I hate you Northerners.

Ukevas

but the one thing i dont get is that.

you get paid more for working in London because it costs more to live. this in turn will push prices higher, which in turn leads to higher london weighting which inturn will push the prices higher again.... and so the trend go's on and on...??

I to could move to London with the job i do and get the extra £5000 per year but they can keep it if you ask me

Mr_Matey

For my line of work the place to be is in London, and It'd be harder to find a job up north & would probably pay less.

Relocating consultancies etc... why go North, why not go to say, Spain? The land/houses are much cheaper and you could commute to London in an hour or two. Plus the weather's a lot nicer. :j

People need to live close to their jobs, most of the jobs are in London so that's why property's expensive.

Jobs that have London allowances and don't pay much more are another matter, but isn't this why the government introduced the key-worker thing for buying property? Perhaps it's not working too well...?

LittleMissRolo

caveman38 wrote: »

I don't really, I just wanted to get your attention. I don't think you realise how fortunate you are.
All my working life the only benefit I have seen for living in the London suburbs - apart from the weather - is £4K in London Weighting.
The downside is overpricing on everything from the price of beer, household shopping and especially house prices.
I have just read with envy of the lady whose daughter is milling over whether to offer £80K for a 3 bed bungalow in Huddersfield. I couldn't even get a 2 bed terrace for £200K even now.
I have 2 sons who have saved for years to get on the housing ladder and are at last seeing the oppurtunity arise hopefully next year. With what they need to put down as a deposit they could together buy that bungalow.
I am as I say extremely mesmerised by how we arrive at these ridiculous prices in London. No wonder when I go on holiday people from the S of England only make up 10% of the tourists as we are all b****y tied down with massive mortgages.
Can you guys up country give your slant on our house prices. Do you think we are unfortunate or feel no sympathy as one day we will realise the property value - wel my kids will.
I would much prefer 3 holdays a year and beer at £2 a pint. Can I come up there - is it really cold?

IMO all people are paying for living in London is that they can say just that - i live in London. Not saying thats your choice, that's just how i see it.

It's laughable really that a house costing £80k in the north of England is about the same price as a studio flat down south you couldnt swing a cat in.

Move up north. We're friendlier, you're less likely to be knifed or gunned down and it's only a little colder. You can pop down to Nodnol on the weekends if needs be and if you're missing city life move to Manchester city centre. You'll be able to afford nice holidays and if you sold your house darrrrnnnnnnnn saarrrrfffffff you could probably buy a house up north with the £ you've made on the sale

BARGAINHUNTER!

HelpWhereIcan wrote: »

I have often wondered why more people in the service industries don't base themselves at home up North like one Consultant type I know.

He works from home most of the time, but travels to London for a few days a month to hold meetings with clients and collegues.

One IFA from here lives and works in Spain but comes back to the UK for a week a month to hold meetings.

Modern telecommunications technology surely has a better use than bickering in type with strangers you will never meet.

With more and more people being able to work from home due to increased technology, it would be easier for them to relocate to a cheaper park of the country. As long as they base themselves not too far away from transport links in case they need to attend meetings etc it is by far the most sensible thing to do

meester

caveman38 wrote: »

I know that is a bit of an exageration. I worked for BT all my life and if I had to pay for the mortgage on a northern property, I would have had so much more expendable income and more holidays, social life etc.

True.

But as a previous poster pointed out, the opportunities are much better at the top end. As a computer programmer, I can make >£100k in London fairly easily, but half of that elsewhere. So despite an extra £750/month on my rent, I can afford five foreign holidays a year, whereas otherwise I couldn't.

If you're on a middling income, like teaching, it's not worth it, especially as the London kids are more likely to attack you.

Davesnave

I spent my first 8 years in London, before the Cold War and the Bomb sent my family scurrying to the Westcountry. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. However, because I'm a slow learner, I tried on my own account, from age 18 to 20. It was huge fun, but so oppressive. I used to take rides on the Metropolitan Line after work, just to see a few fields!

Proper swede-basher, I be!

SingleSue

All through my school life I had been planning to move to my maternal grandmothers house in Walthamstow and get a job there...then I met hubby.

We did at one point almost move up north when property prices down here had escalated to a point where I thought they were silly and I could have done a transfer from my office here to one in Manchester or Liverpool where house prices were a third if not less of the prices here.

It never happened though and we ended up buying a house after the prices had reduced and we thought the bottom had been reached...oh how wrong were we :mad:

HelpWhereIcan

meester wrote: »

As a computer programmer, I can make >£100k in London fairly easily, but half of that elsewhere.

I certainly don't doubt what you say, but is your industry not one in which you could work remotely most of the time?

Surely only the least enlightened of employers would want you to be in the office simply for the sake of being in the office.

Why not get the best of both worlds? At the cutting edge of IT technology you and your firm must be able to make it happen.

Davesnave

As a computer programmer, I can make >£100k in London fairly easily, but half of that elsewhere.

I'd rather have £50k and an environment where I didn't feel the need to get away so much, but that's just personal preference. Mind you, £50k pa would be nice, full stop, since we live on less than half of that!

jamescredmond

I, too, lived in london (hampstead) in the mid-80's and among the literati.
the flat was subsidised by OH's co. - which was just as well when rents for a 1bd hovered around £600 pm (I think).

after a yr. I was glad to leave. even allowing for the heath, I still felt hemmed in.

the s.midlands isn't perfect but it'll do.