What Quarter of a Million gets you in London

lostinrates

BillJones wrote: »

I keep checking property prices back home in Newcastle, and it's hard to find a house as expensive up there as a good flat in London is.

One area that seems to be selling for close to London prices, though, are the new flats around the Quayside. They are offered at prices up to £1m, for what look to be not particularly spectacular homes.

I just checked rightmove for these.

I know of another area in Newcastle ( somewhere I 'v not been and don't pretend to know) , also flats selling at very high prices, but aren't any there ATM. The only reason I know is because one in the block was empty as a result of a death in family and family were all trying to decide what way forward was with it and asking dh's opinion.

DH, rightly, said he hadn't a clue. But I was surprised, I admit, at the prices some of these apartments were commanding.

BillJones

chucknorris wrote: »

My parents now live in Bedlington (it's cheap as it is an ex mining town) but if I moved back up there I think Morpeth would be the place that I started looking or a rural coastal area. But I can't see myself putting up with those winters, I like outdoor activities, although we do plan to winter in Spain/Algarve eventually so I suppose it isn't impossible that we could do it from the North East.

My hope is to have a home in South Northumberland, and another near the Pyrenees, and to spend more of the Summer months up North.

I am, however, gambling by stating in London for the next few years. I'm gambling that my home here will outperform homes outside, gambling that I will still have plenty of years left to enjoy the life after, and gambling that I won't regret having wasted too many years in an office, if I decide later that there's something else that I want to do.

Of course, being in finance, there's not much to do outside the M25 in the UK any more. Sadly since Northern Rock went down there aren't any trading jobs back home.

BillJones

lostinrates wrote: »

I just checked rightmove for these.

I know of another area in Newcastle ( somewhere I 'v not been and don't pretend to know) , also flats selling at very high prices, but aren't any there ATM. The only reason I know is because one in the block was empty as a result of a death in family and family were all trying to decide what way forward was with it and asking dh's opinion.

DH, rightly, said he hadn't a clue. But I was surprised, I admit, at the prices some of these apartments were commanding.

They'll appeal to footballers, and to wealthy young entrepreneurs who want a spectacular view and a balcony, but there really aren't that many of either up in Newcastle, and they can get so much more for their money a few streets away.

lostinrates

BillJones wrote: »

They'll appeal to footballers, and to wealthy young entrepreneurs who want a spectacular view and a balcony, but there really aren't that many of either up in Newcastle, and they can get so much more for their money a few streets away.

The flats I know of aren't at all new and have several old people in them, long term residents. I only know this because a couple are / were distant family.

chucknorris

BillJones wrote: »

My hope is to have a home in South Northumberland, and another near the Pyrenees, and to spend more of the Summer months up North.

I am, however, gambling by stating in London for the next few years. I'm gambling that my home here will outperform homes outside, gambling that I will still have plenty of years left to enjoy the life after, and gambling that I won't regret having wasted too many years in an office, if I decide later that there's something else that I want to do.

Of course, being in finance, there's not much to do outside the M25 in the UK any more. Sadly since Northern Rock went down there aren't any trading jobs back home.

Corbridge to Hexham springs to mind, is that the area you like? What attracts you to the Pyrenees (skiing maybe)? My first thought was that the winter climate there isn't going to be that warmer than the South of England, or am I wrong?


Does your partner buy into the same dream? My wife is changeable, I'm hoping that when she retires and is faced with time on her hands and a cold climate during the winter months she will be attracted to warmer locations than England can offer.


EDIT: Or is the tax haven of Andorra that attracts you?

BillJones

chucknorris wrote: »

Corbridge to Hexham springs to mind, is that the area you like? What attracts you to the Pyrenees (skiing maybe)? My first thought was that the winter climate there isn't going to be that warmer than the South of England, or am I wrong?

Does your partner buy into the same dream? My wife is changeable, I'm hoping that when she retires and is faced with time on her hands and a cold climate during the winter months she will be attracted to warmer locations than England can offer.

EDIT: Or is the tax haven of Andorra that attracts you?

My other half is from that region (Basque region of France), and so we have family there. The climate is far milder than England, unless you look at living at altitude, which we'd not be doing.

As to the North, I think that I'll probably want to either live in Tynemouth, or right in the centre of Newcastle. Although I come from a much smaller town, I'm a bit too used to town living now to make the jump into a village again.

Oh, and edited to add, no, definitely not Andorra. I'm going to want to live, and contribute, in France proper.

chucknorris

BillJones wrote: »

My other half is from that region (Basque region of France), and so we have family there. The climate is far milder than England, unless you look at living at altitude, which we'd not be doing.

As to the North, I think that I'll probably want to either live in Tynemouth, or right in the centre of Newcastle. Although I come from a much smaller town, I'm a bit too used to town living now to make the jump into a village again.

Oh, and edited to add, no, definitely not Andorra. I'm going to want to live, and contribute, in France proper.

We've been thinking it over this weekend and we don't like the idea of running two houses (a significant distance) apart, so we aren't really sure if we will end up buying a second home. We find that the problem with renting is that it always seems to be a compromise between what we want and what we end up with, and we never really get all of our boxes ticked (it is harder when you have a dog as the better rentals tend to exclude them). I tend to think that that is OK for a 1-2 week holiday, but not for 3-4 months.

Although it might work if we could find a property in a golfing (or similar) complex, we don't play golf but we would appreciate the facilities management that they might be able to offer.

BillJones

Having to choose without having lived there is always going to be a tough call, and one that we will struggle with, especially as I think that we want to buy a few years before we'll be able to live much of the year there.

I'm tempted by a ridiculously large property for very little money (proper castle for £600k), but the fact is it'd fall into ruin (or at least into a not nice place to live) between visits, so that's not an option. A home in town is a better idea, but the value for money is massively less that way.

The best idea, I suppose, is to start looking now, years before we need to buy, so giving us plenty of time to find the perfect place.

BigAunty

Snakey wrote: »

How long has it been since a single person working in a coffee shop or a factory has been able to buy, on their own, in a nice part of town? I know I couldn't do it in Manchester in 1993.

A person on 12k would be able to borrow up to 54k.

It's possible to buy a studio flat in a nice pocket of the southside of Glasgow, 2 miles from the city centre, right by a big leafy park for around 50k with lots of positive community events and connections.

It's on a quiet landscaped estate and just down the road from the High Street (3 minute walk) with all the usual shops, cafes, bars, a gym, a soon to be opened yoga studio. It has excellent transport connections (6 minute journey by train to the city centre or 20 minutes by bus). Good GP services, big hospital close by.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29680560.html

Or a traditional 1 bed tenement flat

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44017630.html

A couple both on 12k each could borrow up to 84k in which case, they have many more properties to choose from in their budget within a mile or two radius.

neverdespairgirl

AndyGuil wrote: »

It really isn't hard to justify. London is strong job prospects, higher salary, a great experience, a life you can't achieve or live elsewhere, etc. I've lived all over the UK (mostly in the north) and I find London remarkable. It wasn't until I lived there that I fully understood what it was about.

For some of us, too, it's home - I was born and brought up in London *, and have lived here my whole life.

* - the houses I was brought up in together with my 3 siblings were financed by my father, who worked in the same job as both my OH and I work now. My mother ran the home and family. I lived in a 5 bed large Victorian semi in Blackheath from the ages of 5 to 15, and then a large 6 bed detached house in Blackheath (5,500 - odd square feet) from the age of 15.

There's absolutely no way that OH and I together can afford the sort of house my parents could buy on only one income when they were our age. We live (with our 9 year old and 8 week old sons) in a perfectly nice, but ridiculously over-valued 3 bed flat in the LB Islington. And if we'd not bought it when we did 3 years ago, we'd be completely stuffed, as we couldn't afford it now.