Another location vs better house dilemma

[Coffeecreme12]

London based, we’re looking to buy a family house. Option one is to remain in an area well connected with many tubes and national train, very close to school, activities and overall great area. But where we are is likely to get us 10-20% less house or/and tiny garden, worst street, dated decor etc than option two. Which is a house ticking all the boxes (room size, garden, etc) in an equally nice and nearby area BUT with very poor transports, no tube and limited bus services (missing one will add 8-10 minutes to the journey). That means an additional 25 minutes to get to school every morning for the next few years and. Even without school, that’s an additional 20 minutes added to practically any journey including work commute 5 days a week. Looking for feedback from people that faced similar situation, I know we are lucky to have very short commute (<30 min door to door) compare to the average and not sure I want to lose that since time is definitely already lacking with very busy jobs and family.

If those are the only 2 choices I’d go for location and good transport links and make a compromise on size of house and garden providing it’s still big enough for your family. I wouldn’t choose ‘worst street’ though if it meant a busy noisy road or very run down.
If you are commuting 5 days a week then making that as stress free as possible would be a priority for me.
I opted for a flat where I could walk everywhere rather than a house where I’d be more dependent on driving and don’t regret it - not London though.

Id probably go for location... unless the house is absolutely dire and the worst street is utterly horrendous

We went for a house rather than a flat nearer the tube. I cycle to the tube which saves a lot of time.

First one., You can't not buy a house due to 'dated décor', BTW - you know you can redecorate?

I guess I wanted to hear about whose who had a materially longer commute due to their move and how it affected their life in the context of central ish London where we are so reliant on public transports. Whether it wasn’t that bad after all, and was worth the effort for a better house, or inversely, it was stressful/took time away and didn’t leave much for enjoying the house.

Yes mindful we can redecorate, talking like for like, house in connected area will have flaws since it’s simply more expensive. For clarity, there isn’t a specific house to compare against, I just know the market.

Which areas? Or any pics of inside?
I would take commute area if renting and better house is buying. Especially for London.

I used to do a daily long commute, it was awful. so exhausting and stressful. made work hard as was often late, or worrying about getting home. no time for socialising or anything enjoyable during the week. Go for location. We've bought recently and chose location over more/nicer house, and I am so grateful we did. We have options to make the house bigger and nicer but you can never change location.

Another vote for location. Extra commute, twice a day, every day for everyone is more exhausting than redecorating or a small garden or bedroom. Plus resale will always be easier for the better connected home if you did decide to move again.

Location location location for me trumps house

We have just chosen convenient location over house. The house we see buying isn’t my style but the location will make life a lot easier.

How old are your kids? If you’re going to be in the house when they’re teenagers then I’d definitely go for location. My kids rarely used the garden after about age 12 (very occasional kick about on a summers day) and we mostly sit on the patio so a small garden wouldn’t both me.

i live somewhere with only 2 buses an hour and less on Sundays, so if the kids need to be somewhere then it’s usually mum and dad taxi.

We moved from zone 1/2 borders (20-25 min commute for me or 10 mins in a cab if necessary) to zone 3 (40-45 min commute). It was definitely worth it for us for more space and greenery, and we generally prefer the area. However: (1) it is only me that had a longer journey - DC's secondary school was roughly the same journey time just in a different direction and DH works part time from home, (2) i can work from home a day or two a week, and (3) when we moved DC were teens so more independent.

Overall, the upsides of our current location outweigh the downsides of my longer journey. I do sometimes let out a sigh when i pass through my old station though, particularly when the tube is crowded!

When DC were younger i would not have wanted the longer commute (which is why we lived in our original location) - short commute gave me more time with them plus enabled me to drop them at school in the mornings and attend school events more easily (primary was close to our old house).

I would say we chose both houses based on location, it is just that over time our priorities in relation to location changed.

It depends on the age of your kids - are you at primary?

Where will they go for secondary?

How will they travel home after nights out when they are older?

For us proximity to the tube was still important

We have just moved from Zone 3 close to tube, out to Zone 5 & 20mins walk/bus to the train…! It has doubled the commute. (30mins now 60mins)
we did it because we can now wfh some days so tube had become less important.
life feels more peaceful. I do not miss the noise of the busy roads, ambulances, helicopter sirens etc
We have parakeets and Jays in the tranquil garden. Family feels happier and life less frenetic.
Basically, we have become middle-aged ha ha!

I would say nicer house is worth the commute. We used to live near school, near work but is dated small house. Just moved to the house my husband build, which is twice the size and everything is new and designed the way we wanted. The only problem it's in the middle of nowhere and a 30 minute commute, but I have to say it's worth it.

I had the slight opposite of this in that we picked a house based on commute, but then office move followed by job change meant commuting to a different part of London and added 20+ mins (each way) to my commute. I did love the house and the area, and because the extra commute was easyish despite being long (walk through a park and then first stop on the tube meant always had a seat) made it workable until we had kids and then almost impossible without a flexible work arrangement.

we’ve since moved out of London, but my feeling is a bit that either you are in London or out of it - either move out and get a proper house and garden, or stay in London and optimise convenience / access.