To think it should be possible to buy a decent place to live in London for £750k?

[Socrates67]

We have been looking at the market for a while now and are ready to pay up to £750k for the right property, but there seems to be nothing available within that price range. Sorry to moan and I know that it's a first world problem, but the prices seem ridiculous.

We would like a 2 bedder in or near WC1/NW1/EC1/SE1, ideally if not in a period building then one that isn't a high rise and with a bit of character and a bit of outside space - balcony, small patio garden or whatever.

Am I being unrealistic? Who can afford these prices? Certainly not most people, I am guessing.

Anyway, rant over and I would be grateful for any advice as to where we might look where we can hopefully achieve what we are looking for without going too far out of the centre. In an ideal world, I would like to be walking distance of theatre land/the south bank. Maybe Bermondsey would be an option, but it seems a bit isolated. Also Lambeth North, but according to the press it is full of gangs.

There are no DC involved in the decision so schools irrelevant, not that I suppose that it makes it any easier......

I think OP that you're going to have to admit that you don't have enough money for what you want.

Near me in Queens Park, most 2 bed flats in period buildings with outside space are seling for between £850,000 and about £1.2 million. In Kilburn yes you could buy a garden flat for that, maybe West Hampstead maybe.

All of these places are short bus rides from town ( Kilburn is about 15 minutes from Marble Arch outside of day time/rush hour traffic)

Or you ditch some of your priorities, go for more modern and no outside space.

I have lived in Z2 and Z3 before moving out to Herts and, to be honest, it seemed almost as much of a faff to go back to outer London after a day/night out. You are still looking at relatively long tube journeys, which takes the edge off things IFYKWIM.

I find this attitude quite strange (zone 1 or bust!). it really isn't the same going from Herts as it is from zone 2 - 3. you can walk from much of zone 2 to zone 1 and there are interesting parts of zone 2 itself (brixton, camden, angel). and you are also not accounting for the bus system. Parts of zone 3 are even reasonably close. But I think perhaps zone 3 and beyond your local transport links really matter.

What about this? You would probably need to be a cash buyer though as the lease is so short you won't get a mortgage. The location is fab.

It's under budget, and tenanted until next summer which will put people off but it would give you a spare £50k to investigate extending the 57 yr lease? An online estimator puts it at around £77k-£80k to extend the lease and another 2 bed in the same block with a long lease sold for £850 in Jan.

You could wait two years to have the right to extend or make it a condition of sale that the current owner extends the lease before departing. A colleague recently did this but had to cover the legal fees and they exchanged early to avoid him being gazumped.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54615098.html

I've lived in central, central London for a couple of years and it is lovely on a summers evening to wander home after a night out. It's really not the same to have to shuffle onto the tube with the rowdy drunks and the stressed and lost tourists. I get why the OP wants, what she wants. Its not for me - while it was convenient it was v noisy and central London is unbearable in a heatwave hence my suggestion of a penthouse river apt

Unfortunately, outside space, period features and a half decently spacious flat not on a busy polluted main road with a lease you can hand onto your kids tend to cost considerably more than £750k. It's not fair but there you go.

Knock it all on the head and move to Paris? Theatre through french might be tricky though.
www.rightmove.co.uk/overseas-property/property-52189448.html

or NY - this puts the London property market into perspective.
www.rightmove.co.uk/overseas-property/property-35941806.html

DP lives in SE1 close to London Bridge station but we still have to drive or get a bus/tube/cab to get to most places we like to visit TBH - West End, Shoreditch, Greenwich, or anywhere with a decent supermarket. We can walk to Borough Market or the South Bank but they're usually so swarming with tourists that you don't get anywhere fast, and the novelty wears off pretty quickly.

As someone who's always lived in the suburbs of zone 3 and 4, it's been surprising to find that it's not really much quicker to get around being in the centre!

Plus the travelcard zone thing is a bit of a misnomer anyway - you can be in, say, Pimlico (zone 1) and be miles from the centre of town, or Shoreditch (zone 2) and be really close to the action.

Oh I do so love the Brunswick Centre

@Tread

wow. both those places look great and do put London into perspective.

it's really shit here.

I can understand not wanting to cope with the tube with that large a budget, but take into account that, realistically, you'd probably only want to get a taxi once a week, if that, and taxi fares don't actually rise that much when you travel further - especially if you're going from zone one outwards, rather than through zone one, esp the West End - because the base charge is so high.

Even with a black cab it wouldn't be strange to pay £20 to get from the National Theatre to, say central Greenwich because there are several clear roads (by London standards) and the journey is fairly quick. £20x 50 (assuming holidays) = £1000pa. Or twice that if you want to get a taxi from home to there too. Are you not willing to pay £2000pa in order to have a nicer home for the rest of the week bar that easy, relaxed journey? It would be more than offset by the extra costs of living near the theatre.

That Brunswick flat is fab drugs. I'll have it! As soon as I make my fortune.

NW1 is Camden - lots of options there
This?
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36096588.html

If someone is asking about buying a 2 bedflat in zone 1 it's reasonable to make suggestions about looking in zone 2 but why suggest 4 bed houses with huge gardens in Sussex and the depths of Essex. Someone looking for a central London lifestyle is unlikely to want to compromise on living a 40 minute overground train ride away

Thanks all.

I have already said that some Z2 areas such as Camden seem closer than some Z1 areas at the outer ends, as the tube map is sort of oblong. Shoreditch is interesting and I am thinking about it quite seriously but, like SE1, there seems to be a lot of high rise Council blocks. An agent told me yesterday that it is very difficult to obtain mortgages on these types of properties due to problems with the concrete.

Does anyone know Shoreditch and which are the best places - some of it is in EC1 isn't it?

I would not pay over a million for a 2 bedder in Queens Park though, when I could buy somewhere much closer in for the same money. I just think it is a silly amount of money for an area that is not that special and feels a long way out of the centre. Ditto anything very far up the Northern line - the misery line and I are old friends, although a colleague raves about Kentish Town and I have seen some good properties there which match my other preferred requirements.

I have seen flats in Chelsea within that budget (ie up to £1.2m). I could pay more but I don't want to pay more than £750k to be honest, as I am not at all sure that some of the prices are sustainable when interest rates go up.

My impression is that the market is lower in some parts, although there is a mixed message in the press, but that some sellers are wildly aspirational in their asking prices.

Perhaps I will have to go for a one bedder. I have seen some really nice ones within budget and I could invest in a good sofa bed or one of those that retracts into the wall.

I quite like the Brunswick Centre and a flat came on yesterday on the Golden Lane estate which was within budget but I couldn't get very excited about it. I do feel that if I can't get even a bit excited about a property then it is probably not for me.

I like that one in Camden a lot darling, thank you! I do take the point about just getting a cab when required and also that some central parts are overrun with tourists.

Maybe we should consider Paris. DH is a French speaker.

Hmmm, OP you don't seem to know London, as it is now, that well.

Queens Park is well connected, as quick to the centre as Shoreditch easily ( 10-15 mins on the Bakerloo to Piccadilly Circus. Its far longer from Shoreditch.

Also have you considered that central isn't as quite as vibrant as it once was? The empty flats, huge prices etc have driven out lots of the more interesting bars, restaurants and such. Yes it is great for a bit (lived there for 3 years) but in the end you get sick of fighting tourists everytime you want to go to the supermarket for milk, the lack of any community really etc etc.

A good zone 2 place combines the best of both worlds, how bout Maida Vale on the fringes of both?

Lurker you make some good points about the high prices driving out a lot of people, so the arty bohemian types settle elsewhere and leave the centre to hedge fund managers and tourists.

However, rightly or wrongly, I had gained the impression that Shoreditch was more interesting and lively whereas Queens Park/Kensal Rise were more for families. As I have said, my children are older now so I am not looking for Nappy Valley. Nor am particularly looking for a community because I wouldn't be planning to live there all the time. I don't mind growing a beard and wearing a cardi!

A journey of 15 mins on the Bakerloo also requires a walk at both ends and waiting time for tubes, so the reality is that a journey to the theatre is going to be at least 30-35 minutes without transport problems. I don't know why some Londoners always try to make out that you can be from A to B in no time at all when they must know that's simply not the case.

I know I am being picky but I don't really want to live anywhere where I can't just walk back from the theatre etc even if it means having a smaller or non period flat. I am not criticising anybody else's choices - it is just a question of priorities.

We used to live in W9 which I liked but not that desperate to go back.

they don't come up often but I've seen a couple this year of the flats with balconies on the South Bank which were just under 750. I'd be concentrating my search there and Bloomsbury

Actually, the area around Baker Street tube station is not hugely expensive for central London. Lots of large 1920s-30s mansion blocks around there. You might have to substitute a balcony for "outside space" but why not have a look at those too op?

Thanks Jeff and Mintyy - good advice!

Shoreditch is very good if you want trendy bars, live music and a fair amount of bridge and tunnel drinking groups. Its also got some great pop up restaurants and such going on. You may find yourself a little older than the rest of the crowd though, and that not everything will fit your taste.

Its not an easy walk from the West End to Shoreditch, about an hour at a brisk ( London pace) walk, its about the same from Maida Vale really. You got my back up a bit there with your comment: "I don't know why some Londoners always try to make out that you can be from A to B in no time at all when they must know that's simply not the case. " You make comments like that and want to be "walking distance from the theater" when you obviously don't seem to know London that well yourself. I'd say 15 min or so on the tube with say 5 -10 mins to get to where you want is an easier trip than 50 mins- an hour walk which actually wouldn't be that nice to do at night.

If you want to be walking distance, are you thinking 10-15 mins or an hour?

Sorry lurker, I certainly didn't mean to offend. I know people feel loyal to their own individual area.

Ideally I want to be near Russell Square/Holborn/Farringon which areas I do know well and which enables even me to walk everywhere at my snail's pace. I did say that I didn't mind hopping on a bus just that I prefer to avoid the underground if possible, especially at night.

No, I don't know Shoreditch and you may well be right about the age profile, but I also have in mind that the adult DC are likely to want to use the flat/live in it for a while, which is why I would prefer more than one bedroom and they are keen on the area. It sounds lively and bohemian with good eating and drinking and I'm up for that. I'm not quite ready for the slippers and tea at the garden centre yet, thank you very much!

We are not under any time constraints so I will just keep looking. There are some interesting new properties added today. I only need to get lucky once and have my finance lined up. I am conscious that if I can present as a cash buyer, there will be more opportunities. Also, the received wisdom is that Xmas/New Year is a good time to look when most people are otherwise occupied.

Queens Park is where I live - and indeed full of families but super quick to get most places. Maida Vale less so, and that little bit closer to the centre. My retired parents bought a flat in Maida Vale - 10 minutes walk from me, 5 min walk to tube, buses into town, 15 min walk to Lords (great for my cricket mad dad) - in a portered block with parking and some outside space (communal courtyard garden and wrap around balcony) a few years back a good few hundred thousand under your budget, spent a little bit doing it up, and love it. I'd recommend adding it to your list to check out if you're willing to extend your search zone. I work in Farringdon and would hate to live around here - the noise from the meat market lorries through the night really carries and you do have plenty of rowdy club goers falling out of bars/clubs through the early hours of the night/weekends. But different things light different people's fires, so good luck with your search

Shoreditch proper is WAY expensive, and actually just very 'city' and not very residential and not busy at the weekends. The 'city' is creeping northwards. Much more life and community in the slightly surrounding areas like Hoxton.

You will not get a nice 2 bed WH conversion for £750k.

There are quite a lot of new builds around Hoxton and Old Street coming on line, and they are 750 for 2 bed + balcony mainly but I know you said you didn't want a new build.

This is my neck of the woods and it is super fun except on Friday and Saturday nights when its really bridge and tunnel.

I find Shoreditch very well located for getting around, especially when combined with a quick boris bike south to jump on a central line train.

If you wanted to live in shoreditch or the surrounding areas, best to come and spend several hours walking around and seeing what the various roads are like.