AIBU to ask you to tell me I’m right?

[ButIamrightright]

Can’t sleep as I’m pissed off at the buffoon who is obviously snoring next to me in contentment.

We live in SW London (a nice, nappy valley part) but ideally need some more living space.

DH is adamant we should move approx 15 min drive away for said space as he’s worried the prices are going up fast. He’s against improving our place due to mess, hassle & cost.

I don’t think we should move for a number of reasons & should do a loft conversion & suck up having less living space for a few years. Then look at moving to zone 4 maybe for proximity to good secondary schools.

My reasons for staying,
DC1 will hopefully be attending the excellent primary school 150m away in Sep, childminder 500m away & my family are a 15 min walk, imo this is invaluable for a happy life.

The houses we he has looked at are lovely & yes the prices have increased but I don’t feel they are valued right. I.e 600k increase in price in the last 5 yrs. The areas, transport links or the schools haven’t really changed that much to warrant the increase.

Also for what we could afford we would probably outgrow & need to move on from in 5 yrs time. I’m anxious that we will get caught out by paying too much.

I have noticed very few new listings in the postcodes we are looking out & quite a few have been reduced by as much as 300k & I still think they are overvalued. Am I right to steer clear & not entertain him?

Your line of thinking seems fine

I think you both have valid points so you should discuss it and listen to each other. I wouldn’t dismiss someone as a buffoon for wanting to move. It does sound like your reasons to stay are pretty solid and ideal for your DC at primary school and your own comfort zone.

Areas a bit further out of London are rising in house prices as less can afford central zones, however I know friends in sw zone 4 area of two very different properties who have both had struggles to sell.

Didn’t finish!

So deals may be there to be done. And it’s unlikely to suddenly kick start again without some dramatic changes.

A lift extension can give you a whole new lease of life in your property. You are probably has several green spaces in an east walking distance.

Explain your points but don’t belittle his. What you want nowhere else has that perfect 3 combo to offer.

Re the prices being overvalued, we found this and one estate agent we spoke to (when toying with the idea of letting our place and hanging on to sell) admitted it. He said it was the agents who were over pricing and it was all going to come crashing down...

Of course, some are selling at that price and if you've got one to sell you could always ask the highest you could hope for and see if you get it.

BulletFox
I will take that.

Middle Your right & at least he’s not snoring now. He’s looking around zone 3 & I have said I would consider a project. Not a massive one, more cosmetic. The market just seems very dodgy at the moment, we keep getting estate agents notes through the door “phone xxx for a free valuation, we’ve just sold a house for xxx” but I’m very friendly with my neighbours & 3 sales have fallen through as their buyers couldn’t sell their properties when 2 years ago it was open house days & offers above asking.

Re the prices being overvalued, we found this and one estate agent we spoke to (when toying with the idea of letting our place and hanging on to sell) admitted it. He said it was the agents who were over pricing and it was all going to come crashing down...

Yes I don’t understand this, I’ve seen houses on 1 road reduced by 250k from 1.1m & not shifting but new houses coming on (with little difference) at 1.15m.

I know SW London pretty well as born & raised here. Flats in Balham and Mitcham are now similar prices. New areas have been created called Clapham Park etc which are nowhere near Clapham but have high prices. Houses on one road in the catchment of a fab school are priced at the same price as houses (exactly the same style) on the next road that is not in any catchment.

I used to have a flat in “Clapham Park” lol. It’s basically a junction.

Get Kirsty on the job

Lol it’s literally their love it or list it

Estate agents will tell sellers whatever valuation they want to get the listing, then reduce it hugely if necessary later. This happened to us 2 years ago and we ended up selling for about 30% under our original list price. We were quite naive, but I also blame Brexit.

Kirsty

MiddleClassProblem Hope I’ve not offended you? Are you still in SW London.

Strangely I’ve never watched that show, property shows bore me 😆. Might have to check it out though!

You are right. The happy life is far more important. Trust me.

No we moved away to buy a house but just moved back to barely a zone. Unfortunately we can’t afford to move any closer for now but it’s better than where we were. I grew up in zone 4 sw in a posh/arty area so zone 3 isn’t a worry to me lol.

I didn’t like Clapham park but loved the transport and the proximity Abbeville Road. Very much a non area though!

Whilst Brexit is clearly not going to help I think the market was toppy regardless. Wages have stagnated & its increasingly harder for FTB to get on the ladder & harder to trade up now. Also interest rates can’t stay this low forever or can they?

MiddleClassProblem

Love Abbeville :)

Whenever we discuss moving long term I actually think I prefer the idea of another city as opposed to zone 6 or a suburb.

Also interest rates can’t stay this low forever or can they?

No, I would give it 18-24 months before rates start to increase. Incrementally, of course, but if people have taken out big mortgages in order to get a foot in the property market, or have taken out increasing mortgages in order to move house (such as moving to a bigger house/better area etc), even an incremental change in the interest rate will have an impact.

The housing market cannot and will not continue on its current trend forever.

I’m also in SW London, a couple of roads of Abbeville Rd. And DH and I are having the same discussion.

Like you, I’d rather relocated to a new city, than be stuck in the increasingly overpriced outskirts with a longer commute.

Equally, I’d rather move than extend. The faff, invasion by builders, mess and general inconvenience would put me off.

DH and I have discussed that the furthest we’re willing to move ‘out’ is Forest Hill or Dulwich.

... so if we needed to move further than that, we would rather move our whole lives to York or similar (no friends network there, but could live, nursery/school and work within a walkable distance).

AnonEvent Yep completely agree about the lack of “value” moving to a commuter belt. Who knows what fares will be like in 5 years & services can be so dodgy.

I would move to another city tmw if my family were not here (Inlaws are very close to us too). Wages are lower but not bad & housing costs so much more reasonable. Actually I keep reading that more & more people are leaving London or not moving here & going straight to other cities so my one fear is getting priced out of other cities.

OP stay where you are as you are obviously happy and it has everything you need close to home. We had to move last year as our old two bed terrace couldn't be extended as there was no space and we honestly hadn't room to swing a cat and two dc so we needed to go. It had everything close by and I absolutely loved the location. I still feel a pang when we pass by. Where you live is about more than the actual house itself if that makes sense.

Thanks all :)

You are right OP. Location is everything! (Coming from another SW London mum with 3DC, both working in London and in a small terraced house - we are cosy but the location gives us the most family time together in the community we love with all conveniences on our doorstep).

Extending is surely much cheaper, you have a great primary school. Gives you more time to save up for the next step and as you said better idea of secondary school provision...

Yes, making assumptions about your property budget, the stamp duty could probably cover the lift conversion and obviously you have all the other costs still to pay if moving.