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 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.

Wow. PMSL that you consider a bedroom each, and a separate sitting room and kitchen, and a garden aren't enough for a child to grow up in.... [see the first two properties linked on page 1]

Or how about Brixton (zone 2) or Wapping (zone 1 or zone 2) to move to?

Ealing has central line and will have cross rail, not sure what the commute times would be as don't know the area at all. Maybe that is where OP is!

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.

Crossrail is already pretty priced in.

I'm totally biased, but I say do it!

I'm in a house in zone 3, it takes me 35-45 mins to get to the city and I'm east. Would so love to move to zone 1, but alas husband works in Essex so this is a good compromise area for us.

Pimlico.

Thanks a lot everyone again!

MissSueFlay - I am actually in Ealing myself! But unfortunately not walking distance to the station, and it is the bus ride that adds that extra 20mins (( I would actually consider just moving into another house in Ealing, but anything within 10mins walk of the stations is way more than my budget already... And realistically I need to move within the next year (so can't wait for the Crossrail to come an increase the value of my house) as I will be putting my DD into nursery for at least half a day soon as it is too difficult for my mum to look after her full time, and I need to get mortgage before that as otherwise I will get lesser amount because they will take my childcare costs into account.

I will be looking into all other places everyone suggested, thank you! Just need to decide now which area to visit first this weekend )))

Manon I can tell you this my old boss had his firm there and they referred to it as a dicey area.

I personally would not bring up young children yards from where stabbings happen daily.

for a young person fine or a single person fine but Brook Green far nicer and just round the corner.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53063347.html

22 mins to Cannon Street...walk each end.

YANBU!

I love that 3 bedroom flat for £625k in Shoerditch, it has its own private garden too...not that I could ever afford it!

Totally think it's sane to want to reduce your commute as much as possible. You will get extra time with your LO after/before work.
Commuting is knackering, and expensive.

it does seem counter-intuitive to move closer in and go for (shock, horror) a flat, but if it turns your commute into something much shorter and simpler, and in turn improves your quality of life, that is something that you can't necessarily put a price on!

Not going to try and advise you on which part of London to live in (used to live in Ealing - Crossrail is coming, but it's certainly not cheap!) I certainly don't think you are mad choosing to live further in and shorten your commute. I'm living in central Paris at the moment with two kids - DH has 15 min journey door to door to be at his desk (I work from home). We have made a conscious decision to live centrally in a flat (no outside space) rather than a house further out. There is no downside for me - we don't need a car so that's already a massive saving, everything is on the doorstep, I don't miss having a huge house to keep clean - I love the fact we use all the rooms and I feel like I've streamlined my life. Make sure everyone has a nice bedroom so you've all got somewhere to retreat if you need to (though in fact we are mostly always all together in the living room). If you can get your commute down to 15 mins you will have an extra 7 or 8 hours a week for your DD - you'll also be less tired when you arrive home. Just do it - if the worst comes to the worst you can always sell up and move further out as buying centrally is bound to be a sound investment, but my guess is you will love it.

I don't really care what your boss said. I've lived in London all my life. Went to school on Brook Green.

Goldhawk Rd is not dicey, it runs from Shepherd's Bush roundabout down through Ravenscourt Park which is very middle class. One of my best friends lives there, just off Goldhawk Rd.

Flat with even small outside space close to work..fantastic. go for it . there are lots of facilities in central London incl schools etc

King's Cross www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-61496045.html

And EC1 if you can stand the appearance of the outside www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60564941.html

I live in a 2 bed flat in zone 1 (council block) and it's fab. Officially there's a lot of crime here (lots of stabbings recently) but tbh we barely notice it, it's very much contained within those gangs. I could walk to the City from here and it's so convenient for everything.

Personally if I was moving to central London I'd opt for somewhere that was walkable, as it makes life so much easier, plus it's a good way of fitting in some exercise instead of being cooped up on the tube!

My block of flats looks quite grotty from the outside but there are so many advantages - lower heating costs than a house, easier to clean, we don't need a car and lower maintenance costs generally. London is great place to raise children, especially when you're close enough to the centre to make full use of all the facilities here. We only have one dc and a 2 bed flat is fine for us. We don't have a garden and having one has never really appealed to us, too much maintenance and a bit pointless when there are much nicer parks nearby.

God estate agents are cheeky buggers. That Kings X one is only three bed if you don't bother to have a living room. I thought it was good value for the location...

Just a heads up that some friends of mine lived in a council flat in Old St, and when the windows on the entire block needed replacing the owner-occupiers had to pay MASSIVELY. The council, as leaseholder worked out that (something like, can't remember exact number of flats) say there were 60 flats, of which 15 were privately owned, each homeowner would have to pay 1/16th of the cost of the entire block's refurb, with the council paying the remaining 1/16th. Not fair but they make the rules.

Just a heads up that Harringay (Crouch End, Stroud Green, Green Lanes), Hornsey, Drayton Park, Essex Rd etc are all on an overground train line that goes from Harringay to Moorgate in about 15 mins. For some reason hardly anyone talks about it. So you could get a much shorter commute if you lived near one of those stations.

Nowadays I'd be additionally wary of ex-LA flats in London in case the local authority compulsorily purchases the block for demolition and redevelopment. There have been a few well-publicised cases (Earls Court and Tower Hamlets come to mind) but I don't know how common it is, or whether some boroughs are worse than others. At your price range you'd be OK to find somewhere else in London, albeit probably further out. It's the people who have the cheapest properties who have difficulty finding somewhere else at that price and have to move out of London.

I'm in West Wimbledon and I work pretty much exactly where you do (to the extent I'm wondering if we work for the same organisation!)

Takes me 45mins - train into Waterloo (22 mins) then bus to Fleet St/Fetter Lane (15-20 mins).

Oh and my kids go to an outstanding rated primary and will hopefully go to either an excellent grammar or an excellent independent.

Why have you decided to sell your current property though? Couldn't it be rented out and the income factored into your buyers budget?

I used to commute using the Bed-Pan line to Blackfriars. My train journey was a longer distance into London but was far easier than colleagues' who were travelling across London.

Another outside of London but very commutable and walkable to the station which goes direct to Moorgate:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62437946.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56742103.html

45 minutes by train, no changes.

I'm not from London but lived there for nearly 25 years - all over really - few years in Zone 1, Surrey burbs, Zone 3 East & West etc.

If it was me I'd be tempted to rent out my house, rent a flat and try it before I took the plunge so you're not over committed. A lot of the places in central London can be a bit challenging/noisy after hours.

YANBU - maybe. We moved from Little Venice to zone 5 last year and I miss it sooo much. It's a lovely area and so convenient for everything. But - the reason we moved was that we were feeling more and more cooped up, living with a toddler in a flat with no garden. You may find you miss the space more than you expect.