Being in London you don't need to drive and as a result no problem with parking and charges. I drive if I need to go anywhere outside of London. Things may cost more but I earn more than twice what I could earn outside of London so it easily makes up for it. As mentioned salary scales well in London. I get a lifestyle that isn't possible outside of London as it just doesn't exist. It's great working for a tech company and living so close to London that I can really enjoy everything that happens there.
Property Price Crash Incoming?
- Thread starter SpeedFreak
- Start date
Do you think it's the fastest way to scale your disposable income though? /long term capital (given you'll probably need to rent rather than buy etc..)
I imagine for banking, IT etc its well worth it... Lots of other careers probably not.
Lets be honest Edinburgh and West end of Glasgow (having lived in the latter) are nowhere near the scale of London. I have to agree however they both have a lot to offer at significantly reduced expense to London. (a 1 bed flat in a nice part of Glasgow West end being around 100k, London zone 3 330+k :X)
Caporegime
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1 bed flat in a decent part of Glasgow west end is more like £200k
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London is such an epic city, loved living there but once it came time to "grow up" a little bit I moved out to hertfordshire and bought a property.
Wife still works in the city, its an hour door to door train journey.
If I was minted I expect I would have a place there still, great city.
Wife still works in the city, its an hour door to door train journey.
If I was minted I expect I would have a place there still, great city.
Associate
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The joker in the pack is going to be what happens to the houses bought by speculators that are going to be hemorrhaging money each month as the section 24 rules taper in https://www.noagent.co.uk/section-24-tax-relief-change-landlords/.
I'm seeing houses slowly drop in value in my old hometown of Kidlington Oxfordshire, the people who want to buy property as a home can't afford the current prices inflated by the speculators and the people who bought them as speculative investments aren't making capital appreciation or monthly yield.
We haven't reached the full effects of section 24 and won't until 2020, imo it's going to be absolute carnage (especially in the south) as most southern property is still a long way from being affordable for most ordinary buyers.
I'm seeing houses slowly drop in value in my old hometown of Kidlington Oxfordshire, the people who want to buy property as a home can't afford the current prices inflated by the speculators and the people who bought them as speculative investments aren't making capital appreciation or monthly yield.
We haven't reached the full effects of section 24 and won't until 2020, imo it's going to be absolute carnage (especially in the south) as most southern property is still a long way from being affordable for most ordinary buyers.
It's absolutely not the fastest way to scale disposable income, but your future earnings and wealth aren't based on your current disposable income, they are based on your earnings potential.
Can get one around Finnieston area for about 100k? Trying for a like comparison... (eg not *the best*/most central Glasgow flats compared to a London zone 3
I don't mean disposable income per month, what I mean is disposable income over time (considering you'll end up paying more on rent/travel etc..).
What I'm getting at is what's the point in scaling up your earnings if youre (more) significantly scaling up your outgoings for the same standard of living. Obviously living preferences/standard of living and associated trade offs for location are individual/unique but just some food for thought.
Soldato
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It also varies quite dramatically if your buying vs renting.
You take 2 people, one working well outside London, another inside city.
Both earn similar incomes net after expenses, both live a similar standard, both are owner occupiers (mortgage). Property is clearly more expensive in London, not just to buy but to service as well (eg plumbers cost more)
So both have a similar lifestyle whilst in work.
When they reach retirement age, then factors change. The guy in London will struggle more as his absolute costs will be higher and his relative fall in income is likely to take him closer to his minimum amount to survive than the guy outside London.
Renting makes that even worse.
The best long term approach is to earn a London wage, buy in London and sell up when retiring and move somewhere cheaper. Problem many have is by then they are so rooted to one spot they find that hard.
There are plenty of people around Suffolk/Norfolk however who have. They sell a similar house in London and move out here, they buy a similar house here and shove many hundreds of thousands in the bank, the gain they made by LOndon property being higher (so 3% average return per annum on £600k is more than 3% on £300k) and normally with higher inflation than outside to exagerate effect even more.
(I still wouldn't give up my standard of living outside for the London wage however)
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So cheap travel is mentioned and not having a car. What about socialising, nights out, drinks, food shopping. There are many things I would imagine to be more expensive in London. There's a reason why minimum wage is more in London.
It must be horrible not having a car too. I can't even imagine doing a food shop. Yes I can get food delivered but that costs more. And then I like to go for a nice walk occasionally in the peak District or somewhere..... Wouldn't be able to get there without a car. I'd feel trapped in London.
It must be horrible not having a car too. I can't even imagine doing a food shop. Yes I can get food delivered but that costs more. And then I like to go for a nice walk occasionally in the peak District or somewhere..... Wouldn't be able to get there without a car. I'd feel trapped in London.
Soldato
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I used to work in financial services for a company with significant presence outside London and offices in London. Some of our team roles were outside London and some inside.
Plenty of my friends commuted in, or moved to London. After 1 year the vast majority wanted back.
The salary looks great, and even after travelling they were net up, but then the expensive lunch, the more expensive clothes etc all added up.
Most admitted that they never felt any better off, or if so it was very marginal.
Caporegime
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London is a hole.
I don't see how anyone can justify living there when they have absolute morons cutting people up every second as the traffic is so bad just to shave 20 seconds off their travel time. There is a reason why car insurance is 5 times the going rate in London, the amount of crashes that must happen on a daily basis must be ridiculous.
Fancy going to buy some new clothes. Hours to get into a cheap car park or park in a car park that charges £10 an hour. Then when you get into a shop it is rammed with people, stock all over the place.
Fair enough if your earning £100K+ and can afford to have a nice house, car and not have to deal with the majority of issues but for anyone else it's a hole.
Public transport again great if your going out drinking. not so great if your carrying bags of shopping or wanting to buy something large or far away. A guy from there came up here for a wedding. Jumped into a taxi and it dropped us off at the hotel which was 10 mins away. Driver asks for a fiver and he goes absolutely mental asking him how he can afford to live on just taking a fiver. The same taxi down there presumably would be £20. Same thing happens when Londoners come up here and go to a car wash. they are amazed you can get 5 eastern europeans washing your car for £4.
Only the upper middle class and upper class have a decent life in London as well as your cash in hand professions. Everyone else is living in misery compared to other cities.
I don't see how anyone can justify living there when they have absolute morons cutting people up every second as the traffic is so bad just to shave 20 seconds off their travel time. There is a reason why car insurance is 5 times the going rate in London, the amount of crashes that must happen on a daily basis must be ridiculous.
Fancy going to buy some new clothes. Hours to get into a cheap car park or park in a car park that charges £10 an hour. Then when you get into a shop it is rammed with people, stock all over the place.
Fair enough if your earning £100K+ and can afford to have a nice house, car and not have to deal with the majority of issues but for anyone else it's a hole.
Public transport again great if your going out drinking. not so great if your carrying bags of shopping or wanting to buy something large or far away. A guy from there came up here for a wedding. Jumped into a taxi and it dropped us off at the hotel which was 10 mins away. Driver asks for a fiver and he goes absolutely mental asking him how he can afford to live on just taking a fiver. The same taxi down there presumably would be £20. Same thing happens when Londoners come up here and go to a car wash. they are amazed you can get 5 eastern europeans washing your car for £4.
Only the upper middle class and upper class have a decent life in London as well as your cash in hand professions. Everyone else is living in misery compared to other cities.
It's expensive if you dine at Michelin star restaurants or shop at Savile Row on a regular basis... In reality a £3 Tesco meal deal will be the same throughout the country, the average price of petrol is £1.14 like everywhere else and clothes, well I get online. 
As for the thread subject, no I don't believe there is a crash coming anytime soon. The market may slowdown for a brief period but demand will always outstrip supply.
As for the thread subject, no I don't believe there is a crash coming anytime soon. The market may slowdown for a brief period but demand will always outstrip supply.
Have lived in London for 4 years, compared to my hometown of Hereford I see no difference. For half of the time here I drove to work and the other half I've commute via train or via tube.
This might be the cases in some areas, and it sounds like you might have had a bad experience in the past, but if you live in London and know where to go, this is really not a problem.
I don't earn £100k, I live in a rented one bed that is fairly nice with a garden in zone 2, and I really don't consider it to be a hole.
A 10 minute uber drive in central London would be much much closer to £5 than £20, this is another piece of worthless anecdotal evidence.
I can get my car washed really well in and out (by Eastern Europeans) for £10. I don't think that should be considered awful value anywhere in the country, and if there's 5 of them at it for 10 minutes, they are probably getting less than NMW.
You seem to have a huge chip on your should about London. What's the need to proclaim all these things you hate about it and assert that no one enjoys living there? Everyone wants different things from where they live, and I'm sure someone could come up with a list of reasons why where you live is rubbish.
For the record, I am not a hardcore London 4 life type person, I live here now and I do enjoy it, but am hoping to move out shortly.
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Caporegime
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I just don't see the big attraction. Every time I've been there I've either been stuck in traffic for hours on end trying to get from A to B. Public transport doesn't make any sense if there is a large group of you either the cost for 5 tickets into consideration.
I didn't see one thing that was good about it that you can't do living in any other major city which doesn't have as big a overpopulation issue.
Live in the west end of Glasgow and you get the best of everything a city has to offer with very little downsides.
Don't get me started about the water down there, I'm surprised you aren't all dead drinking that crap you call water. I'd choose Liverpool over London too. When I got back last time I managed to get from my house to parents in 8 minutes. Same distance in London would have taken an hour.
I didn't see one thing that was good about it that you can't do living in any other major city which doesn't have as big a overpopulation issue.
Live in the west end of Glasgow and you get the best of everything a city has to offer with very little downsides.
Don't get me started about the water down there, I'm surprised you aren't all dead drinking that crap you call water. I'd choose Liverpool over London too. When I got back last time I managed to get from my house to parents in 8 minutes. Same distance in London would have taken an hour.
It's expensive if you dine at Michelin star restaurants or shop at Savile Row on a regular basis... In reality a £3 Tesco meal deal will be the same throughout the country, the average price of petrol is £1.14 like everywhere else and clothes, well I get online.
As for the thread subject, no I don't believe there is a crash coming anytime soon. The market may slowdown for a brief period but demand will always outstrip supply.
Exactly. I work in the middle of the city, so where you would probably expect to be the most inflated prices anywhere barring mayfair, and there is a Tesco over the road with the £3 meal deal for a sandwich, snack and a decent drink. My friends who don't live in London always roll their eyes at "London prices" even when we aren't in London and the topic comes up, but you can go to Franco Manca and get a pizza for just over a fiver still.
Gotta love the tone that site is written in. Aww diddums springs to mind.
We get it, you don't like London. That's fine but you need to accept that other people simply don't have a problem with all the things you mention and quite like it. It's a different way of living: some people like it, some don't. I do think that most of the 'issues' you raise are fundamentally flawed statements though.
Everyone living or working in London will have some sort of travel card be it capped oyster or contactless or a season ticket or whatever and it means you don't end up paying for 5 tickets. You just travel for no extra cost. Public transport makes a huge amount of sense in London because it's far more convenient, cheap and it (usually) works.
Water softener and/or filtered water. Job done. You also get used to the taste; I find soft Sheffield water a little strange now despite having grown up with it.