To think we could live in London on £55k?

[Londonline1]

DH has been offered a job in London on a salary of around £55k. I'm mainly a SAHM; I do some pt work from home earning around 4k a year or so, but we're about to have baby #2 and I've no idea if I'll get back into it / if the work will have dried up etc.

We currently live in the North East and survive comfortably on an income of around £50k (including my earnings and CB). We have a fairly modest lifestyle and put most of our money into our mortgages which we were hoping to pay off early - we don't do holidays other than to visit family elsewhere in the UK; we live in a small house in a cheap area, and we have a flat we rent out in another city (income from that adds towards paying off the mortgage so it's effectively building up a savings pot but I haven't included that in the £50k above).

My question is whether we could realistically relocate to London with a £55k budget. Would expect to have to downsize and rent. Would prefer not a crazy commute for DH (to Battersea). Don't need to live anywhere fancy, but would like to feel safe and have some green space nearby for kids.

Please feel free to tell me it's ludicrous. I genuinely have no idea.

OP by comparison, I cannot see why this would be an option

it's one thing if you already live in London but this just seems crazy. Of course plenty of families in London manage on this but you have an option to live NE and earn well so by comparison, I'd stick with it.

have you checked rental and travel prices? Do you know London much, in terms of what might be a good area for to live in?

I'm not much of a one for "It will help prospects". All kinds of shit happens in life.

I just wanted to say I’m sorry if we appear to be raining on you’re parade or negative. DH has done well to be offered the job & 55k is a good salary. The problem is that housing is so expensive these days that even a great salary is not really enough. You also can’t rely on whatever you do buy doubling in value a couple of yrs later, those days are gone.

Thanks everyone. Of course we are doing the actual sums etc., and won't make this decision just based on MN comments, but it's really helpful to get a general temperature.

Selling both properties and buying down south isn't something we'd thought to do, actually. I think we probably have around £120k in equity between the two properties so that might well be an option, even if just to buy a shared equity chunk.

Oh and no I don't at all feel people are being negative - it's so helpful to hear all this, and we're very aware that our money stretches much further up here. It's useful to have the recalibration.

OP "I think we probably have around £120k in equity between the two properties so that might well be an option, even if just to buy a shared equity chunk."

sorry, I think that's madness. Have you seen what you would get for your money?

Did you want to live in London in the first place - that would make it totally different. Or is it just this job came up?

Nice places in Purley to rent for far less than people may have suggested above:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-65269432.html

Within a mile of the station, which is a 30 minute commute to Battersea.

I lived on my own for several years in London on a salary of £40k, it was absolutely fine and I went on holiday every year and had money for drinks, meals out etc. 55k would be a squeeze for a family but doable. Just lay off the Bolly and black cabs.

It would be perfectly do-able OP. Take home pay would be just over £3k a month, plus CB and any income you have (will you be eligible for maternity allowance?).
You'll need to do a bit of research into where to live that you are happy with green space and schools if dc1 is approaching that age. And you may be in a 2 bed flat rather than a 3 bed house, but that could be worth the compromise for nicer area.
Assuming you'd plan to keep the house up north and rent it out ( would that cover the mortgage) and not try to buy down south, it would be fine. Would see it as a short-medium term thing. If you like it, you could look into selling both other properties to buy somewhere down south in the longer term but would probably need you to be earning too.
If it's a good career move for your dh there's no reason to think you couldn't do it.

You could do it if you live outside London in a downmarket area, and he commutes, and you work. Look at rent prices and childcare and season ticket costs.
The difference in salary is not enough.

Barbie
I have brought up 2 children in London and I don’t recall it being that grim. A cheap lightweight buggy was easy on the bus and doable on the tube. Lots of free stuff to do. Buses are cheap and DC are free on public transport up to 11.

The main issue I see with the OP is how much are they prepared to scale back their lifestyle. We went through a frugal phase (2 adults 2 young Dc in a 1 bed) but we are now at the comfortable end of the scale. So I have seen both sides of living in London. I would not have wanted to be in the frugal phase long term.

I wouldn't. I did London on £45k by myself and it wasn't good. I made ends meet but I wish I hadn't.

Really? I earn £40k in London and still save.

The other side of it is the distance from family and hence help with childcare. I did all my child raising with no family help. It means you need some babysitting and help occasionally to ever go out or to cover some work time . So more cost. Even teen sitters are not cheap in London

Depends really - belgravia? No.

Far out zones - possible. 55k is doable but In London you’ll realise everything is more expensive. Housing to start. What about school (nursery for kids?) transport fees etc. Would I move for 55k? No.

Depends on the job prospects surely?

We live in London and our income is around 60k (depends on bonuses etc) we have one DC and both work, childcare costs us 10.5 per year (this is topped up to 12.5k) and we have a decent life but money is tight. Our mortgage for a large 2 bed flat with garden in zone 2/3 is £1100 a month, rent would probably be more but then you wouldn't have childcare costs. We have enough money to feed and clothe ourselves and DS and this year we are going on holiday to Spain for a week and Cornwall for a week. We can afford the odd meal out and go for lunch most Saturdays at a local cafe. So I'd say we are comfortable but some months are a struggle. For us it's only until DS starts pre school and then childcare costs will start to drop. Would there be much chance for your DH to earn more in the future and will you plan to go back to work? I'm not sure it would be a great lifestyle long term. Especially if you couldn't buy and build up
equity.To be honest if all my family and friends weren't here we would probably relocate to have a better lifestyle.

I wouldnt give up my 3 bed semi for London life on 55k. I wouldnt get the same outdoor space as i would here in the north.

But im a bit biased. Love London to visit but not to work.

I would be very wary of shared ownership in the current climate.

Don’t do it OP, renting in London is astronomical; everything is more hassle, parking, transport costs etc etc. It’s not a good idea

Forgot to say in terms of living in London with small kids it's great, there is so much on and so many parks and lots of free / affordable things to do. Only thing to look out for is secondary schools, our local primaries are great but secondaries are currently pretty grim, however I think we'll end up moving further out in the long term anyway.

Derelictwreck, all depends on housing costs and how much you’re paying for transport surely?

When dh and I rented in London we were on a joint salary of £75k and had to rent a small flat. I would say you could do it but it would be v uncomfortable.

Also be careful with schools- I'm a teacher and have taught at a couple of London schools- in many boroughs you will be in the catchment for some outstanding ones but also some v shocking ones- this is main reason we moved out of London to buy our house- dh now commutes in my train- we're surrounded by outstanding state schools now and no bad ones at all, and were able to get more property for our money ( spent 370000 on a 3 bed house with a 70000 deposit three years ago, which I think would have been v hard to hard achieve in the nicer parts of London ).

Sounds like it would be a challenge, OP! And even if you were to work more - which lets face it, would probably help - the childcare costs would be a nightmare.

Don’t do it. You will be cramped, everything will cost more and you’ll wonder why you left your nice life for such no benefit.

We left and never looked back.

Oh, and a commute from, say, Essex or Hertfordshire would also be doable.

I love London, but with 2 children that would be tight and I don't think it leaves you much wiggle room for unexpected expenses. Child care is very expensive, and just life in London is expensive.

You'd definitely miss the space you have, and might find life in a flat with two young children more challenging than you think. Most likely your DH would need to commute.

I moved from the NE to London (having come from London originally).

There's lots to do in London for free, although you still have to pay e.g. cost of travel. Lots more than in the NE. So opportunities to enjoy yourselves without spending a bomb are good. And public transport is relatively cheap (compared to how much I still get ripped off when taking buses in Durham and Hartlepool). However, nearly everything else is way more expensive and you would definitely have a much much lower standard of living overall.

It depends what your DH would consider a 'crazy' commute. When I lived in the NE I commuted for a period between Durham and Newcastle. Some of our neighbours only went to Newcastle once a year. If you're going to have any kind of a decent life near London on that money, he will have to suck it up and realise that commutes are longer in the SE. There's lots of places that are about 30 minutes by train from central London, then a journey from the terminal to Battersea. If you went south into Surrey then you could go somewhere on a line that comes into Waterloo (about 30 minutes from Battersea = 1 hour total, not including switching trains & waiting), e.g. Guildford. Similarly, south-east into Kent you could go to somewhere like Sevenoaks, which comes into Charing Cross, and come across to Battersea. Similar journey time. Neither of them are cheap, but they're a lot cheaper than Battersea or anywhere so close to central London. And they're both nice places for children.