Your experience of relocating to SE, esp working in London?

[VeritableSmorgasbord]

At the moment I live in the NW (not from here though) and as a family we live well but not lavishly - we are comfortable, own our home with about £75k equity. I've been offered a potential move to London. The salary is £13k more than I earn here, which is not bad until you consider that the job is in central London. However I'd be working from home 3 days a week.

Obviously we can't afford to live in/don't particularly want to live in central London. We're not big-city people and the idea of the urban/suburban sprawl doesn't appeal. We do kind of sort of want to move. DH's move would be easy but he wouldn't earn any more money.

What are your experiences of living around London and commuting in (into Paddington prob best bet)? Is there a way to manage things so that we can maintain a goodish standard of living (I'm talking 3-bed victorian terrace with a garden in a decent area, nothing outrageous) without crippling ourselves and regretting the move? If you've done it, was it worth giving up certain things for? I feel that at 41 I am probably past slumming it for a bit in a bad area while we find our feet, as we did before the kids.

We made the same move as you about 9 years and live just north of Reading. Quick train journey into Paddington and relatively straight forward to get back up north to visit family.

Would we do it again? I can only do my job in London and DH was flexible. Had we stayed in the NW we could have afforded for me to be a SAHM rather than FT worker. House prices are higher but guess you know that...

All depends on your budget. commuting into Paddington generally means coming in from the west of London which is hellishly expensive. If you go too far out of London commuting costs will take large chunk of income. There are a few towns on the edges of the M25 that would be good if you don't like living in London itself - eg St Albans, Welwyn Garden City, Horsham - but it really depends on budget. My gut feeling is that a £13k uplift might leave you worse off down here.

By the way, this board doesn't get that much traffic, so you may want to repost in chat?

Another thought if you only have to do 2 days a week in London, DSis DH commutes from Crewe 2 days a week, works on the train there and back on normal days (gets in at 9.30am and leaves on the dot at 5).

Worth considering. We did look at moving to Macclesfield at one point but I have to be in the office 4 days a week and thought better of it.

How old are your children?

I would be wary of moving to London (ish) on the net gain of £13k extra. Travel costs are v high - your DH's costs on train and tube would be v high, property - well have a look around Roghtmove or Findaproperty.com. There are many excellent schools but you need to do your research v carefully to find housing that ensure a place nearby in a school that suits - and this coukld be tricky if you need to place children in-year. There are fantastic free things to do in and around London - the cultural and leisure offer is immense. But things like going to the cinema may cost more.

Would your new job offer the potential for future promotion and a higher salary? Would London offere your DH more opoprtunities to raise his income too?

Thanks for replies.
StillSquiffy I have exactly that fear: it really takes more than £13K to finance a move like this without a retrograde step, doesn't it?

I'm hoping the commute isn't actually all that expensive given I only have to go in 2 days a week. However I can't really be too far out of London as they'll be 2 full days with some socialising as part of the job.

Lots of rural villages in Bucks/Oxfordshire etc connected to London Marylebone via Chiltern Railways

Again, house prices would be more expensive I expect.

Oh, just seen your 'can't be too far out of London' post - perhaps rural Oxfordshire etc too far!

I know Blue, again the £13k doesn't feel 'enough' (that sounds pathetic) but what tempts me is the environment is better from an employment point of view, and yes there are options for promotion though not for a few years.
DH self-employed and poss would keep some part of client base in NW, as you say the commute will cost.
Hmm.

In your situation I would stay where I was, commute down for 2 nights and stay at a travelodge.

Then if you do want to make a permanent move you can wait until you are settled in the job before making big decisions about where to live.

If you look at this link you will get an idea of how much your commute into London might be.

As a rough guess, £13k increase in salary might give you around £800 per month in your pay packet. Travel from, for example, Reading to London, looks like being around £400 per month. If you also add on parking at the station (conservative estimate of £5 per day) that's another £100 per month.

So, you may not actually be much better off, but if it increases your salary prospects it may be worth the short-term pain.

I'm another one saying commute from home and stay over one/two nights in London. There is no way that #13k will stretch very far in London and its environs (you will probably only break even commuting once you have paid tax on the additional amount). But, if it is likely to lead to better opportunities in the long term, I'd be prepared to do it that way in the short term - it will also make it much easier to socialise if you know that you will be spending the night in some London lodgings rather than having to dash for a train to take you to the middle of commuterland.

Live in hanwell or west Ealing. Reasonable houses in size and price good schools and 12 mins on train to paddington.

Lots of food for thought, thanks.

The actual costs of buying and selling a house are huge. Could easily be your first year's increase and more, with stamp duty, fees, surveys, costs, EA fees....and a big removal bill. Is there a re-location package?

i imagine you need to look at train services. how late they run for a start. but even if you only go up 2 days a week, is that as expensive as a weekly ticket?

There is a relocation package (heaven be praised or I wouldn't even consider it).

Yes I'm discounting season ticket/weekly ticket prices, it doesn't apply. Though 2 days a week commuting from outside London will still add up.