AIBU selling my house in zone 3 and buying a flat in zone 1?

[karmi2010]

I have actually posted in DIY as well but thought may be I could get more opinions here...

AIBU seriously considering selling my house in zone 3 and buying a flat (possible an ex-LA flat as they are larger and cheaper) in zone 1 primarily to shorten my commute?

I have a terraced house in London zone 3. It was OK for me previously, but now I have a 10-months old DD, schools around me aren't great so I am thinking of moving. I work in the City of London and my commute is just over an hour now. I am a single mum and have my mother living with me who is looking after my DD. This will be my home for the next 10 years or so, and realistically I need 3 bed, ideally with a garden or terrace/balcony.

Now the dilemma - when I sell the house, I can either afford a 3-bed ex-council flat somewhere closer to the centre of London and shorten my commute to 30mins or so, or get a nice house somewhere in zone 5, the commute will then be the same (hopefully) 1 hour or 1.10min.

I always thought that when I sell, I will move further out into a nicer house with more space and bigger garden, but when I started work a couple of months ago I realised that I really struggle with an hour commute - I work long hours and at the moment only see my DD for 30mins a day before she goes to sleep...

So I am seriously thinking about moving somewhere near Paddington or similar, so that I have 15-25mins commute door to door.

Am I mad? Will I regret not having a garden/living in a flat/living on an estate etc...?

I don't know about the schools but Vauxhall might be a good fit, it's 15 mins on the tube from Chancery Lane and you can quickly get into Waterloo which gives you all of SW London + Bakerloo line + Jubilee line for seeing friends.

Little house!
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62624216.html

Glossy flat under budget:
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62040494.html

Doesn't seem to be much there of the right size is the only thing.

Finsbury Park/Stroud Green has surprisingly good links to the city - mainline to Moorgate takes 15 minutes - and 700k will buy you a very nice flat there.

That glossy flat is tiny for a 3 bed - no separate living/dining/kitchen space not idea for 3 generations living together.

What does your mum think too? You have the commute to consider, plus finance (which property is a better investment?), plus schools, plus quality of life for you and your DM and your little one.

Presumably it's your money, but she is the one who's going to be spending a huge amount of time in the house and neighbourhood, so her opinion will be very important in this.

You have to use your imagination with this one but wow I'd love to live in Borough!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55647772.html

Walking distance to Elephant & Castle station which is a 4 or so minute journey into Blackfriars. Blackfriars is lovely too, I commute in there and it seems to be the last station in London to not be overcrowded.

It is definitely one of those areas with lovely bits next to fairly gritty bits though, so depends if that's your bag. There's a lot of building going on in E&C at the moment but Little Venice it ain't!

Just placemarking out of nosiness. Some of those interiors look lovely. The outsides not so much.

sparechange - Acton or eg Brook Green but not Shepherds Bush - my colleague lives on Goldhawk Rd and tells me about stabbings every other week. roads around Brook Green seem much safer/

sparechange - Acton or eg Brook Green but not Shepherds Bush - my colleague lives on Goldhawk Rd and tells me about stabbings every other week. roads around Brook Green seem much safer

Wandsworth/Wimbledon quite nice if you want that far SW

I live in zone 2 but with a small commute and I totally understand your thinking. I love that I am home in 20 minutes.
Also a lot of money has gone in to London schools and a lot of them are actually really good!

Sorry to be mean but I'm tickled at someone suggesting Acton when she already lives in Zone 3
I know right!

When the criteria is 'west london, easy commute to Chancery Lane' - what an out-there suggestion

Many of the places with a quicker commute to Chancery Lane area are not in the W or SW, that is part of the problem.

I would look at places that are not zone 1 but have a better commute for you before making a final decision. Your DD and DM will be spending all their time in the home and the area. Air quality matters too, especially for children.

Yes, Acton is good for Chancery Lane because central line.

If Blackfriars works for you there are a few places easily within a 15-20 min commute where you could get a huge flat or even reasonable house for that budget e.g. Denmark Hill (10 min train) or Tulse Hill (15 min train). I don't know anything about schools I'm afraid though.

Wandsworth and Wimbledon aren't going to cut the commute down at all. We are (Borough of) Wandsworth, and it took DH an hour to get to St Pauls on a good day, so it would be similar to Chancery Lane

Also slightly dubious about stories of Goldhawk Rd being a crime and stabbing hotspot. My neurotic SIL lives there and has never mentioned it, and a google search for 'stabbing Goldhawk Road' brings up something in 2012 and something else in 2013...

Brook Green is sub-optimal for a commute to the City and expensive

sparechange how rude!

OP wanted a shorter commute. St Albans to Farringdon is 23 minutes so within the 30 minute time the OP suggested.

Yes, Acton is good for Chancery Lane because central line.

Yeah but like, 13 miserable stops on the central line!

Wimbledon is Zone 3 and the OP already lives in Zone 3.

OP wanted a shorter commute. St Albans to Farringdon is 23 minutes so within the 30 minute time the OP suggested.

But the houses that are very near the station in St Albans (which they would have to be to make the commute short) are not really a nice enough upgrade to trade off having to live in st albans.

Little Venice is ideal OP. And just next door to St John's Wood.

Have you considered Bayswater? - as it's close to Kensington Gardens.

If your friends are W and SW London - I guess you want to be on the district?

The thing is, let's be really honest about this, the properties linked are not great properties. I would have hated to have grown up in any of them and no amount of central London attractions on the doorstep would have made a jot of difference to that. They may well be good finds and bargains in the London market, but the truth is that they are still objectively not great. For three people including a young child they are not ideal. If I am brutally honest OP I think you should suck up the commute so your DD and DM can live somewhere nicer. Donning hard hat! Also, I do think you can get somewhere zone 2/3 borders with a better commute into where you work. You really should consider SE London, Greenwich etc.

Not mad at all. Where I live in Zone 1 £700,000 might get you a two bed ex LA - though I'm not great on current property prices. They are very spacious, well built and low-level - up to four storeys. I walk, bus or tube.

There's nothing wrong with Goldhawk rd.

It feels like there's two possible moves here really

1. optimise for the commute, live VERY central but probably not especially on the west side (but check how much longer it really takes to key W/SW friends cos lots of central is walkable/bussable)

1. change the balance of what you already have by moving a bit further in on the west side. But bearing in mind that moving all the way in will mean some of London's most £££ postcodes and you'll still have a 25 min commute.

So I lived in zone 1 and now live in zone 4. It actually takes me about the same amount of time to commute in, due to fast trains. So you might be better off living in Brockley (not where I live, so unsure if this is the case!) than Wapping.

If you really want to shorten your commute I'd suggest looking at where the Cross Rail is going and moving along that line before the prices shoot up next year.