London

Ginge said...

"Hello boys, your landlord Mr Bolovski here. Ah....Coca-Cola, sign of
western decadence"

 

I think the flat I rented was close to you, Caledonia Wharf, near Island
Gardens DLR. Nice view of the river but a bit pricey for what it was.

 

You can't make anything out of students. They're only there ten months
a year, and they **** the house up. You want to rent to a nice little
nuclear family, who want to stay put and take it steady. In that
scenario, the Dad of the house often does bits of decorating/DIY,
leaving you to only call the gas board when there's a leak.

 

We have a nice view of an identical house opposite, and a block of
flats out the back.

Our nearest DLR is Mudchute, which sounds *much* classier than "Island
Gardens".

--
| ___ Salad Dodger
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\|^|/ ANORAK#17
'^'

 

Ealing's nice. My ex-boss lived there. But when he was managing a
large number of staff in Global Crossing at East India, he took a room
in a shared house in Limehouse because the journey across London was
taking so long.

When I nearly got a job that I rather wanted this time last year, I was
seriously considering moving to SW1.

 

Good point. I'd not totally thought it out, but I do know that locally
there's always a student demand for houses. I'm not sure there's the
same kind of demand for cheap rented family homes as Derby Council
still have plenty on the books, and there's some kind of independant
community housing thing as well.

Anyhow, as I don't have money available to buy a property so it's all
irrelevant right now. )

 

I really think you need to revise your travelling time parameter. Very
few places are within 30 mins of Soho as a commute. You must consider
whether you can walk to the station, whether you need to change lines or
modes and then what distance you are from a station or bus stop at the
Soho end. I have a relatively easy commute to Leicester Square but the
best I can do it in is 35 minutes - which is exceptional by public
transport. The average is 45-50 mins and I travel in early and leave
early - journey time is longer at the height of the peak.

Apologies if that all seems very basic stuff but all your assumptions
about places like High Wycombe, St Albans or wherever just get you to a
main line station which is at least another 15-20 mins away from Soho
itself.

Don't want much do you?

If you want something affordable then I would suggest you do think about
parts of East London.

It all depends where you opt to live. The closer you are to the centre
then insurance and crime risks will be higher because you tend to get a
mix of well to do areas alongside deprivation. It is impossible to
answer your questions without you contacting an insurance company or the
relevant crime prevention officer for the area you are considering
living in.

Not really IMO - you need to review your requirements.

Yes - that's called commuting on any line into and within London. Get
used to it or travel in earlier or later with the corresponding change
to finish times if your employer is sufficiently flexible. If they
aren't then you are stuck with a dreadful commute I'm afraid.

 

Until recently I was living in Chiswick where you'll find a 1 bed
place for 1k/mo without too many problems, have easy access to District,
Piccadilly and/or SWT Mainline services and Soho will be about half an
hour away.

It's also got more pubs, restaurants, riverside and greenery than you
can shake a stick at, it's right at the end of the M4 for piss-easy
access to not-London and it's a bloody good place to live, if only
for the ice cream from the italian place by Turnham Green Terrace.

Oh, and it has a W in the postcode

I was paying 600 quid TPFT on a 3k '98 Bandit 12, aged 25 with no NCB.

My ZXR vanished from outside my flat, but I was right on the edge of
the South Acton estate which is alleged to be one of the most
deprived areas in London. But London's like that - 5 minutes' from
the heart of St Johns Wood will take you into Council Estate World.

Fer sure.

 

Well that's what it costs to rent a one bed flat around here. Two bed ones
are closer to £1500pcm, 3 bed or more and you're into £2,000pcm territory.

London ain't cheap.

Specially not with a 'W' in yer postcode (even if mine is 'TW' <g>).

ZK

 

Paris isn't particularly handy for Soho, mind.

 

I've let to students and tbh I'd be wary about doing it again. Whilst
the returns are quite good the hassle factor's high and you have the
'pleasure' of taking phone calls from their parents from time to time.

 

Oh, you can if you've a robust house that's in pretty good shape but
isn't easily broken. You let every room except for the kitchen-diner.

I had a two bedroom semi with two receptions, I let it as three seperate
rooms at 45 quid a week each, over the 10 months it was let this got me
more than I got for a year when I let it to a family.

Mind you, the hassle factor was a lot higher and I'd not (probably) let
to students again if I let property again (unlikely in the next 10
years).

 

Take a looksee here
http://www.net-lettings.co.uk/

It's reasonably accurate IME. If you wish to live somewhere pleasant in
London then you're going to have to pay through the nose so to speak.
Just about all of the areas that I personally would say "yeah I'd live
there" are coloured green, obviously some of the blue ones are good areas
too but that's into very silly money. Come to think of it, some of the green
coloured areas are a bit scuzzy and I can see a couple of red (cheaper) ones
that are reasonable spots. YMMV.

ZK

 

What he said.

You could also consider some bits of Norf Lunnon, such as Maida Vale (some
bits are resonable priced), Holloway (bit in between Camden and Holloway is
a niceish area, but not too expensive).

Or for south, go to Balham - prices have risen there in the last year or so,
but rentals should be ok. Southfields (nr Wimbledon) is okay aswell. Tube is
a bit shit from there tho.

If you want a 30 min commute, probably best to avoid anything on the
District line (which in thery can get you into the West End in 30 mins but
rarely does so). Central line is good, so try somewhere like Olympia/Brook
Green, which are about a 10 min walk from the central line. What about
Hammersmith - good transport links.

In fact, you could go and live anywhere but I suspect you're a fussy bastard
[1].

[1] On the basis you find St Albans a nightmare, but I know about 6 people
who've moved out of London to St Albans in the past 2 years or so, and
always rave about how quick the commute is into town.

 

According to yesterdays's Mail (I know...) there are lots of Kurds in Derby,
who you could rent a house to.

 

Indeed, in my case it takes 40 odd minutes to go 60 miles, then another 20+
minutes to go another 3 on the underground/walking.

Exactly - though my train journeys are, on the whole, relatively pleasant
and I have had had to stand only three times (that I can recall) in the last
6 months, and that's travelling virtually every week day.

Doubly so as, as far as I was aware, Mash is self-employed, so I don't get
it.

 

If you're talking about assylum seekers then not on the money the
council pay I couldn't. (about half way down the page)

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=64361
&command=displayContent&sourceNode=63913&contentPK=8173273

It's interesting to note of the 1,500 Iraqi Kurds living in the city,
only 158 are asylum seekers - the rest have been granted extended stay
visas and are trying to work. In my mind that's a good thing.

I can't say I've noticed a change in the population at all, but there's
almost a second town inside the city based around an area called
Normanton, that's where the indian, pakastani and other ethnic groups
have mostly based them selves and most of the usual community things are
there.. mosques, temples, halal butchers, etc.. Out of the 230,000 or so
people in the city it's the same kind of mix you'd see anywhere else.

The good thing is that it's easy to work out where to go for a decent
curry.

 

gateway to the South ...

 

Whey to go!

 

<nods>

I had a great curry in Normanton.