Owning your own home

I've been looking at Forest Gate, Leyton, Leytonstone and Wanstead. Getting a freehold house for the price of a 2 bed flat in hackney is totally doable. What isn't however is pursuading the missus to move. Fucking impossible in fact. They just can't see the potential or the long term investment. She's got a point though, leaving an area you love just for a slightly bigger place with a garden and fuck all else to do isn't always the best lifestyle option.

This was exactly the debate we were having last year when we decided to buy a place. We've always lived East so it was down to a 1 bed flat in Hackney/Dalston or a 2 bed freehold terrace in Leyton (i had already discounted most of the surrounding suburbs for various reasons). We looked at heaps of ordinary, overpriced properties over about 2 months and finally came across one that met our requirements.

We went for the larger property in Leyton and are really enjoying it. The area is generally residential, 5min walk to the tube (central line), good transport links from Stratford (1 stop) 10 min cycle to Hackney, vic park. I think there are signs that Leyton is already slowley improving even over the 1.5 years we've been there (mind you theres still a long way to go). Its interesting discovering stuff about the area, and theres even some decent pubs near by King William IV or Red Lion E11.

We went for a mix of longer term investment and larger freehold property whilst slightly compromising on the lifestyle element although its turned out better than initially expected. Im not sure that i could go back to living in a tiny apartment again.