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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

183 replies

manicinsomniac · 19/12/2015 18:52

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! Grin

OP posts:
Tamponlady · 21/12/2015 21:47

Long time

I lived in outer London and I can tell it's quicker for me to get to inner London from Bedfordshire than it was from west London

It was a nightmare there would either be a strike, works going on or leaves on the line you can't get from outer London to inner in less than 1 hour in rush hour can't be done

Yes I am sure it's lovely to live in London if yu own your own home try living in a council house you won't be calling it a Des res lol mine was a shit hole and I was threatened with legal action if I tried to sort my own home out can't pay for my wall to be plastered had to wait 4 years with crumbling was for the council to do it gave up on carpets ruined

London schools are good and some are awful if you have the money to live in a brilliant catchment area then it's lo good live in a council home were you have not had the choice then not so fab

longtimelurker101 · 21/12/2015 22:01

You can get from outer London to inner in rush hour easily. I know plenty of people that commute from zone 6 or so and can be in town within an hour. Friends of mine live in Harrow, Pinner etc and commute to the city within 40 mins, friends in Enfield can be in Liverpool St in 28 minutes blah blah.

Going across, as I do, is different, its harder and there are more connections to get.

I empathise with the problems with the council housing, its tough it really is, but there are tens of thousands on the list who would kill for it.

loooopo · 21/12/2015 22:09

LHReturns - I agree with you - either right in the centre - or out in the sticks (semi rural at least) I was brought up in NW London suburbs - dreary and congested - tube took 35 mins to chug in to central London - whereas like Tamponlady says you can live much further out but if on a good rail link be in much quicker to get in - 18 minutes from our rural idyll .... which is half the time even though double the distance as journey from the suburb in which I grew up.

HowBadIsThisPlease · 21/12/2015 22:10

Yep I live in Herts now and my train to kings x is about half an hour. It's hardly ever delayed and I always get a seat, so that's valuable time to me that I can use for something. When I lived in zone 3 I spent a good hour a day crammed onto sweaty tubes and trains, standing, sometimes not even with room to stand properly with locked knees, so half crouching, for ages

I lived for years in zone 2 (barely, only just out of zone 1) and the great thing was that every time there was a tube strike or something (often - transport is always going tits up in one way or another) you could just walk home. the reality of within-london transport is that if you have to travel on it for any distance or length of time, it is bloody miserable; not just dead time but actively mentally and physically unhealthy. If you can bike or walk, London is great; there are some decent bus routes now, since Ken and the bus lanes and the congestion charges. but in general, if you can't live centrally, far better to move out and swap a nasty commute for an enjoyable one.

It always seems funny to me when I tell people where I work, which is about a mile and a half away from Kings X, and some of them say "oh that's alright, you can just get the northern line - " and I think they are mental. It costs £123 a month for the misery of the zone 1 tube and it is slower and nastier than walking or a bike. The whole point of arriving all fresh from my calm train seat at Kings X is that from then on I can behave like a rich central londoner - walk or bike all the way - hop on the occasional bus for 10 mins if it is really pissing down - the odd taxi for decadence, not too dear though as not too far.

loooopo · 21/12/2015 22:17

longtime - that is grim suburb in which I grew up and Howbadis that is exactly my experience - clean, seated, civilised 18 mins overland train to central then walk, or bike or bus the rest - would never get on the tube.

longtimelurker101 · 21/12/2015 22:24

Which one? Harrow and Enfield are quite alright these days! They're never going to be Chelsea but gosh, they are now where near what my beloved Kilburn was like when we bought here.

I'd live in either of them, if I was back in the position I was when I moved here, you know not able to afford all the in high demand places.

DancingDuck · 21/12/2015 22:40

looopo I'm intrigued where you can be in a rural idyll that is only 18 mins from central London by train. We are 35 mins away and think that good going. It takes DH less time to get into work than when we lived in zone 2. We go into London all the time. About once a week, more in school holidays. But we wake up to clean air, wild deer, fields and woods. I'd move back to the city like a shot but DH wouldn't so a short commute seems the best of both worlds.

whois · 21/12/2015 22:47

I'm intrigued where you can be in a rural idyll that is only 18 mins from central London by train.

Me too! My best guess is currently Watford and I don't remember that being very rural.

longtimelurker101 · 21/12/2015 22:51

Dancingduck, i think people tell all sorts of fibs on mumsnet, there are posters all over this site that say they live x commute away, or who live in large houses worth millions in "in demand" areas, which have been in demand areas for years, whislt maintaining properties in other areas which are also probably worth millions, but independent of family wealth and having only been out of uni 20 years.

Improbable all of it.

whois · 21/12/2015 22:55

I live in a zone 1flat, but there are only 2 of us so don't really need a house.

Love it. I bike to work. Live walking distance from many friends. Live in the middle of loads of nice restaurants/bars/pubs etc. Culture right on the doorstep. Never short of anything to do.

The only negative I can see is that I don't own the flat so we'll probably be priced out as some point as the area is getting nicer and nice with every month.

I don't feel rich but on paper I suppose I am - approx £90k last year for me.

We sacrifice having a second bedroom to live in this location - and right now I wouldn't change that choice. Probably be different with a baby I imagine.

whois · 21/12/2015 22:58

Improbable all of it.

Re the poster who owns lots of houses? I dunno... If you as a couple were both exceptional and did well In banking you could both be clearing a million a year 12 years after uni. It wouldn't take too many of the big bonus years to get deposits down on houses and banks used to lend against your bonus numbers not just base salary.

longtimelurker101 · 21/12/2015 23:05

Hmm... but you still wouldn't be maintaining properties in other areas whilst paying a big mortgage would you? As they sadi they had, the area they discussed they are looking at 3 million at least for a large house, and even low interest rates don't stop the hurt on big mortgages.

If you were super lucky and got the base rate on £1 millon then you'd still be paying 50k a year in interest.

Anyyyway, improbable I reckon.

LHReturns · 21/12/2015 23:13

To clarify: My DP is an investment banker, and I make a very good salary too. I actually played down our position. This sort of money in your 40s is not uncommon in our part of London.

Neither of us have mortgages on our separate properties, he has a mortgage on our country property, and we have a joint mortgage on our London property. The combined value of all the properties would be upwards of £12m.

I was answering the OPs genuine interested question, in no way trying to show off, or to be 'improbable'.

LHReturns · 21/12/2015 23:17

Whois is entirely correct. My DP was earning more than £3m a year (bonuses) at least a decade ago. He gave 50% to his ex-wife five years ago, and we are still in the current position.

OP I'm sorry to derail, but it is irritating to be accused of fibbing in such a naive manner.

Machine123 · 21/12/2015 23:18

My DH and I lived in a tiny two bedroom cottage in Chelsea for two years before we had children 3 years ago). Our narrow road consisted of small cottages in different pastel shades, really pretty looking, I really miss it and loved living there. Didn't feel like you were in London at all despite the Kings road being just a two minute walk away. Having your own front door off the road was great. While there was no garden we did have a little terrace off one of the bedrooms. We were very lucky to have been able to rent it 'cheap' when the landlord accepted our super cheeky offer.

When I fell pregnant we panicked and moved out to a bigger flat because baby would have had zero space to crawl around when the time came. The house was just a long narrow living space with a galley kitchen at the back and a tiny cloakroom under the stairs. The sofas and dining room practically ate up all the space. The upstairs was made up of two tiny bedrooms and a bathroom. I can't imagine where I would have put all the baby stuff and toys!

loooopo · 21/12/2015 23:18

Longterm - was brought up in Harrow - Wealdstone to be precise - still dreary and congested IMHO. Live in South Bucks now (near Gerrards Cross)

LHReturns · 21/12/2015 23:20

Machine123 I know exactly the streets you are referring to in Chelsea and they are simply perfect!! My dream homes in their bijoux perfection!

ohYestoYestyn · 21/12/2015 23:22

longterm, but they most probably rent the two other properties out - the rent in Chelsea is horrendously high now! If that building has no lift, service charges can be quite low.

LHReturns · 21/12/2015 23:23

Yes, we rent the other two properties out.

Machine123 · 21/12/2015 23:24

LHReturns, I still walk past our old house and wish we could have bought something on that road back in the day and extend it out/ basement it up! Only 3 years ago the properties were sub £1m. Today they are closer to £3m Shock

longtimelurker101 · 21/12/2015 23:27

Ah but people in their 40s without a bit of family money living in Chelsea and Pimlico are a rarity. Is all I'm saying. As are the people who talk of the loely rural idl, with ace schools and great quick links to London, yet at super duper cheap prices.

Sorry, but I don't think that its "naive" manner to question statements like that, I think it helps to bring some reality.

Also, just to burst your bubble, MY properties (two) have a combined current value of about £7 million, but we own them outright, just how much cash are you haemorrhaging a month on interest payments when you have asetts to use instead?

loooopo · 21/12/2015 23:27

I am not fibbing either - and have no family money (proof - look where I was dragged up....!) - but we were very lucky to be able buy our first property in the 1990's - with two goodish graduate salaries (not city money levels).

LHReturns · 21/12/2015 23:31

Machine123 oh indeed. They are just so characterful, with their shutters, and a short stroll to the Builders Arms. Kings Road perfection....and because these houses are small, they remind me of a lovely life pre-baby when I had time to do....anything.

Unbelievable money for such little places.

ohYestoYestyn · 21/12/2015 23:32

Machine, is that the sweet side street off hte block where Waterstones is (near Chelsea Green) - I love walking through it when i have a chance though I always wonder if the little houses are a bit dark inside. My dream home is in one of the garden squares though - I love looking out over some mature trees yet being near King's rd.
But I think I'd prefer to have a maisonette/flat there and a house in the country (neither would be huge as too stressful to maintain).

longtimelurker101 · 21/12/2015 23:32

Harrow Weald isn't bad now it has the overground and you can jump off and change to Bakerloo further down the line.

DS bought in Enfield recently and although I think he misses the convinience of Kilburn he certainly prefers the fact that he isn't spending all of his money on rents. A fairly decent one bed will be over £1,500 a month here!