do that, perhaps it’s time to rejig your mindset. Life isn’t a series of steps on a ladder. Living in a maisonette doesn’t make you inferior to anyone who lives in a house. If you have a nice, safe home in an area you like then that’s what’s important - not living in a property with a set of stairs.

Why are the children at school there if they live the other side of london?

What school in Fulham are your children commuting to?