London is a joke (moan)

Cornucopia

Running_Horse wrote: »

If thinking of Medway I would only want to be in Rochester, or Rainham at a push.

There's a cost to that.

lisyloo

Not sure what to tell you but it's not only London.

But it is only the SE.
It's not the same in the SW or the North.

jjlandlord

benjus wrote: »

Fair enough - I was responding to a suggestion of places like Northampton. The further out you get the more you pay for your season ticket and the fewer options you get as to where you end up in London.

Except that the £400 is just money down the drain, it's not making any capital repayments towards something you own.

Doesn't matter.

Millions of people pay £400+ a month for season tickets, live up to Northampton, and work in London.
The simple reason is that, as said, this is how they can afford to nice house in a nice school catchment, or a nice house and private school.

benjus

jjlandlord wrote: »

Doesn't matter.

Millions of people pay £400+ a month for season tickets, live up to Northampton, and work in London.
The simple reason is that, as said, this is how they can afford to nice house in a nice school catchment, or a nice house and private school.

My point is that when looking at the trade-off between transport cost and a higher mortgage payment, remember that (some of) the mortgage payment is going towards your assets while the transport cost is not. And also remember to consider the door-to-door commute not just how long it takes to get to a terminus station.

I'm not disputing that for many people living in places like Northampton and commuting to London is what works best for them.

AdrianC

benjus wrote: »

Except that the £400 is just money down the drain, it's not making any capital repayments towards something you own.

So there y'go. London isn't that expensive compared to commuting. Unless the mortgage difference is £600/mo, in which case commuting is definitely cheaper, because you can invest that £200/mo difference...

If you live on the tube network you're essentially already on the last leg.

If. I used to live within five minutes walk of a tube. Outside the M25.
I've also lived nowhere _near_ a tube, or even particularly close to a station, around the south circular.

duchy

Cornucopia wrote: »

I found this (but it's the only one, and it's £30k over, although seems to be 3-beds).

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51729143.html?premiumA=true

One in Gillingham, too.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50872892.html

Also 11 flats.

Chatham and Gillingham town centres are both quite run down, although there are loads of Victorian Terraced houses and conversion flats. The areas are okay-ish. Maidstone and Sittingbourne are nicer, but more expensive and with poorer transport. Ashford is okay, but the high-speed line season tickets are expensive.

Strood is possibly the best compromise:



http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48052489.html

Or Gravesend as someone has already suggested.

These areas also have grammar schools - not of interest to the OP but an attraction to a lot of people.

No area is perfect but the options are a lot broader than people think even within reasonable commuting distance.

I think many Londoners who grew up quite London-centric and thought there was nowhere else they'd ever want to live -once the reality of needing a family home, and a garden and afford it so are forced to look further afield are pleasantly surprised. There certainly isn't a mass migration back to London once the kids have flown the nest by this group.

Jhoney_2

duchy wrote: »

These areas also have grammar schools - not of interest to the OP but an attraction to a lot of people.

No area is perfect but the options are a lot broader than people think even within reasonable commuting distance.

I think many Londoners who grew up quite London-centric and thought there was nowhere else they'd ever want to live -once the reality of needing a family home, and a garden and afford it so are forced to look further afield are pleasantly surprised. There certainly isn't a mass migration back to London once the kids have flown the nest by this group.

No, but that's where the kids fly to, renting/eating expensive meals in overpriced and overrated areas, bemoaning the fact that they cannot get on the property ladder:). No reference to the OP here - just anecdotes my friends tell me about their flying-the-coop kids.

I find getting into central London is much easier by train than tube - it used to take me approx an hour + to get from posh SW (district line) london to Chancery Lane by tube..the surrounding tubes were the same line so when there was a problem on it, the commute was a nightmare!

Can't wait to move further afield to be honest:j. Anyone looking for a 3b vic terrace zone 2? ...

benedictoveract

I have 3x your budget to play with and I too find London a pain. I have seen so many disgusting apartments going for half a million, have a good old laugh at the vendor's expense only to find a week later someone actually bought it. Crazy. It is the price you pay to live in 'the city'.

jjlandlord

benjus wrote: »

My point is that when looking at the trade-off between transport cost and a higher mortgage payment, remember that (some of) the mortgage payment is going towards your assets while the transport cost is not. And also remember to consider the door-to-door commute not just how long it takes to get to a terminus station.

The thing is that your point is not relevant...

Yes, transport cost is "money down the drain".

However, the choice faced by all these commuters is (remember they want a nice house in a nice area with a good school):

1. pay £600k-800k in London and pay £x a month in tube tickets.
2. pay £300k-400k far(-ish) from London and pay £400 a month in train/tube tickets.

There is no trade-off because they can't afford (1).

Door to door commute is hard to compare as it really depends on individual circumstances.

Digsby

Asking prices are way out of whack with reality almost everywhere, but I don't think it's a situation that is going to last very long.

Transaction volumes are extremely low at the moment, agents need to make a living and if volumes continue on the current trend, then estate agents are going to be putting a lot of pressure on sellers to start asking for realistic prices. Even now, I think many sellers would accept offers of up to 20% off the asking price, in London at least.

The March LR HPI report is out in 2 days, the expected monthly % change from February for England and Wales is -0.8% - I expect London to be down by over 1%, maybe even 2%.

Whoever said only the "plague" will bring London prices down, you haven't noticed they've been on a downwards trend since August, I presume?

To the OP -

Do yourself a favour - install google chrome, go to the chrome web store, search for "appraised", install that, then visit the above 2 properties in Chatham and Gillingham (sorry can't repost them - new member) and click on the little house icon in the address bar...

The popup window is telling me that the 1st one sold in 2001 for £55k (!), and then again in 2007 for £135k - but that prices in Medway only increased by 86% between 2001 and 2007 - £105k would have been in line with local price inflation, so the seller overpaid by £30k, unless there were some serious improvements made (and the photos say no), or some other local factor inflated the price (new Waitrose?!).

Personally I wouldn't offer more than £135k for that, but since it's what the seller paid, and "house prices only ever go up", I can't imagine them accepting, so I'd steer clear.

That second one, bought for £49,500 in 2001. Prices in Medway have increased by 96% since 2001, so almost doubled, which would put the current value at £95k - but they're asking for £130k! Not surprising it's been on the market for 2 months.

They'd be doing well if they sold it for £105k, I'd come in at £95 and maybe go up to £105k, if it was worth it to me.

Using the right tools, I think you can manage to find somewhere decent, at a decent price, even in London, if you play it clever, and steer clear of those who have overpaid in the past and need an overinflated price to recoup their money.