I cannot find a single house that I like in London costing less than 700k.

[QuintessentialShadows]

I despair.

It is either me being spoilt, or.....

gah.....

Tatty I'm trying to remember (it was about a year ago). But it seemed worth every penny. We were looking around the same budget as the house the OP has linked to. I think it was a percentage of the final cost but they do all the negotiating etc for you. We had dithered about for 3 years before that trying to find somewhere and we simply had to find somewhere by that point. We saw 13 houses in a day and (unlike the previous 200+ we had already seen) they were all a good match. There were two that we could have bought and the company did a bit more work for us (getting a builder in to one of them to see about extending the loft) and then we made an offer.

Replastering seems the way to go Quint. You love the house; it makes sense. Get a quote.

yes I agree, be interesting to find out how much it is.

Or keep an eye out for a similar house, that area could be the answer.

replastering sounds like the best idea - sw london may be short on afforable housing but it's swimming with jolly good polish builders so i reckon you could get a good job done for much less than it would cost you to move.

You are already in negative equity because you own a house which doesn't stand up to the value placed on the area. The house you've linked to is an outrageous price for sonmething so small. You can't afford to make that mistake again.
You either need to accept that area is beyond your budget and look at other areas or replaster your old home.

Oh dear have been in London too long when a small house at that price in SW looks reasonable...

Awful sarcasm on this thread, not helpful at all. The house prices in London are a problem, because it prices average wage earners way out of the market - nurses, teachers, paramedics etc, all workers that we need, are not able to afford to live where they are needed.

@ marshabrady me too - i was wondering what the catch was

ha me too

this is cheaper, with possibility to expand into the loft. It has side access to the garden for bikes and motorbike. It has been on the market since this automn. I reckon they might be open to offers.
What do you reckon?

yes belgo - to all the people that say "just move", it's not really that simple. friends, jobs, family, school etc mean you can't just up it and move to the sticks (assuming the sticks were any cheaper anyway - not round here they're not).

you also have to look at the whole picture - our mortgage is ridiculous, but it enables us to live in an area with stuff in walking distance and viable public transport so we only run one car which gets used about once a week.

The biggest problem with moving is the commute.

Any where with an easy commute has high house prices too, plus travel is expensive (from what I have heard, I don't fancy commuting).

But it was only 70 meters square.... That IS pretty small for 440k?!

It is pretty small, but I'm used to the inflated prices now.

A 3-4 bed house here is £1.2m. And I am in a really lovely street next to a so-so area.

Then friends in SW well, forget about it. Beautiful apartments for £2m+ (but they do live centrally).

as commutes go, SW london isn't bad in terms of reliability/cost (or is that what you meant?), which is another reason for living here even though the houses are £££

I do actually really like this one I know the previous owners, actually. A lovely family with three kids.

But my all time favourite here is this one but much more expensive due to all the extensions.

We would probably only choose commute if we can't keep moving onwards and upwards in London. I love zone 2, but maybe could get more space (?).

Ah yes that last one, you could be happy there Quint I think....

Well not that I know you , but it is miles better.

that second one is nice and not too expensive for the area

Marsha "Onwards and upwards" in London is virtually impossible. IME of living here for 15 years, you can only manage that if both of you are in very high earning professions. Eg city fund managers or divorce barristers.

Everyone else I know started off renting in Zone 2 and then progressively had to move further out as space requirements grew.

Thanks BlameIt.

Quint, that last house is lurvely. Could you buy one without that lovely back extension thingy and get it done on a different house when you have more money?

BTW, Quint, do you remember that thread you started where a mother with 3 kids posted that you couldn't have a middle class lifestyle in Zone 2 on less than half a million a year if you had a mortgage and school fees?

I was boggle eyed at the time (have no kids) but now that I'm in the market for a family house of my own, I'm not any more.

Thomas I know it's tricky. We have a couple of things up our sleeve (I am sahm but could get good salary). Dh changes at work (ptnership). Plus have good equity due to large savings when buying.

I know a lot of people who have easy type jobs, my mind boggles at their life-style (prep schools etc), but they bought houses 20 years ago etc and have virtually no mortgage. We bought near the height bah!

All of the DHCA houses you've linked to are nice.

I think re-plastering would be a relatively cheap option/ solution. I especially like the one that has been extended - maybe you could buy a smaller unextended house and then look to have it extended in time.