to ask people who live in a house in Central London what it's like?

[manicinsomniac]

I mean an actual family 2+ bedroom house, not a flat or an apartment or a divided up house etc.

I'm absolutely fascinated. Living in London is my absolute pipe dream but, even though I'm on a good salary, I am a single mum of 3 and would only be able to afford a tiny shoebox in an area of London that would make it worth moving to (I'm only 35 mins on train now so now worth going to zone 4+). Whereas I can rent a lovely little 2.5 bed house where I am.

I don't see much in the way of full houses when I walk around central London (we go a lot) but was walking down a street of them today and the people looked so normal. Not rich at all. And the houses looked pretty run to be honest. It made me think.

This is pure curiosity but, if you do live in a zone 1/2 house, can I ask:
Which area it's in
What the area is like to live in
Whether you think it's worth any sacrifices you may be making

and, if it's not too personal (sure it is for many and I completely respect that) whether you consider yourself affluent and, if not, how on earth you manage it?

I have to admit I'm so jealous!

Yes, quite possibly hulk I couldn't see different bells which is how I normally work out which are flats but I wasn't looking closely at all of them.

Thesebedroomwalls - that does sound lovely. I'm also in a tiny rural village and I do like it but I'm definitely a city person at heart.

I live on the border of zone 1/2 in East London. We have a 4 br house but it's a new build faux period style, so not beautiful stylish house, but it's big and fits us all in with a v small garden at the back and tiny car park front garden, but we are really happy here.

I love the diversity of London. 4dcs go to the local school and you could have a coffe with a parent back at their beautiful Georgian home that looks like it should be in Elle decor, or a council home. I love that everyone can live side-by-side like that.

I do consider us affluent and we bought at the right time. In five years our house has doubled to a million pound house! The area has changed enormously, in some ways for the better, some ways worse.

Despite considering us affluent, I don't know how we would have afforded our place as a young couple with no family money. We afforded it when earning less as we had dc later and was able to save a decent deposit (infertility).

Yes, the upsides outweigh the downsides eg, air quality, transport etc etc. it's amazing to live so close to the centre of one of the world's most well-known capitals!

I don't think rich people always walk around looking rich.

I know people in houses in Southfields and Earlsfield. Tbh that's as close in as I'd want to be. 20-30min to south ken etc. Their homes are nice, but small, gardens really minis joe and parking a massive headache. But they have Wimbledon Park and the river.

I can't imagine living in the country Thesebedroomwalls - it just doesn't interest me in the slightest. DH would love it tho! We don't live in London any more (moved back up north to have a family and be near our own families) but I would love to retire there. I daydream about being in my 60s living in Greenwich or Islington and spending my days visiting museums and galleries, eating out most evenings and absorbing all the hustle and bustle. I love the city.

We used to live in zone 2 - Kensington, v central (5 mins walk from museums and Hyde Park etc) in a pretty big 3 bed flat (though walk up!). We lived there for seven years - second child was 8 months when we moved.

We sold the flat (sale price doubled in the time we had it though we did do a total refurb) and now live in a very large semi detached house in Fulham. I consider us to be very affluent by comparison to most people - we are incredibly lucky. I just had baby number 3 and am constantly thinking how blessed we are.

I love living centrally in London though I do consider what our money would buy out of town. But that would realistically involve me giving up work (am on mat leave), which is a possibility I guess, and would mean my husband saw less of the children (he works in the city and starts at 7:30am ish til 6ish) which would seem to defeat the object somewhat.

Sorry meant we used to live in zone 1. We are now in zone 2.

Re the question how do you manage it - we both work and are paid very well, my husband in particular. And we did well on our flat (which we maxed out on mortgage to buy).

I have a six bed in Islington, zone 2. We extended the basement and put in a kitchen and dining room, making room for two extra bedroom.
We bought it 10 years ago and its value has rocketed insanely.
I've always lived in London, I love that there is so much to do. Dh works in the city and it takes him 20mins to get to the office.

I lived in a house in Vauxhall/Kennington for years until recently.
It isn't the most chic area but I feel that the quality of life was better than the countryside we moved to because of work.
I fully intend to move back at a later date. C london was great. I walked from Covent garden to our old house today and missed it all so much.

We live in a 5 bed house in NW1 and love it, we have a good sized garden (very rare around here) and are within 5 minutes walk of Regents Park and Primrose Hill or Camden. We love it here, 2 of 3 DC's schools are just a few minutes walk from home, there's a real sense of community. Gym, pool, tennis, climbing walls, yoga studio, kids after school sports, every activity you can imagine are on the doorstep, as are numerous supermarkets open til late. Theatres, cinemas, exhibitions all in easy reach. Infinite choice of great, good value restaurants and bars which DH and I get out to at least once a week, often wandering no more than five minutes from home. I regularly cycle on a Boris (now Santander) bike 10 mins though the park to get to Marylebone or West End. Most weekends we spend a few hours in the park, the kids ride their bikes for miles, play in the playground or we walk on Hampstead Heath. Today we jumped on the tube with the kids and went to the Southbank for a Christmassy wander then up to Trafalgar Square/Leicester Square, dinner in Soho. Love being able to do that (or a museum or the zoo) with the DC's for just a few hours, without it being a massive exhausting day trip.

Affluent - yes we undoubtedly are, but in the scheme of things around here, it's easy not to feel as if we are. Lots of houses still houses, incredibly wealthy, often famous owners. DH works with some super rich people (think private jets, Park Lane mansions, Picassos on their walls ..none of them bankers btw ) DS's two closest school friends live near us in houses that must be worth at least £6m and £10m respectively (ours 'only' about £3.5m) Our household income also doesn't match up to others, a few years ago DH sold his business which enabled us to buy the house (which we did a big renovation on) but most of the money made went into it (and it has risen a lot in value since).

We do occasionally think about moving out because that would free up cash, taking pressure off earnings, but tbh we really can't think of anything that would be better except for perhaps the secondary school situation and DH's ability to get out for nice long cycle rides easily. We also have no draw to any particular place, neither of us would go back to our home towns. And as long as work remains in London, any kind of commute really doesn't appeal, nor does starting to build a new friendship group again...

Our rent in zone 2 was double what our mortgage in zone 3 is. We went from a tiny flat with no outside space to a house with an admittedly a tetchy garden.

I love looking at the houses in zone 1 and 2 but no way would l cram a family into a tiny flat just to live in zone 1. Regardless of how close it was to work etc. I'm always amazed to hear when people do. But that's not a dig at other's choice, just purely how l feel.

We live in a 5 bed house in NW1 and love it, we have a good sized garden (very rare around here) and are within 5 minutes walk of Regents Park and Primrose Hill or Camden. We love it here, 2 of 3 DC's schools are just a few minutes walk from home, there's a real sense of community. Gym, pool, tennis, climbing walls, yoga studio, kids after school sports, every activity you can imagine are on the doorstep, as are numerous supermarkets open til late. Theatres, cinemas, exhibitions all in easy reach. Infinite choice of great, good value restaurants and bars which DH and I get out to at least once a week, often wandering no more than five minutes from home. I regularly cycle on a Boris (now Santander) bike 10 mins though the park to get to Marylebone or West End. Most weekends we spend a few hours in the park, the kids ride their bikes for miles, play in the playground or we walk on Hampstead Heath. Today we jumped on the tube with the kids and went to the Southbank for a Christmassy wander then up to Trafalgar Square/Leicester Square, dinner in Soho. Love being able to do that (or a museum or the zoo) with the DC's for just a few hours, without it being a massive exhausting day trip.

Wow! That sounds like the best life ever!

Stay where you are Waitingsanta. You often read posts on MN from people who regret leaving London, you don't want to be one of those!

Your grass is green enough.

I live 15 mins walk from a zone 2 station (Finsbury Park). My house is quite big (4 bedrooms) It's a victorian terrace with a smallish garden and backs on to a railway line so was cheaper than surrounding ones. It was in a terrible state when we bought in 2009 and was only 60k more than the flat we sold. I consider ourselves professionals but not city loaded.we both work in the public sector and I'm part time. Our salaries would be lower outside of London though so I don't consider it a sacrifice. We could afford a grander house somewhere else but I can't see that that would make me happier.

My BIL lives in a 3 bed Georgian house near Waterloo Station. When I first met DH he was renting a room in it, so I spent a lot of time there for the first three years of our relationship. The pros were you could walk to Central London so no commuting costs, everything was on your doorstep, plus it is a gorgeous house. Cons were it has a tiny courtyard garden, plus it backed onto the Bakerloo line train depot, so a bit noisy! It has a lovely roof terrace, but you still feel a bit 'hemmed in'. I don't think I'd want to have kids there. BIL bought it in the late 90s before property prices went through the roof - he's not 'rich' by any means. It makes me sad that that much of London, the city I grew up in (zone 2), is now unaffordable for people like me. Me and DH live in zone 6 .

I know, we are very lucky, I definitely count my blessings. And I'm aware of only one of many friends who has moved out and not regretted it - but she has 4 DC's and was renting a 1.5 bedroom flat for all of them . She stuck it out til the tipping point of dc4 though, she loved it here so much !

I'm from the countryside, would love to live like I did as a child but we are close to London so it's still pretty expensive. I'd love to live in the countryside for 110k but I live in a semi rural town and my house was a lot more than that, however only first house and I'm under 25 so my house in the country will come one day I hope! Though I love my town.

We have a 5 bed house in zone 3 with a garden. We could buy a huge place in the country but this is as far out of town as I am prepared to go!

We are very lucky and I do consider us to be affluent I guess. Benefitted from several years at a US law firm, and some very ridiculous first home increase in price.

Lightbulbon We just don't need a car around here, it's not that we pay so much for our London house that we can't afford to run a car as well - we certainly can. Parking is so much hassle though and congestion slows traffic down so much that I get more freedom using the tube. We use Zipcar (car share club) occasionally for when we do need a car, but it's quite rare.

My sister has a friend who lives in a 5 bedroom terrace in Belgravia. They bought it for 12 million about 5 years ago.

I've lived around the West End for twenty years. I started with a derelict flat in Fitzrovia and did it up. Then upgraded to a derelict (literally) 3 bed house not far from Marble Arch and did that up. I got very lucky with house prices and could not possibly afford to buy even my first flat now let alone my current house on my salary.

I love living here. It's almost pointless having a car - we walk everywhere. Like Waitingsanta we get around easily by bus or on foot and I would hate now to be tied to a car. I actually do have one but could do without. Best things - everything Waitingsanta said. In the summer we strolled to Regents Park to see the Open Air Peter Pan and I thought then how lucky we are. I was brought up in the suburbs and we didn't do much as a family because everything was a slog - in London sort of but actually an hour away from any of the fab things on offer here. The DCs have access to so much more. Plus I have next to no commute.

Bad side - edgy sometimes. Rough sleeping is a big issue and it even affects the DCs school which has become a hub for it. Very small house (an extra bedroom to house an au pair is out of the question round here). Very small garden. Traffic and deliveries all the time.

Ps waitingsanta ....HG?

One of my best friends lives in Hampstead, about five minutes walk from the tube station. The house is on about five levels, and is massive. I can't begin to imagine what it's worth.

This is such an interesting thread! Thanks everybody for sharing my dream is to move to London when the kids have grown and spend my evenings drinking wine in bars and my days going to museums. Sadly I think the prices will be so high by then we won't be able to!

My best friend lives in a big 4 bed in zone 2, close to a tube station and in a lovely area. They afford it because her DH has always been a high earner (something or other in finance), and he got onto the property ladder in London fairly young. She is SAHM. I know the house is worth well above £1m.

For me, she has the perfect life. Does loads of outings with her kids, quick to get to anywhere in London etc. For her, she'd prefer to move out of London to her hometown. All her friends are moving out of London as they cant afford it with kids. She wants to give her own DC a more tlrural/smalltown life. But her DH is reluctant as he'd have a pretty long commute into the city, and loves London life.