Feel trapped in house- budget and schools

[Led92]

I don’t mean to sound ungrateful but I feel trapped in my house.

We’ve been here 8 years, had to totally renovate so every room is how I like things and had 3 DC’s here. It’s a leafy part of London but I feel done now.

I’d like to move somewhere quieter and maybe more rural but with good connections in and preferably a nice detatched house… Maybe like a Faversham type area…. but when I look at house prices of those that appeal we basically can’t.
Stamp duty for any move would have to come out of the house sale so that kills it further and then oldest DC is in primary school so we’d be relying on an in year transfer and ultimately I’d want to target an area with good secondaries but..

We can’t afford anything, so we’re stuck! I knew having third DC would limit our ability to ‘upgrade’ the house given our childcare costs but with increased flexible working thought we could move out further and our money would get us more but nope… nothing with kerb appeal anyway.

Its annoying and getting me down.

Op Amersham is incredibly expensive and definitely not an affordable option for many to buy a detached house with a large garden there. I don’t think that example means that you are stuck, it just means you can’t afford what you want in a particular town that not many others can either!
Increasing your search to include Chesham or looking at some parts of Watford or further up the train line to Cheddington, Leighton Buzzard etc might give you more options, still with good schools. Your commuting costs would be more than they are now of course, but less than moving to the north west!

Sounds to me like you either have to earn significantly more or you have to change your mindset.

From "stuck" to "in a nice house in a nice place with my children and a safety net of savings in the bank".

I think you need to think about what you want - if really you want to stay in the area you are in, then accept you can’t buy a bigger house there. If you want to move somewhere more rural, then similar houses will be cheaper outside of London than in London, so a move would be possible and you aren’t stuck to that location- but you might be stuck if you want something bigger and prettier (better curb appeal), and in an area with great schools plus quick and cheap transport to London.

you definitely aren’t stuck in that location - but if you can’t borrow more money then yes, you can only take a sideways step, not a step up.

that said, house prices are falling. In the past, London property has held its value better than outside London - so you might find there’s a point you will still get a high price for your property but the same property outside of London is dropping in price enough that your budget would get you a step up house.

You don't seem trapped to me. You just can't afford what you want but you have options.

1. If leafy and schools are important then you may need to move to a like for like property or downsize.

1. If size is important then you may need to live in a less nice area.

1. Keep saving.

It does come across a little that you are only considering well known nice areas so perhaps you're missing out on perfectly pleasant areas and just need to do some more research. You can get excellent schools in 'absolutely fine' even mediocre areas. 'nice' areas doesn't automatically mean great schools, there's a village near me where you'd be hard pressed to buy a detached house for less than £1mil that's primary school was closed down due to it's inadequate rating.