I say: ‘It took me 28 years to move to London – I want to stay here’
OK, I never actually thought the streets were paved with gold. But London is the place I always wanted to live. I grew up in beautiful Birmingham – did you know it has more canals than Venice? – but I spent endless hours reading about theatre shows and gigs happening in the Big Smoke. I was the last of my friends to make the move here and when I finally did, it did not disappoint. I’d easily go out every single night in a week.
Although being married and having children changes that lifestyle, I still go to the theatre a lot. Having a family and a decent flat with a roof terrace is honestly more than I ever hoped for. Having said that, my wife Rachael would prefer that we had a proper garden, which I have no objection to, and we could all do with a bit more space – our sons currently share a bedroom.
My wife says: ‘There’s a better quality of life in the country’
Rachael grew up in a small village near Sunderland, so she is admittedly better qualified to assess what it’s like living in the country than me, a lifelong city slicker. We went for a drive the other weekend and I do admit, she’s not wrong when she says it’s leafier, quieter and there’s more space outside of south London. But honestly, living there all the time? I’ve always known that the countryside is special to her and that she’d like to move out of the city at some point, but it’s only recently felt as if we might actually have to make some sort of decision about this.
I say: ‘There’s just more stuff to do in the city’
I’m not 100% opposed to the idea of leaving London: the UK has a lot of great cities, and actually it was a real wrench to leave Bristol, where I lived before moving here. But the emphasis is on the word “city”. I have never, ever lived anywhere off the international gig touring circuit, or without at least one major theatre. These things mean a lot to me and make me happy – and the thing is, our discussions about moving are City v Country, not City v Another City. I do see the appeal of living somewhere prettier and quieter, but personally I’ve never lived without the cultural benefits of a city, and I don’t like the idea of losing them.
My wife says: ‘There is no need to live in a city in 2021 if your job doesn’t need you to’ Rachael’s counter-argument is that even without the pandemic, how often do we actually see friends from north of the river, or do anything even slightly cultural that doesn’t involve our children? This is a fair point, but also a bit of a stinger to acknowledge, so generally I’d rather not. Equally accurate but less upsetting is her assertion that if you leave the city you can always get a train in, and perhaps crash on a friend’s sofa for the odd big night. She says that our jobs are the main reason we’re here, and that in the age of home working we’ve actually got a huge opportunity to move out without needing to hand in our notices.
I say: ‘I’m not sure what we’d actually get for our flat. We’ve probably lost money’
I have long nursed a vague, fatalistic sense that the previously overheated London property market cooled down the second we bought our flat, and that Rachael’s guess at how much its value has grown is hopelessly optimistic. To be fair, I think we did buy at the height of a strong market, but in writing this article I finally bit the bullet and used Zoopla’s My Home to get an instant estimate on the value of our flat. I discovered that it could be worth £55,000 more than we paid for it, which is very nice to know. A few seconds later I’d established that in a potentially acceptable commuter town we could buy an actual house with a good sized garden and an extra bedroom for the same price as our flat. It’s definitely an upgrade.
My wife says: ‘I really want to move, but I’m not sure about doing it quite yet’
If I were persuaded that we should move I would probably want to do it instantly. Rachael is playing more of a long game, in that she’d like to get our flat into a better state – new kitchen, new bathroom, etc – first. Personally I suspect this indicates an unspoken uncertainty about the idea of moving away, but she would probably point out that she is simply much more concerned about the upkeep of the flat than I am.
Zoopla’s My Home does recognise that taking your time isn’t such a fringe view: it lets you track the value of your property, and that of properties you might be interested in, as the months go by. I definitely haven’t won the argument on staying put, it’s just that Rachael isn’t quite ready yet to take the leap. But thanks to My Home she’ll know the perfect moment to make her move, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to resist.
Check My Home on Zoopla and see if it’s time to sell
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