Faffing about over moving or not - can you help me decide?

[bibbityisaporker]

Current situation:

We have lived in our little corner of London for 16 years and during that time the area has gradually gentrified and transformed to become one of the most popular and desirable areas for miles around, a sort of property hot spot. It has a nice High Street (no boarded up shops) a market, two lovely parks, excellent primary schools etc.

What this means is that we have been very lucky re. property prices and are now in the position where we could upgrade to a larger house (another bedroom and bathroom) without increasing our mortgage, infact possibly decreasing it, if we just moved about 10 minutes drive away. We could just about go mortgage free if we bought a similar sized house to the one we have now. However, these would all be slightly edgier/less chi-chi and more urban typically London environments.

For those of you that know London: I have done my time living in places like Hackney and Brixton (and anyway, prices are high there) I am v middle aged and am thinking of somewhere far more suburban like Norwood/Crystal Palace or Sydenham.

I love where I live, although am finding it a bit painfully trendy now, and wonder if I am being silly in not cashing in on the money we have been very fortunate to have accumulated by settling in an area all those years ago that has since become very desirable. Of course, when we moved here, it was a "less desirable" area but we were younger then, had less money and no children.

Any thoughts? Anyone done anything similar?

I would cash in and move if I were you. I'm guessing you're somewhere like Dalston?

Oh is Dalston desirable now?? Lived there 1988 - 1994, and it was a bit rubbish tbh.

No, am in SE. My area is a bit like Stokey.

Yes Dalston is very trendy these days.

Would crystal palace be very different from where you are now? Do you definitely want to stay in London?

Yes, got to stay in London and can't move too far away from where we are now because dd will be going to a good secondary school. Crystal Palace is ok, but the shopping area is horrible because its clogged with traffic. Oh and it is such an ENORMOUS pita to move house too!

Anyway, nice chatting with you Kiss. I can see my self-indulgent musings haven't exactly set MN alight this morning, so think I might log off shortly .

I don't see why you wouldn't, tbh - assuming you can cope with the hassle/stress of moving, which is a temporary thing however hideous at the time.

• Current area painfully trendy and you obviously don't love it.
• You can get more for less money elsewhere
• Doesn't seem to affect schooling options

I'd do it in your position. Trendy area may not stay trendy - in 5 years time the location buzz your house currently has may be gone.

How is Camberwell these days? Is that up and coming or still the dive it was in the late 80s?

am not a fan of Camberwell myself, but prices are quite high because it is relatively central. Am thinking of moving further out, hence the price drop. Gosh I am old.

I think you'd be crazy not to take advantage of the position you're in, I hear parts of Bromley are nice?

The trouble with SE London imo and i say this as someone who was born here and have been her most of my life is that the nice parts like Dulwich are becoming more trendy so probably similar to where you are now.

And the other parts you wouldn't want to live in!

How about Beckenham which is a bit further out but with good transport links to into London and the Tram to Wimbledon and Croydon??

Are you in East Dulwhich? I would swap the area for something bigger and more family oriented (more clubs, better leisure centre etc) further out.

Some parts of Streatham are quite nice; the train links are there but you have to go to Brixton to use the tube.

How about moving to the South West? Tooting Broadway, Colliers Wood, they're close enough to where you want to be and with good transport links too.

Actually, Fondle, we are considering Streatham. Well, the bits of Streatham in the Dunraven catchment area anyway! Transport links aren't vital to us (we live in an absolute black spot for transport, so have learned to muddle along). Although I know that Bromley and Beckenham can be nice, we don't want to go that far out because we don't want to have to move our children from their schools. And I don't want to be in the Kent grammar system anyway. Thanks for thinking about it for me, though.

Gah! if only you could move house quickly and easily without any stress I'd do it in a flash.

What about Eltham? Cracking big houses in the 'Corbett' built streets around the rail/bus station. Good bus link to the DLR. Reasonable high street, couple of good schools. Some new development. Steady rising prices over the years but a very good bet for the future too.

Furzedown is great SW16 and SW17, and in Graveney School catchment which has an Outstanding ofsted. Lovely housing stock too. Bus to Tooting Bec or Broadway or Streatham Common rail.

greentown lovely post, we are off to Eltham

I'm going to go against popular opinion and say don't do it. Stay put. If the area is nice now then it is probably a safer place to live. Moving is stressful, time consuming, and by the time you've paid all the expenses and stamp duty will eat into the profits anyway.

If the kids are already sorted with schools then I would definately stay.

Have been looking at Furzedown Spotty, some of the houses look really nice! What's the catch? - I always thought all SW postcodes were more expensive than SE ones.

Eltham = v nice, but too far out for us.

I think the only catch is that it is a bit too far from the tube to have the silly prices. I love it. Very community oriented, friendly feel. The proximity to Tooting common with the lido, swings and cafe, is so handy and if you do fancy some swanky coffee shops etc walk to balham in 25 mins, or primark and tk maxx the other way to tooting broadway. 10 mins walk to start of streatham high road and my fave pub of the moment The Manor Arms.

15 mins on the 319 and you are at Northcote rd/clap junction too.

Feel free to pm me and I can give you more info. Check out our lovely community messaqe board too...

groups.yahoo.com/group/furzedown/