To want to leave London

[DeweyDecibelle]

It's just so expensive! But me and DH both have jobs that are hard to come by outside of London, so we would either have to be very lucky to get new jobs in our sectors, or get unrelated jobs which seems like a waste of many years training and experience and would probably leave us unhappy as we both are happy in our jobs.

Also, both of us grew up in extremely rural places, with no opportunities, and so we want to give our DC the best start in life - to us this includes living within commuting distance of good universities and a wide range of jobs, so the children have the choice to get an education and work in whatever field they choose, while still living at home, should they wish to, so they can save money to set themselves up for the future, an opportunity neither DH or I had due to distance. (Realise this doesn't have to be London, any big city would do, but we are here now).

But I look at houses outside of London, and sometimes I just wish we could up sticks and move.

[Lazyjaney]

I know i'm going to get flamed but I can't understand why anyone would want to live and bring up a family in London. Exspensive, crowded, polluted etc

Also exciting, stimulating, multicultural, you name your niche interest and its here - and very easy and safe for teens to get around in.

[yamsareyammy]

middleclassdystopia. It depends on what job you are suited to doing imo.
For one of my children, the only place he can do it is London. Or else, one of about 4 cities around the world. That is it.
Edinburgh/Glasgow, nope.

[idococktailshedoesbeer]

I lived in London and loved my time there. My social life was amazing and I lived in a nice area. But I was happy to move back up Manchester because my standard of living shot up. People doing my job at my company in London earn a bit more than me, London weighting, but it doesn't equate.

[umpti67]

I had the type of job you can only do in London. We moved out and I gave it up to live somewhere cheaper. I do find it quite dull here - there's no diversity and there's very little going on. But we get up late, have a 10 minute walk to a good school and we have a reasonable house with a garden so life is pretty easy. Just not terribly exciting. I feel a bit like a Stepford wife sometimes. My dh found a reasonably paid job in his field locally. I've got a part-time admin job now. We haven't made many friends locally though. Have found that aspect quite hard. In hindsight, I'd have gone for a city outside London e.g. Reading or Oxford which still has the range of activities and a mixture of people.

[yamsareyammy]

Feasibility possibly. But if a person is going to pay out at least £27k, to my mind, it needs to be the right course. And other costs including accomodation come very much second to that imo. [My kids may not be quite as old as you, Chunderella].

I cant quite see yet how things are going to pan out, uni wise in the future. To my mind, it is all very well getting a degree, but which degree matters a lot, meaning a degree that suits the skill set of the student,[not meaning it has to be a top uni necessarily] Dont really know much how the USA does it. Except I do keep hearing how all their kids that sort of age are very much in debt.

I would like to say that this is all somewhat acedemic, but the op is weighing things up,as are others it seems, so it is not acedemic to them I guess.

[yamsareyammy]

Yes, Very. Shush!

It got to the point with the youngest, when I miscalculated and thought that person would be on the higher fees, whether it was worth doing at all. That child could possibly have got around it another way.

And tbh, if all mine were even a decade younger, and had all this to come quite imminently, I cant see how it would have all be done.
Again, there may have been ways round it, but if finance or money is used in one way, it cant be in another, can it? [sorry, I need to keep it a little vague].

[Goodwordguide]

We moved out from London to a small town and now commute in for work. For us it was theright decision - we have a much nicer, bigger house, a much, much easier walk to school, the children have more freedom here and are outside a lot more. I love living somewhere that is greener with less traffic - we deliberately chose a small town so that everything is within walking distance. The commute is eye-wateringky expensive though so it helps if you have flexible working or can WFG.

We loved London too but it did feel like there was a massive exodus fromour school from about Y3 onwards with property prices and complicated secondary school choices being the main drivers.

[allaflutter]

MadBus - I meant space and a good size garden, but also not the cramped terraces with everyone on top of each other, like, say, in Dulwich. It's a definitely a so-so area in my book (not a bad one which I'm not even talking about) - no tube, cramped, crime levels not so great in neighbouring areas! Carluccio - yes, I love it, but that's a naice area where a GOOD size 1-bed flat would be 500K+, not 350. Ok, a flat in Dulwich would be less but who wants a 1-bed and still to travel by rail, try to find a good size 2-bed and you couldn't. But say in Battersea - about 350K if it's a QUALITY large 1 bed with sep kitchen, on a nice road with good decor, or a very small 2-bed. And that's not top area even. Yes, you could buy something basic and horrid for less there. Basement or concrete block

Anyway I would never buy anything less than two beds, being 40+, so that's just unaffordable. Younf people in London afford to live there by sharing - it's rife , but I'm past that. If you are in Forest Hill area - yes, that's proabaly still just affordable but for my budget (it's under 300 by the way!) I can get a small 2-bed, not enough as I need space for running business as well as all my stuff. So for me, it had to be a move. If I had 350 I could consider staying, but not on a long tube journey somewhere, better a conditioned train with a seat out f london. I was central when I lived in London and spoiled I suppose, the property wasn't as unreasonably expensive in the past, plus I wasn't single. Try to be single and mature with under 300K budget, and afford somewhere nice and spacious, and in a safe area. Or try to be a family who wants a proper large garden and where salaries are just normal.

[Yonionekanobe]

We are lucky enough to have a nice house in a very nice community. Our area has had a lot of positive press recently so prices have shot up and we have considered moving somewhere cheaper to clear a large chunk of our mortgage but there just isn't anywhere that would work for us (both FT, toddler and one on the way..), that has everything our little spot of the capital offers. But I know we are very lucky to have bought our place before the prices went nuts.

[handcream]

I really miss living in London. We live in South Bucks. You have to drive everywhere unless you want to pay inflated prices for walking distance of a rail station. But really they arent inflated. They are reality.

I would like to bring the kids up in London. I think it makes them streetwise and able to cope better. My 16 year old thinks where we live is as boring as anything and would LOVE to live in London.

However the thing about London is when you are on the housing ladder you are off. I couldnt afford our current house but tbh when we downsize we will do well equity wise. We have looked after the house and stayed in the same place. The SE gives you options. If we had moved to the North for example we certainly wouldnt have the equity and job opportunities we have now. If my DH or myself lost our jobs (very unlikely) we would be able to find something quickly as living in the SE and London does give you access to the jobs....

[handcream]

I sometimes find on threads that people choose an average 3 bed in say Chiswick and state you could get a mansion in the middle of Wales. Yes, well you could. However there are little in the way of high paying roles in nmid Wales and Chiswick is a tube ride away into Central London.

If my DH popped off upstairs I would sell up and move back to London

[OneStepCloser]

Were moving out later this year after 30 and 20 years. We have been totally priced out and feel we have no choice really, we also want to be by the sea. DH will commute in most days and work from home. Im looking forward to it, and will be close enough to pop back. Funnily enough we have 2 children between us who have been through the school system here and done fantastic, I`m actually worried about our LO as to whether the schools are going to be as good where we are going.

London is fantastic though, but only if you can afford it.

[maternitart]

I LOVE London but only to visit these days. Between us we'd be lucky to earn £20k more than we do here (a large-ish city) but our money goes a lot further.

[marriedinwhiteagain]

middleclassdystopia I live in London because I love it and where I live is a village in London. Putney. Have been her for 32 years and seen it grow from 1 restaurant and a few curry houses to the niche trendy metropolis it is now still no quality on the High Street though. I have met lifelong friends; cared for neighbours and been cared for; I still see the elderly obstetrician who looked afyer me 15/16 years ago in Waitrose ( shuffling a bit now). I met my DH here, had my children here, have cried here, laughed here and been bereaved here. Have brought my DC home here and had the house decked with ribbons and flowers when I came home with them. Where we live is a community in London and I kiss someone every time I wander up the high street I sometimes they give me a hug and I come away having had a convo about their dc and my dc thinking who the heck was that.

I pitched up here because it felt like home the day I got a 22 bus over the river nbecause I really couldn't afford Fulham. I have been with yards of our current home soince 1987 and before that only half a mile away.

What do we have; the river, red buses, black cabs. Tubes, good shops within 20 mins, three supermarkets in five minutes walking distance, theatre, opera, art, commons, heaths, parks, love, charity, friends, history, diversity, difference, tolerance, interesting and different people, good restaurantsm good design.

There are also fantastic schools - DS's is top in the UK at the moment and the local girls' school is not far behind.

What you don't get though is affordable housing or acceptable state schools. We don't have a choice as DH's job is London based and as he works silly hours living further away isn't really an optiuon although we are on our way to zone three buit thatt's a whole other thread.

[LittleFrieda]

London property prices (not Kensingon obviously) are proportionate to London wages.

[marriedinwhiteagain]

They are not proportionate for: teachers, nurses, firemen, civil servants though and london needs high quality public services. Where I live a two nbed lat is 500k plus and a three/four nbed terrace with a postage stamp garden and street parking is about a million.

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

The secondary state schooling in London is not what it used to be - here .

I worked as a ft teacher and returned to the profession after 5 years out this academic year. It was a different school, but very similar pupil demographic. I was astounded at the progress in standards.

One of my own DCs is not strong academically, the other is fairly able; I'd be happy for the latter to be at the school I work at but not the former. The bottom sets still suffer very challenging behaviour and the level of need there is very very high. However, those in the average and more able sets are doing very, very well and the results for the school outstrip or match any for state schools in any of the home county areas we've looked at (with the exception of grammar schools).

Our area has a strong community too and I can totally relate to marriedinwhite 's lovely account of living in a London village. I still find our streets very dangerous for young men though and I really fear that just hanging around the park or whatever teenagers do these days is way more fraught around here than it is out of town. Like I said up thread though, there have been a couple of nasty incidents recently and I've been left rather bitter about certain groups of people in our community and their inability to behave decently.

[MissBetseyTrotwood]

Sorry, that FT link seems to be behind paywall suddenly. Here's another.
BBC

[LittleFrieda]

Marriedinwhiteagain London has an excellent public transport system so it's entirely possible for teachers (etc) to travel to schools in expensive house price catchments while living a couple of stops along the tube line. Or can't teachers travel on the tube?

[marriedinwhiteagain]

Agrees with Mrs BetsyTrotwood. If we were just half a mile East DS would not be coming home on public transport. He's 18. Massive difference between Putney Bridge tube and a hop over the bridge or the buses stoppiong at the bottom of putney High Street and walking home half a mile from clapham junction/Wandy town, etc. DS has been mugged but because he went to a party in a dodgy area of NW London and wouldn't listen. He was luicky and came away from it a bit more streetwise.

[marriedinwhiteagain]

And where do they send their dc little friends

[Notcontent]

I live in London. Housing is massively expensive, but other than housing I actually think it's reasonable because:

• you don't need a car;
  
• public transport is not expensive and free for children;
  
• I have lots of free or cheap facilities all less than 10 minutes from me - library, swimming pool, school, GP, park;
  
• food can be cheap because there is so much choice and it's very easy to access;
  
• sure there are some very expensive shops and restaurants but also lots of really cheap ones.