My wife and I are both 30, recently married, and living in London. We're starting to seriously plan our long-term family home and would really appreciate some honest opinions from people who understand both the London property market and how to structure a purchase like this sensibly.
A bit about our situation
We both work in demanding professional careers, with a combined salary of around £480k/year before bonuses (closer to £530k with bonus), and we expect this to grow over the next couple of years. Beyond salary, we each have investments and some inherited property assets a few overseas properties and a minority stake in a family vineyard came to us through inheritance, alongside cash savings and investment portfolios. Including our current apartment, our combined household net worth is roughly £9M, and passive income 140K yearly, though a meaningful chunk of that sits in illiquid or semi-liquid assets rather than cash.
We currently live in a apartment in London worth around £1.1M with no mortgage. Our plan is to sell it and add a further £1M or so in cash, giving us roughly £2.1M to put toward the new home, while keeping our other assets, investments, and inherited properties untouched. That would leave us taking out a mortgage of roughly £900k on a £3–3.5M property, which feels conservative given our income, but we want to make sure we're not missing anything.
We're hoping to start a family in the next few years likely two or three children and are already thinking ahead to private school costs on top of the mortgage, so we want the numbers to hold up over the next decade, not just look fine on paper today.
Our ideal home Requirements
A large master bedroom with a proper ensuite bathroom (big shower, comfortable space)
Rooms for future children
A guest bedroom
A proper home office for both of us
A large kitchen with an island we love the idea of the kitchen being the heart of the house
A comfortable living room
An entertainment space that could work as a small bar/music/games room for having friends over
A private garden with enough space to actually enjoy outdoor living
We're currently thinking about buying an older but well-located property around £2.8M–£3M and spending roughly £500k on renovation, rather than buying something already finished. Areas we're considering: Richmond, Barnes, Wimbledon, and Chiswick but we're open to other suggestions.
A few questions for people who know this world
1.Does this budget make sense for the type of home we're looking for, and does a ~25% LTV mortgage make sense given our asset mix, or should we be putting down more or less?
2.Would you prefer buying a finished luxury home or renovating an older property, given we're planning to have kids fairly soon?
3.Are Richmond/Barnes/Wimbledon/Chiswick the right areas for a young family, or are there other areas worth exploring?
4.Is it worth consolidating with a private bank for the mortgage given our combined assets, or does that not really move the needle at this loan size versus a normal broker?
5.What mistakes do people commonly make buying at this price range financially or practically?
6.Would a buying agent be worth it for us?
7.If you were in our position, what would you prioritize both on the property itself and on how we structure the purchase financially?
We're not looking for the biggest house or the most expensive postcode. We want somewhere that feels like home a place where our children can grow up, where we can host friends, and where we can enjoy everyday life while making sure we're being financially sensible about how we get there.