Flat hunting, and starting to get angry

[Deleted User 298457]

I figured out how to make finding somewhere easy - sell all my furniture and replace with the smallest of versions I can find.

Single beds to replace double/king, micro workstations instead of actual desks, sell all my photo gear and use an iphone.

And who need sofas? Couple of benches should help us maintain posture!

Storage? What for? We'll just buy new suitcases every time we want to travel! Throw the hoover out too - who needs a clean flat? maybe it'll have hard floors and the broom will suffice.

Can also go back to a 32 inch tele and use the builtin speakers.

I'm paying a fortune to live in 630sq/ft 1.5bed, and your right. I even have to have a ten keyless keyboard

Such is the state of housing in this country. I am afraid that there are very few choices until you are firmly on that buying ladder, and even then you may spend the rest of your life in a starter home that is less than ideal. It's difficult but I think we all have to throw away our expectations and just accept that the UK is a really bad place to have to live when it comes to properties.

There is lot of choice, people just don't like compromise and/or have expectations through the roof (pun intended). I pay a fortune to live in less than ideal 'space' but I'm 20 mins from the smoke and can take my daughter for a day out to any of the world class leading institutions that are based there. Being close to these opportunities is something that I value over having more space to put crap into.

New estates pop up...people whinge they aren't built like they used to be...aren't built in the right place... don't build in my back yard... blah blah. The housing crisis in the UK is a personification of British sentiment, a bunch of moaning old gits who want their cake and to eat it.

I agree.
If you aren't dependent on family or something why wouldn't you move? Generally London top up isn't worth it.
If people have reasons and are happy that's fine. But without sounding too much like psycho sonny I don't understand why you wouldn't move.

Is there even any point having a high paying job if its literally just paying someone else's mortgage if you can't get out of the rent trap?

I paid £1400/mo for 2 years to live in Zone 1 (40sqm, with garden! but it was a basement ). In that time my salary doubled. No one is renting in zone 1 for anything other than the exposure to opportunities, networking, relationship building, culture.

 

[HangTime]

Not yet ready to lose easy access to airports - perhaps a strange consideration given state of world, but that will improve in time.

Not looking to tell you how to live your life, and it sounds like you are not British(?) so maybe travel more than most, but how often do you really need access to airports? Is it so frequent that an extra hour or two of travel time to and from the airport would impact your life more than the potential benefits of living elsewhere? For me personally this is a bit of a non issue, if I'm going to go overseas then it will likely be for several days at least, so the travel time at the UK end is relatively trivial. The two main airports, Heathrow and Gatwick are reasonably accessible from pretty much anywhere in the south except perhaps Cornwall.

 

[Rroff]

Sometimes the 'rent traps' are partially self-inflicted though due to insistence on living in expensive areas and/or prioritising luxuries and leisure activities over saving. You see numerous examples on these forums, people moaning about affordability yet with a posting history showing exactly where their money goes.

I realise that sounds a bit condescending, I'm not saying that applies to everyone, but I've seen it so many times here over the years from people with all the latest gadgets, flashy smartphones, massive TVs, way faster computers, a plethora of subscription services, overseas holidays etc against a backdrop of lower earnings and not prepared to compromise on location by moving out of their favoured area.

In a wider sense personally I'm not a fan at all of the compromising on location argument even though in the short term it might be a reality it is building up a much bigger problem in the longer term. Where I used to live until a couple of years ago used to be the cheaper area for people working in Bristol, etc. who couldn't afford to live closer - a few improvements to transport links and amenities, etc. later and prices went nuts (now these people are moving out to areas which is edging out those on low incomes who are fast losing out on options).

It is also a mixed reality for different people - some people live a much more temporary lifestyle where moving is much less of an issue others might have much deeper roots and/or dependencies where it is a far less easy story, etc.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

It's nice to be able to go there without leaving the bedroom, especially if you have guests staying etc. Also means you can have a 'private' bathroom that only you use, don't have to get paranoid about using the throne before people come round etc. Finally it's an extra bathroom so no queuing.

The one thing I really can't stand, is properties that only have a single toilet and it is in the bathroom. Need the toilet and someone's in the bath? Sorry, you'll need to wait half an hour, unless perhaps it's a couple who don't bother locking the door etc.

Yeah I have lived in older property with one bathroom and having to wait to be able to pee or poo, etc and now have 3 in our own place. Also had an older property with 1 full bathroom upstairs and downstairs but that house was massive and ideally should have had 2 more bathrooms for its size.

As for stinking out the bedroom. No idea what you guys are doing wrong but there are windows, extractor fans and a door in situ. Then there's stuff like air fresheners, candles, oil diffusers, etc.

I think the 3 we have currently is the right number. But none of our bedrooms are tiny. However next door is a much smaller house and they also have 3 and yes they should realistically only have 1 or 2 as their rooms are a joke in terms of size.