Living in London

[Yesnomaybeok]

I'm considering a move to London. It would be a completely different area from the one I'm used to but I visit several times a year and love it. I love the bustle, the amount to do, the parks, the buildings. I feel like I need somewhere that challenges me more, better job opportunities, potential for a better social life, more to do, evening classes, learn a language etc. However, I'm in my 40s so is this crazy? I'd have a decent deposit for a house so wouldn't have a huge morgage but wouldn't have a huge wage. I'd be moving away from older parents and other family but there are no children of my own to consider and very few friends. Is this a stupid decision? Job wise I think I'd be ok finding one in my sector.

Another option is to live in the commuter belt somewhere with decent trains and a reasonable commute. Not exciting like London but option and you’d get more for your money housing wise. Public services probably also under less pressure than in London.

Whatever location you decide to try would get a job first and rent.

Did you say you were pretty much mortgage free where you are? What's the likelihood of you wanting/needing to move back at some point? It seems to me London could be a pretty lonely place to get old in if you have no family around.
How about trying it for a year first by renting out your 'almost owned' house and using the rental money to subsidise your earnings in order to rent a small place in central London. You might hate it. Or you might decide that you'd rather settle long term somewhere accessible to London, where you could visit at weekends etc.
Take the gap year you may never have had, minus the hostels and hitchhiking.
I intend to do this as soon as my DB pension clicks in in 3 years. I'll take a year and divide it into 4. Spend 3 months in a small rental on Madeira, 3 months in the Highlands, 3 in the SW and 3somewhere undecided yet. My job's pretty transferable so whilst in the UK I'll work very part time.
Just make sure you keep up your pension contributions.

She wants one for £200k! That’s what people are saying is tricky in zone 2/3, if she doesn’t want a hovel.

OP, I’m going to suggest looking at shared ownership in Elephant and Castle. Zone 1/2 border, easy walk into Covent Garden and the rest of London. Gentrifying - the new blocks around elephant park etc are really nice. Shared ownership would be about £150k for 25%, then £1000 per month rent (from Rightmove). Or you can buy a flat over a shop in that area outright for about £300k.

I have lived in London for many years. There are downsides - the air quality, the cost, transport etc ... As I get older I fantasize about leaving. I feel it's like a big magnet that difficult to pull away from. I feel kinda trapped. I have to say access to healthcare is very good and speedy so as I get older this might be reason enough to stay.

I have lived in North, West and South and I prefer the South. There are more parks I think and it's friendlier.

I wonder if you should rent first to really see if you like it as much as you think you will.

tbh OP, If I was in your position, I'd only move to central London and in an area where other 40 year olds hang out (which cuts out places like Kingston unless you have kids or Clapham ditto -single people there are all lawyers in their 20s).

I think you have to seriously up your budget and see it as a few years of paying out quite a lot of your income, but (hopefully) you would get it back and more in an increase in the value of whatever you buy. I think you have been very naive thinking you can get something nice for £200k!

I think it would also be quite hard to move to London without knowing anyone. You'd have to make a serious effort to meet likeminded people (I guess this is the same anywhere actually).

There’s nowhere else in the world like London. And I don’t think you can get the London feels from another big UK city.

But you need two things to make it work: money and friends.

Without that you risk being stuck in a damp, noisy box room, all alone, with bills to pay and nowhere to go.

Ummm £200k might get you a small ex council flat in need of updating in the furthest reaches of suburban London.

Our large two bed flat in zone 3 SE London cost us was £320k 8 years ago.

That one bed flat in New Cross s
linked to earlier looks unmortgaeable and would cost at least another £50k to make it liveable.

This is a nice thread. Normally people hate London on Mumsnet :-)

I would think if you're quite an independent person you could move without knowing anyone and make it work. There are meetups, apps for making friends, lots of social groups and classes, etc. But you'd have to make a real effort to put yourself out there

I think a pp mentioned shared ownership. My advice would be the opposite. I have a family member looking to leave London and although their shared ownership property is in a lovely area, they can't sell it in the current market and are likely to lose 100k. Either rent for a bit or stay put. If you are nearly mortgage free my advice is don't risk that for love nor money in the current economic climate.

Thanks everyone. It sounds like even though I don't need anything big or fancy in terms of housing it probably won't work. I don't want shared ownership or to price myself out of the market when I'm nearly morgage free. I'd be happy with a tiny place that needs done up but not if that means extortionate service charges etc. I even started looking at crate homes and boats which I'm not entirely put of by.

However, I'm just not sure it'll work.

It's where I currently am or London and I don't think anywhere else would be quite the same.

A shame but I'm glad I started this thread to help me see the reality.

@Yesnomaybeok I understand that- the options are a bit limited - I wouldn't rule out a total change though-

One thing to think about is some aspects of living are cheaper in London. For example you probably won't need to run a car, public transport is plentiful and often cheaper than other areas of the country.

It is a very personal thing but heating bills can be cheaper as London is noticably drier and warmer than many other areas of the UK. For example to day it is 22 degrees and dry ouside.

Job opportunties are greater in London -you can access higher wages and there are plenty of opportunities to top up your income (bars, pubs and shops are always seeking extra staff for evening and weekend work)

To help with your housing affordability calculations - I got a £150k mortgage on £45k 8 years ago and the repayments were affordable and left enough money over for a nice enough life. HOWEVER - interest rates were much lower and also Mr Monkey was earning (we didn't use his income for the mortgage as he was contracting at the time and his income was very erratic).

Don't give up OP, come to south Norwood!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/130656194#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/139616447#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/131739923#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136952204#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/138192620#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140277257#/?channel=RES_BUY

I agree with this, OP.

The travel times and connections from Norwood Junction are excellent.

Travel times and options are often more important than distance and being on the tube.

In general MN can be very cautious/ averse to the kinds of areas in which literally millions of Londoners live perfectly decent lives while being minutes away from all that London has to offer.

Norwood is fine! Great cinema.

Seize the day !. 🤭

What do you want from London? If you can give us an idea of why you want to live there we can suggest some areas with good transport links

If you could get a 2 bed would you be willing to take a lodger?

£200k would get you this on the tube https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/139370225#/?channel=RES_BUY although Chesham is almost as far out as the tube goes.
Of this one in Hemel H https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/133490657#/?channel=RES_BUY

Evening classes, parks, more work opportunities, more to do, more to see, better social life, a better buzz, a place where the world doesn't stop at 8pm and start at 9am, fab buildings (not necessarily close to my house).

Yes but not forever. Maybe a few years.

If your budget is around £350k you can buy a house in somewhere like Dagenham, Barking or Romford. Those areas usually have 2 bedroom houses for that kind of price. Why buy a flat when you can buy a house?

Also I just saw a programme about the downfalls of buying a shared ownership property. There were examples where people were being charged £3k a month for their service charge (because of sudden works needed in the building). So please read up on shared ownership.

E14 is a great area OP. If you can get a mortgage you can get 1 bed flats at the bottom of the Isle of Dogs for £290k

It's zone 2, you can walk into the shops, restaurants and bars at Canary Wharf or walk through the foot tunnel to Greenwich. You also have access to the DLR, Jubilee Line and best of all, the river boats which were 5 mins walk from my flat when I lived there. I used to get the boat to work at Blackfriars!

Do you have friends here already? If so then you might base the area around them as people rarely travel from eg west to east London