> Unfortunately this compromise is invalidated in England by their train prices.
Yes. If you're truly min-maxing for money in London then the best strategy is to buy a nice place you're happy living in, hopefully just a cycle to the office. Avoid all sunk costs into commuting, and instead pay all the differences into an asset that you can eventually sell and recoup all that money when you move out of London (provided you do).
I was doing that, and it worked well, until we decided to have children, and then other factors became more important than mix-maxing.
I'm incredibly lucky that I get to work from home a lot, because we moved into Surrey, quite a long commute to the office, and horrendously expensive if you're going every day. But as it is, I could afford a nicer house and avoid most of the commute costs. It doesn't really work out that great otherwise.
Yes. If you're truly min-maxing for money in London then the best strategy is to buy a nice place you're happy living in, hopefully just a cycle to the office. Avoid all sunk costs into commuting, and instead pay all the differences into an asset that you can eventually sell and recoup all that money when you move out of London (provided you do).
I was doing that, and it worked well, until we decided to have children, and then other factors became more important than mix-maxing.
I'm incredibly lucky that I get to work from home a lot, because we moved into Surrey, quite a long commute to the office, and horrendously expensive if you're going every day. But as it is, I could afford a nicer house and avoid most of the commute costs. It doesn't really work out that great otherwise.