Advice Needed: Moving from New York to London

[user1487368614]

Hi everyone!

My husband, 16 month old daughter and our dog will be relocating (with my husband's employer) to London at the beginning of March 2017. I am a SAHM and my husband will be working near Victoria station. We have short term housing in Chiswick, but are unsure of where we would like to settle long term. We will be renting with a budget up to £4700 pcm. We would like to have 3-4 bedrooms with some private garden space. We are a bit concerned about the state schooling catchment topic - our daughter is young now, but we hope to find a place we can stay for several years and hope to send her to an outstanding state school. Also, being near parks/green space is important to us. We may have eventually have a car, but do not plan on driving daily.

Where would you recommend we look long-term? We have been looking (online) in Richmond, Barnes and Twickenham (a bit further from central London than we'd ideally like to be) but have concerns about the aircraft noise. We've also been looking in Chiswick. We are open to living closer to central London as well, but do not think we can get the space that we'd want there with our budget.

Any advice/insight you can provide on these areas or suggestions for other areas to look would be wonderful. Thank you!

[AndNowItsSeven]

Your budget is huge do you mean £ or $?

[Strix]

Twickenham is lovely and very far from Waterloo (about 20 min). On the river, fantastic school, lovely community. 4700 will get you more than you need with one child.

In terms of rent, a 3 bed is much more plentiful on the market than a 4 bed. I'd recommend near Twick station for ease of commute.

[NuffSaidSam]

Have a look at Ealing and Hammersmith.

Richmond is absolutely lovely though. If you can afford it, live there!

Barnes and Twickenham are fine, but not as nice as Richmond or Ealing or Hammersmith imo.

Generally catchment areas for outstanding schools in London are very, very small so you will need to rent close to the school. Once you've settled on an area, check the schools and see what their catchment is to be sure. Be aware that faith schools sometimes operate different catchment rules, for example our local Catholic school sets it's catchment based on how close you are to the church and not how close you are to the school (the school and the church are not near each other meaning if you live next door to the school you are outside it's catchment area!).

[BrownEyedLady]

Richmond and Barnes are lovely! You'll be near the massive park and I think there's a wetland area near Barnes. You'll also be close to Kew. I'd love to live that side of London (way out of my budget!)

[user1487368614]

Thank you all for your helpful comments!

Does anyone have any feelings/knowledge on Crouch End? In general and also how it compares to Richmond?

[ScottishDiblet]

Hello, I'm afraid I don't know anything about Crouch End except that it might be a long journey to Victoria each day for your husband.
Have you thought about Wimbledon? It's got excellent schools, plenty of parks and green spaces and brilliant transport links. It's similar to Richmond in many ways but (in my opinion) better transport because the trains are more frequent and has the northern line tube as well as the district line. Catchment areas for schools are small to be honest but there are often houses to rent near the top schools. It's a very child friendly area with lots to do for little ones and very easy to meet other mums at local activities. The areas around Dundonald school and South Park Gardens (Holy Trinity School) are especially nice. Best of luck!