To ask how you afford to live in London?

[seekinglondonlife]

Name changed regular as my family are on MN and I don't want my posting history linked.
We decided to do Christmas in London this year, we've had a crap year and just wanted to get away. We're staying in a fairly central hotel, have been travelling around and exploring by bus everyday and I feel like I really want to move here. The diversity, having shops open on a Sunday past 5pm, the atmosphere, the ability to choose 5 or 6 different ethnic restaurants on the same street. The public transport is fantastic.

I've been looking in so many estate agents windows and cannot get over the cost of rent/to buy a property. How do 'normal' people live here? I've been friendly with a few of the hotel staff, they've lived and worked in London for 20+ years and have raised their families here, but they are on NMW jobs, so how do they do it? Does everyone get housing benefit?

If you feel inclined please say roughly where you live and how much you pay for rent/mortgage. Also what are the downsides? (Apart from the cost of housing!)

TIA

@Goldenbear we hardly noticed the overnight visitors. They would generally come in late, and stay in DD’s room - she had a folding bed and a blow up double mattress plus sleeping bags and spare duvets, then all go out to a local cafe the next morning for breakfast and would go home from there. We did have her Russian room mate (I was her guardian) with us for two weeks, when DD1 was in France, but she was no trouble!

[quote JustUseTheDoorSanta]**@EnidSpyton* - Saying "preference" is silly, everyone has different preferences for city / village / beach / etc, but you've said several times that you don't see the value* in paying to live in those areas. Value is a judgement. I was explaining that there are reasons why people want to live in some of those areas, that are related to being near the centre of London but are also about the areas themselves, because clearly you didn't know what people who lived there valued or you wouldn't question it. I'm not sure what's so tricky to understand.[/quote]
I really don't understand what your problem is. You're picking a totally pointless argument with me.

No, personally I don't see any value in living in a suburb where housing costs are elevated due to proximity to London while the distance to central London is still substantially far away to be a relatively long and costly journey.

This is because for me, I value being able to walk out of my front door and be in central London within 15 minutes. I don't want to live in a suburb that's its own separate town with its own separate amenities and a train journey away from central London. Obviously I appreciate not everyone feels the same way, and that other people may value different things according to their life circumstances. I am perfectly able to imagine what people find to value in the suburbs. As I have already said, I spent 18 years living in one. Just because I don't see any value in suburban living doesn't mean I don't understand why other people do. There are people who love the suburb where I grew up because it's got lots of lovely green spaces and great schools. I don't have kids, so great schools are irrelevant to me and my life, and I'm not a massively outdoorsy person, so access to green space isn't a priority for me. However, I totally get why people with kids who are outdoorsy find value in living in this suburb in and of itself outside of its connection to London.

Why you're taking such personal offence to this I really don't understand. Just because I don't see the value in living somewhere, it doesn't mean I'm denigrating your decision to do so or devaluing your life choices.

@HideRanger

The diversity has become a bit of a cliche about London, because it’s not economically diverse at all. The guy who makes your bacon paratha at Dishoom would not be able to afford to eat it at menu cost.

Where the diversity matters is that even the really rich have a pretty good insight into what it’s like to be really poor, because it’s in your face every day. You probably don’t have that experience insulated in your Range Rover in Oxfordshire or Cheshire.

No, but there are still plenty of places still to get paratha for a few pence in London - and I don’t just mean the outer zones.

@EnidSpyton - I explained things you weren't clear about, because you were clear that you perceived no value. I don't know why you're assuming that those few seconds of my time equates to "taking personal offence", perhaps you should get out more.

@JustUseTheDoorSanta You protest far too much 😁

@Therealrealitystar that's interesting, what part of Z4? I'm in Z3 close to Z2 with the tube, train & lots of buses & i generally allow 40 mins to get to where I need to be in town. Surely 30 mins from home to sitting down in restaurant is quite unusual?

from z4 I mean.

[quote wallypopz]@Therealrealitystar that's interesting, what part of Z4? I'm in Z3 close to Z2 with the tube, train & lots of buses & i generally allow 40 mins to get to where I need to be in town. Surely 30 mins from home to sitting down in restaurant is quite unusual? [/quote]
Nope.

There are places in Zone 4 and Zone 6 where you can get into central London much quicker than if you are in Zone 2 or 3 and on the tube.

Like where there? I know there are places in z4 with very fast commutes into certain parts of London, eg Wembley to Euston but I can't think of any so quick into Chinatown?

though not there

And can't think of any from Z6?

Harrow and Wealdstone is z6 and roughly 13 mins to Euston.

But you would still need to get to the station & make sure you don't miss the fast train & get from Euston to Chinatown?

it's fair to say that near enough no non-professionals without family money or some other source of wealth have got on the London housing ladder (100% ownership, outermost/worst suburbs excluded) within the last decade or so. whether this is sustainable or not, I've no idea.

@Bingbangbongbash please tell me where I can get this cheap paratha

@wallypopz

And can't think of any from Z6?

On my side of London, 15 min from surbiton to Waterloo. Not sure what zone Surbiton is in though.

For me the fastest train is 20 min to Waterloo, Zone 4.

@puffyisgood it is sustainable as long as we keep getting new arrivals in London with either family money or the skills to get highly paid jobs (from within the UK or abroad) to replace the people who leave for family and other reasons.

I arrived in 2011 as a 19 year old so 10 years ago! Am still here. My friends who did stay in London post university (fairly international crowd) have not left.

Surbiton is Zone 6.

It’s a very quick train to Waterloo (15 mins).

A slightly slower train would get you to Clapham Junction then a quick train to Victoria (30 mins)

However Surbiton is significantly more expensive then several places in nearer zones.

Z4 — 30 minutes into Soho-
This is definitely doable from Wimbledon or Richmond on train and a quick change at Waterloo for underground

I was referencing door to door journeys not just the time spent on the tube or train though. My station has trains to Victoria that are 12 mins & the tube to Liverpool street is 20 minutes, my journeys take longer than that because I don't live on the platform & I need to leave the stations to get to my destinations.

I know because I often did it in the past

Wimbledon is Z3

I know because I grew up there

Richmond trains to Waterloo take around 20 mins & changing at waterloo & walking to Dean Street at least 10 mins. But that doesn't allow getting to the Richmond status.