I've seen this house I want

[sasguru]

He seems to be the only one in this thread who thinks you have to live in London to go a museum or a gallery. Restaurants are not really that important, plenty of them available outside of london. I am still yet to see a valid argument to actually live in London. Nowhere in London can you buy anything decent for a quarter of a million quid. You need to go out to Zone 4 -5 etc and that would mean a commute of an hour anyway.

The compromise seems to be a little bit more commute into London ( or none if you have a WFH type of gig ) and a bit more in train fares but the upshot is a pretty decent house with decent sized garden and a relatively low crime area.

Like I said, your budget can't get anything good.
You need to understand that not everyone is like you. HTH.

[Mich the Tester]

What 3 million get you in my neck of the woods (bit over an hour by train from Central London - actually, I'm a bit further south that Kettering):

13 bedroom detached house for sale in Church Lane, Cransley, Kettering NN14 - 27557329 - Zoopla



What the same amount gets you in Central London:

3 bedroom flat for sale in Great Cumberland Place, London W1H - 27815005 - Zoopla

I think most people in that price category could afford a country pad AND a flat in town.

[Mich the Tester]

it really depends on your priorities.

I think that's the heart of the matter.

[formant]

I think most people in that price category could afford a country pad AND a flat in town.

Yeees, I just felt like posting this example for emphasis.

Could do similar comparisons in any price range.

[sasguru]

What 3 million get you in my neck of the woods (bit over an hour by train from Central London - actually, I'm a bit further south that Kettering):

13 bedroom detached house for sale in Church Lane, Cransley, Kettering NN14 - 27557329 - Zoopla



What the same amount gets you in Central London:

3 bedroom flat for sale in Great Cumberland Place, London W1H - 27815005 - Zoopla

The person who bought the latter in the 70s/80s probably just bought the former.

[d000hg]

Arse end of nowhere, in other words

Not if you prefer beautiful countryside and nature to being crammed into a metal box so you can eat food which came from the beautiful countryside in the first place.

[fullyautomatix]

The person who bought the latter in the 70s/80s probably just bought the former.

Why would he do that ? According to your logic there is no point in buying a property outside London.

[Mich the Tester]

The person who bought the latter in the 70s/80s probably just bought the former.

Hopefully he has better taste in curtains than the last owner.

[formant]

The person who bought the latter in the 70s/80s probably just bought the former.

Well, I'd say the running costs of the former would rule that out.

But no doubt buying a few decades ago in London and retiring a tad further north will leave you with some pretty impressive housing.

[ChimpMaster]

Really though, £1m these days is not a lot of money when you get to a certain point in your life. Don't get me wrong: I don't have a million but even if I did I can't see it giving me everything I need (want?). I think that's the point I was more alluding to, in that you have to work hard to get to a certain, fairly comfortable level but then you really have to take a massive leap to get on the next rung on the ladder.

We have a wide range of people on CUK and it's easy to when you're aged 20 and thinking "if I had a million quid I'd be sorted and do this and that etc" but where you're 40, married with kids and don't want to live too far from relatives/parents/friends then suddenly £1m feels like not-so-much.

And I don't want to live out in the sticks or to far from London because that's where my family and friends are. I don't care too much for 'things' but I want a decent lifestyle and I want my family and friends to be close by. Else I might as well move to another country where standard of living is better.

It's a matter of perspective. When I was younger, my life plan was to pay off the mortgage, pay off my BTL mortgage and then live off the £1,000 rental income and enjoy life. WTF will £1,000 a month do for me now - with wife/kids and future planning!? Life just doesn't work that way.