United Kingdom Expat Forum

ofaiz
Joined 2017
Posts: 1

6 years ago

Family of 6 moving to London from Indianapolis, IN in 1 month! :)

6 years ago

Hello! We are in the final planing stages of our move to the UK. We have 4 children (9, 7, 3, and 1) and our visas should be approved on/around May 20th. We are excited, nervous, thankful for the experience, and a little sad to be far from friends/family...all combined. Mostly excited however.

We'd love some advice on areas to look for a home to live. My company has allocated resources to help us find some areas and has provided for a preview trip which will occur in late May before we move into a new place in mid-June.

Here is the background:

- My wife stays at home with my 2 daughters (3 and 1). My daughter turns 4 in November, so I believe she may be eligible to start school in the UK this fall
- I'll be commuting daily to Liverpool Street tube station.
- Base salary is 112K and earnings should be in the 143K range (paid in pounds)
- housing: looking for a 3 or 4 bedroom (leasing, not buying)

Wish List:
- need outstanding schools (public, not private)
- our boys play sports (american football, soccer, basketball, baseball, running) - we'd like to have some of these options and open to new sports too!
- we are pretty laid back. not "keep up with neighbors" mentality; we like nice people, preferably educated and fun with families.
- we LOVE to travel and want to keep housing budget reasonable to subsidize this (hence looking for 3 bedrooms as opposed to 4 bedrooms)
- prefer not to have a car
- want to walk to school
- want to have a cute high street area or village-y area that we can walk to
- a big park would be amazing, near by
- I like to run a lot, would like an area (like a big park) with running trails
- less than 1 hour commute: door to door including walking to trains and transfer
- looking to spend in the 1500 to 2200 pound range
- we'd love to connect with other expat Americans, but we place more importance on meeting local people and people from all cultures. This is another benefit that we see with enrolling our children in state schools (as opposed to American expat schools).

I've heard from many friends who have made this move and many recommendations seem to be in the same general area. I won't mention where this is bc I'd like to see where you all recommend that we look.

Thank you in advance!

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Contribute
Help others in UK by answering questions about the challenges and adventures of living in UK.