Move down south - would you do it?

Bonjour · 5 Jul 2016 at 08:09

You're talking £400k for a two bed flat around north London. £1million+ for a 3-bed semi.

chroniclard · 5 Jul 2016 at 08:19

London is a brilliant place. I would definitely take the chance to work there for at least a few years.

I wouldn't move back due to having kids now but loved living there in my younger days.

Jamesyboyjim · 5 Jul 2016 at 08:36

I live about an hour outside of London and I love the place, would I want to live there though? Not a chance, down south the housing / rental market is insanely expensive but in London it takes another jump altogether!

I'd deffo be looking to live just outside of London in order to pay a little less (I know your payrise covers this, but think of the money you could save, or waste on toys

) but also to get away from the franticness of the place. Spending large amounts of time there is exhausting

squerble · 5 Jul 2016 at 08:47

rIcK said:
Cheers for the feedback guys, my wage is around ~50k around here. Would be more like 70k in London.

The cost of houses ( like 400k+++ for a poor terrace house ) is obviously rather eye watering.

Yea, I wouldn't personally be doing that. Your money on £50k up north is going to go a lot further than £70k in London. When you can get a nice detached house for about £180k up here, I know where I'd rather live.

Maundie · 5 Jul 2016 at 10:53

rIcK said:
Cheers for the feedback guys, my wage is around ~50k around here. Would be more like 70k in London.

The cost of houses ( like 400k+++ for a poor terrace house ) is obviously rather eye watering.

I would say if your single go for it, there's loads of room shares available and that would alleviate the evening boredom, I wouldn't be looking to buy somewhere centrally though as it's way too expensive at the moment.

If you do want to buy look at some of the outer areas that crossrail will cover as that will make the commute much easier and should be still affordable (in London terms) but if your looking to rent on your own I looked at a load of 1 bedrooms places by the Excel that were around £1200 per month (most of them had onsite gym facilities too)

krooton · 5 Jul 2016 at 11:32

Greebo said:
I can only speak from personal experience. Perhaps it is because they are working/travelling 16 hours a day and dont have time to stop and smell the coffee.

Do I want to live like that? No. Some people obviously do though.

I've been here for 14 years (moved from the sunny suburbs of Cape Town) and still love it.

But then I also have no inclination to chat to strangers during my commute, that is what going out is for. Met plenty of people on the tube, just don't do it during commuting time, that's just annoying

Washout · 5 Jul 2016 at 11:40

MattHep said:
And that's another thing, if you can keep a property up north you always have some thing to fall back on. And it makes paying silly rent a little more comfortable knowing you have a mortgage and own something.

I live around the Cutty Sark area which we love.

Nice to see a few Greenwich types on here. It's a lovely area.

delta0 · 5 Jul 2016 at 12:50

The Craig said:
Sounds like a relative pay cut for a similar style of living (especially as you're in 40% tax band). Depends what you're after though really!

It would be a pay rise despite extra cost unless you are moving right into the centre of London. However you have to also look at the long term and the potential for pay rises is much greater in London.

ScarySquirrel · 5 Jul 2016 at 15:10

I like it down South but I would never, ever live in London.

rIcK · 9 Jul 2016 at 10:54

Had my London based interview yesterday, went well in general but screwed up some basic stuff I had not done in a while. I also potentially have the chance to work for a much better company round Manchester.

Here is the main issue with round here... dreary and wet virtually all the time. Here is todays view from where I live =(

When I was down in London, though brief. It seemed a bit cleaner but nothing that much more exciting or different than round where I live now.

Buffman · 9 Jul 2016 at 12:32

To put your previous post in perspective regarding cleaner, I saw a casual runner running past tower Bridge with a gas mask on whilst at work last week.

FrenchTart · 9 Jul 2016 at 12:34

Manchester is definitely wetter than London but they're both similar in terms of some bits are much cleaner than nicer than others. You could easily move to a nicer bit of Manchester if you really wanted to.

Naff8000 · 9 Jul 2016 at 12:45

Chives said:
Oh dear. I'm graduating from uni and them moving straight to London to start a fairly well paid grad job - sounds like I'm going to have an awful time

I moved here from the SW 2 years ago and it's one of the best decisions I made. Wouldn't want a family here but the money and things to do are too good.

Buffman · 9 Jul 2016 at 12:50

FrenchTart said:
Manchester is definitely wetter than London but they're both similar in terms of some bits are much cleaner than nicer than others. You could easily move to a nicer bit of Manchester if you really wanted to.

I agree it will be a fair bit warmer. Weather in Cambridge felt tropical compared to when I lived in Glasgow!

something daft already!! · 9 Jul 2016 at 12:55

Lived in Brighton for 40 years now. I'd never go north again. Better weather, better jobs, more money. Not too near London and not too far away. Too many restaurants though but I suppose this is what happens when everything is cheaper online.

BluD · 9 Jul 2016 at 13:04

The price of beer down there would put me off before i even thought about anything else and im not even a big drinker. Everytime i go into london i die a little inside when i go to the pub

rIcK · 14 Jul 2016 at 23:46

Seems I have some more job offers coming in now both the London based job and around here, ultimately the difference in wage is going to be £400 post tax, secondly the job on offer now seems to have shifted more to internal based infrastructure ( I specialize in externally facing deployed infrastructure ) and thirdly I don't think my girlfriend is that interested in moving to London.

All these along with the majority of people here seem to favor Manchester and my friends and family are around here, seems it would be a silly choice to move.

Now I need to decide if I leave my current place of work after just 12 months or try and get them to match my job offers.

chrcoluk · 14 Jul 2016 at 23:47

I wouldnt move to inner london, but otherwise I would seriously consider it outside of london as most of the wealth is down there.

V F · 14 Jul 2016 at 23:50

rIcK said:
Had my London based interview yesterday, went well in general but screwed up some basic stuff I had not done in a while. I also potentially have the chance to work for a much better company round Manchester.

Here is the main issue with round here... dreary and wet virtually all the time. Here is todays view from where I live =(

When I was down in London, though brief. It seemed a bit cleaner but nothing that much more exciting or different than round where I live now.

Feels like those horrible hotel views. Or worse... The one you get looking out to a brick wall. Don't like the look of that huge exhaust pipe. Wonder what smells comes out of that...

SouthEastBlue · 15 Jul 2016 at 05:26

Central London (where I work) would in my opinion be a horrible place to live, although I'm happy to commute there. All the boroughs on the outside of London though are generally fine, more green spaces less traffic, less crime etc.