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)

Where are you OP ... I have sooo many questions!

@bonfireheart and @Octane
It is still here!

This is either bonkers or there’s about to be a massive drip feed.

And as for council tax being £250 a month in a £3m home ... we pay almost that per month in a bog standard semi on the outskirts of London.

Maybe the OP has inherited?

They could have lost a parent or grandparent who bought a house similar to all those that have been linked to decades ago for a relatively small amount.

Move out of London!
You could have an amazing life for your DCs in another UK city. Lots of diversity in other cities.
Keep a London property for the rental income and live a nice life in a £300k house with nice holidays and a good lifestyle for the kids.

@BigSandyBalls2015

And as for council tax being £250 a month in a £3m home ... we pay almost that per month in a bog standard semi on the outskirts of London.

£120 to £133 pm Council tax for the Band G and H properties in the road in Battersea linked above

Camden Town Band H £270 pm

Council tax in London is relatively cheap compared with property values.

@BigSandyBalls2015

And as for council tax being £250 a month in a £3m home ... we pay almost that per month in a bog standard semi on the outskirts of London.

The depressing and unfair fact is that council tax is currently very low in affluent parts of London e.g the highest band H in Westminster is £1560 a year www.westminster.gov.uk/council-tax/check-your-council-tax-band-and-charges

A £3m house and “low income” 🙄

Only on mumsnet

Totally bonkers

"He also thinks I'm mad wanting to spend it all on a home, but isn't it where you spend most of your life 🤷‍♀️ school holidays are only six weeks a year."

Eh? Since when?

My favourite parts of London are Hampstead, Richmond and Chelsea - don't really tick the diversity box (unless you count rich Russians in Chelsea...). But £3m wouldn't actually get you that far in those areas... I second everyone else saying buy somewhere for

Flipping heck @Weepingwillow22 that council tax in Westminster is about the same as for my 3 bed semi up in Yorkshire. I remember a local councillor telling me that council tax was cheap as chips down there but didn't quite believe them.

@Littlefluffyclouds13

How on earth will you afford the council tax, utility bills, insurance etc on a 3m house, on 35k a year!

This, its not just the purchase price

And Dh is full time and I'm part time as childcare is expensive and I like being able to pick them up from school and take them to their bloody clubs in the pissing rain. but you have 3m to spend on a house?

I'll bite, why do you have 3m to spend on a house, but have low income
Is 3m all the money you have, or is it more?

@DavidsSchitt

"He also thinks I'm mad wanting to spend it all on a home, but isn't it where you spend most of your life 🤷‍♀️ school holidays are only six weeks a year."

Eh? Since when?

Yeah, 6 weeks only ( no Christmas no easter or half terms....)

Band H round here is just shy of 4k a year.

@Weepingwillow22 that’s shocking

@BarbaraofSeville

I would buy this for holidays ? You could let it out when you are not using it and it includes all the furniture, so no need to stress about furnishing it smile

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77374767#/

I'd go along with that. I love St Ives, plus you'd make around £1K a week out of it on holiday lets.

I think this is a really interesting question (and we had a similar issue). The problem in moving to somewhere like Notting Hill or Chelsea (which you could afford) is that many of the people in those areas would be sending their children to private school and would have vastly more income than you and a very different lifestyle. Unless you pay to be in the catchment of the Fox primary or one of the handful of religious super oversubscribed primaries in similar areas... but then nearly all these children go to private secondary. These areas have become very ghettoised and not in a good way. There were some really interesting articles around the riots a few years ago and how shocked rich people were in Notting Hill that their poorer neighbours were involved... which shows a real lack of understanding of how disparate and fractured these communities are underneath.

You would probably be better to look at one of the areas where people move to when priced out of the smarter areas and buying a lovely house with a big garden (which will be expensive) there concentrating your search close to the schools that you think would work for you (they will still have small catchments). You would have a more mixed and truly diverse experience e.g. Brackenbury or Shepherd's Bush (lots of people moved here from Notting Hill). Not sure what the equivalent is in other parts of London.

I've often wondered about Council tax in London.

Wandsworth has famously low council tax, but I don't know if there are other London Boroughs where it's similar?

Their band H price is the same as band C in my city and I think we're far from the highest - Frumpety says Band H is nearly £4k pa where she is, but here its £3400 for example.

I'm thinking it's a combination of high population density, so more people to share the total bill between, and more properties in London being in the higher bands due to higher values, so it's not a like for like comparison, although in my previous Camden Town link, there are plenty of flats in Bands B and C.

More money than sense, some...

£3m would buy you a castle where I live, OP.

Pimlico.

Good schools, walk everywhere,. village feel yet right in the centre. Battersea, St James' and Hyde Park easily accessible.

Why stay in London, when you could buy a beautiful property in a lovely clean area?, plus use the excess to live on to a certain extent.
I live in London, but luckily have a house right out in the sticks, where I was (pre lockdown) spending more and more time at.

Eh !!! Use your common sense. No way can you afford the upkeep on a 3m house, and why would you want to. 35k won’t pay the bills, there would be nothing left for days out holidays etc.