What would you do?

[itsmehere1]

Clearly we cannot find the perfect house in zone 5/6 London (searching for almost a year), but aren't clear in our minds what we should compromise on.

Negatives are:
-1 hour 30 minutes commute to work for both me & DH (as compared to current 1 hour 15 minutes)
-A bit above our budget (although we think the price is worth it being a detached and close to schools) asking around 560k – budget was around 530k

Positives are:
-4 bed detached (in reality 2 double bedrooms and 2 slightly bigger than box rooms)
-7 mins walk to primary and secondary school
-Good storage avenues ( garage, built in wardrobes, loft etc)
-Potential – conversion of garage is possible, opening of kitchen to an open plan also possible (not a load bearing wall)
-Medium-ish garden but easy to maintain as we like
-DH & I both always wanted to live in a similar looking house

We could move a bit further out, get a either a good house with lesser rooms with a lower budget, or we can move a lot further in and get a similar house with higher budget, but have a shorter commute (by 10-20 mins at-least). Should also add there are many 3 bed houses semis in the same area between 500-550k

Do we just hold on for longer and keep looking, but risk prices going up or go for this house. We are confused. What would you do?

1.5 hrs commute is long- fine if just one of you is doing it but a drag if you’re both doing it 3+ days a week. I did 1hr 40 for 7 years but DH picked up the slack as he worked locally. But depends how old kids are and how independent they are/ what childcare is in place

I personally always opt for smaller house in better location. My commute is 25 minutes door to door. We live in basic semi. I could have a detached house for the same price in a town further away so commute would be 50 minutes up to 1 hour even though it’s only 20 miles away!. It’s nice but I wouldn’t move there as I prefer where I live, our family are here. But plenty of friends have chosen this option- so it’s horses for courses really.

I'd move out of London, get jobs elsewhere on a sub half-hour commute, and buy somewhere for half as much or twice as good.

The 7 mins walk to schools is pretty good though. Does it compensate for the kids never seeing their parents thanks to that commute? It's a real issue.

That commute sounds grim. It's a buyers market in London, you should be looking up to 600 and making offers!