Where to live on 3m

[ItsPissingDownAgain]

First world question: where would you live in london on a 3m budget. Low income otherwise (!), kids in state primary, we like diversity, zones 1/2, parks, ease of travel (ideally bike but if not then public transport)

Why are so many posters obsessed with the OP leaving London for a live in the countryside?

I've lived rurally and I've lived in London, on similar incomes in similar houses, and London life was (and is) by FAR the better option for me.

There is a reason London is full of £2m+ houses with people living in them - it's because those people have the choice to live pretty much anywhere in the country and choose to stay in an amazing city with great schools, great facilities, great parks and great communities.

And when you're on a relatively modest income with kids, it is a brilliant place to be - some amazing state schools, free museums, really cheap sports clubs and facilities, and endless opportunities for day trips on public transport

I would buy something cheaper, stick to something under £1m and save the rest. Get a map to look up all the areas of London, and go on Rightmove and check the prices for 3 bed houses (or whatever you need) and see if you can find any cheap areas which you hadn't considered. There can be major disparities between different areas which are close to each other. I wasn't looking in London, found that Victorian terraces near a high street were much more semis ten minutes away as the area wasn't as trendy. You can get 3 beds in Forest Hill for £500k, I don't know what it's like to live in but the Horniman Museum is lovely. You could buy investment properties as well for your children and your retirement? They would give you an income too.

I wouldn't buy too big a house, they can be money pits and it could get expensive. It's also a pain having to do lots of work on them. Victorian houses can be expensive to heat. It would be stressful and you have a great opportunity to make your life easier. It could set you and your children up for life, use it well.

@allthecatneeds

I would buy something cheaper, stick to something under £1m and save the rest. Get a map to look up all the areas of London, and go on Rightmove and check the prices for 3 bed houses (or whatever you need) and see if you can find any cheap areas which you hadn't considered. There can be major disparities between different areas which are close to each other. I wasn't looking in London, found that Victorian terraces near a high street were much more semis ten minutes away as the area wasn't as trendy. You can get 3 beds in Forest Hill for £500k, I don't know what it's like to live in but the Horniman Museum is lovely. You could buy investment properties as well for your children and your retirement? They would give you an income too.

I wouldn't buy too big a house, they can be money pits and it could get expensive. It's also a pain having to do lots of work on them. Victorian houses can be expensive to heat. It would be stressful and you have a great opportunity to make your life easier. It could set you and your children up for life, use it well.

OP: I want zone 1/2, diverse, good primaries, and the ability to cycle everywhere

PP: How about zone 3, very average schools and REALLY BLOODY HILLY so virtually impossible to cycle

And I wouldn't want to live in the sort of house you get for £500k in Forest Hill, let alone if I was a multimillionaire

I’d Move to didsbury or chorlton in south Manchester, but then I’ve never lived in London, only visited so I don’t really get the draw. Excellent schools (private some of the top 10 in the country), diverse area, loads of trendy shops/restaurants. And less than 2 hours by train to get your London fix.

media.rightmove.co.uk/8k/7572/87751969/7572_30280745_IMG_23_0000.jpeg

Imagine having the opportunity to completely change your life and the lives of your children and choosing instead to carry on the same struggle but in a 3 million pound house.

That's imagination for you.

There are a lot of unknowns re situation of OP, but 2 things spring to mind:

• even if not paying for housing, isn't it really tough to live as a family on 35K HHI in London? Its something like £1500 a month (obviously people do it, but I would struggle)
• think about who you would be living around/mixing with. Would you want to socialise with people with very different values to you/would your children be happy/bullied. I was from a low income family, went to a private school & felt the difference: it was a lot less of a difference than you describe

@ChristmasFluff

“Carry on the same struggle”? What if the OP is a vicar or a nurse and their work is a vocation?

Islington/Hampstead in the north. Dulwich in the south.

I don’t think wanting to live in London is strange, nor even state school.

But I do think that attitude to what is expensive is likely to change or could change if you have the ability to keep some of the £3m. Re childcare being expensive - this seems at odds with having the ability to make it very much not so.

And less than 2 hours by train to get your London fix.

If you like London, you like London. It isn't a monthly 'fix' that can be sated with a 4 hour round trip and 20 mins breathing the air

For good state secondary Dulwich is pretty good

Assuming the OP has £3m capital, 10% of that will be taken up in transaction fees and stamp duty. So her budget will stretch to about 2.5 with a bit of give for redecoration. That will buy you a nice-ish house in Brackenbury W6 (anonymous on the front but probably very nice inside) close to Ravenscourt Park and the Thames, and near John Betts School. Walking distance of West London Free School. Job done .

@GappyValley

People are 'obsessed' with the OP leaving London, because it's over-priced, over-rated, polluted, over-populated, and with high crime rates.

I can't believe people pay the prices they do, to live in London. It's really not that special. Some people have been brainwashed into thinking it's a 'cool' place to live, and they are somehow 'better' than everyone else who doesn't live there.

As @ChristmasFluff said

Imagine having the opportunity to completely change your life and the lives of your children and choosing instead to carry on the same struggle but in a 3 million pound house.

This. ^

You can't fix stupid unfortunately.

@GappyValley

There is a reason London is full of £2m+ houses with people living in them - it's because those people have the choice to live pretty much anywhere in the country and choose to stay in an amazing city with great schools, great facilities, great parks and great communities.

You seriously think nowhere else in the country has all of this

As I said, brainwashed, (and deluded.....)

I live in London because I’m from London, I’d be quite happy is the allure was taken off the capital and prices started falling to a sensible level.

FYI we don’t all live in 3m houses

This thread is making me miss London.

It's pretty rude, and pretty weird to think that nine million people are deluded and/or brainwashed. Not least because a lot of the smartest brains in the country actively chose to live in London

Fine, admit it isn't somewhere you would like to live, but to assume you know better than every single one of those 9 million people, is pretty arrogant, no?

And if you could tell me where I could live that gives me access to the same facilities, (free) museums, great schools and good housing stock as I have around me, I'm all ears. But from experience, people leave London because they want a complete change of lifestyle, not to replicate it elsewhere, because it simply can't be replicated elsewhere

I can't believe people pay the prices they do, to live in London. It's really not that special. Some people have been brainwashed into thinking it's a 'cool' place to live, and they are somehow 'better' than everyone else who doesn't live there.

This ^^. It’s funny, some people think there is no life outside London - I mean, if you’re going to pay 3million for a house wouldn’t you then at least want to ensure that you’re in a nice area where you won’t get knifed going to the corner shop or your kids can mix with the local kids?

And as for breathing the air...well, that’s not what I personally would go to London for!

I can't believe people pay the prices they do, to live in London. It's really not that special. Some people have been brainwashed into thinking it's a 'cool' place to live, and they are somehow 'better' than everyone else who doesn't live there.

LOL - some of us have decided, from our own free will, that we actually like living in London, and our teenagers love it. Some of us don't care if it is 'cool' or not, and we also love other areas of the country and appreciate what they have to offer (having lived there, and / or visited a lot) , but on balance, choose to live in London.

Personally, having close family who live rurally, and having done so myself, I don't understand why people are so keen to re-locate teens into the countryside, unless they are young people who truly love that lifestyle. But, obviously lots of families do love it, and good luck to them.

People make different decisions and choices - and most manage it without brainwashing or delusion.

I don’t know how to do a link to Rightmove but search W6 Wolverton Gardens. That definitely has the interiors of a lottery winner’s house but has the look of what the tabloids would call a “modest house in Shepherds Bush”.

North Kensington W10 is another good location for diversity and easy cycling but isn’t quite so good for state schools.

@GappyValley It's pretty RUDE to assume that nowhere in the UK has everything you named, that LONDON has. Rude, narrow-minded, and snobby.

Oh wow you could live on De Beauvoir Square https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/87733060#/ no idea what schools are like here, but I know it because it's on the Quietway 2 cycle route

You could live in Wandsworth or Westminster and make use of the low council tax - Between the Commons (South Battersea) is famous with good schools (£2mil houses) but it's very bankers and nannies in that area.

Also these Tory councils suck for cycling (Kensington and Chelsea do too without the low tax benefit).

If you could swallow the more normal London council tax rates, Hackney or Kentish Town would be my zone 1/2 choice.

And if you could tell me where I could live that gives me access to the same facilities, (free) museums, great schools and good housing stock as I have around me, I'm all ears. But from experience, people leave London because they want a complete change of lifestyle, not to replicate it elsewhere, because it simply can't be replicated elsewhere

Well, Manchester for one. Cheshire, Chester etc. I’m in the north so I’m answering based on that but I’m sure there are many other places.
I agree London is good for culture but do you really spend every weekend going to museums and art gallery’s?

You do know all museums are free nowadays?

then at least want to ensure that you’re in a nice area where you won’t get knifed going to the corner shop or your kids can mix with the local kids?

You know we al wear Kevlar vests to nip to Waitrose, right? Including our poor kids, who NEVER mix with their schoolfriends?

It's London, a city that is just bigger than others, where the vast vast majority of perfectly ordinary people live ordinary peaceful lives, it isn't a war zone.

It is this sort of comment that really does make people sound provincial.

@littlepattilou

I can't believe people pay the prices they do, to live in London. It's really not that special. Some people have been brainwashed into thinking it's a 'cool' place to live, and they are somehow 'better' than everyone else who doesn't live there.

@Loopyloututu2

This ^^. It’s funny, some people think there is no life outside London - I mean, if you’re going to pay 3million for a house wouldn’t you then at least want to ensure that you’re in a nice area where you won’t get knifed going to the corner shop or your kids can mix with the local kids?

And as for breathing the air...well, that’s not what I personally would go to London for!

100% this!

Bet the OP @ItsPissingDownAgain is loving this. Her thread, which is almost certainly a wind-up, has got people frothing and attacking one another. Bet she is sitting there reading this, with a massive bag of popcorn.

I'm out.