Page 11 | What do you think about this flat?

originalbiglymavis · 17/04/2017 08:59

Not too hideous but not nice if you have a lodger.

I'd thing very carefully about:

Construction - it looks like it's about the same construction as ours (not very well thought out, crap insulation, now bits dropping off)
Service charge - is any more expensive planned?
Lease
Noise from street
Transport/customer to commute
Local amenities
Parking
Use of premises below
Any future building it construction work planned nearby?
why is it on the market now/ why for so long? Is it stupidly overpriced it is there something wrong with it?

Mooch about it day and night to see what the area is like. Pop into the local shops and coffee bars and see what they are like.

MsHooliesCardigan · 17/04/2017 09:05

But skerry the OP's thread title is 'What do you think about this flat?'. She's clearly wanting opinions from people who know London. Her thread title isn't 'OMG I can't believe property prices in London!!!' If that's what you want to discuss, may I suggest you start your own thread.
We all know that prices in London are ludicrous. Many many of us have googled RightMove out of curiosity. I am perfectly well aware that I could buy a house in Wales (where I'm from) 3 times the size of ours with acres of land and have a couple of hundred thousand pounds left over. But I would be miserable and so would the DCs. I get that you and lots of others don't 'get it'. I'm not asking you to. Personally, living somewhere really remote would drive me insane but I understand that some people love it.
And, to me, it does come across as London bashing because you're implying that we're mugs for paying those prices. And posting pictures of 6 bedroom houses is like saying 'Why on earth wouldn't you want this instead of a poky council flat?' In an ideal world, I would love a big house in London but that's not going to happen so it's a choice between a smallish property in London or a big one somewhere else and I and my family have made our choice.

GinAndTunic · 17/04/2017 09:28

So people living outside London shouldn't be free to discuss property prices in the city.

Feel free to create your own thread about this, skerry.

Alternatively, you could posts comments that constructive. Posts that are disingenuous about the location of where you live and say that the flat is crap are neither helpful nor appreciated.

limitedperiodonly · 17/04/2017 09:29

How did Northerners and others living in places devastated by unemployment as a direct result of Conservative policies during the 1980s react to Norman Tebbit telling them to 'get on their bikes'?

I seem to remember it didn't go down well. I lived in the land of milk and honey in the South East of England at the time, and there were plenty of us who thought it was a bit off too.

While lighting cigars with £50s, that is, and other stereotypical things, of course.

IvyLeagueUnderTheSea · 17/04/2017 09:31

I find London house prices ridiculously high, and as such I have started many threads about highly priced tiny wee flats.

However, when someone is posting saying 'what do you think of this flat' saying what you could buy elsewhere for that money is just pointless. If you know the pricing for that area then comment on the price otherwise butt out.

limitedperiodonly · 17/04/2017 09:47

Do people not understand that some of us Londoners have nice houses. I do. For lots of us, it's not a choice between moving hundreds of miles away or living in a shoebox.

That's not to say I don't understand the housing crisis in London and the wider area of the South East and the effect that has on services here. The Londoners here understand that a little bit better than someone who lives hundreds of miles away because we live it. And still we choose to stay.

I can't afford a six bedroom house in Central London, like the one in Birkenhead that Utopia linked to. But then, I don't need six bedrooms. Not many people do.

And that garden looks like a big mowing headache. I'll stick with mine. I only wish the weather was nicer today so I could sit in it.

MsHooliesCardigan · 17/04/2017 09:58

limited The first thing I thought when I saw that house was that you would spend your whole time cleaning. Actually, I wouldn't spend my whole time cleaning because I'm a slattern so I would either have to employ a cleaner for 20 hours a week or live in a total tip.
Apparently, property in Estonia or Bosnia is dirt cheap. Have you thought about looking there OP?

originalbiglymavis · 17/04/2017 10:01

You'd have a cleaner and a gardiner I suppose.

2tiredtothinkofausername · 17/04/2017 10:03

Check for capital works if it's ex local authority. Someone I know recently got a bill for £30,000

originalbiglymavis · 17/04/2017 10:06

I saw something in the paper like that too. Someone bought their council flat then got a massive bill.

GinIsIn · 17/04/2017 11:11

But surely you can't get a cleaner Up North because EVERYONE has a 7 bedroom mansion so they'd be busy full time cleaning their own....?

HonorBright · 17/04/2017 11:23

So people living outside London shouldn't be free to discuss property prices in the city.

You should feel absolutely free to begin as many threads as you like, but you are being deliberately disingenuous. OP started this thread as a nervous FTB looking for advice. You have not made a single constructive comment. I don't think you're the one who has any reason to feel hard done by.

CrypticDrip · 17/04/2017 11:31

It is tedious when people boggle at London property prices. It's equally tedious when southern-dwellers go onto "what do you think of this house in ?" and announce "wow! That's cheap - you couldn't buy a broom cupboard where I live for that!"

Prices vary according to location: shocker!

limitedperiodonly · 17/04/2017 11:38

property in Estonia or Bosnia is dirt cheap. Have you thought about looking there OP?

Syria's good too MissHooliesCardigan, and the weather is nice. Damascus is a bit pricey, but there are still bargains to be had outside the capital. It depends whether you want to hold your nerve gas.

EllieMiller · 17/04/2017 11:42

Can I second Aleppo as an option? Really warm, not crowded.

Peanutbuttercheese · 17/04/2017 11:48

If you buy with a sibling make sure everythung is watertight legally. I wouldn't buy with a sibling personally though would have happily rented together.

As an actual flat it's a standard flat that has quite a nice bathroom.

I would question why it's been for sale for so long though If the price as Londoners confirm is good for area.

MrsSchadenfreude · 17/04/2017 11:50

Some of us live in London for work - my HQ is here, I don't have the luxury of working or living anywhere else, unless I want a long commute. I live in a large flat in zone 1. We have a garden. I can walk to work in 25 minutes. Yes, I could sell up and buy a house with land up north, but how would I get to work?

GinAndTunic · 17/04/2017 11:55

With the helicopter you can buy with the money you will save by selling your place in London and buying a 40-room palace up north, Ms Schadenfreude.

Skerrywind will be happy to advise you on this, being the expert on property prices in the capital.

limitedperiodonly · 17/04/2017 11:57

Can I suggest MrsSchadenfreude? It's the least you can do and is a terribly rousing in a Scottish way which I guess might please Skerrywind

Tollygunge · 17/04/2017 12:01

I think that's pretty cheap for a 3 bed in that location.

FishyGill · 17/04/2017 12:11

I too am looking at various areas to move to in London, one being Kentish Town, and it is frustrating having to wade through the comments of ' how much?! That could buy a row of houses in Skegness!' It's just not helpful, especially when there are so many people on here with such amazing knowledge of these areas & buying in London.

limitedperiodonly · 17/04/2017 12:50

It's equally tedious when southern-dwellers go onto "what do you think of this house in ?" and announce "wow! That's cheap - you couldn't buy a broom cupboard where I live for that!"

Much as I hate the MN trope of demanding confirmatory links CrypticDrip, but could I trouble you for a link to a MN post like that?

One that intends hurt and ridicule and is not an expression of exasperated sarcasm at the tedious onslaught of chippy people.

If someone shows me their lovely house, as has someone who has moved back to Yorkshire after 25 years in London has recently done, my response is: 'Wow! How lucky are you to live in such a nice place.'

It's a beautiful big house with enormous grounds and a fraction of the price they sold their mortgage-free place in Islington for.

I don't want to live there. They do. I wonder what the locals feel about them injecting their London money into the local property market. They're both Yorkshire, born and bred, so are going back to their roots. But I guess their new place was out of the reach of most Yorkshire-dwellers.

Anyway, the polite thing to say was that I'll visit them and they can visit me and we can continue to enjoy the delights of Yorkshire and London. Because we are friends.

GinAndTunic · 17/04/2017 12:58

It's equally tedious when southern-dwellers go onto "what do you think of this house in ?" and announce "wow! That's cheap - you couldn't buy a broom cupboard where I live for that!"

I haven't seen posts of that nature but it sounds to me more like envy than criticism. I sometimes torture entertain myself by looking at property in other parts of the country and imagining what I could buy if I sold my place in London.

Toofewshoes · 17/04/2017 13:06

As a former Kentish Town resident I know the area really well. The high street is very busy 24/7 and there is a train line directly behind this property. I would take a look at that in particular, do trains run all night along that line? As for the library changing I would think it was unlikely. It is a great place to live we moved surprisingly because we had children and wanted more space. I would not go to Crouch End. It is very different and I would rather be able to jump on a tube or bus into town. An alternative would be a house conversion in one of the surrounding roads, off Leighton Road or behind the high street but they will be more I suspect.

The train line would be the worry for me. And it needs a serious revamp. :)

limitedperiodonly · 17/04/2017 14:10

GinAndTunic I've never seen the kind of post to which CrypticDrip refers either. Perhaps she'll come back to us. Meanwhile I'll spend the rest of my bank holiday in my hellish London broom cupboard.