In 70% of England you can buy the average terrace on minimium wage

ukcarper

mwpt wrote: »

I considered that but had a few other factors go into my decision. Social life being one, I'm just close enough that getting home isn't much of a struggle or expensive if an Uber cab is needed. So for now I take the hit on the relatively cr4ppy commute.

That's your decision and obviously the right one for you. I just trying to point out that other people have different priorieties and that commute is worth it.

mwpt

Agreed. Commute is a big deal, for me too.

michaels

lisyloo wrote: »

The 5 min wait would include getting off the train and physically getting to the tube station as well as waiting.
The trains I get are 8 carriages long and to walk from one end of the train to the other takes a good 2 mins.

I would personally not be happy parking up at the station 2 mins before the train pulled out. If you have a regular service then maybe that's ok but if you have a ticket for a specific train then 2 mins wait is not enough - any delay on the roads and you've lost your ticket.

The journey I'm referring to is Paddington to Barbican and I'll take your point and accept 21 mins after checking my oyster history.

I don't accept your 2 mins walk to work from stepping off the tube. It simply isn't possible to get out most tube stations in 2 mins.

So I take some of your points, but don't agree on others.
Btw - many people will walk to the train station not drive and some will have fixed tickets or want to arrive for a specific train so need more than 2 mins contingency (I accept not everyone needs that contingency but some people do).

3 and a half minutes today but that was cos I was slow getting of the tube, and therefore slow getting out of the station and then had to wait for a lift which stopped on 3 other floors on the way up - still that is my exercise for the day done....

Fizzy11

Going by your statistics Cells I'm thrilled that I'm one of the 30% that I'm doesn't live in the SE.

I live in the large & varied NW where you can still buy a terrace for a reasonable price however in the same region there are huge areas with extremely high unemployment. So in the SE the house prices rise due to employment but up here there are areas where no one wants to live thereby prices are low but when taken with the areas that are desirable the average is inaccurate.
Someone on minimum wage can't afford travel to work because that is one of the affordability criteria For lenders. Joe Bloggs can't live in Liverpool & drive to Chester for work because on minimum wage it would be unaffordable.
However, whilst working in a mortgage brokers (I'm not one) we did mortgages for four Polish couples & I admit that they had decided to buy a property & everything on their bank statement was to exist & save. No treats, few clothes & MSE shopping. They bought in the nearest area they could afford regardless of wherever desirable or not.

lisyloo

I agree with you carper that people have different priorities.
For my decisions I have used a stop watch for cycling and oyster records for tube journeys and also had a period of living in many different locations to get the actual personal experience so I'm confident that my decisions are based on the reality (which includes sometimes not getting on the first tube and full buses driving past). I've also spoken to many colleagues who confirm my experiences but there's still no substitute for actual experience.
I don't think there is a direct comparison between my situation of temporary accommodation for business purposes as opposed to people buying long term family homes so it's unsurprising the outcome may be a different choice.
I suspect we'd live further out if we were looking for a long term home due to space requirements.
I think people should do whatever works best for their situation. I don't have any issue with other people choices (for homes at least).

lisyloo

michaels wrote: »

3 and a half minutes today but that was cos I was slow getting of the tube, and therefore slow getting out of the station and then had to wait for a lift which stopped on 3 other floors on the way up - still that is my exercise for the day done....

Good for you.
My experiences are different and obviously I have to work from that and not yours.
Did you know - Angel tube station has the longest escalator in Western Europe?
I find tube lines do vary quite a lot, so for example on the Victoria line I rarely had to wait more than 1min for a tube and Vauxhall station is one escalator. The circle line has longer waiting times.
On the northern line I'd often not be able to board the 1st tube and there are more escalators as it's deep.
As I say all based on real experience which I totally accept is different from yours due to different tube lines, stations etc.
Your experiences sounds towards the good end of the spectrum. Talking to colleagues my experiences seem to be quite Normal e.g. Not getting on the 1st tube at busy stations at peak times.
I do sometimes get up early to improve commute, but if it doesn't fit in with your family then that's another trade-off.

michaels

lisyloo wrote: »

Good for you.
My experiences are different and obviously I have to work from that and not yours.
Did you know - Angel tube station has the longest escalator in Western Europe?
I find tube lines do vary quite a lot, so for example on the Victoria line I rarely had to wait more than 1min for a tube and Vauxhall station is one escalator. The circle line has longer waiting times.
On the northern line I'd often not be able to board the 1st tube and there are more escalators as it's deep.
As I say all based on real experience which I totally accept is different from yours due to different tube lines, stations etc.
Your experiences sounds towards the good end of the spectrum. Talking to colleagues my experiences seem to be quite Normal e.g. Not getting on the 1st tube at busy stations at peak times.
I do sometimes get up early to improve commute, but if it doesn't fit in with your family then that's another trade-off.

I thought we were just doing examples - I could change at St Pancras and walk for 8 minutes breathing the filthy air then squeeze on to the first or second frequent but overcrowded Victoria line train and then change again at Victoria but instead I stay on the train to Blackfriars, stroll 2 minutes onto the fairly empty and shallow district/circle line platform, get on a tube within 2 mins where normally I could sit if I wanted and get off again 7 minutes later at St James Park.

cells

Fizzy11 wrote: »

Going by your statistics Cells I'm thrilled that I'm one of the 30% that I'm doesn't live in the SE.

I live in the large & varied NW where you can still buy a terrace for a reasonable price however in the same region there are huge areas with extremely high unemployment. So in the SE the house prices rise due to employment but up here there are areas where no one wants to live thereby prices are low but when taken with the areas that are desirable the average is inaccurate.
Someone on minimum wage can't afford travel to work because that is one of the affordability criteria For lenders. Joe Bloggs can't live in Liverpool & drive to Chester for work because on minimum wage it would be unaffordable.
However, whilst working in a mortgage brokers (I'm not one) we did mortgages for four Polish couples & I admit that they had decided to buy a property & everything on their bank statement was to exist & save. No treats, few clothes & MSE shopping. They bought in the nearest area they could afford regardless of wherever desirable or not.

generally I think outside London and the SE its a matter of how affordable a place is

places that are 4x income are affordable, the places that are 2.5x income are down right cheap

also i think all of us look for a relative price. When I look for places to buy in London sometimes there might be a flat which is bigger/better/cheaper than the other flats listed and it stands out as a 'bargin'. Of course that flat might be £400,000 but since we mostly work off comparison it seems good value. That also works on the cheap markets. That is to say in a cheap place like stoke-on-trent a buyer doesn't look at rightmove and think wow everything is a bargin. They look at everything as average and try to find the local bargain. So it makes some sense in that no one seems to think their area is cheap/affordable even if the homes are trading at 2.5x or less of median local income