I'm from the UK too, and I know about the prices of houses in London ... But I refuse to believe there isn't such thing as an Esate Agents for Wizards! Most of them will be paying in Knuts, Sickles and Galleons, not in pounds so house prices wouldn't really affect them in the same way. I don't think living in a house in London would be more expensive for witches and wizards.
I think what is meant by wizard houses is a Muggle house adapted magically, not constructed completely by wizards (and even if they did, do you think they'd do it the hard way?). I can't shake the feeling that would be slightly harder to adapt a trendy upmarket apartment. I also can't shake the feeling that a lot of wizards just wouldn't want that sort of house. It's a bit too full of Muggle conveniences and not enough character.
They probably wouldn't use a Muggle estate agent, either. Who knows how they end up with their houses? Be imaginative!
I forgot to add that commuting and shopping convenience wouldn't be much of an issue, either because - well, uh, Apparating and Floo! So that's not much of a reason to shove everybody in London all the time (but I think the real reason they always live in London is because it's the only place in the country a lot of writers know much about).
You misunderstood me. I wasn't saying they should only live in Wizard districts or build their own houses. I was just saying there should be more variety, to save it from becoming cliche ;)
But I just wanted to ask ... Why do you think they'd be noticed or there wouldn't be enough room to expand their homes? They can adapt cars to have more space on the inside than it has on the out! They have an underground Ministry department! They have taken over a building that looks like a small shop on the outside but an enormous, multi-story hospital on the inside! Space isn't an issue for wizards!
But yes ... I never said they wouldn't live around Muggles. I just meant I can't see half of the wizarding population living like fashionable Muggles.
Oh I quite agree that wizards would prefer freestanding stuctures, or at the very least a semi-detached or row house, rather than a few rooms on one floor of a building otherwise occupied by Muggles.
But I'm not convinced that the charmed cars and what all are really a valid counter-example of the space constraints. A car is a temporary emvironment. I'm not convinced that even wizards would entrust their lives and all their property to the sort of "virtual" space which can be created by magic.
I once saw a Northern original character who lived somewhere (I can't remember where it was) that's a city but they were going on about quaint countryside. I have a feeling it was Manchester, since I live there and would have been looking up stories about here!
But don't worry about people getting accents wrong! To some people everybody in England have the same accent, contrary to evidence we've seen in the books. I remember somebody insisting to me that Hagrid was Scottish because he had a different accent to the rest!
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They probably wouldn't use a Muggle estate agent, either. Who knows how they end up with their houses? Be imaginative!
But I'm sick of trendy apartments as well.
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But I just wanted to ask ... Why do you think they'd be noticed or there wouldn't be enough room to expand their homes? They can adapt cars to have more space on the inside than it has on the out! They have an underground Ministry department! They have taken over a building that looks like a small shop on the outside but an enormous, multi-story hospital on the inside! Space isn't an issue for wizards!
But yes ... I never said they wouldn't live around Muggles. I just meant I can't see half of the wizarding population living like fashionable Muggles.
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But I'm not convinced that the charmed cars and what all are really a valid counter-example of the space constraints. A car is a temporary emvironment. I'm not convinced that even wizards would entrust their lives and all their property to the sort of "virtual" space which can be created by magic.
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But don't worry about people getting accents wrong! To some people everybody in England have the same accent, contrary to evidence we've seen in the books. I remember somebody insisting to me that Hagrid was Scottish because he had a different accent to the rest!
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