To want to live in london?

[Amy700]

We've been living out in the sticks for hubby's job but have the opportunity to move to london and I want to go. We would have a combined income of about £100-120k plus £500k for a deposit (enough to buy an entire house in most other places!) we live in a nice 4-bed house here and have two children in private school. Hubby thinks moving to london would mean giving up our 'lifestyle'. I'd be ok with putting the children in state school but I do want a decent house in a nice area. Hubby thinks you can't get that in london on our finances. Is he right?

What’s your house budget?

I live in a alright area, near shut areas, near posh areas so it’s somewhere in the middle. Our house is 4 bed (3 double 1box) worth less than your deposit but we’re zone 5/6.

You probably won’t have a big garden in naice areas on that budget around here but it also depends on what your requirements actually are

I think you could have a perfectly nice life in London on that (in an outer borough) but you would find private school for two DC hard to afford (at least £30k for two for primary).

Maybe list what it is you love about where you live now and him too and see what’s non negotiable that you’d miss etc?

I love living in London with two kids both in state school-do it!

But then there are lots of good state schools...although you'll pay a premium to be right on top of one, as you'll probably need to be in a lot of areas.

I love living in London. House lots smaller than my friends out in the sticks but you gain a certain lifestyle from the convenience of having everything close by.

Lots of state schools are excellent but that's obviously reflected in house prices. However, with your deposit and income I would have thought you'd get somewhere fairly decent.

Live in the right area and you can utilise a grammar school.

London is big. 8 million people, its 40 miles across. Any particular part of London?

You could move to Sutton.
If you bought this house:
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65423572.html
It's in a really nice area. Easy to get into London. Really close to a private girls school and and other good schools not to far away.

I live in an untrendy but still quite nice part of london...zone 3. You can still buy a house here for £500k.

I love living in London. We home ed, so no comments to give you on schooling, but London is brilliant!

Yes- if you borrow an extra £500k added to your 500k deposit you would get a decent 3-4 bedroom house in an outer borough.

We had a combined income of around £150k with one DD at nursery in London and managed fine repaying a mortgage of a similar size. I don’t think we’d have managed private school fees though.

So you only have 500k or do you have 500k plus deposit? If the latter North London is doable and v naice

Yes- if you borrow an extra £500k added to your 500k deposit you would get a decent 3-4 bedroom house in an outer borough

How ridiculously dramatic. I have a four bed house in an outer borough...the op would have change leftover from her 500k!

Depends on the area and the type of house you want I suppose. Guess I’m answering based on what my preferences would be with respect to both of those things.

If you like London the I guess go for it good luck and enjoy.

Personally I would say in the country. Nothing could ever make me live in a city like London

Depends on where you’re looking to live. 500k would frequently be the deposit around my area, so you’d need a very big mortgage. In outer boroughs it would be most of the house. Most people do make lifestyle compromises to live in London, so it would be silly to expect the exact same luxuries here. If you have an idea of where you’d like to live in London, you’ll get lots of advice from locals

Have a look at Hampton.

I made the move to London which was scary at first but I’ve loved ever single second of it. I’ve joined various clubs; cycling, running and a book club and have found people to be so welcoming.

Where would you like to live OP? If you were thinking of Zones 2/3 you’d be hard pressed to find a house for 500k with flats costing that.

Forest Hill (or other SE areas like honor oak and Sydenham) or Twickenham are worth considering. And second Hampton as pp suggested.

Almost all secondary state schools in London are good. Houses in Bromley are fairly reasonable and their grammars are some of the best schools in the country.

Private education is better. There are so many cuts in state education....so I would stay where you are TBH.

As a school governor...I see the cuts and if I could have afforded a private education for my DC....I'd have done it. I see how well they've done so far and know it would have been better in a private school.

It sounds like you could do it money wise, buts few things to consider:

• how good is your DCs private school? Will it be a big loss? (ours is excellent and people move out of London to send children there - so I wouldn't move for that reason). Remember to look at state secondary options as well as primary. In our old area of West London we were spoilt with amazing primaries, but the local secondaries were mediocre.

• what hobbies do you, DH and the DC have? (check how easy/expensive these will be in London)

• Think about what exactly excites you about London. (I lived in London for 10 years and love the Theatre. Now we live in a national park, 1 hour from London. We have an amazing theatre on the doorstep which has West End shows before they hit the West End. And I end up going to the Theatre in London more often than when I lived there)

Good luck with your decision! I have friends who would never leave London because they love the buzz of the big city.

Do you mean £500k equity?! That’d plus a mortgage could get a good house. But private education would cost loads.

Are your current jobs secure where you are? Are there other commutable options should one or both of you be made redundant? If yes staying where you are may be better.

How old are the DCs? It will be a bigger adjustment for them than for you, perhaps.

As for London, the museums on your doorstep, theatre, greater choice of cinema, ease of transport options for travelling elsewhere, are just a few of the good things about living in London.

Yes you could afford a decent sized house. Where depends on the transport options for you and your DH will be working. Near an Underground station means a reliable and frequent service, including evenings and Sundays. Near some of the National Rail services not so good, though Bromley, Hampton and Twickenham are OK from what I know (have work colleagues near the first two).

Thank you all for the responses. To clarify, we would have £500k equity plus whatever we could get as a mortgage. If we can get a mortgage for 3-4 times our salary, that would mean we could borrow 300-400k and be looking for a house in the 800-900k range. That sounds like a ridiculous amount of money to me, but when I looked, it seemed that many houses go for around a million, which is over our budget. We would both be working quite central - near Oxford circus. I honestly don't know about areas because I'm not that familiar with london. I'll take advice! I have spent a good amount of time in the central tourist/shopping areas but not so much in the more residential areas.

As for why I want to move - I want somewhere with a bit more excitement and things to do. I'm bored here. It's a small town. I want to live somewhere where DH and I can go out for dinner and have the choice of more than a couple of places. And I have a dream of taking the children to museums etc at the weekends. I really like the school they are in now but to be honest, they are bright children and I think they would be fine in a decent state school. Also I'd like the children to grow up a little more rounded. Yes we've been very lucky and have a good amount of money but I don't want my children to grow up so sheltered and only know other posh people! I just don't know if what I'm imagining is reasonable or not.