To want to move my family to London

[Miralala]

I've been offered a job in Zone 1 (mix of wfh and 5 hour return commute on diff days).

I really want to take the opportunity to live in London now, as live fairly rubbish city I don't like - however we have the 'ideal' life now with great schools, 3 bed semi, leafy suburbs, nice little high street and park 5 mins away.

We can up our house budget so could we keep any of that lifestyle anywhere in London for £700k? Absolute must is a nice secondary as kids are gentle souls and getting to secondary age, and son plays music, chess, etc - would be eaten alive in typical comp. I have no idea whether / where to start looking in London.

Chingford/Highams Park/Walthamstow all on overground to Liverpool St.

You can get lots of properties for £700k in zone 3 in London. You need to get a feel of the areas you like. You can def get 3 bed houses

Bexley village and surrounds has nice parts. London Borough of Bexley is largely not attractive but has good accessible grammars, ie not super selective.
(In reply to earlier discussion about Bexley/Sidcup good/bad).

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/117571424#/?channel=RES_BUY

In catchment for Outstanding Primary and Comprehensive. In fact a ‘typical comp’ that has an outstanding music department, chess club etc.

London is a fantastic place to bring up teens, and in Lambeth there are opportunities to take part (for free) in top quality youth music projects. Great parks nearby. Cinemas in West Norwood and Streatham, in walking distance. Ditto an ice rink, two pools and leisure centres, a theatre and the UK’s biggest indoor crazy golf course, all within walking distance!

Go for it, OP!

@KindergartenKop

South west London? Richmond, Teddington, Kingston, Surbiton? Not sure about the schools though.

My thoughts exactly

(Not that you'd even buy a flat in Richmond for £700k)

@oviraptor21

Bexley village and surrounds has nice parts. London Borough of Bexley is largely not attractive but has good accessible grammars, ie not super selective. (In reply to earlier discussion about Bexley/Sidcup good/bad).

Fair enough there are some isolated nice pockets but overall it’s not the first area I’d be looking by far.

If you want to be in central London and have an associated lifestyle (i.e to be within walking distance of everywhere, great restaurants, bars, museums, theatres etc on your doorstep) and are happy with a flat rather than a house then you can buy for your budget in zone 1. You can even get outdoor space. Lots of people have no idea how residential and how (relatively) affordable many very central areas are. There is a lot of ex council housing stock available that might not be beautiful, but is well built, has good sized rooms, and often outdoor space. If you really want to be in the middle of things, look around the Old Street, Clerkenwell, Barbican areas. You can walk to Holborn in 20 minutes and you’ve got loads of arts, culture, leisure facilities and hidden green space on your doorstep. It is urban but very quiet at night once the office workers have gone home. This is a typical example of the style of property in this part of London you can get for your money:
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/69037770#/?channel=RES_BUY

I live nearby and I love it. There’s a wonderful community spirit in this part of town too. And there are several good state secondary schools.

If you want a more leafy setting, 700k will get you a small three bed terrace in zone 3 in various parts of London - but these more suburban areas are all quite distinctive with their own local character and feel so you’d have to do some research to see what sort of area would suit your lifestyle and personality. Crystal Palace is very different to Alexandra Palace, as is East Sheen to East Dulwich and so on. These areas have their own high streets and feel like quite separate towns despite being well connected to the city centre.

Once you go properly out of town into zone 4, 5, 6 etc, you will get more for your money in some areas but less in others - some parts of zone 6 are very leafy and highly sought after with multimillion pound houses, while others are more drab and nondescript and have plenty of cheap housing. This will largely depend on transport links too. South and South East London are much cheaper than other areas because they don’t have a tube network and you’re reliant on overground trains. The rest of London has tubes going out to zone 6 and beyond, as well as overground services and trains, so you’re not necessarily going to get super cheap housing further out if transport connections are still good.

In summary, you do have plenty of options, but you need to do your research to work out what’s best for you. Maybe renting for a few months while you get to know the city might be your best bet?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/111981029#/?channel=RES_BUY

Also in catchment for all the attractions I listed above, the Outstanding secondary being Dunraven. Also options for Elmgreen, a chance of a lottery and / or music scholarship place at (Outstanding) Kingsdale. Better location than the house I linked in my post above.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109028222#/?channel=RES_BUY
Same good schools.

West Norwood has the Feast every month: crafts, food fair, farmers market etc.

Or this as more of a doer-upper
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115493279#/?channel=RES_BUY

@oviraptor21

Bexley village and surrounds has nice parts. London Borough of Bexley is largely not attractive but has good accessible grammars, ie not super selective. (In reply to earlier discussion about Bexley/Sidcup good/bad).

I grew up in Bexley borough and really wouldn’t recommend it. There’s plenty of green space and grammar schools but that’s about it. It’s just street after street of 1930s semis and high streets filled with estate agents, Costa, Wetherspoons and Pizza Express. There’s nothing to make it desirable to live in as a place in and of itself - it’s not beautiful or interesting historically or architecturally and there’s no local cultural life beyond the dance/drama colleges in Sidcup. Its only recommendation is its proximity to London, and even that isn’t great considering the only route into town is via southeastern trains, which stop everywhere, aren’t very regular and take forever. Apologies to anyone who lives there, but it’s really not a place I’d encourage anyone to move to.

I don’t think you can get much in London for £700k. We sold our 2 bed flat in Streathdm for £500k a few years ago. To the poster suggesting Teddington or Richmond as somewhere on that budget, you’ve got to be kidding, you won’t get much for that price. If you go out to zone 4/5 maybe if you’re in an unfashionable area and you don’t mind an ugly house/a fixer upper maybe?

We're in Bexley borough and the. Rime rate is low, good schools grammar and state, not a huge commute into London and bluewater, lakeside, Westfield, lewisham all in easy travel distance.

Crime rate.

I think when people say you can't live in nice bits of London for 700k, they actually mean you can't live in naice bits of London. I mean, sure, you won't get far in Hampstead or Chiswick or Notting Hill for that money but there are plenty of other affordable nice bits. As a PP said, most places I've lived it's been about an hour to get to other bits of London. It's a big place. But door to door, most trips from the home counties locations that people seem to consider alternatives to London (!!!!) will be longer than that, and your children will benefit much more from being in London proper, even if it's zone 3-4.

@NoNameHere12

People romanticise London, it’s not as nice as you think normally.

I'd agree with that and I live there : anti social behaviour, petty crime , drugs and there's graffiti every where.

I plan to move as soon as my kids have finished school which is only a few years away now.

Wow I am surprised you can get something nice in London for £700k. But I guess it depends what the idea of "nice" is

I live in zone 3/4 and 3-bed houses go for approx a million round here.
You’d have to live much further out to get a house for £700!

@JustDanceAddict that's what I would have thought

How the hell do people afford to live in London?

I live in another part of the UK and have a nice 3 bed detached house worth £200,000, combined income £85,000pa

My colleague lives in the suburbs of London, posh area, in a 3 bed semi, £700,000 and he and his wife also earn a combined £85,000pa

I don't understand how they can afford it

Both @EnidSpyton @urbanbuddha suggestions are good.

Yes, the house close to Fortismere is a distance to East Finchley tube, but a brisk walk is good for the constitution. It is a very leafy area. That house is a good price to be so close to the school.. Nearby Muswell Hill is very pleasant, a small town in effect, but it is expensive & direct transport into central London is not a priority which is part of its cachet & expensive.

The Old Street flat is in the midst of so much & very walkable particularly to Holborn so you won’t waste any time using the tube & traffic bound buses.It you want the full on global city London experience, then this is a contender. Open green space is at a premium around here, you’ll come across little pockets & parks here & there. You can get up to Highbury Fields for a stroll, or up to Hampstead Heath for a good trudge.

Ex-council in the very centre of London is a good way in.

This is a bargain, not much to look at but

@JustDanceAddict I'm currently househunting in zone four for a three bed with a budget of 450k. It totally depends on neighborhood. I guess you would consider the neighbourhoods I'm looking in to be unliveable but I would disagree! They certainly aren't Waitrose neighbourhoods though. It all depends what you consider to be nice/essential

Look at Acton in West London. There's 3 Acton tube stops on the Central line which would get you into Holborn. Neighbouring Ealing and Chiswick are too pricey but Acton is cheaper and has some good secondary schools. Specifically West Acton would give you access to Twyford and Ada Lovelace secondary school.

Come to Bromley. You’ll get a 3 bed for 700k and the best grammar schools. It’s zone 5 and Holborn would be about an hours commute.

@MoonWise I assume you are talking about Orpington as there are no grammar schools in Bromley?