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Help with my retirement plans - London and Kent for £1.25m

27 replies

CrazyCockerel · 29/03/2015 10:24

DH and I are looking to retire in 2 years time. We both work in London but live in Home Counties; we moved out when we had the DC for more space, schools etc. However, now the DC are grown up, the youngest leaves school this summer and we want to sell up and buy a place in London and one out of London.

Our thinking is that we have a couple more years to go at work but might carry on a bit longer, maybe on a part time basis, and DH's family are in London. It is also likely that the DC will need to be in London for a few years with their careers, at least. Also, although London prices seem a bit crazy at present I think London is always a relatively safe option for investing.

However, I don't want to be in London all the time. I love the buzz of London and the theatres etc, but I also love space, fresh air, and stillness outside; we also have dogs and cats and I am worried how they would adapt to an urban lifestyle.

Therefore, if achievable, I would like a place in London with at least 2 bedrooms, preferably zone 1 but would consider further out, and somewhere out of London but within easy reach. We were thinking of one of the villages near the Ashford fast rail link so we could get to London quickly but also the continent. I grew up by the sea so would ideally like to have easy access to the sea. In an ideal world, both properties would rent out easily, so we could decide to rent out one and live in the other for 6-12 months if we needed to raise some cash (but not whilst the DC are living there obviously, so that's more of a medium to long term consideration).

I have seen really good advice on this forum before, so would be very grateful for all suggestions. The budget is £1.25m, but we could push to £1.5m for the right combination of property. I would in an ideal world love an 1930s London flat and a period house with beams etc or Georgian (the latter probably not achievable). I appreciate that it might mean that one property might have to be sacrificed for the other - I am aiming high at present, but may need to moderate expectations. Given that these properties are for retirement, I really don't want to get it wrong!

I apologise that this is long but my experience is that it is better for posters to give the full spec at the outset if they are hoping MNers will help them with some pointers and ideas.

OP posts:
Barbarella · 29/03/2015 13:39

Where in London?
Where in home counties?

Knittingbat · 29/03/2015 14:11

I think if you want 2 bed in Zone 1, these are quite often going for between 900k - 1200k already. Also, in Zone 1, to get the right price for you, you might have to make sacrifices already. For example, you could buy a new 2 bed in farringdon, but to get it for 800k you'd need to be about 25 minutes walk from the station - out the back of Goswell Road. That's great for a 30 something, but as a retiree, you need to have easy amenities (cafe/restaurant, grocery shop or supermarket, accessible tube) as close as possible, maybe not for now, but for in ten-fifteen years time when a fifty minute round walk to the station might be too much. Would you be better off looking in zone 2 near a great station? Also consider small ex-local authority developments - sell at a discount but often well laid out and reasonably built compared to Victorian conversions etc. Take into account that you might need a building with a lift, but that monthly maintenance fees for flats with lifts are more expensive.

King's Cross is having a phenomenal amount of renovation at the moment - still a bit gritty but worth while thinking about as I think trains go from there to Ashford?

Not sure this is helpful but in general I think your retirement plans sound fantastic!

CrazyCockerel · 29/03/2015 14:32

Thanks very much Barbarella and Knitting. I agree that King's Cross/St. Pancras is ideal, especially as it links directly to Ashford. We are happy to consider ex l/a, not too worried about tubes as the buses are so fab in London. Also thinking that a bit further north ie Camden/Kentish Town would be good.

OP posts:
Apatite1 · 29/03/2015 16:57

I'd go for a nice zone 2 flat very near a tube station. That usually means that you'll be well served by buses too. Although I'm moving away from here, have you thought about fulham?

CrazyCockerel · 29/03/2015 17:59

No, I haven't thought about Fulham thanks Apatite, as I don't really know that area. DH's family are in the Barbican so we were hoping to find somewhere not too far away from there, say WC1, NW1 or SE1 - Elephant and Castle seems quite reasonable price wise but still seems to have some way to go in terms of being a desirable place to live. Also, Shoreditch and Hackney seem quite buzzy and near to the city, so might be a good location for the DC.

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SquidgyMaltLoaf · 29/03/2015 23:36

You need to call Phil and Kirstie Grin

wavingfuriously · 29/03/2015 23:46

hmm just to throw a spanner in the works, i've lived in London for 25 yrs + and never have the prices been so mad high..they may well go down in the near future ..

CrazyCockerel · 30/03/2015 06:52

Thanks waving - that thought has also crossed my mind. Interest rates are bound to go up eventually and I get the feeling a lot of people have overcommitted to mortgages. I had thought it might be better to buy the Kent property first, but it depends what's available really. We don't need a mortgage so we are not concerned about interest rates, save that we obviously don't want to buy above market value if the prices are going to nosedive sometime in the next year or two.

Sadly, I'm old enough to remember the 1989 property crash - we paid a mortgage at double digit rates for 7 years and then sold our house in London for less than we paid for it. Fortunately, we were trading up so had the benefit of buying at a good price, but the situation would be different this time and we need to get it right.

I have been studying WC1 for the last 18 months and my take is that properties are 15% -20% lower in some cases, although the agents won't tell you that of course. I now regularly see 2 bedders advertised at £650k or less. There are two 3 bedders near King's X on Zoopla at the moment - obviously not the best of areas or blocks, but even so, a year ago there wouldn't have been anything comparable on the market at that price.

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YonicScrewdriver · 30/03/2015 07:18

Wouldn't letting out a property for 6-12 months at a time be very disruptive? You are unlikely to have enough space at one property to store all your things from the other, surely?

PenguindreamsofDraco · 30/03/2015 09:23

Oh get this place www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/36185638?search_identifier=e805da013ebbe2f90d6cc600fa41044f#hkQTogmqyDvRDmms.97 Grin I know the village and have always adored this house - it's right next to the church and pub overlooking the green, and it's close to Ashford, and 30 mins to Camber.

Not my house before anyone asks Grin

bakingaddict · 30/03/2015 09:32

If you want to be by the Ashford high speed links why not consider an apartment in Stratford Olympic Village. I think you could get a nice two bed for about 400 - 500k

PennilynLott · 30/03/2015 09:55

For the london one i'd go here www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48239299.html. It's near town and the rail link.

CrazyCockerel · 30/03/2015 13:32

Thanks Penguin and Pennilyn - both those properties look ideal, makes me think our plans might just be doable. Stratford is also a good idea, but if we can be in zone 1'ish we would probably go for that, especially if easy access to the Barbican as well as King's X.

OP posts:
CrazyCockerel · 30/03/2015 13:33

Yonic - I think we need to de-clutter and minimise!

OP posts:
YonicScrewdriver · 30/03/2015 15:07

Stratford to Liverpool street or bond street is a direct tube...

jugglingmonkey · 30/03/2015 19:28

There are some fabulous town houses north of Euston/St Pancras, the area is called Somerstown I think. Up and coming area, street market, nice pub, investment flooding in from sci/tech industries...

Let me see if I can find a link

jugglingmonkey · 30/03/2015 19:30
jugglingmonkey · 30/03/2015 19:34
QueenBean · 30/03/2015 19:40

jugglingmonkey

You need to put two square brackets around each side of the link to make it clicky

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48061252.html

CrazyCockerel · 30/03/2015 19:57

Juggling and Queen, thank you so much - that flat is gorgeous and exactly what I am looking for!

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sh77 · 30/03/2015 20:02

You could get a nice mansion flat in Maida Vale eg Wymering Mansions. Gorgeous location.

jugglingmonkey · 30/03/2015 21:50

Pleased to help! It's not the nicest of areas (yet) but Kings X changing so much - these houses/flats will be a huge investment. Walking distance to Euston Stn, Camden Town, and Kings X to boot.

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CrazyCockerel · 31/03/2015 03:32

Ha, ha - I used to live in Wymering Mansions! We sold our 2 bed flat there in 1990 for £100k......!

I agree with Juggling that King's X/Camden looking like the best investment because of its central location and brilliant transport links.

OP posts:
CrazyCockerel · 03/04/2015 13:59

There seem to be a few 'reasonably' priced flats on the market in W2. Anybody have experience/advice about W2 please? It seems to tick the boxes in terms of being quite central for the London purchase

OP posts:
lostintoys · 03/04/2015 16:08

[http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-47663110.html] is overlooking Hampstead Heath and has great bus connections.

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