Is London property as expensive as some think?
Discussion
Richmond remains very pleasant IMO. I'd take a place up on the hill there and that would do me fine.
Chap on previous page was right about rail cards, I work just over the river from Waterloo, I get the 8.19 train from Surbiton (when I don't cycle) I am at Waterloo by 8.36, and at desk by 8.50. £2000 a year for that 16 mins on the train.
Chap on previous page was right about rail cards, I work just over the river from Waterloo, I get the 8.19 train from Surbiton (when I don't cycle) I am at Waterloo by 8.36, and at desk by 8.50. £2000 a year for that 16 mins on the train.
Maxf said:
Maybe. But my 1 bed flat had a queue of first time buyers for it. I very much doubt you're priced out of zones 2/3, unless you have unrealistic expectations.
It's not so much unrealistic expectations, more a decision on how much debt to take on and what we get for our money.Atmospheric said:
Consider this. I live near Aylesford, Kent and I can get to St Pancras in 55 minutes.
Yes it's far further out that this thread may be talking about - but it's not that far. I can be in the city in 1hr 10minutes. Can drive to Ebbsfleet and be there slightly quicker and the return journey even more so. I have excellent A2 (hateful, hateful road but useful), M20 (good for extended Schnell), M26 access to Gatwick etc. Beats being crammed up on a train more central. However, don't think they aren't building vast swarths of houses here too. London is growing.
Property is cheaper, much so. Nice houses, plenty of space, MILFs,(did I just write that) space...and I am a Londoner through and through.
People moan about the time commuting, but as I see it, its a 30 minimum to travel from anywhere in zone 2-3 to zone 1 anyway.
TFL planner gives 1.20 ish Aylesford to Bank/Liverpool Street. Add in a walk/bus and that is then 2 hours ish door to door at a cost of £4k+ a year season ticket (which will rise every year too).Yes it's far further out that this thread may be talking about - but it's not that far. I can be in the city in 1hr 10minutes. Can drive to Ebbsfleet and be there slightly quicker and the return journey even more so. I have excellent A2 (hateful, hateful road but useful), M20 (good for extended Schnell), M26 access to Gatwick etc. Beats being crammed up on a train more central. However, don't think they aren't building vast swarths of houses here too. London is growing.
Property is cheaper, much so. Nice houses, plenty of space, MILFs,(did I just write that) space...and I am a Londoner through and through.
People moan about the time commuting, but as I see it, its a 30 minimum to travel from anywhere in zone 2-3 to zone 1 anyway.
jonah35 said:
Russians are buying even more now
No, they are not!! On the contrary.http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article43018...
["]Mr Hannah, who has advised Russian families on £180 million worth of London property deals in the past two years, added: “Transactions to Russians in this market are approaching 70 per cent down in the last 12 months, with no signs of improving soon.”
David Adams, of John Taylor London,which specialises in luxury property, said: “The number of Russians buying property in London has diminished, as expected, with the fall of the rouble because people just cannot see the value in paying 40 per cent more for a property they could have got for less, before the rouble fell.” He said that Russian homebuyers “have disappeared from all of Europe”."
Problem with commuting from well outside London is the lack of options if something goes wrong. Currently I can drive, use the train, get a bus, get on the tube, cycle or even walk to work (and I have, many times, about 6 miles). I'm freelance so no show means no dough.
The other day I worked up in Wigan and had to be in Stratford, East London for 2pm the next day. I was marveling at the fact that it would only take me 3 hours to cover the 200 miles to work as opposed to the 1.75 hours it would take to do the 14 miles from my house to the same destination.
That is until I got to the station. Train was 50 minutes delayed so I was stuck. No alternative and now late for the 2nd time in 24 years.
Train eventually arrived over an hour late and then crawled back down south to make me even later. Stupid me to rely on it really and maybe I should have tried the far earlier train.
Extreme example, but I have plenty of mates who boast of 50 mins on train to London but neglect to mention the times when the trains were late or cancelled as well as having to drive to and from the station car park as they don't actually live in the station itself
The other day I worked up in Wigan and had to be in Stratford, East London for 2pm the next day. I was marveling at the fact that it would only take me 3 hours to cover the 200 miles to work as opposed to the 1.75 hours it would take to do the 14 miles from my house to the same destination.
That is until I got to the station. Train was 50 minutes delayed so I was stuck. No alternative and now late for the 2nd time in 24 years.
Train eventually arrived over an hour late and then crawled back down south to make me even later. Stupid me to rely on it really and maybe I should have tried the far earlier train.
Extreme example, but I have plenty of mates who boast of 50 mins on train to London but neglect to mention the times when the trains were late or cancelled as well as having to drive to and from the station car park as they don't actually live in the station itself
Mobile Chicane said:
Spot on.
Coupled with a huge over-supply of doe-eyed hopefuls clutching marketing degrees.
In 'my day' graduate Account Executives in London started on £14k. 20 years later, they still do.
That's if they're even lucky enough to get a job, rather than an unpaid internship.
I think it's £17k at the group m behemoths now Coupled with a huge over-supply of doe-eyed hopefuls clutching marketing degrees.
In 'my day' graduate Account Executives in London started on £14k. 20 years later, they still do.
That's if they're even lucky enough to get a job, rather than an unpaid internship.
croyde said:
Extreme example, but I have plenty of mates who boast of 50 mins on train to London but neglect to mention the times when the trains were late or cancelled as well as having to drive to and from the station car park as they don't actually live in the station itself
I commuted from Hove to London for a year or so, the train was rarely late to Southern Rails credit. a comfortable hours ride into London Victoria or London Bridge.Couple of bad delays on the way home, but that was about all. Just have to have contingencies in place, many of us can work from home if necessary.
commuting from Beds or Herts is very feasible.
I used to train in to St. P from South Beds a few years ago .. 21 minutes non-stop rail service - then 5-10 mins to Oxford Circus .. could leave home at 8 am, and be at my desk in Soho at 8.45 ..very easy .. also did the commute into Farringdon / Barbican for a few years .. about 45-50 mins door to door ( train journey about 35 mins).
my colleagues who lived in trendy Clapham, Kingston, Hampton, and East Molesey or leafier bits of SE London would take MUCH longer to get to work .. though I accept Hampton Court is fractionally nicer than Luton
St Albans is another great place to commute from - around 20 mins or less to Farringdon / Kings X.. nice place and cheaper than London.
Harpenden also good...takes a bit longer than St Albs or Luton as Midland Mainline last stop is Luton.
I used to train in to St. P from South Beds a few years ago .. 21 minutes non-stop rail service - then 5-10 mins to Oxford Circus .. could leave home at 8 am, and be at my desk in Soho at 8.45 ..very easy .. also did the commute into Farringdon / Barbican for a few years .. about 45-50 mins door to door ( train journey about 35 mins).
my colleagues who lived in trendy Clapham, Kingston, Hampton, and East Molesey or leafier bits of SE London would take MUCH longer to get to work .. though I accept Hampton Court is fractionally nicer than Luton
St Albans is another great place to commute from - around 20 mins or less to Farringdon / Kings X.. nice place and cheaper than London.
Harpenden also good...takes a bit longer than St Albs or Luton as Midland Mainline last stop is Luton.
The comments made in a recent TV news item concerning the subject seem to confirm that as throughout history people don't move out from London because it is cheaper.The fact is London is a type of slash and burn development scam in which the inner areas are turned into overdeveloped urban sprawls which people then want to get out of in a way which loses as little value as possible by talking up the 'advantages' of living in an inner city environment while in reality wanting to get out of the hell they've created for themselves ASAP.Then the whole process starts all over again.To the point now where people are calling the M25 London's border and 'saying' that they want to move out to Esher etc because it is supposedly cheaper than living in actual Greater London.
The easy way to see to see through the lie is is by asking the question why is Surrey seen as being supposedly 'cheaper' than London and therefore a better place to move to when the fact is just up the road in what is actually 'London' in Surbiton,Kingston,and Chessington is actually often now cheaper,or at least less in demand,on a like with like comparison.
When the truth is,just like throughout history,Londoners have turned their own place into an urban over developed sprawl where they no longer want to live and as usual now want to move further out into the surrounding counties because the quality of life in their own areas has been made untenable by their own urban demands and resulting over development.Then when those demands have turned those areas of the surrounding counties,into yet more of London's urban sprawl, the whole process will start again until Sussex becomes part of 'Greater London' and the the rolling development scam is stopped by the Channel.
The easy way to see to see through the lie is is by asking the question why is Surrey seen as being supposedly 'cheaper' than London and therefore a better place to move to when the fact is just up the road in what is actually 'London' in Surbiton,Kingston,and Chessington is actually often now cheaper,or at least less in demand,on a like with like comparison.
When the truth is,just like throughout history,Londoners have turned their own place into an urban over developed sprawl where they no longer want to live and as usual now want to move further out into the surrounding counties because the quality of life in their own areas has been made untenable by their own urban demands and resulting over development.Then when those demands have turned those areas of the surrounding counties,into yet more of London's urban sprawl, the whole process will start again until Sussex becomes part of 'Greater London' and the the rolling development scam is stopped by the Channel.
Edited by XJ Flyer on Tuesday 30th December 04:50
okgo said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Spot on.
Coupled with a huge over-supply of doe-eyed hopefuls clutching marketing degrees.
In 'my day' graduate Account Executives in London started on £14k. 20 years later, they still do.
That's if they're even lucky enough to get a job, rather than an unpaid internship.
I think it's £17k at the group m behemoths now Coupled with a huge over-supply of doe-eyed hopefuls clutching marketing degrees.
In 'my day' graduate Account Executives in London started on £14k. 20 years later, they still do.
That's if they're even lucky enough to get a job, rather than an unpaid internship.
Redlake27 said:
Why go to London? There's plenty of creative agencies in Birmingham,Manchester and Leeds that pay the same salary......In places where you can get a property for a third of the price as London
I don't work on that side of the business (it doesn't pay enough), but I doubt there is much appeal for would be Don Draper creative types working in Brimingham vs Soho... The lunch choices are not up to scratch either 
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