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)

The thing is- with the way the Tory party is going, at some point they will tax wealth heavily- large pensions and savings. They would have to- the deficit is mind boggling. Its frozen for now, but its still an increase due to inflation

So buying a cheaper house outside London may not be that great from a tax point of view if the rest of the money is going to be in investments which are going to be easier for politicians to tax. its far more politically onerous to tax one's primary residence because there would the issue of 'poor granny in her chelsea townhouse which she bought in 1956 for mere thousands'. And thats the tory voter base. The mansion tax is far less likely than the other taxes on other forms of assets. In fact due to the system of council tax, buying an expensive home in london doesn't even invite that much more yearly taxes and in a way is a good way of storing your money tax free after you have paid the insane stamp duty. If you need the money in future, you can downsize.

If you love london anyway, then why not stay. I wouldn't buy more house than I need though! I would suggest my area east finchley where you can get a nice house for £1.5 million. Zone 3 but its not really that far from central london.

Even if you want to stay in London you don't need to spend £3 million on a house. Spend £1.5 (you can still have something very nice, even in London) and use the rest on having fun!

Council tax on lots of mega expensive houses in London is actually cheaper than bog standard ones further north

This is true. The 4 boroughs with the lowest council tax are Westminster, Wandsworth, City of London & Hammersmith & Fulham.

Brixton is central. Thamesmead is nice but abit further out. How about Woolwich.

@TatianaBis I can never understand this. This is one of the reasons why it made no financial sense to leave london even though the sticker price on the property is cheaper. The money from council tax and commuting is lost and gone forever, the property hopefully would retain its value in line with inflation (in the past 30 years, the property appreciation in london has far exceeded inflation and any other area in the uk- so much so that the capital appreciation of a london property is far more than the increased rental yields for a northern house which is why many property investors still buy london property even though the rent is just covering the mortgage).

And even if there is an exodus of Brits from London, there are still expats and foreigners who would still gravitate towards london. they are not able to come here now due to the pandemic. While other people are predicting a decline in london, what i see now is huge demographic change i.e. fewer white brits in london and people from all over the world (which coincide with the tories relaxing visa restrictions for skilled workers).

OP knows what OP likes. Yes I know houses are cheaper up North but I moved there for love and hated it. It really wasn't for me. I wouldn't go there even to live in a castle, and that's not to offend anyone but it just wasn't for me.

Well I'll take it at face value because I live in De Beauvoir and like to prattle on about it. It's lovely and there is a really good community (see here which will give you links to everything going on locally: www.debeauvoir.org.uk/).

You'd have to be really careful on exactly where to get the right schools though. I think Queensbridge is probably the best primary locally but has a small catchment (you'd probably get in from De Beauvoir Square and possibly even Northchurch Terrace - worth checking), and you might need to go the other side of the A10 towards London Fields (nice houses there too mind). Friends I know whose kids go there are going to go to this new COLA that's being built at the north end of Shoreditch Park (they're already open but in temporary accommodation as the building is being finished this year I think). The new building looks great and is right by the park and new Leisure Centre that is also going up. Shoreditch Park Primary is Ofsted Outstanding and right next door, right on the park. Hackney New Primary School has a lot of fans, a new building (and a fast shrinking catchment area). The secondary has been a bit of a mess though (lots of change of Head). People say good things about Our Lady and St Joseph but you have to be Catholic (and go to the right Catholic Church regularly) so that might not be an option.

Living in a house in that area worth a lot less than £3m though, with a small (but annoyingly leaky) roof and small garden, I can confirm that running costs are not exorbitant but not that low. I think you'll be tight on £35k after council tax, bills, holiday clubs, etc. even if you spend nothing on holidays or eating out. Having said that, you wouldn't need to spend anything like £3m here for a nice house if you're happy with a terrace with a smallish garden. You could halve that budget and take enough income from the balance to have an amazing quality of life (combined with your income) if this is for real.

@bonfireheart I live in the north at the minute and even with my entire family also living here, I wouldn’t buy here. I could buy my dream house for about £160,000 (similar at least £500,000 - £800,000 in London) but it’s just not for me personally. I simply wouldn’t want to live here long term no matter how many posters insist!

Maybe the OP has the £3m set aside for the house, then maybe another for maintenance and DC's kitty

East Dulwich/ Peckham borders? There are good (if over subscribed) schools, though with that sort of cash, you could get big house and send them to one of the myriad independents on East Dulwich Grove.

You have Brockwell and Ruskin parks, Peckham Rye, Peckham and Denmark Hill are on the Overground, good primaries, some nice secondaries.

eg: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/103262384#/
Or in Peckham, www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/75377919#/
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/102652871#/

OR in N. Dulwich www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/103486178#/.

sigh

Haven’t talked to RL friends about this for obvious reasons.

what are the obvious reasons ?

school holidays are only six weeks a year.

13 weeks a year. A quarter of the year.

More for private schools.

[quote Loopyloututu2]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[/quote]
@Loopyloututu2 I live near Didsbury and think I know where that house is! It's on a development called Silverwood, it's very expensive for what it is and it's on a junction so the air pollution can't be good. I walk past it and am always puzzled by how tiny the gardens are for a £1.2m house. Gardens are much bigger on the older properties.

Didsbury is a lovely area, it is expensive compared to many other areas of Manchester, but not expensive at all compared to London. It's quite diverse, good transport links etc. Manchester has great museums etc, not as good as London but still fab for kids.

Finsbury park?: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/78501279#/

even if youve accounted for the house budget you'll still run out of money in a few years on your salray

i think its selfish to spend it all on aand house leave yourself with nothing left

East Dulwich is lovely.

I do miss London, it has so much going on. I love Manchester, there isn't as much here as London but there's enough for us and get to live in a nice area fairly cheaply compared to London.

Absolutely without question Stradella Road in Herne Hill :-)

Come to N.I, you could have this for £1.25 million.

www.propertypal.com/ballyurnanellan-house-84a-newtownards-road-greyabbey-newtownards/551263/photo-34

minus the deer/stag head on that one wall, that needs to go

If you're after a cultural melting pot and a decent lifestyle on that income - come to the northwest near Manchester.

You could get spectacular property in the nicest areas with that money to spend, which come with access to fab schools. You'd be close the city but you'd also be able to invest a large chunk of it to provide a secondary and retirement income, and lose nothing of the access to culture, theatres, people, places. Those sorts of incomes are more 'normal' here, too, so you'd find it easier to mix and you wouldn't be crippled with cost of living and running costs you can't meet.

Hell, with the money you'd save with the move. you could do all that and own a London flat (which you could then airbnb when you aren't using it)or just spend weekends in really swanky hotels.

The opportunities you could open up for your children in terms of travel, schooling, healthcare, future financial security massively, massively outweigh the value of staying where you are.

That kind of money is known as life-changing for a reason.

I want to live in London.
No come up north.
My husband wants to live in London.
No come up north.
I don't want to move out of London.
No come up north.

I don't have anywhere near as much money as OP, but I could buy a house with cash up north north be mortgage free. However, that still does not convince me to leave lovely, stinky, crazy Birmingham!!

But op doesn’t want to live in Manchester, or anywhere else that isn’t London does she.
It’s in her opening post. Where can I buy a house in zone 1 or 2, in a diverse area of LONDON?

[quote GoodQueenAlysanne]Come to N.I, you could have this for £1.25 million.

www.propertypal.com/ballyurnanellan-house-84a-newtownards-road-greyabbey-newtownards/551263/photo-34[/quote]
Just as pure tangent @GoodQueenAlysanne what would the reception be like be for Londoners moving to (small town or rural) NI? Would it be tricky?

@GoodQueenAlysanne absolutely loving the f&m hamper in the kitchen photo!

@ginnybag My Dh works in an investment bank in London. He is also a home owner on £50k in London, working alongside more privileged people who earn 6 figures who are are still renting and can't afford to buy (yet as they are single). His mum has never earned more than £16k in her life and is a single mum with 4 kids.

The main reason for this- his mum bought a london terrace for 100k in 1997 (she did have help). Oh and he has a wife who was very willing to live with his mum and 3 sisters for 3 years. I would never underestimate the value of a london base after my experience. My parents are a lot richer than my MIL but they don't live in London. honestly without her willingness to live in a 1 bed flat with 3 children in london in the 1990s until she could afford a house (and then buying a house in london despite being on 10k) is what helped me and DH buy our london property and earn london salaries. A lot of professional jobs - accounting law start off with a modest graduate salary which is a lot easier to live on if you can live with family from age 22-25. And even with wfh, i think its quite hard as you really need to be around senior staff.