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Woo Sidcup escapees.
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I can't commute on my bike, which I loved to do and miss massively
You may not be able to regularly commute in all the way, but you can buy a beater and leave it at New Barnet/Oakleigh Park/New Southgate and cycle to/from there. If you end up doing it regularly you can save on your season ticket too.
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its still a difference of £50K plus more for a similar place 'in London'
The other reason for many people sticking it out in London is that they're speculating on their London home rising in value faster than places outside London. So the longer they hold out for the bigger the home they can get when they finally bail, or the smaller mortgage (or more play money) they have when they do push the escape button.
Having kids (and them starting school) nails most people down to an area. I can't see us moving more than a couple of miles (if we ever do) in the next 15 years (by which time my daughter should be fleeing the nest).
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my mate did exactly the same thing as you and moved to hitchin. bought a 3 bed place near the station.
that's my point though, it takes him the same time to get into central london as it does my mates living in and around the leytonstone area who have to walk to catch a bus to catch a tube etc etc, but who are paying big $$$ to live in 'london'. i'm not knocking it. to me living in london means being near the central areas, being close to the tube and easy access to get to work. i'm lucky enough to have lived in tower hill, russell sq and finsbury park. now i've moved 'out' to walthamstow and like it, but to me it's not 'london', its more an outer suburb that allows me the opportunity to catch a quick tube into central london and i can cycle to work. those are the main reasons i live there really.
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@beseku
Appreciate all the replies folks. As I said, it wasn't a judgement, just a question.
From my point of view, from the other side, I moved out of London to Hitchin, for a 25-30 minute train ride into Kings X. This means we can afford a nice, big three bed house for £300K, have a decent local town with shops, pubs etc. roughly equivalent to anywhere I lived in the past (Balham, Tooting, Herne Hill) and countryside/lovely riding 1km away.
On the flip side, as said above, it potentially restricts my choice of where I work in London and brought with it a £3.5K annual season ticket. I can't commute on my bike, which I loved to do and miss massively, and I have to make that awful decision of last train (a decent 1am) or more beer and an all nighter.
For me the pros outweigh living in W12 or similar (I grew up in Sidcup, so have a built-in dislike for London outside of zone 3-4), but from what I see people post on here, its still a difference of £50K plus more for a similar place 'in London' and you're talking about similar commuting time and combining buses/trains/tubes.