Londoners, how do you feel about the property market situation?

Crashy_Time

ibizafan wrote: »

My son and his university friend clubbed together in 2008 to buy a two bedroom flat in Clapham for £315,000 which seemed extortionate at the time. It was a struggle at first, and money was tight. Fast forward to now. My son's friend has married and moved out and my son has bought him out. His much bigger salary these days has made it affordable to pay the mortgage, and there's always a friend to rent the second bedroom from time to time. The flat is now valued at around £625,000. He couldn't do it now as a FTB, even with a friend. Thank goodness he decided to get on the ladder when he did, even though he couldn't afford to go out much for quite a while.

You know that`s not the same as 625k in the bank though? Any banking/economic downturn and places like Clapham will take a sizeable hit.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

westernpromise wrote: »

I would give hens bog-standard names like Jeff, Gary, and Paul. I think those would be lovely names. There would also be Dave the pig and Andy the goat.

I also think "Orwight?" would be a good name for a dog. Every time you say its name, you greet it. Alan would be a good name for a cat.

I knew someone who had a (female) cat named Dave.

I think every time Crashy starts talking about how houses in London are only worth a tenner we should start discussing animal names.

westernpromise

Crashy_Time wrote: »

You know that`s not the same as 625k in the bank though? Any banking/economic downturn and places like Clapham will take a sizeable hit.

But it's a lot more like £625k in the bank than nine more years of rent down the 5hitter, isn't it?

westernpromise

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

I knew someone who had a (female) cat named Dave.

I think every time Crashy starts talking about how houses in London are only worth a tenner we should start discussing animal names.

I am with you. At work I use animal verbs to subvert stupid conversations. "I don't mean to crow but I've been beavering away and I've ferreted out the data. I'm not going to duck my responsibilities and I don't think anyone should carp..." etc etc etc

chucknorris

westernpromise wrote: »

I am with you. At work I use animal verbs to subvert stupid conversations. "I don't mean to crow but I've been beavering away and I've ferreted out the data. I'm not going to duck my responsibilities and I don't think anyone should carp..." etc etc etc

You're having a giraffe.

padington

Guys, stop monkeying around or this thread is going to go to the dogs

westernpromise

Bear with me, ok?

kabayiri

westernpromise wrote: »

Bear with me, ok?

This is one of those phrases I struggle with...which form of phonetic "berr" to go with.

Sometimes I am tempted to write "bare with me" but then I realise I might be on the wrong type of forum

always_sunny

Crashy_Time wrote: »

You know that`s not the same as 625k in the bank though? Any banking/economic downturn and places like Clapham will take a sizeable hit.

I know right, look at the pounds in the bank, they're worth already 20% less than before if you convert them in Euros or Dollars! I'd rather have the house in Clapham, at least you can rent that out. London will not see huge dips, rest of the country possibly, but London (and SE areas next to it) are a country of its own.

Austin_Allegro

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

I despaired of buying for years on a single administrator's salary, but I think my expectations were warped by renting in a really nice part of town (one of the quirks of London being you can rent in much smarter areas than you end up buying).

I think people need to be clear why they are living in London. It's fun in your 20s living in a scuzzy houseshare and partying hard. Into your 30s and especially if you're thinking of having kids, you have to seriously look at your salary expectations and how badly you want/need to work in London. Pretty much all of my friends (late 30s) with kids have moved out; some for work reasons, mainly for house/garden size and schools.

If I move out of London it will be for a complete lifestyle change; pony in my back garden, keeping chickens, making jam from hedgerow foraging etc.

After years of working and saving and living in an overpriced tiny rented flat in London, I realised I'd never be able to afford to buy even the smallest, cruddiest ex-council high rise flat. For a while I thought house prices were unsustainable, but after they survived the crash of '08 and even went up, I realised that UK property prices were being kept artificially high by a combination of factors.

I decided therefore to do just what you suggest - I downsized, started my own online home business, bought a small cottage and do a lot of stuff like growing my own veg, foraging etc. I quite enjoy it and am now mortgage free, whereas if I'd stayed in London I would be a mortgage slave until death.

It can be a bit lonely sometimes - the main social life is the village pub and talking to 60-something farmers and fishermen - I'm divorced and highly unlikely to get any female company now! Still, overall I prefer it to London life. There's a kind of genuine-ness about it which is missing in big cities.