family moving to london 500k budget .........where to?

[zurich09]

We are currently moving from abroad and have been shocked at just how expensive london has become in recent years. We are trying to find somewhere to buy - need a two-bed place close to good schools............Used to live in London, but have been completely priced out of everywhere. If you had to commute to Euston/Bloomsbury and were looking for a nice family area with good schools where would you look? Everyone seems to be raving about SELondon but got a bit scared that the commute is really long. Used to live in Muswell Hill but thats way out of our price range nowadays. Any advice would be very welcomed.

You could get a 2 bed house in walthamstow if you look near billet road. It's the cheaper part of town but you have a 15-20 min walk to Blackhorse Rd,

"all the horror of inner city london schools got me a bit concerned about schools in london."

Loads of excellent schools in London and overall London schools out perform schools nationally.

TheRedBarrows@ agreed.....it is ridiculous! I myself went to a 'failing' comprehensive for a bit....and have done fine (at least when it comes to 'academics'). I just dont get why schools in the UK are such a thing, no one worries about it half as much in Europe. Nor do I get why you guys still have single-sex schools (sooo weird) or why private schools still exist and skew the whole system. But thats a rant for another time ;-).

In practice, we cant afford to move every few years (where do people find the money???). So trying to get it 'right' first time round.

Well, I live in zone two with fab parks, coffee shops, slightly alternative left leaning families, in the honour oak/Peckham/brockley general area, and got a three bed maisonette with a garden less than two years ago for less than your budget. So don't give up hope!!!
We have a choice of several excellent primaries, but trickier for secondaries if you don't want single sex. Definitely rent, and keep your eyes peeled, bargains do pop up. We feel like we won the lottery with our house!!

@DustyDoorframes - Everyone seems to love that part of London - and I can deal with single-sex schools (I dont get them, but honestly there're bigger things to worry about). Would the commute to Euston just be completely crazy if you have to do drop offs/pick ups?

There's a train line that runs through st Pancras, from Peckham rye, otherwise you can get the London Bridge trains, or even the overground to Highbury and Islington, and change. You would have lots of options to play about with to find the best route. If your a cyclist that's probably easiest, but it's not a nightmare. I travel a fair bit for work out of Euston and it's fine. Paddington I find a pain to get to and even that's ok.

will have to explore all the 'new' train connections...when i lived in london in early 2000s it was mainly just buses and more buses as the connections were so terrible.now SELondon seems a lot better connected

A lot of people I know only have one partner commuting. Therefore you can afford to live a bit further out. Second salary would be less but the advantage is cheaper property and not a flat and decent schools. Eg somewhere like Leighton Buzzard or Tring for stations going into Euston. That way your money goes further. No, it’s not London but your budget doesn’t get much. Sadly!

Yes, we abandoned the idea of moving to a train commute because we both work centrally. If one type of transport goes tits up in London you can get home somehow. If your train line does, it’s a nightmare. Combining two commutes with childcare would have been very challenging.

And yes, SE London is far better now with the Overground and Thameslink options. Where we were we had the choice of tube, train, bus and cycling to central London.

yep i was wondering how people manage to live out with two commutes into London plus childcare. seems really expensive (two rail passes plus the tube) and time consuming (i.e. doing pick ups and drop offs). London seems to have become a weird place that moving out is basically counter-acted cost/time wise by having two people coming into the city.....granted central london or zone 2 are now really really expensive - but two train tickets into london could be 10k per year or even more which is crazy. No wonder people that people often just give up and leave.

Sometimes it's quicker though to move further out. For example, Orpington is Zone 6 I think but the faster trains only take 20 minutes to London Bridge. Ditto places like Surbiton - fast trains to Waterloo. You would need to try to get the balance right between fare price and/or housing costs.

But by Orpington you’ll into ‘screwed if the train is’ territory.