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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask about London and money

306 replies

Maisy313 · 09/10/2015 20:33

How much do you think you need to earn as a working couple to support a family of four (one year old and reception aged child) in London and have a reasonable standard of living? Would just be really interested in your thoughts... Someone told me it was impossibly to survive on less than a joint income of 100k in London which seems exceptionally high to me...

OP posts:
CactusAnnie · 12/10/2015 14:02

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TheBeanpole · 12/10/2015 14:22

I think they call that nose-to-tail eating.

babybarrister · 12/10/2015 18:54

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longtimelurker101 · 12/10/2015 19:33

Surely you'd need more than that, membership of Shoreditch house is 2k on top of that a year, you know, thats a basic living requirement these days.

CactusAnnie · 12/10/2015 22:19

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cestlavielife · 13/10/2015 12:38

not many bijou houses for 400k in London.... tho perhaps a bijou "suite" (aka studio) apartment....

CactusAnnie · 14/10/2015 16:35

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cestlavielife · 16/10/2015 09:32

two years ago prices were a lot less. my aunt's 3 bed tiny 30s semi in deepest harrow weald (takes 1hour .20 to get to central london bu bus and tube ) is now worth more than 400 k

cestlavielife · 16/10/2015 09:35

two years ago prices were a lot less in london...my aunt's 3 bed 30s semi in deepest harrow weald takes 1 hour 20 to central london by bus and tube now worth more than 400 k

cestlavielife · 16/10/2015 09:37

but yes you can this for 300 k www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50455420.html

cestlavielife · 16/10/2015 09:38

depends how you define "London".

DancingLady · 16/10/2015 10:09

Me and DH are both Londonders, earn about 65k between us, 1 child, a 3 bed house in zone 3 and I feel very lucky. The ONLY way we could own a place was that I inherited some money in my 20s, bought a small cheap flat in Kennington, moved up, and eventually bought a house for under 350k. It's now worth closer to 600, four years later. Bonkers.

The area I grew up in is far, far nicer than where we live now. But houses there go for 2.5m upwards. And when I was growing up, people on my road had 'normal' jobs - teacher, dentist, photographer etc. Now it's all bankers and city workers.

I do get fucked off with articles about how you can't get a 2 bed flat in London for under 450k etc etc (Evening Standard, I'm thinking of you) and then you discover they mean west London, or Islington, or Stoke Newington. There are dozens of great neighbourhoods in the city, within zone 3, which are still (just) affordable.

MrsNuckyT · 16/10/2015 10:15

I'd say £100k is about right. Of course there are places you could probably live for less, but then it's about area and schools and what you want your children growing up around.

House prices and rent are exceptionally high. We have a very high joint income but seriously don't feel well off at all, by the time we've paid a huge mortgage and childcare.

Chippednailvarnish · 16/10/2015 10:19

£300k? So a 10% deposit will be £30k. That's more than the average salary and as much as London's salaries are a bit higher than the rest of the country, for most people this is a huge amount of money.

Lndnmummy · 16/10/2015 10:40

Please please please could the posters who know of decent affordable areas in zone 3-4 list what areas they are?

We live in a tiny flat and truly love it but are pretty desperate for more space. I have looked around what feels like the entire london and am unable to find somewhere for our budget (max 450k). I have not managed to find somewhere anywhere near that in zone 3-4. Please enlighten me!

newname12 · 16/10/2015 11:04

Have you looked at Catford? Hither green? Lee? Grove Park? Sydenham?

All those areas have 2 bed flats/3 bed houses for under 450k.

Plug your current postcode into right move.

DancingLady · 16/10/2015 11:36

We're in Hither Green, brilliant schools, fast trains to London Bridge, Cannon Street and Charing X, loads of nice parks and a good community. Bit crimey, close to Lewisham, but as with most bits of London, you can't have it all.

JeffyJeffington · 16/10/2015 18:14

Like Lndnmummy i couldn't envisage a family home within z3-4 for these types of prices. And i guess it comes down to how much you're prepared to compromise on space. With the price of moving i can't hack the idea of being somewhere for that that would feel like a squish, it will put me off having more kids. Our next home will have to be for 10-20 years because of the cost of stamp duty, lawyers fees etc. I want to be able to park my car on a drive somewhere in that timeframe, and have a downstairs toilet! So i think sadly our next move will be to go properly out of London, much as i love it. Maybe deep down I'm a surburbanite at heart!

Lndnmummy · 16/10/2015 18:37

Thanks guys so kind of you!! We did lits of viewings in catford/hither green/sydenham last year but have now missed the boat in these areas as houses mainly outside our budget. We are viewing a 3 bed flat in sydenham tmrw. Also playing with the idea of a loft conversion and just stay where we are. Wouldnt give us a garden but we hve PR park, hillyfields and horniman all really close so I am not too bothered about garden. Thanks everyone so nice of you to help out.

CurlyBlueberry · 16/10/2015 22:12

Lndnmummy we are in Streatham Vale... not the poshest of areas I grant you but the (primary) schools are excellent, there are train links to Victoria and Clapham Junction, and we bought a 3-bed house with garden and driveway for £375k last year. Catchment for Graveney is tiny though, I don't think you could live in Streatham and get in, you'd have to be in Furzedown and we couldn't find a family home there for that budget (we were looking at anything up to £500k).

TheBeanpole · 17/10/2015 17:30

You can get a hell of a lot in Norwood junction for that £. Not exactly gentrified but close to crystal palace for that and fast train and ginger line.

brokenhearted55a · 17/10/2015 17:49

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longtimelurker101 · 17/10/2015 18:05

There are lots of places that are affordable, but to live here there are compromises. You're not going to to be able to afford places that are in high demand because the prices have been pushed up so high.

A friend recently moved to Enfield Lock and others are going out in that direction too. Apparently it takes 34 minutes to get to Liverpool St. Which is actually about what it takes to get to Liverpool St from where we live in Kilburn. No they don't have a lot of the stuff that we have on our doorstep, but its not too far out of the city at all!

I think a major problem is what people really want is a Victorian townhouse in Islington/Crouch End/Muswell Hill or such areas well sadly its not 1980 anymore when those went cheap.

What you have to do is go to an area that isn't as popular and "settle it" be part of the community, do the PTA thing, thats what happened in all of the areas listed above. But what people seem to want is all of the good things that those areas have ( and yes they still have their issues) but to pay the price that people did way back when. You can't get stuff thats in high demand on the cheap!