This isn't meant to upset anyone but WHY do people live in London? I really don't get it when its so expensive.

[fishnet]

Obviously those who earn trillions of pounds in the city can afford it but why does ordinary Joe bother. Surely the salaries aren't that much higher that it compensates for property prices? Or am I wrong?

SIL is pregnant and needs to move from a one bed rented flat in central London. They are looking at two bed semis for about half a million pounds. Up here you could get a large five bed for that. I really don't get it. How do people manage?

I don't know and I ask myself that regularly, I think it is in some way addictive!

BIWI I'm wondering where you are Earlsfield was my guess
redcardi I'm at how much money some of your friends must be earning I'm assuming they're not investment bankers
Schooling and house prices are real issues for us, national pay scales are extremely unhelpful for London house prices!

SOme of the city is beautiful though epecially when it is quiet

I love love LOVE London

[very homesick emoticon]

Not quite, 1d - Merton Park.

we live in london and i agree the cost of living is very high. DH and I both work in the city so we are v lucky - we can't really do what we do outside of london and i really don't like the thought of commuting-- i.e. i don't have enough time to see the DCs as it is. this way, i am 25 mins from work (door to door - in heels, 20 mins in flats
lots and lots of facilities for the kids who are still young (4 and 2) - natural history museum, science museum, transport museum, lot of lovely parks, etc etc.
one day i suspect we will move out, but only when one of us decides to give up work. i do love it here.

1dilemma, his cousin & wife are both hospital consultants so good salary but I know their mortgage is over 4k a month because DH is house/property obsessed and we always end up talking about it when we see them. The couple close to us who paid 850k, I don't know what their mortgage is but she's a SAHM and he's an accountant. I do know they've moved a lot and done up a lot of properties so maybe made good money that way. As for DH's best man in Bristol, well it's a beautiful area but they can only afford a 2bed flat there so I guess that speaks for itself!

I live in Greater London, a 20 minute train journey from Victoria and you can still buy a four bedroom family home for under £350K round here.

Schools are shite.

Lots of crime.

Fly tipping etc.

But I've got a 24 hour Tesco superstore five minutes walk away. Hurray!

Plus my area is nicknamed 'Little Lagos'... so for people like me who can't afford to travel, you can regularly experience the sights and sounds (and smells) of 'abroad' without having to reach for your passport.

You can afford London if you know where to look, ironically I'm finding out-of-London prices quite high.
I have been living in E17 (like the boy band) and it's a nice place where houses are still reasonable (two bed Victorian houses for 250k and the prices are still falling).
Obviously SIL is looking in very expensive areas. It doesn't make sense to spend so much. We are (not for long) 18-20 mins from central London with the tube and the prices seem half what she is considering.

FISHNET

Your sil can buy a 3 bed family home in SW15, in the Dover House Conservation Area. Easy reach to Wimbledon, Putney Rail stations, central London, Kensington, Richmond...

Delightful Family Home For under £400,000

More of the same in Roehampton.

These are family homes, not glass and marble "show-room" flats, though.

why am i in London?
because i was born here, so was dh.
my parents are 20mins away in surrey
we live in SW london - bushy park, richmond park, fantastic schools (richmond borough) shops that stay open late, can walk to both Twickenham or Teddington highstreet, or Richmond or Kingston if feeling energetic. trains, buses all great. jobs-a-plenty, friends & family all around, why would i leave?

but i was lucky to buy my first flat in 96, dh bought in 2000, so by selling both we now have a nice 4 bed semi with garden. fairly big mortgage (nearly 4x dh salary) but we are managing ok.