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)

None of this adds up.

You could just scrape a small terrace for £3 million in Notting Hill.

But even in my smart bit of zone 2, £3 million buys you much more sq footage.

But the running costs are high - over £3000 pa heating, £2000 in council tax, £1500 insurance. It costs £6000 a year to clean.

So unlikely to be real but if it is - barmy.

2.5-3m is about the amount I'd start looking at proper financial advice to bring in retirement income, increase my existing income (option to retire) and possibly invest in property again for income and passing to my kids.

Its also an amount that is tempting to spend on a lovely house so I get it, but I think you should get financial advice OP - its an amount that can be life changing and IMO you should look beyond just buying a lovely house

My cousin and her family (husband, 2DC) lived in a 2 bedroom flat in Battersea. They sold up a few years ago for a huge profit and bought a gorgeous house in Devon and their quality of life is so much better. Do you have to stay in London op?

I agree that if this is a genuine thread you cant afford to run a £3m house on £35k pa income and it would be foolish to do so. Make the money work harder. Spend £1m ish on a modest terraced property in a good area and £1m ish on a couple of investment flats in areas that rent well with good yields set them up in a tax efficient way (separate company, get some decent advice). Put whatever is left after costs away for savings and maintenance on your rental portfolio.

@LoveYourUsername You nailed it.

Personally if I had 3mill I'd get right out of London and buy a house surrounded by land (and spend a lot on fences and gates to keep unwanted people out)

You need independent financial advice to supplement your income. Running costs on any property will be too high.

Agree with PP that the running costs would be enormous. Council tax alone where we are is £5k in band H.

[quote Crankley]How about Ham near Richmond: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?searchType=SALE&locationIdentifier=REGION%5E11730&insId=1&radius=0.0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&minBedrooms=&maxBedrooms=&displayPropertyType=&maxDaysSinceAdded=&_includeSSTC=on&sortByPriceDescending=&primaryDisplayPropertyType=&secondaryDisplayPropertyType=&oldDisplayPropertyType=&oldPrimaryDisplayPropertyType=&newHome=&auction=false[/quote]
Oh this is lovely

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.

AND the rest. £3k in the summer.

But I don't suppose OP has a car to get down to Cornwall. Or could afford to hang out eating lobster rolls there once a month or more.

This is clearly the a stupid hairbrained scheme. How will you put in a new kitchen? or decorate? or keep up with a nice garden? New windows? A garden fence? It all costs money and your £3m property will go into disrepair very quickly. You will need a further income stream for the upkeep.

You could let it out for shoots and filming. I've been to lots of houses in London on shoots and they don't need to be in great repair as it doesn't show up.

I would certainly be looking at making that kind of money work, especially given a £35K income isnt likely to give a huge pension.

Investing in more than one property for rental incomes, looking to set kids up by buying flats for them, which they can live in / take rental from while at uni

looking at a way for a future career such as shown upthread - therapy rooms/ etc.

Certainly not for one single family home

I was just reading with no advice to give other then maybe spend less on property and use some to enjoy life.

@loveyouradvice
It is unlikely with your family values that they will go into high earning jobs... and yet they may well want to live in their own city ... but won't be able to afford it.

That comment comes across pure bitchy. In what way does the OP say what her family values are? I'm assuming you are talking about the fact that they are not earning mega bucks? Just because parents are not earning triple figures or even high double figures doesn't mean her children are destined to a life of poverty. 🤦🏼‍♀️

What you really really need is to talk to a qualified financial advisor.

Not a mate at the pub or some other nonsense.

Factor in the costs of upkeep and repairs. Even the cost of light globes and loo roll.

What does your DH have against private school?
It's a very competitive world out there and a good education for your DC is a good investment.

Rental properties are a faff altho the long term gains are great.

A million invested in a portfolio would yield 3%, potentially more, and double their income.

Buy a nice house. Then with the money left buy say two buy to let's. Then you will have a better income.

Agree with everyone else. It makes no financial sense to spend £3m on a property then live on a combined income of £35K (am also wondering how two key workers in London can have a combined income of £35K

This!!

Kirsty said on LIOLI last night that you want to be spending about £2k per year just on basic maintenance of your home, and I think she’s absolutely right. So that might be nothing this year but next year you’ll have all the windows painted, or the bathroom updated or whatever. With a bigger house you can easily x3 (or many, many times more!)

If you’re serious about improving the quality of your life what will make most difference in my experience is increasing your disposable income (and improving your home). £1m -£1.5m invested in a balanced portfolio you could comfortably take an income of say £40,000 per year. If you put that in your name, you’d pay minimal tax.

You would be able to run a bigger home, and improve the quality of life, and cut down your hours if you wanted.

The last thing you want to do is have a home that’s a millstone because you can’t really afford it.

I would totally avoid Hampstead / Belsize Park

It's diverse, but the diversity sticks to their own - there's very little mixing between groups and there's very little social / community activities. If you aren't born and bred "in crowd" and brining in a big salary it's really not worth it.

The Northern line is regularly shit too - feel free to DM me if you want more info, we lived there for five years and moved last year. Much happier where we are now, even though it's a "less desirable area". Very awesome community spirit and everyone helps us out.

We were expats (I am not sure how long we can call ourselves that for) but deliberately looked for a more "non expat" community so we could create long-last friendships. It has definitely worked.

I would look either towards Islington, De Beauvoir, Chiswick, Walthamstow, Hackney. Some parts of Tottenham are really up and coming with people who've moved further out for affordability too - although we didn't actually look there.

Have a wonder a round a few places - looks for a variety of shops (Turkish, Polish, Chinese), check out the deliveroo options - lots of pop ups from home now are giving you a good feel of how diverse the areas are (and also prices), do the commute!

If it was me I'd spend about 1-1.5m on a house and invest the rest as others have said. It seems reckless on a low income to invest everything in a house where you might struggle to be able to afford the upkeep and running costs. If you have other income from investment or rent on other properties, then you've gotfinancial security as well as a great lifestyle. I don't know north or east London very well, but for south and west I'd suggest Clapham, Wandsworth, Fulham or Putney. You could get a nice 3/4 bed terrace for under 1.5 million in a leafy street, nice shops and neighbourhoods and green spaces, with easy access to the city and West End.

I don't think the OP is coming back...

This isn’t actually an implausible scenario. It could be an inheritance, a lottery win, or compensation.

My brother works for a private bank and advises a lot of people in these circumstances, and they’re often actually scared of money in this quantity. Bricks and mortar are the one thing they understand and even the thought of buying a house to rent out is mentally exhausting for them. They want to continue their familiar life exactly as before but obviously don’t want their new wealth to evaporate. It’s also not unusual to want to stay in London because they’re a minority ie ethnicity or a same sex couple.

I echo a PP who said Shepherds Bush. It’s very scruffy but every house costs a bomb!

@ItsPissingDownAgain if this is serious, take a good look at secondary schools and realistically move somewhere within the catchment of a good or outstanding secondary. To be honest in zone 1-2 these houses will already come with a premium anyway. Like others I'd consider Camden/Tuffnel Park area in North London, don't really know south London. Someone mentioned Blackheath earlier, I don't think they have great state schools & personally I'd want somewhere more central and on the tube for that amount.

If OP is serious, lots of other posters are blatantly ignoring what she has said. She wants to stay in London and doesn't want some pile in the country and has said she doesn't want her kids to go to private school. People have different priorities. Personally I wouldn't be keen to uproot to the country if I had 3 mill.

Threads where the OP says London and the subsequent posts offering almost everywhere but London, are very strange.

My DC grew up in Central London. It was great. Public transport, lots to do, some good schools. As long as you have a property you can do the rest on a low budget. No need for a car, lots is free, easy to find local jobs.

OP, ignore the doubters and go for it. My suggestion is Pimlico. If you are going to be central it's worth being properly central.

Not wanting your kids to go to private school for lottery winners is very common too - they don’t want their kids looked down upon at school and they don’t want their kids later looking down on them or on their extended family who haven’t got the same money.

If this is a real question, I have two answers:

1. Hampstead.
2. You need to take a serious look at your life, take a serious look at this website (www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/) and ask yourself if you want to work for the rest of your lives for a house or if you'd like to retire right now and never work again. Honestly. Read around a bit before dismissing it.

If you genuinely have £3m to spend, don't spend it on a London house - spend it on having a life!

You need help, not rightmove advice. Never read anything so ridiculous on here.