Owning your own home

It's a cycling forum! You're only isolated if you're solely reliable on public transport, most of us probably commute and/or go out on bikes.

You're not really 'isolated' anywhere within the north circular if you cycle. Not sure what happens below the river.

what happens below the river...

That's where the real motherfuckers be at.

Never heard of it.

If I ever move to then I think I'll look at the isle of dogs again. With a massive love of zombie movies and a deep set hatred of most people the 28 days late reference really rekindled my interest. I remember finding an amazing place there, period, back garden, middle class conservatory and all that for about 50k less than my pretty small noisy Tower Hamlets flat.

Found a lovely little 2 up 2 down. Something like this would be my (realistic) dream house, I'm in no real position to move for a year or two atm although
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54644003.html

Would cost 160k back in Norwich, but still...

I assume he means 16 minutes from the nearest overground... It took me a while and looking at a map.

Not sure what happens below the river.

They sit naked in the mud and clang rocks together.

isle of dogs = statten island of london, instead of cops, you get cabbies.

I assumed 16 minutes by bus to Hackney.

Place bets now.

Exchange documents have arrived, going to give them a read over lunch and hopefully they'll be no hiccups!

According to a very optimistic bus stop poster, perhaps!

Sorry I wrote that whilst waiting for an Uber and wasn't very precise.

12 mins from mine to Hackney Central
16 mins from the new house to Leytonstone High Road

And yes both of those are slow but I'm not about rushing in the morning

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.

Woo Sidcup escapees.

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.

you didnt go too far did you

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).

Should we not move on from this location debate? If we had the money we'd all have a 5 bed town house in Islington/De Beauvoir and a nice country estate for pheasant/peasant shooting.

But we don't, we've all made compromises dependent on budget.

Next!

Should we not move on from this location debate?

I see what you did there.jpg

Nothing belongs to us, for we belong to the world.

they're speculating on their London home rising in value faster than places outside London.

Very valid point.

Hit me up if you want to know about the Sands End area of Fulham, I've lived there 16 years so I know the character of the various areas. Generally it's a decent place, very few hipsters, lots of nice French people. Plenty of places to eat, nice parks. Biggest problem for most people is the price near to the stations. You're a biker too though I think, Sands End is perfect from that point of view.

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.

Do we have any forum recommended SE removals/man with van companies?

I just moved house and used Simply Removals for the second time...

Their packing service is incredible and the guys that moved us didn't stop. Highly recommended and not expensive.

I can recommend green man & van; used them 4th time this time; perfect service and not pricey at all.