Firstly a lot of people on this thread are probably going to tell me to go for a house with garden rather than a flat? But I have always prioritized location and the houses in the areas I am interested in (Hampstead Garden Suburb, East Finchley, Muswell Hill and St Albans) are very expensive unless they are very small and as I am not a very outdoorsy kind of person, I need indoor space rather than outdoor space. Furthermore houses usually carry a premium which far exceeds the service charges (I currently own a 2 bed flat and the service charges are around £150 per month which I find ok; a house in my area the same size on the other hand would be 200k more)
I would like a third bedroom as a home office and hence I am in the market for a 3 bed. I really love London but i haven't found many nice 3 bed flats in my local area (east finchley/hampstead garden suburb) and Muswell hill is very expensive.
I found this lovely flat here: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115501745#/floorplan?activePlan=1&channel=RES_BUY
my DH is very fixed on being in zone 3 (and like me, doesn't mind flats) . But Muswell Hill is very buzzy and well connected to London so in a sense, even though I am a diehard londoner, I don't feel that bad moving there as I know that if I am willing to pay the transport costs, its quite easy to get back to London (judging from the number of times my DH has 'accidentally' ended up in St A when boarding a thameslink train from blackfriars!). For my first property, I did look at St Albans but it wasn't that much cheaper for a 2 bed flat as compared to London zone 3 + transport costs. However, it makes more sense when you look at bigger flats which carry a much higher price premium in London.
i mean this well, but please don't suggest I move to Hitchin/Bedford/cheaper location where I can get a house. It will take me an age to persuade DH about St Albans, never mind Bedford! When we bought our flat, DH wanted to live in zone 2, I managed to persuade him about zone 3 and that was an uphill task! While zone 4-6 would geographically be closer than St Albans, I find that St Albans has a more vibrant town scene and faster rail links to the city (the con is that the transport costs are higher); but overall feels more 'city-like'.
We don't have a car and don't plan to get one so we need a place that is walkable to the station. We are planning for a child in a few years, and where I come from, 95% of children grew up in flats and while I did have outside space, my father had extended the house to such an extent that we only had a patch of grass at the front so my DH doesn't even consider it a garden and it certainly isn't big enough to play in!