Relocating within London while pregnant

[carrotcats]

Hello!

I’m pregnant with my first child (16 weeks) and have had a bit of a panic about whether we should be trying to find a more spacious home before I give birth.

I’m self employed, the breadwinner and do most of my contracting work in central London so need to be in there daily. I have a lovely but tiny flat in a vibrant area of London that I LOVE and will be ok when the baby is small, but we’ll soon grow out of.

Because our mortgage will be calculated on my earnings, which are very good now but will inevitably decline while I get used to being a mum, I wonder whether we should try and move now, while we can still afford to size up.

Other factors I know nothing about being a first time parent but am worrying about include- if I lay down mum friendships through NCT etc in where I am now and then in a couple of years need to move across London, will that affect my support network? Am I over (or under!) estimating how difficult it will be financially to uproot once I’ve had a child and my earnings are less? Will the stress of trying to buy and sell now be too much stress in pregnancy?

I have a budget of about £500k and the market seems to be quite good for sizing up now- I could afford a 3-4 bed house in SE London, but worry if prices increase over the next few years, I might miss my window.

Any thoughts?! I’m a bit stressed about which decision is the right one for our family

I’d definitely move while pregnant rather than when the baby has arrived. It’ll give you time to settle and take a lot of stress away. You also need to work out how much mortgage you’ll be able to afford considering lower earnings and childcare costs in the future.

Move now.

Less stressful and you have less stuff in your flat. With a baby comes eg cot, bouncer, pram, toys, baby bath, nappies, baby clothes, stuff. It will make your flat more cluttered and viewings trickier.

I'd move now. It will be much less stressful than moving with a baby/toddler. And you'll soon be tight on space.
I have a 1yo and have just moved areas to be in a house over a smaller flat. Our flat was lovely and in a great area, but felt cramped very quickly after DS. was born. I also made a great group of mates in the first few months and I'm now am over an hour away from them and know no-one locally.
If we could have moved before he was born we definitely would have done.

Where can you get a 3-4 bed house in SE London for £500k out of interest? Our budget is higher than that and we are struggling.

We live in a two bed flat in a vibrant fun area in zone 2, and have stayed to have our first child even though the flat is small and on the second floor. We did NCT and have a fab network here - from the 8 of us in NCT, only two own big enough homes in this area to stay for more than a few years - the rest are in our situation and looking to move within a couple of years. I feel sad we may not have the same people nearby but the reality is that people do move on in London. I am grateful to have had my first child in zone 2 where I can walk to the river/Southbank/Tate Modern and really enjoy my maternity leave.

Ps you can really keep stuff to a minimum too. Eg we had a bath support instead of baby bath, tiny baby play gym instead of a massive one, Babyzen yoyo pram (also useful on buses as so small), Moses basket then cot, changing mat that fits under sofa etc.

You'll be able to make your flat work for you with a baby, people always manage to fill the space thy have and also cope!

My understanding is most mortgage lenders ask for six months payslips/proof of income for self employed to approve a mortgage, so if a future lower income will affect that, move now or you'll need to wait until you are back to max earnings.

Isn’t in 2-3 years of accounts for the self-employed to get a mortgage?

@Nightmanagerfan 500k is a good budget for a family house in most of outer London. With a even higher budget, you’ll have hundreds if not over a thousand of them to choose from.

@Nightmanagerfan I was looking at Eltham and New Eltham.

I got my last mortgage on the basis of a decent length contract and a brilliant broker who managed to make that work.

I love the idea of staying where I am for now and seeing if I can move in a year or two but you all raise some very good points!

I'm 15 weeks at the mo and just in the process of moving for exactly same reasons - mortgage easier to get now than when I'm earning less, want to make friends in new area rather than moving with a small one, would rather be settled etc. before baby comes. And quite honestly, I don't want the hassle of moving with a small one.

Congratulations! Where are you in the process now? I’ve only just started seriously thinking about it because getting through the first trimester took all my energy I’m usually really on it and organised and don’t even really have an area I know is right for us, just a feeling of sudden need to take action..!

I wouldn't rule out staying put for now. We stayed in our 1 bed Zone 2 London flat very happily for nearly 3 years after DS was born. Loved spending maternity leave with everything within walking distance. Nice to not be stretching ourselves money wise while on mat leave too.

We are now in a 3 bed with a DD too but really pleased we moved when we were ready not before and DS still misses his old home and asks to go back!

I would move now. We have just sold our 2 bed in SE London and are moving to a house a couple of miles to Kent/London border. I will be 25 weeks when we move and starting nct the week after we move in!
Having said that, you can absolutely make it work to have a baby in a flat (we did). Are you in a ground floor flat or not? We were in a first floor flat and found it a pain to have no garden and have to carry all the baby stuff up and down the stairs every time we went out.

Move now if you can.

We moved when I was 12 weeks pregnant (am now 36 weeks) and so glad we did.
Having my salary helped us get a better mortgage and better house that we can grow into and wouldn't need to move again for quite a while (in midlands area so i know it's a lot different for you in London). I doubt we would have got it without my salary included.

Can you have a look around and see if there are any houses/areas that you fall in love with? And go from there?

Peckham in zone 2,very vibrant.
schools are great such as bellenden primary.
named by Sunday time best place to live in London.
we are living on top floor,2 bedroom with huge 70sqm loft(massive storage and kids dens), with 3 kids all having home birth,great antenatal support.
we are loving every minutes of 16 years in the area.
i will definitely recommend Peckham.

I wouldn’t base moving decisions on assuming that NCT friendships you have yet to make,will still be strong in a couple of years time. NCT is not a guarantee of making friends, and others will move on. Your social life will change unrecognisably in the next year or so and you may well end up going to places and meeting people through your baby that you never dreamed off

I got the keys for our place when 8 months pregnant but it needed a lot of work, didn't actually move in until my due date! Not recommended, although I didn't do any of the heavy lifting/cleaning. However it was amazing to nest in the new place.

Mortgagewise we're also self employed (limited company) and the offer was based on the profit from the last 3 years of accounts rather than money drawn from the company. I think only Virgin offer that style of mortgage now so there wasn't much choice. We'd had a (slight) downturn in profits in the third year so our accountant had to write a letter explaining why (reinvestment of previous years profits in infrastructure, shift in ratio of services sold etc). So I'd move now to maximise the mortgage value.

We had a budget of £500k and managed to find an ex council 2 bed with a loft conversion (making it 3 large bedrooms) in SE with a tiny patio garden, although if it hadn't needed so much work it wouldn't have been in budget.

I appreciate Eltham will be more affordable than where we chose, New Cross/Deptford, as it's further out. Do you know the area well? I'm not sure if it would be my first choice, particularly as we needed somewhere very well connected, although I don't have experience of living there.

OP we actually had an offer accepted the day before I found out I was pregnant. So admittedly we are down the line with the process. But what I will say is that we are very glad to have done it now as know full well a mortgage wouldn't be given if I was on SMP. We can afford the larger house as have other incomes but they aren't counted by the mortgage company. It has been incredibly stressful and difficult through my first trimester of not feeling great and also having to do stuff for the house but we had no choice other than pulling out. If we don't move now, if I was to go back part time I doubt we'd ever get a mortgage on the house we want.

I'm in plumstead, next to eltham, and love it here. Lots of children's centres, green spaces, great transport links and the cross rail coming at some point. £500k would get you a three or four bed depending on whereabouts you look (more expensive up by the common then towards shooters hill)

You can’t be guaranteed that you’ll stay friends with the NCT lot. However, on maternity leave, you’re likely to do lots of baby classes or mum and baby fitness classes too so you’ll meet tons of local families (as long as it’s a professional family area with those things on offer). Other things you might like to consider are large parks, playgrounds, soft play, creches, library etc. Depending on how you see your life in the future, you might like good schools, or activities such as tennis, ballet or whatever available.
I’d also say that I’m not in zone 5 and can walk to loads more things than were available in zone 2. You just need to research the specific areas you’re interested in to see what’s on offer.

After walking round lots of areas today and realising the realities of budget vs what we’re used to in Zone 2, I’m having a bit of a panic!
The trade offs were always going to be big but I’m definitely feeling concerned about how much of a shock to the system it will be if I move.

I thought I wanted quiet, but actually, some vibrancy would be very welcome- if anyone can recommend any areas that feel lively-ish with a 500-550k budget please let me know!

What do you feel are the big trade offs? The commute will certainly be longer but other than that?

For a more vibrant place, you might like one of the bigger town centres in outer London. Eg I live in Sutton (zone 5). The south side is particularly leafy with the countryside on the doorstep but the town centre itself has high rise buildings and there are loads of restaurants, pubs and cafes. There’s a fab cinema with sofas and a theatre, yoga and dance studios, gyms, leisure centres, libraries etc Sutton college is there if you’d like to try print making or Spanish etc

In terms of family life, there are tons of baby classes, Sutton Sports Village (giant soft play, trampoline park etc), top top schools (n1 in England for GCSEs) and it’s well suited to active lifestyles with things such as a climbing centre, public golf course, loads of sports clubs. In Cheam Village (1mile west) there’s a David Lloyd which is great for families. Plenty of parks and playgrounds with the countryside right there too (lavender fields, sheep and horses, Banstead Commons).

The main station is in zone 5 with trains to Victoria, London Bridge, the Thameslink up to Blackfriars, KX and beyond. The Northern line is a short bus/mini cab ride away too.

I know exactly what you mean about the shock! We are dreading leaving zone 2 as well. However having an 8 month old my priorities have changed a bit and I’m no longer as interested in restaurants etc, cafes are more useful. We have a similar budget and are hoping to find something in Crofton Park (near enough to Nunhead and a 6 minute train from Peckham so we can enjoy the the amenities there). For the budget I think a garden flat might be more affordable and there are more of those in areas with larger houses eg Crystal Palace, Penge, Syndenham.

@Nightmanagerfan I know right! Crofton Park looks like a good shout (I’d never heard of it- thanks for the tip off!).

Thanks also @JoJoSM2 for the Sutton suggestion- I’ll have a look.

Things that feel important are: good transport connections, a sense of community, green space.

I’m feeling calmer today and hoping keeping throwing ideas at the wall will yield somewhere that feels “right”.

If you’d rather stay close to central London and are open to 2-bed flats then somewhere like this could work.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65132592.html

The area is a lot smarter than 99% of SE London. The Northcote Rd has all the fancy shops and cafes and you get Clapham Common and Wandsworth Common nearby. There are about 60 trains per house from CJ.

'm following the thread with interest, and that's a very small flat tbh, Jo - it's an area I love but was surprised you were linking to a flat there for 500, and yes there is a catch - over 500 and small, not sure it'd be a good value for money for family life for what it is tbh.
Sutton is lively enough, OP, just a bit further out. Not in any way hip but that may not matter with a newborn!