Anyone else in walthamstow property frenzy madness? Feeling confused and hopeless!

[thepeanutsparent]

Just wondered if anyone else was trying to buy in walthamstow ATM... We are renting and hoped to buy but seem to be priced out by crazy competitive open house viewings etc.

Slightly clueless first time buyers and Not sure whether to stick to the area which we live or move out to leyton/ chingford...

Any advice welcome!

We've just moved to chingford - today! same reason, nearer in was bonkers! So far chingford seems nice, neighbours came to say hello and welcome...

Orchid that makes me feel a lot better! Did you know people in Chingford already, or how did you check
Out the area? It is bonkers indeed In w'stow.

Argh should have said congratulations on your new place!

My DM bought a place in Orford Road last year - the prices are crazy, but then that's true for all of London. We had to buy in Bucks as we just couldn't afford a house in London. God how I miss it.

Orford road is super nice! At least you have a bit more space out in bucks? The sickening thing is how much prices /demand have jumped here in only a few months - just as we were getting deposit together. Huff.

E17 has gone absolutely crazy! When we started looking in January it was a lot more affordable...but we lost out on a property as our flat was yet to be sold. When we started house hunting again in April we couldn't believe how much prices had shot up! Homes that we saw advertised for £400K were now on the market for £75K more! One house had 90viewings for there open house weekend (how is that even practically possible?!). Thanks to the recent Guardian article & publicity elsewhere it seems that everyone is jumping on the E17 bandwagon. I see estate agents are now branding it as "the little Hackney"

In the end we looked elsewhere. We found a lovely home in South Woodford (sale in progress so fingers crossed it works out!) and are so much happier with what we've found. If this house had been advertised in e17 it would have been way over our budget!

Good luck with your house hunting!

Pinkpumpkins - Lucky you! I thought S Woodford is going through the same. The lovely house we were looking had 32 views on Sat alone and had several offers flowing in at least 10% over the asking price.

OP, it might be the time of the year too - loads of people didn't get their first school place and are going into house-hunting frenzy to be near good school as result and it's also spring time of the year (it will be a lot quieter later in the year). If you are looking for a house that is 400-600K, the competition is at the most cutthroat in London.

My mum lives near Chingford and it's nice, but I've not been there a lot.

Good luck with house-hunting, OP!

Thank you! It's really good to hear other people's experiences. My heart did sink when I saw that guardian article, but even so it's crazy. Hopefully something will turn up a bit further from the epicentre of estate agents dream scenario.
That's a good point about the time of year - I had no idea about that.

And good luck with everything to you both too!

Hyperspacebug - where are you looking?

We were dead set on e17, and were so disappointed when we realised that we were fast becoming outpriced in a very competitive market, but much prefer South Woodford now we've found it. It's safe, green, has the central line, good schools and a Waitrose! E17 & N16 are only a short car ride away if you need your trendy fix.

Pinkpumpkins - we are concentrating on SE London at the moment. Hither Green/Brockley has similar sort of bugaboo democraphics as Walthamstow - people who'd like to live in trendy area but can't afford :) Then there are people who'd otherwise have big bonuses and looked elsewhere for million pound houses if not for this recession - are now looking for same houses as us! Private schools applications are dropping! Worse competition!

We are open to South Woodford as well - we really liked it when we saw it last week. It has not only Waitrose but also M&S Food next door :) The house that was swiftly sold after 32 views on one day was this one:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38997145.html?premiumA=true

I heard that SE London had suddenly sky rocketed in price too. The London property market is truly in a league of its own.

Come to South Woodford! We have been converted. At first we thought it felt too suburban, but it only takes 30mins to get to Oxford Street and
Liverpool St is only 15mins away. I'm glad we gave it a second chance as the we were able to buy a large property for less than a 2-bed flat in Stoke Newington.

I've since heard that people from N16 are now looking beyond E17 and are creeping into South Woodford. No doubt property values will go up if that happens. How lucky were the sellers of that home to get 10% over their asking price?

We didn't really know chingford at all, just it's proximity to the forest that won us over - and the house which is fab. We also like how quit it is, no sirens etc plus we got alot more for our money