Buying in London. Come here and share your stories

[Flowers2014]

So we are trying to buy in London and the market is crazy. Everything that we've seen has gone for 10%-20% over the asking price. Because of DP and his work we can't go too out of London which is making this whole process much harder than it needs to be. We have a good budget but in this market it's just not enough.

I'm tired by the process now so we are taking a break from it. We have until Nov to move out of out rented flat so we are going take the spring off and try again in the summer.

Anyone else in the same boat of trying to buy in London? Come share your stories with me!

Lulupeg and YellowDahlias - we offered on The Fieldings today - keep your fingers crossed for us!

Oh excellent. Hope you manage to get it.

Oh excellent! Really hope you get it, such a great spot and sounds like a good street. I think the asking price is pretty good too!!

Thanks both, will come and post about it

Any suggestions on where DP and I can buy would be greatly appreciated

We love where we live but just can't afford it. We currently rent

If you had £250-300k to spend in London on a 2 or 3 bed where would you buy?

stonehairbrush I would be looking in Eltham, Charlton...

I haven't read through this whole thread yet, but we are struggling to try and buy a house in West Norwood where we currently own a 3 bed maisonette (valued recently at £450k..I nearly fell through the floor)

The area has taken a long time, but has finally 'up and come' a bit, and prices are reflecting this in a crazy way. A very ordinary 3 bed terraced house on our road sold recently for £749k in a matter of days. Open house viewings on the Saturday and a Sold sign up on the Monday. I was quite taken aback to see the vast queue of people waiting outside to look at it. We had a half notion to have a look ourselves, but having seen that and knowing we couldn't really stretch that far, we decided not to bother.

It's come to something when we have been priced out of the area I have lived in since 1999, and which was always pretty unfashionable and a bit rough round the edges, and despite our flat being valued at a ridiculous price, it doesn't help when everything else has shot through the roof.

Shame as there are some really good schools, one of which is a 5 min walk from our maisonette.

We are contemplating cutting our losses and relocating to Brighton!

stonehairbrush I am in South Norwood and I think you could still get 2/3 bed house for your budget.

What I love about South Norwood, aside from affordability, is excellent commute, a massive park on my doorstep and rising community spirit.
I have met people who moved here from central London, Shoreditch, Rotherhithe, Streatham, Southwark etc. and none of them said "we want to get out asap" - they all want to dwell on and make it work. This gives me confidence that it can only get better.

BTW the value of my house went up 50% in the last 12 months.

DavetheCat2001why do you want to move? Is your 3 bed maisonette too small? You may find that many houses are not that much bigger than flats/maisonettes...

*littlecrystal' to be honest I'm in no desperate hurry to move, a house would be lovely but I feel personally we have enough room for right now.

OH is the one pushing more for us to find more space. We have 2 DC's, a 3 year old and an 8 month old baby who both currently have their own rooms (which I think is a luxury to be honest!), but we are bursting at the seams here. No spare room or anywhere for guests/in-laws to stay, and OH is still sore at having to give up his 'music/boys toys' room when DD arrived!

We have a garden (which is a rarity in a flat I think, especially a top floor as we are), but it's desperately child-unfriendly, and accessed down a steep flight of stairs through in the kitchen.

OH wants more space and a ground floor with a bigger outside space.

I think the realisation is hitting him a bit that these things are just not affordable to mere mortals in London now. He would prefer we quit London altogether (not a Londoner), wheras I think once you are out, you are out for good, and I'm a bit 'cold-footed' about it all (I am a Londoner!)

I know for a fact that our maisonette would fly off the shelf if we put it on the market, and we would have a nice chunk of equity as I bought it as a wreck back in 2005 and have been overpaying the mortgage where I can over the years. I'm just aware that we would struggle to find anything suitable in our budget.

Just as an aside, South Norwood does seem to be really up and coming too. I think you can still buy nice Victorian houses for a reasonable price (in London terms) and it is still near to Crystal Palace.

I fear it won't be affordable for long though!

DavetheCat2001 your reasons for moving are understandable. Early days for you, but I would think of schools - both primary and secondary! and then decide on location. Perhaps moving a little bit further out (South Norwood :) ) as opposed to Brighton would be possible? Brighton is nice but I am not too sure about state schools.

stone depending on what your commute requires I would consider Harrow (and Hillingdon which I don't know as well). Good schools, good transport, green space and decent value for London. Prices are rising (we are selling there) but not totally mad.

www.johnpayne.com/p/3-bedroom-house-in-old-woolwich-road-greenwich-se10-165816/?MinPrice=500000&MaxPrice=1000000&sold_stc=1&for_sale=1
Right beside a busy pub, and in need of a complete refurb. I reckon there will be a bidding war come Saturday.

Flowers2014 - If you get a shifty on, you will still get a very nice 2-3 bed flat in the conservation area (ABC Roads of Streatham Hill), been living here for 6 years and it is crazy how up and coming it has become. Shed loads of good restaurants, pubs and nightlife. 10 min bus journey from Brixton and you can get the Thameslink service from Tulse Hill to Blackfriars in 15 mins. I do the journey everyday and it takes me 30 mins door to door.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45498596.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45469178.html

Streatham will continue to see price rises as it is seeing the overspill from Balham and Brixton and it's got so much going on it in.
We have just put our 1 bed flat up for sale and it sold in 24 hours for 10% over asking price. And thats in the less desirable area of Streatham Common.

Trust me, you will love it. Best Fish and Chips in South London too.

where are you moving to babydad if you don't mind me asking? We are very near to Streatham Common and happy here also

Dave we have a couple of steep steps and it used to worry me with DD 3 but this year she has mastered them and it's fine now. Having a flat with no-one above you and outside space I think is great! We have a 2 bed house and I just can't believe an extra bedroom now would cost us so much more!

When I'm having a day dream moment I think about how I would turn this into a 3 bedder, I don't want to go up into the loft but would change the front room to the master bedroom and extend the kitchen dinner out the back to make it a family room. We are EOT so I dream it wouldn't be a problem in my fantasy world

But we do plan to leave London in the next few years so I won't bother!

Possumpoo - We are looking to move further SE. I would love to move to Hither Green, but that has seen eyewatering price increases just in the last 6 months. Been hanging about alot in the Corbett Estate, Catford recently as you can still get as decent sized house for our budget of 500k.
We are mixed with happiness that our flat is worth so much and sadness that what we thought was a huge budget gets us nothing!

Would love to stay in Streatham.

I know. An extra room would seriously cost us around £100,000 more than we paid 3 years ago. Mind. Boggling.

And I can understand your happiness and your sadness. I am glad we plan to leave London (well the UK to be precise) as selling our home for so much but still having bugger all budget to buy again in London would be very upsetting.

Good luck with your search

Especially if that third bedroom is a box room above the stairs! I'd rather convert the loft or squeeze a windowless bathroom in the middle of 1st floor and regain 3rd bedroom back.

It's been really interesting reading everyone's London house hunting experience plus all the suggestions about where to look. I wish we had better news but it's been pretty grim on our search recently.

I guess I'll give a little update of what's been going on with us, after another 2 Saturdays of open days looking at small and very over priced 2 bedroom flats, we've called off our search. DP and I decided that we will be a better place next year (bigger deposit and more secure job status for me) so we will try and ride out the next year. It sounds crazy but we both got cold feet about having such a huge mortgage for such small flats.

Someone on the thread asked the question about who would buy a 600k+ flat after help to buy finishes and it hit home with both of us. It will be the best or wort financial decision we'll make but at least we made it together

How's everyone else's searches going?

Its grim up here in far north London.

We are helping my mum to buy a one bedroom flat and have seen a ntoiceable change in the market in the last 6 months or so. More coming on, but prices are up and its creeping back to the 'we are having one show day and then it goes to sealed bids!' culture that it was in 2006/7 + anything decent we have seen has gone for over the asking price.

A year ago, you could get a one bed for 200-220k round here...now anything worth seeing is 240k plus. Chain-free here, but reliant on a lump sum of savings, so what we would have to get in mortgage increases with the prices, and its nerve wracking.

Also seen a real change in the attitude of estate agents. They simmered for a few years when the market was depressed, but are back to their cocky, arsehole-ish self again now its more buoyant. We put in an offer over the asking price on a flat a few weeks ago. Estate agent said they'd call us back. We chased and chased, they were 'busy'. Eventually got a curt email saying the property had sold. No manners, no proper engaging with customers. Depressing.

girloutofglasgow - Palmers Green is a good area to buy. Anywhere north, leafy and and near a tube that still has houses for under 500k is gold dust territory.

We bought not far from there 7 years ago. It was a nice-but-shit suburb that was just about affordable, compared to gazillionaires Highate/Hampstead, trendy but extortionate Crouch End/Muswell Hill and still-pricey Finchley. In that 7 years, even our crappier neighbouring areas - Friern Barnet, East/New Barnet, Palmers and Bounds Green, New Southgate etc - have become expensive. Very little that is decent and under half a mil.

Our road is a street of fairly non-descript 4 bed Edwardian semis in a pretty dull but functional area (high street 5 mins away and tube 10 mins away) but there is little on for under 800k and 5 beds go for over a million. Crazy crazy times when even the furthest out north London neighbourhoods are this expensive though

This is what you can get for £600k in Harrow. Half a mile from Harrow and Wealdstone Station from where the fast train to Euston takes 15 mins.

Or this on a nice road.

Celtic- thank you for the suggestions. I know that bit of London very well. The parents of a friend live near by (and I have visited tons over the years) and you need a car to go anywhere and sadly I don't drive.