How to save for a home deposit quicker?

pollyanna24

Deleted_User wrote: »

Agree with this. Even if you do need to work in London, I live in the West Mids and you can get a train from Banbury to London in just under an hour. Not saying move to Banbury but you get my drift, there are other places all over the country that are accessible from London.

Surely the cost in travel would start to outweigh about possible benefits? This is, of course, if they have to work in London.

pollyanna24

user1168934 wrote: »

I can relate to your situation I think. I was living in zone 2-3 border and working in zone 1. I had a pretty decent job. Did that for 5 years, saved like crazy. Absolutely zero holidays, no eating outs, minimum socializing (takes money), spent the bare minimum on clothing etc. After five years, I did save some money but still not enough to buy even a 1 bed flat in zone 2-4 (which is what I was looking for at that time). At that point I decided to move out of London. I started looking for a job, in my case I found a job just outside of london and so I moved there. I was lucky to find accomodation at walking distance. It wasn't a any cheaper than london but saving on commute helped a bit plus a better paying job. Took another three years of saving like crazy same as before and after about 8 years of "no life" I was able to buy a 2 bed flat.
Fast forward another 5 years and I am looking to upgrade to a house. I have looked around and honestly it looks like that if I want something other than a shoebox I will probably have to move up north.


Not sure what I am going to do to be honest but I think I would have been better off if I had moved up north all those years ago.

The way I think about it is that I live in the South East where prices are high (I appreciate that I already own my house, so more replying to what I've quoted rather than the original post), so although my house isn't massive, I have the option of moving further north where it is cheaper at some point in the future. So this could be an option for you as your two bed would be worth more than what a house would cost further north.

I live in Zone 7, but honestly don't understand why people want to live in London. I'd live further out, but for my job. When that goes, I might just move out to the sticks. And this is from a born and bred Londoner.

lisyloo

pollyanna24 wrote: »

Surely the cost in travel would start to outweigh about possible benefits? This is, of course, if they have to work in London.

I have a friend/Colleague who lives in Birmingham, works in London.
The virgin trains are quite cheap.

The problem I see (and I do have skin in the game) is that you have to allow for your walking/waiting time from home to station (and houses by the railway station come at a premium) OR factor in car parking costs and factor in the walking/tube at the other end as most people don't work at a teminal railway station.
All costs money and takes time.
In my case the time doubles from 75 to 150 minues which is not acceptable for a single (not return) journey.


If it was as simple as just moving to Banbury/Birmingham then everyone would be doing it.
The fact is that the door-to-door takes time, it costs money and our trains overall are pretty dreadful.


You also need to consider what you are going to do if there is an on-going train strike.


I suspect working in fashion is not a "working from home" type of job.

lisyloo

but honestly don't understand why people want to live in London

because commuting can be absolutely awful.
You do know that many of the tubes were up to 40 degrees this summer?


It sounds like you must have a nice commute from zone 7 maybe?
Some of my colleagues are frequently late.
My job tolerates that flexibility but not all jobs do.


Its also not possible for everyone to position themselves ideally for their job.
Many may have a partner so they can't live somewhere that's ideal for both jobs.
Similarly they might have a home or kids already in schools so perhaps they don't want to move home when they move jobs.

CarrieVS

user1168934 wrote: »

I have looked around and honestly it looks like that if I want something other than a shoebox I will probably have to move up north.

My brother and I are both in the process of buying our first homes. Both mid-terrace ex-council former rentals. He's outside London and I'm in the North-East. His is a two-bedroom shoebox with a postage stamp for parking. It's exactly twice the price of my good-sized three-bed with a nice bit of garden.

lisyloo

He's outside London and I'm in the North-East. His is a two-bedroom shoebox with a postage stamp for parking. It's exactly twice the price of my good-sized three-bed with a nice bit of garden.

Not sure how many fashion houses there are in the North-East.
My point being that the housing is more expensive where the desireable jobs are (somewhat subjective of course).
There is a reason that millions of people commute to London everyday and it's not because they are too stupid to work out that they can get a house cheaper somewhere else.


We are in London but have a very specific goal and understand the trade-off (in our case a few more years will allow retirement at 55).

hazyjo

You don't have to go miles out for cheaper housing. I sold in E4 and bought in Leigh on Sea for nearly £100k less. Slightly bigger house. Much nicer area. It's still pricey there, but there are other areas that aren't that far and much cheaper than London. My quickest trains are 43 mins into London. Not that bad at all - and a far nicer journey than I had before!

lisyloo

My quickest trains are 43 mins into London.

Out of interest - how long is your door-to-door? from leaving the house to arriving at work.

and a far nicer journey than I had before!

I think it's quite variable.
A few people on southern trains have lost jobs because they were so bad.
Northern are pretty bad.
Non-Air conditioned tubes can be very hot (up to 40 degrees this summer)
Virgin are good.

CarrieVS

lisyloo wrote: »

There is a reason that millions of people commute to London everyday and it's not because they are too stupid to work out that they can get a house cheaper somewhere else.

I wasn't suggesting that it was or that OP should relocate. Just replying to a post in the thread.

lisyloo

CarrieVS wrote: »

I wasn't suggesting that it was or that OP should relocate. Just replying to a post in the thread.

No worries.
I was just pointing out the strong link between house prices and jobs.
e.g. cornwall is nice, but employment is low paid and quite seasonal.


There are jobs (fashion being one as per the OP) that are fairly exclusive to London.
So if that is your career or pasion then it's a major decision to move out i.e. complete career/lifestyle change.


I am looking forward to retirement when we don't have that rather large dependency, although of course people do have families that they want or need to be near.