Where to live to commute to London -£750k

[Justsayno123]

Where would you live if you essentially had a huge choice of areas but wanted a decent quality of family life?

Backstory - lived in London for about 7 years when establishing our careers, moved up north a couple of years pre-pandemic, had babies. Timed perfectly for COVID and the WFH change of lifestyle. However, if either of us want to progress in our careers, it would be so much easier if we could regularly be in London (at least 2-3 days per week) so we are considering the move back to the South East.

Household income now is £180k plus bonuses, which are not guaranteed, hopefully this would increase shortly after a move. Budget for a family home (ideally 4 beds) is 750-800k ideally, maybe could stretch a little. Good schools necessary. I would like easy access to Kings x for trains back up north if possible. I'm working on the basis that we probably can't afford London itself so curious if anyone has any suggestions for other ideas, please?!

Baldock/Hitchin?

You can afford London if that’s where you would like to be!

Do you have to leave London? try zone 3/4 there are three beds in that price. Wanstead, South Woodford, Chingford if you’d consider NE London

Sutton, Wallington, Carshalton, Epsom, Ewell. Thameslink takes you to Kings x and lots of good schools.

Where do you live right now and what sort of house do you have (and how many children)?
Because with that budget you can afford something in the SE (or outer London at a push) but I’m guessing it will be pretty disappointing compared to what you may have now. I live on the. North Kent coast now (after years in London) and our house is worth about £900-1mil. And it’s a perfectly normal four bedroom house. It does have an unusually large amount of garden with two large outbuildings that I suppose you don’t often get but otherwise it’s just depressingly expensive in the SE. I used to live in Grosvenor Rd Wanstead until 2000 and loved it, just looked and you could get a two bed/1 bath house in need of a lot of work in that road now for your budget of £750k.
I’d be looking East Midlands area. I’d love to move further north, London still accessible, only thing stopping me is I have many friends down here that I would really miss seeing often.

Chelmsford. Great schools , into Liverpool Street In 35 minutes.

Thanks for the suggestions. We live in a five bed with a large garden, 20 mins from the city centre with an Ofsted outstanding school... Aware we are likely not going to recreate that and certainly not in London! But it is boring suburbia so I wouldn't mind a change!

Streatham is a possibility.

Great primary schools, good secondaries, good transport

So how far/how long would you ideally like to travel in to London?
EG it takes me about 1hr15 to St Pancras from where I am in Kent. But it takes about the same maybe a few mins more, from Stamford Lincs, and you get more for your money there.
Do you want detached? Semi? Big garden, small garden, village or town? That will help with determining area as some of the Surrey/South London suggestions probably won’t be detached with big garden for example.

Sevenoaks

This is a factor. It actually takes me 1hr40-50 to London, despite the distance being much greater so there's an argument we could just stay put and suck up some long commutes. However, I'm guessing it's probably a lot more expensive for me than you....

It's too wide an area to give good suggestions. Remember that the Thameslink services run to St Pancras which is a hop and skip to Kings X.

Rochesters got a fast train into London
Lovely small town
It’s a bit more rural or at least it’s near lots of rural areas and beaches
Grammar schools are outstanding

The train journey? Well, for me it would be about £65-70 return peak hours, dropping to £36-40 ish return off peak - both without any kind of railcard. I’m not sure it’s worth getting a railcard for 2-3 journeys week but it might be 🤷‍♀️. Those prices look similar to eg Stamford, Lincs. I’m guessing more for you, do you mind saying roughly where you are?

We're in Yorkshire. Depending on how far in advance you book the train, it could be between £60 and £250!

I would have thought that St Albans would be the obvious choice. It's a lovely town with good schools and a quick commute to King's Cross.

St Alban's was the first place I looked it but I'm not sure we can really afford it.

That’s what I meant earlier - what are you used to and how much are you willing to compromise on what you have now for what that will buy further south - just to get closer to London for 2-3 days a week. You can afford St Alban’s but it won’t be pretty, and it won’t be a five bed.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/164608283

you could afford this in hitchin

You can afford London. In south east zone 4 you can get a 4 bed easily for that budget!

You can afford a 3 double bed terraced or semi house with garden in the Arnos Grove/Southgate area which is on Piccadilly Line to Kings Cross, has loads of parks and is relatively family friendly. You could also afford Dollis Hill/Gladstone Park and areas of Willesden and Wembley.
There are probably lots more areas but I've been looking for a house near a tube station in similar price range and there are loads to be had if you don't mind living towards the end of the tube line.

I genuinely never understand these suggestions because the cost of the commute into London is so high you may as well be spending that money on a London mortgage, unless you only have to come in once a month for a meeting.

Eh? What ‘suggestions’? It was a list of questions to determine what the OP is looking for. 🙄

Streatham? What has the OP ever done to you?

Winchester.

Amazing state schools.
Lovely city.
Fab connections
and Reeves the baker