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

But by stay I mean: buy a bigger place where you are now - its value will only go up as it’s a more desirable area, and you will be trading like-for-like in a cheaper area if you decide to do that.

Also second someone else’s suggestion of Shared ownership, but you have to be chain-free or you don’t qualify. And I think you can only earn a max of £100k? If you are looking to buy for £500k, you may earn more than that so may not qualify. But someone who knows more about them than me can chime in!

Lots of folk around my area did shared ownership. They bought beautiful places in an area they wouldn’t have been able to remain in otherwise.

I live in SE London so feel free to PM me if you want info on what it is like to live in the area with children. We moved while DD was a baby and it was fine actually.

You absolutely can get a 3-4 bed house for 500k round here- we did and we love it! So much space and good train links to London Bridge/Charing X

Can I ask where you live @Pegase ? We are hoping to buy a house soon but we are looking at around £650-700k to buy a house in it close to our current area.

You could get a small two bed house or a large 2/3 bedroom flat with a garden in forest hill, sydenham or some parts of honor oak park for £500k and fab transport links into central London.

Eltham- not that up and coming yet but I just go into Blackheath (7 min drive away) for all the uber middle class stuff and enjoy my house with big garden when I'm at home! Our house was just over 400k a few years ago - small but attractive 3 bed.

We also looked at Sydenham, Catford and other local areas- was determined to not live in SE9 tbh but the better properties swayed me in the end and I haven't regretted it at all.

Thanks @froozen for the suggestion of staying! I looked into Shared Ownership after someone else mentioned it and it looks like an amazing option but not one for now probably.

I think if we were to stay, we could manage in our flat- its small, but 2 beds and we could do it. The main reason I'm thinking about moving now is I'm worried about missing the boat again on areas where I'd get more for my money- 10 years ago I almost bought in Brockley but chickened out and continued renting and am kicking myself as now I can;t afford it! Worried if I wait another 3-5 years, I might find myself without many decent London options, but who knows what's going to happen to the economy!

Do you own your flat currently, OP? Sorry if I missed that.

I think if you own, and it’s a better area, it’ll always hold its value relative to the rest of London, if that makes sense. I know my area has. Other, previously grittier, parts may have zoomed up, but I can still sell my place and buy something bigger in those places, if I choose to. (And, in fact, weirdly, I’m considering buying in an area that is much fancier than mine and was always worth more than mine. But my area is “cooler” - although always has been - but suddenly I can afford this very lovely, but slightly boring , family area that I wouldn’t have been able to trade like-for-like for when I first bought my place.)

But I know what you mean about not wanting to miss the boat. I bought my first flat when I was very young because I was worried about that - and thank god I did!

The best thing to do is go with your heart. Buy what you absolutely love and then you won’t regret it. Good luck!!

@carrotcats

I think you should try to reduce the number of moves you need to make, given the extortionate cost of moving in London (stamp duty etc). Stamp duty is dead money that you will not get back. In your position, I'd stay in the flat for as long as possible, and then only move when you have found somewhere you are happy spend the next X years in until downsizing/retirement etc