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Hello all!  I found this site as my family and I are relocating to the greater London area for a new job.  Hopefully I can tap into this great base of knowledge and maybe contribute some of my own.

Cheers!
Tom

Hi Tom,

Welcome to the group!

I'm from California myself, moved here to London in March 2014, and so far haven't been back yet. That's not by choice though lol  It seems you guys have moved around quite a bit. You will find a lot of smart, knowledgeable and funny people here. Hoping you and your family settle into life here as easily as possible. Have a safe journey over and look forward to seeing you around the boards.

Hi Tom,

Welcome along to the forum and the UK!

Littlemisssarcasm mentions some good things, I didn't meet a single funny person today though and I was a bit miffed at that !

Where in the Greater very expensiveLondon area will you be at and what industry are you working in?!

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

You will find a lot of smart, knowledgeable and funny people here.

Hey thanks LittleMiss...and welcome Tom!

Where in the Greater very expensiveLondon area will you be at and what industry are you working in?!

DtM this made me laugh!  I'm not even in the Greater London area (by my account), I'm in Wokingham which is near Reading.  I was just on the phone with IT support with my company for an hour with a woman in North Carolina.  I told her how much my house cost and how big it was.  I think she fell off her chair!

Hi KFDancer,

I'm quite often around that area as there's a few clients based in the area. I want a house (read mansion!) in Finchhampstead ! some fantastic properties around there!

I know some people don't like big houses, but for us and our family, it's an absolute must! We're currently in a very average sized 1930's semi, but already vastly extended to around 2100 Sq ft and another 1000 sq ft annexe. Yet more building work is starting soon to give perhaps another 400 sq ft, and it's still not enough for medium to longer term for us!

I know there's plenty of 'smaller' size properties in the USA as well, but overall, like for like and even right down at the 'entry' level of the market in both countries, property sizes over there are significantly larger than here. I do recall seeing one property near here but in a nicer area, and the living room was perhaps 7 feet wide and 12 feet long. I looked at the agent and said, ok so where's the living room for humans?! and it was around £135,000.. in 2002 !

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

You know, Finch is a bit hit and miss.  Did you know there isn't a single pub in all of Finchampstead?   

Though I would give my eye teeth for a house on Wellingtonia Avenue.  If only I had an extra million pounds!

We moved to a 4 bed detached that has massive potential for expansion (which is why we bought it) though it's currently only about 1200sq ft of living space (we do have a double garage, shed, and summerhouse.  If my husband has his way, it'll soon turn into a McMansion.  I don't know why he thinks we need such a big house, we moved out of a 2 bed and still only use 4 rooms (our bedroom, daughter's bedroom, lounge, and kitchen).  It's like we forget that we have more space now!

  Did you know there isn't a single pub in all of Finchampstead? 

What??? Is this even allowed? Must be horribly boring people living there........

Washington State boy here.........you don't wanna move anywhere near London......up North, that's where you want to live. Ya don't want to live down South......horrible weather .....I've heard it even gets up to 70F in the Summer (can you believe it?). People must be passing out on the streets at that temperature.

We just recently bought a house here in Harrogate (yeah...ok....it's a bit snotty here as well)....910sf detachedincluding the garage for £250K, and we have already put more than £10K into it.... Big enough for us, but considering we just sold our house outside Spokane for $223K that had over an acre, 1000sf workshop, awesome views over river/lake/etc etc   1800sf in house...... But still, this one is big enough for us. I just need the golf course to dry out.....

it'll soon turn into a McMansion.

 

What does McMansion mean?

 

What does McMansion mean?

A house bigger than you need. Then bigger than that. And......likely bigger than that. A McMansion....seriously bigger than you need.

What does McMansion mean?

McMansion's happened to my grandmother's neighbourhood near Atlanta.  She lived in a wonderful small neighbourhood in Decatur, Georgia.  Very short commute into downtown Atlanta but great schools and a real suburban feel.  The houses were on decent plots of land (maybe 1/3 to 1/2 an acre) but were small, often ranch-style houses.

People would come in and not quite tear down the original house (if they left a small part of the house they could get around planning permission).  They would then put a HUGE, stone faced monstrosity in the plot that the previous 1960's style wood-siding house had occupied. 

We did buy smart at our new house as MANY of the homes in the neighbourhood have been drastically extended.  We are on a cul-de-sac of 5 houses and we are the second smallest house.  We know that we cannot over improve the house for the area, which is a good feeling to have, as the larger homes in our neighbourhood have sold for several hundreds of thousands of pounds more than we paid.

That being said - we are only living in half of the house already!  We don't need more space.  At most, we plan to have one more child and be a typically family of 4.  I don't think we need something huge.

We would like to make the kitchen and family room open plan.  And I wouldn't mind having more than 24 inches of clothes rail in my closet.  But if that's all we have to complain about - I think we should be counting our blessings!

McMansion....This is a bit much for the two of us......

http://c.fastcompany.net/multisite_files/fastcompany/imagecache/1280/poster/2014/04/3029102-poster-p-shutterstock13378984.jpg

The 'mansion' bit, I get... it's the 'Mc' that's puzzling me. I'm going to guess that it means that these 'stone faced monstrosities' were all very same-y looking with no character about them.

The 'mansion' bit, I get... it's the 'Mc' that's puzzling me. I'm going to guess that it means that these 'stone faced monstrosities' were all very same-y looking with no character about them.

Taken from Wikipedia:

McMansion can be a large, new house in a subdivision of similarly large houses, which all seem to be mass-produced and lacking in distinguishing characteristics, as well as appearing at odds with the traditional local architecture.

Play on words of McDonalds mass production that looks the same each time.

Taken from Wikipedia:

McMansion can be a large, new house in a subdivision of similarly large houses, which all seem to be mass-produced and lacking in distinguishing characteristics, as well as appearing at odds with the traditional local architecture.

Play on words of McDonalds mass production that looks the same each time.

Yes, that's what I'd always heard about the term.  To me it also reflects a certain amount of falseness (not sure that's the best word, but I can't think of another).  Like a McDonald's hamburger is 'false' nutrition, so a McMansion is 'false' elegance (again, not quite the word I want, but close).  Pretty much a quantity over quality phenomena IMHO.