AIBU to think leaving London for a new city is preferable to the suburbs?

[jumpyfrog]

I'm a born & raised Londoner (SW), husband the same (SE). We currently live in SW London & in the catchment of an outstanding school. As my mum is 10 mins walk & inlaws 10 min drive we also have a great support network & have 1 day of childcare plus babysitting provided by them.

However looking to the next few yrs we really would like a bigger property & perhaps try for DC3. 90% of our friends have moved out to either zone 5 (Sutton, Bromley, S.Croydon) or to surrounding counties (Kent, Surrey, Sussex & Essex) & this seems to be the natural step.

AIBU to hate the idea of moving to the suburbs/countryside & thinking moving to another city would be better for me?
I've always lived within 10 mins walk of the high street & the tube & cant stand the idea of driving everywhere. Obviously jobs are an issue but I run a small online business & my husband would still get a decent salary in areas such as Bristol.

Has anyone moved from London to a new city? was it a good decision? where did you go?

I don’t have family nearby and live in same area as you and would really struggle to move out. I do love the convenience of everything but I’m worried about schooling and the hot house nature of many of the private schools.

Also if I had 850k and didn't want to leave London I'd stay here. You'll get a good sized naice house for that in SE London.

There's loads of stuff to do here and the transport links are great. It takes me ten minutes to get to London Bridge and nineteen to get to Charing Cross. One train. Simple.

I’m worried about schooling and the hot house nature of many of the private schools.

Don't send your kid to private school then.

You could buy in Tooting for that amount. Most children (meaning by that 'almost all') attend the local (state) schools - primary and secondary.

It isn't glossy like Nappy Valley but is very liveable.

I really like the vibe in Crystal Palace - like an alternative village.

But there are loads of great cities in the UK. Admittedly, you might lose family support but it's also quite exciting to go and experience something else.

Morning ladies, I'm aware of how lucky I am re family & I guess you don't know what you've got till its gone. I think what makes it harder is the fact that the house I grew up (from age 3) was such a wonderful family home, big but cosy, in my head I want that for my family.

Tatiana won't be living in that dump if I win. 😉

Admittedly, you might lose family support but it's also quite exciting to go and experience something else

I defo think that is on my mind, apart from Uni, I have never lived anywhere else, literally been using the same tube (could get a bloody seat in those days) & doing the same variation of the journey since I was 15 (sat job in town), taking my kids to the same swings I played on, etc. On the other hand I don't like change. First world problems, eh!

OP - if you like Wimbledon Village, you could go "down the back" i.e. Raynes Park and maybe get a house within budget? New Malden is not a bad bet either - think of it as conveniently situated between Wimbledon and Kingston. A friend just moved into the Coombe Girls School catchment last year and got a 4- bed double fronted 30s style detached with driveway and beautiful extended kitchen and study for your budget.

As for Mortlake, you don't really notice the planes. The only place I notice the planes is Richmond, but then the river and everything else would compensate there imo.

Upthread I said I thought you were underestimating what you could get in London, house size wise.

I also think you may be overestimating what you'll get outside London. Bluntly it sounds a bit like you want somewhere as gentrified as Dulwich/Wimbledon/Northcote Road, with outstanding (and very very MC) schools like Honeywell/Belleville, but be able to afford a really big house like your parents, within walking distance to the very naice shops. If I'm right I think you will struggle to find that anywhere! At least if it does exist it will be well over budget. If I'm wrong - which bits are you willing to compromise on?

minipie I'm fully aware I can't afford my mums house anywhere, well perhaps in a random field.

I just love where I live & it's my home. I'm very spoiled with having everything on my doorstep but I would like a bit more space. Moving to another part of London means I have to compromise on something for not loads more space. Moving to another city might mean I'm still compromising but for perhaps more space than I would get in London so it seems less of an overall compromise if that makes sense.

Ideally I would like 2000-2500 sq foot or somewhere that had room to extend.
Great schools
A bit of culture & things to do. I'm not massively concerned with how posh a place is (some parts of Battersea were very rough back in the day) but I guess having independent restaurants & coffee shops, good schools are posh markers these days, when they were less so in my youth. A chain store coming to an area was considered posh then & nowadays the independents are not the cheap places anymore.

In your position, if I loved where I lived and I had family nearby, I wouldn't move away from that just for a bit of extra space.

We'll move out of London at some point, but our flat is 350 sq foot and has no garden.

I think deep deep down I know that it would have to be pretty amazing to leave where I am now & having mum so close. I'm not sure that exists in London on my budget so I guess I was pondering if I could find it elsewhere.

careful where do you think you will go?

Moving to another city might mean I'm still compromising but for perhaps more space than I would get in London so it seems less of an overall compromise if that makes sense.

Fair enough. But given you'd still be compromising, I'd put the close family support ahead of the extra space. Especially as you can get a decent sized (not generous but perfectly ok) house in London - it's not like it's a choice between a titchy flat in London vs a house elsewhere.

FWIW I do get your dilemma - I grew up in nappy valley and no way could I afford my parents' house!!

Sure you've considered this but could you extend where you are currently? Bearing in mind stamp duty etc will cost a fair bit anyway.

Ideally I would like 2000-2500 sq foot or somewhere that had room to extend

Ok well then you need £3 million or to move to Devon or up north.

All MC peeps who grew up in London are living in houses smaller than their family home unless they’re bankers. We all just have to accept it. You’re not even going to get that much more space in Bath or Bristol.

My parents bought their London house for 30 grand in 1974 and it’s on the market for 5 million.

I think that if you moved to another city you would be constantly making comparisons to London? I moved out of the city to Surrey and love it.

My DD is in a great state school, we live a 6 minute walk to a train station that offers trains that take 40 minutes to Waterloo, my commute was longer in one role when I lived in London and had to use 3 x tubes. We have beautiful scenery including lakes. We have large supermarkets, Guildford and Woking are great for shopping, they also have theatres/live music etc but haven't used that too much tbh.

We have taken DD to London to see family, theatre and touristy days out and she loves it, she also loves going to coast (1hr away). We are near to the motorway network for M3 and M4, 20 minutes from the M25.

I get annoyed about the time of the last train, back from London however with the tube night services there are noises about lines out of London offering later services.

Driving around here is much more efficient than in London, I now hate driving around in London and train it wherever possible as its much quicker.

jumping we are limited because of DH's work - he earns an excellent wage but ONLY in London. Outside London he would earn less than half of this and anywhere else we would want to live we wouldn't be able to afford really. We will probably go to Bishop's Stortford or Hitchin. I like both those places well enough and they're an easy commute to London. Our budget will be nothing like yours though - only about 425k at the absolute most. But I come from a huge family and am used to not having much space - we'll be happy with a two up two down with garden if that's all we can get.

In your shoes I would move to Bristol, Cambridge, Bath or Exeter. Actually in your shoes I would probably stay in London but I know you don't want to do that!

minipie going to look at loft conversion. I'm sure you've said but what area are you in now?

tatiana I guess we just have to wait for our inheritance!

standingcat i'm sure your right.

careful I actually went to Bishops Stortford to collect a chest of drawers (eBay), it was really nice.
I'm not going to do anything for the next 6 months.

I guess we just have to wait for our inheritance!

Unfortunately that’s the reality.

But there’s a lot to be said for extension - a basement the footprint of your house will considerable space. A whacking back extension, which you don’t now need planning permission for within certain limits, and a loft conversion, which someone else has suggested, are also worth considering.

Would your parents do a house swap :)

I don't know what you are really looking for in terms of size as houses tend to be sold by number of bedrooms, not square footage - but this is what you could get in a naice Hampshire commuter time full of aspirational (and Tory voters, safest Tory seat in country, sadly) middle class people and good schools, but mostly fairly modern housing stock so room sizes are small:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68428814.html (this one needs some TLC)

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69107387.html

Town not time!

I'm in balham OP. Stamp duty on 850k is 32,500, that would cover a large chunk of a loft conversion. Wandsworth is also getting more relaxed about extending out over the rear addition (if you have one). Basement unlikely to be worth it on a 1100 ft house, unless costs come down a lot. Loft and side return definitely worthwhilte though.

Wonder if the stamp duty changes will have any effect on the London market?

Don't move to the countryside if you are a city person. It really isn't for everyone. I was totally miserable. There are, however, loads of lovely and cheap cities that aren't London. But you may find you miss your family and neighbourhood a lot. You sound like you have some strong ties and it's hard to make those in a new area.