I cannot find a single house that I like in London costing less than 700k.

[QuintessentialShadows]

I despair.

It is either me being spoilt, or.....

gah.....

Don't think you're being spoilt, the housing market is just broken.

How do rents compare to the interest component of a mortgage on a house you'd be happy with? I'm not in London, but we rent a house that we couldn't afford to buy.

Good question, Throm

We rent a gorgeous Farrow & Ball-tastic 4 bed, 2 bath house with garden in Zone 2. Lovely tree-lined street, tube very nearby etc.

£2,600 pcm.

Would cost £900,000 to buy

Thomas, I do remember that thread.
We could never afford your rent though, with that amount I am sure you could get a decent mortgage and buy a house like that?
(The online mortgage calculators is something else that gives me a headache at the moment, so I might be wrong....)

We've calculated it every which way, Quint, and we couldn't. £650,000 is as much as we could manage.

Or landlord bought this house for £475,000 just five years ago.

can you imagine how little the first owners of the ex-council houses linked to on this thread will have paid for them under right-to-buy, & how much profit they will have made when they sold them on???

Quint, re-plastering your own house seems like a no-brainer to me - I assume it's rented unfurnished? When tenants move out it will be empty, so hacking off (horrible mucky job) & replastering will be a doddle for the plasterers, & you can easily make sure all is cleaned up & dried out before decorating & moving back in!

I find the tunnel bits at the side to be quite scary actually - I would need to put a secure gate across it. Surely you could get a nice detached little Victorian villa in other parts of SW London for around 5?

Surely you could get a nice detached little Victorian villa in other parts of SW London for around 5?

Spat out my coffee reading this .

No, no you really couldn't. Not even in Stockwell or Peckham or any other of those places where many of your neighbours are "known to the police".

Detached in Brixton £1.5m, easy.

What area are you after?
I will find you one

Well wipe up that coffee - London is expensive but not that ridiculously expensive as some of you are making out - I was thinking of KT2 postcode area for instance. They are called villas though I am not talking about anything palatial - around Gordon Road

nice?

Old friends, family = 250 miles away
Jobs, standard of living, new friends and small mortgage = West Yorkshire.

KT2 - okay, I do see what you mean. I'd call that Surrey I think, but I guess it depends on where you're working and whether you're comfortable having a two stage commute.

I just bought a 3 bed house, front and rear garden, period property in a nice area, near tube and good schools for a lot less than £700k.

Mind you, it is a shit hole.

I'm not sure what the problem is. buy one of the houses and re plaster it?

Ok. Here's a suggestion:

You are renting out your current house at the moment, right? so presume you are paying tax on the rent.

I think I'm right in saying that costs of repair/maintenance can be deducted from tax on rental income.

Could you replaster the house, and deduct the cost of replastering from the tax on the rental income? If so... you have effectively replastered your house for free...

There may be some reason why this wouldn't work (or wouldn't be legal...), but worth considering...

minipie, that is interesting.
Herhonesty, the cost?
Noddyholder, that IS nice, and not far from St Michaels school. However, the garden is small so no room for a garden office for dh, and not enough space at the front for motorbike. Also, no side access for numerous bikes going in and out..... (dont like to take cycles through the house) See, there is ALWAYS something, even with the nicest of houses....

Thomasbodley, SW14 is your friend, if you can stretch to 650..... lucky you!

I understand people have a particular affinity with different areas of London, but it is nonsense that you need to be earning anything like £250k to lead a 'middle class lifestyle' (whatever that means) in London.

All the houses below have a minimum of 3 beds and start under £400k. They are all in a safe neighbourhood with excellent local schools (primary and secondary) excellent transport links, and full of middle class people like me.

garage to convert to office and capacity for huge loft conversion

4 bed

Gorgeous 4 bed house, dubious decor, £475k

4 bed in a lovely pedestrianised 'home zone'

5 bed semi, still less than £600k

even more gorgeous 5 bed, still under £600k

Sorry, the 3rd link should be to this one

gorgeous house 4 bed dubious decor £475k

Thanks for the links Hilary, I agree these are lovely houses. We used to live in Tooting at some point in our very distant past (gosh I am getting old) but I had honestly not considered Streatham. Maybe it is worth considering.

Personally, we loved living close to Richmond park and Wimbledon common, we were cycling there nearly every weekend throughout summer. And would even go for cycle rides there during our lunchbreak. Me and dh work from home. But he has to travel up to Palmers Green occasionally, and to Guildford, and the Docklands quite regularly. (Mostly by either bike or motorbike)

You can't beat Richmond Park, it's true, but Streatham is very well placed between the huge Tooting Common, Streatham Common (admittedly horrible, but it has great routes through to other parks, like Norbury common for long bike rides), Brockwell Park and Dulwich Park. None of which have deer, but there is a big flock of parakeets.

so what is your budget?

Earlsfield?

Or East London?

We used to live not far from there. Fantastic parks with lakes and deer and fountains and playgrounds, lovely canal walks to Canary Wharf - pizza on the waterfront, good shops. It was a good life, even when the kids were small. And it's zone 2. You get into central London in 15 minutes.

Is Isleworth no good? You'd easily get something there and it is v quick to Richmond Park plus reasonably quick to get to Palmers Green.

You know what I think Quinty.

That you should come SE rather than SW.

We would take you under our wing .