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Help, first time buyer in London with £55k/year
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Living anywhere near London is imho a mugs game nowadays economically and from a quality of life perspective. That job that pays 60k in London you can get further north paying say 40 but the accommodation is degrees cheaper which means that your money left over is much higher.
By all means go to London for the experience but I cannot imagine wanting to live anywhere near there for 5 years or more taking part in such a rat race life, it's a horrible grind that really take its toll long term and the stress of it takes years off your life.
If all you want is endless HPI from buying a house in the south east then I would question whether over the next 5 years that would even occur in the same manner as it did in the last 5 years, with the costs involved in buying would you after 5 years be likely to make a profit on what you bought now? I am not so sure but maybe that is a debate for the HPC crowd?
I cannot understand the obsession with living in the south east of this country, maybe if you are from a different country you cannot understand that there is an economy outside the south east. But hey by all means stay in London or the south east and pay 300k for a 1 bed flat above a kebab shop waking up every day wondering what you are doing with your life, up north we can have a nice 4 bed detached with big garden in a nice area for the same money and the wages are not much less!
dimcr has a point. The south east is a magnet for migrants from the rest of the UK and the EU and many other places besides.
It's an easy place to find work.
It's got a lot of entertainment, not always easy to access due to the scale of the place.
It's a good place to meet women but not men (according to this).
It has good transport links with the wider world.
It's probably not the best place to raise a family, live in a large house with a large garden, send kids to a good school. People from outside the UK sometimes aren't aware of the benefits of the different areas/regions /countries of the UK.There is no honour to be had in not knowing a thing that can be known - Danny Baker0 -
Thanks for all the replies.
I think the problem is that I didn't understand yet what kind of lifestyle I want so I would like to make short-term plans to be more flexible in case I want to change. I work in IT so the Reading-west London-central London area would be the best for my job that's why I was considering to find something on the west side of Loneon, even outside the M25.
I don't really mind travelling 1.15h a day each way but probably I wouldn't do more.
My dream would be living and working in the Brighton area but unfortunately it is not the best place for IT jobs. There is still something though, so I am always keeping an eye on it. For sure I know that I don't want to live in busy area so I don't really care about buying close to the center since I can go there every day after work.
I think everyone has different lifestyles but my idea is probably closer to dLmcr.
My biggest fear now is that I am not saving much monet with my rent so in a few years when the house prices will be higher my current deposit will have a lower value than now and I will have more problema to find a decent house.
Regardin the job, I change company very often because I like to try new things so I don't really see myself in a smaller city in the same company for 10 years. London offers infinite opportunities for this.0 -
I would buy outside of London with quick links to it. i.e. Milton Keynes > Euston is 30 min.
If you're a contractor you could even expend the ticket so it makes it even more attractive.
It depends if you prefer to spend on transport vs mortgage, though if you plan to leave London having a smaller mortgage might be better. Smaller properties tend to yield more if you rent them out.
Defo, avoid London right now, too unstable!EU expat working in London0 -
Whatever you do, don't become a landlord.0
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Living anywhere near London is imho a mugs game nowadays economically and from a quality of life perspective. That job that pays 60k in London you can get further north paying say 40 but the accommodation is degrees cheaper which means that your money left over is much higher.
By all means go to London for the experience but I cannot imagine wanting to live anywhere near there for 5 years or more taking part in such a rat race life, it's a horrible grind that really take its toll long term and the stress of it takes years off your life.
If all you want is endless HPI from buying a house in the south east then I would question whether over the next 5 years that would even occur in the same manner as it did in the last 5 years, with the costs involved in buying would you after 5 years be likely to make a profit on what you bought now? I am not so sure but maybe that is a debate for the HPC crowd?
I cannot understand the obsession with living in the south east of this country, maybe if you are from a different country you cannot understand that there is an economy outside the south east. But hey by all means stay in London or the south east and pay 300k for a 1 bed flat above a kebab shop waking up every day wondering what you are doing with your life, up north we can have a nice 4 bed detached with big garden in a nice area for the same money and the wages are not much less!
It wasn't really a choice for me. My family is based in Surrey, and whilst I started my career further north (Yorkshire, then Nottinghamshire), the endgame was always to get to a salary point where we could afford to move back south to be closer to family (and friends, actually).
I have to say it has been very enlightening being in these forums though and seeing how the house prices differ so much; I knew it to be so when we moved from a 3 bed detached semi with garage paying £650/month in rent to a 2 bed terrace paying £1100/month (landlord should probably be charging us £1200 to keep up with the area, but I digress).
But, when it all comes down to it, we can make it work down here. There was a time a few years ago when I never would have thought we could move down, and actually my husband would still be working two part time jobs if we remained up north. Some opportunities really are only available in London.
By the way OP, Brighton to London Victoria by train can be done in under an hour. Again it's a very popular commuter town nowadays. It has a bit of a reputation as a "Little London" now, it's a bustling place and indeed I wasn't surprised to have found an Itsu there which is the only one I have seen outside London!0
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