Location, Location, Location S43

[Turmerictolly]

Just tuning in half way through tonight’s episode and couldn’t see another thread. Is this a new series?

I too preferred the Kingston house.
i don’t live in the UK and have no idea what either area is like.
Are they similar in vibe ?
I wouldn’t like the trains passing so that Barnes house would be out for me.
Having people over for a barbecue on a Sunday afternoon and the trains whooshing past.
No thanks.

I can’t believe they went for that one over the Kingston house.
Maya had said the train noise would be a dealbreaker but she compromised big time.

And what’s with the pdas- they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. 🤔🤔🤔

I did prefer the Kingston house but Barnes is one of the most desirable areas in London (if you are that way inclined). Village feel but still London. Kingston is great but a separate town so commute would be further. Great transport links though..

The man clearly wanted the Barnes address…

My theory is that people who do constant PDAs don’t have a very strong relationship. But then I can’t even bear to hold hands in public…

Despite all the touchy feelys, she cried and had to give in on the Barnes house. ☹️
I’d love to see a Lx3 follow up programme on Maya and Ben and Chloe in the future.

I think Chloe must have an interesting backstory having been fostered.
It can’t have been an easy start for her.
I’m glad she got the house she wanted and hope she’ll be happy there.

i’m off to google Barnes and Kingston upon Thames 😀

I thought the flat Chloe went for was tiny. I liked the one Phil showed her after that ( the Victorian conversion), much nicer layout and higher spec. She had already fallen for flat 1 though.

I can’t see Maya practicing yoga in that garden with loud trains passing every few minutes. The noise bothered her right from the beginning. It’s a huge compromise and a lot of money to spend (and the stamp duty will be hefty) on something you can’t change. She’ll have to find another park to do her practice. Hopefully the house is close to Richmond park.

I used to rent a flat backing onto the railway. The bedroom was at the back and I didn’t sleep properly for years. The freight trains at night were so noisy and very long. People said I’d get used to it and I tried but it just didn’t happen.

I’m glad the doctor, Chloe, found a place she loved. She used the word ‘perfect’ several times. What more can you want? Good luck to all of them.

I didn't mind the PDAs - I thought it was sweet. Young couple, recently married, in love. I then felt really sad at the end at how he thought only about himself, with her compromising so much that she was in tears - and he was OK with that. Quite shocking. Normally at the end you see a delighted couple, excitedly making plans for their new house. She though in the follow up shots was very flat. It really made me sad and the poor woman now has to live with that bloody awful train at the end of the garden which, for a lot of people, will never make up for the house, not matter how nice it is. In the early shots she was doing yoga in the park. I can't imagine her doing yoga in her own garden but with a train thundering by on a regular basis was what she wanted/expected. Very poor show on the part of the husband.

I agree @Maplewood6. I felt sad and disappointed for her. Not just because of the yoga and her wants but on principle as she didn’t feel like an equal partner in the decision.

Barney is very posh, lots of celebs live there, village money vibes. Kingston is nice but more town vibes - some of the villages around it would have been a better choice imo. Teddington, Surbiton, Oxshot would have done the job better.

The plane noise is shocking in Barnes, I can never understand why it's so popular. Maybe they decided that the flight path + the train noise was just too much. You expect the planes but train noise is something you can opt out of in the area.

My sil lived in Barnes, it’s pretty but I found it so pretentious and up itself.

That's what my DH said 😬

But didn’t they go for the Barnes house ?

Yes they went for the house in Barnes. So both plane and train noise.
Barnes is lovely though as is Wimbledon and Richmond. Kingston isn’t as prestigious, is bigger town, not villagey. It has a nice community.

I didn't like his vibe either ... they shouldn't have bought any of them unless they were on the same page.

They looked like brother and sister.

Loved Chloe, fab hair.

Thank you @Pastalover1for clarifying, I thought I was losing it. 😂

Am I seeing something on LLL or imaging it?: they seem to have a trend of taking people to see things that are way under the stated budget.
Is that because things go for higher than asking price. Or is it that K&P can see that we are due a correction and they are trying to stop their house-hunters from overpaying just before a price crash.

In Scotland they do it because of how the market works. Houses are marketed at "offers over" prices and then sold at certain % above that. % vary according to area (more desirable area sell for higher % above the OO price). The 'home report' value they talk about is the expected price the house will go for and gives buyers a target to aim their offers at. It's sort of like the English 'sealed bids' scenario. So LLL will show a house on the market at £175k to a buyer with a £200k budget because that's what the house is expected to actually sell for.

I think they also try to show a range of budget options in English properties now as they used to get criticised for only showing people houses at the top of/over budget all the time. Kirsty used to get a load of stick on SM for encouraging people to overextend themselves financially. I expect the producers caught wind of it, realised that the public weren't interested (or actually found it distasteful), especially in difficult economic times, and pulled back a bit on the top of budget stuff.

Kirsty used to get a load of stick on SM for encouraging people to overextend themselves financially
Thanks, didn't know that.
It's an interesting perspective. We babyboomers had a culture of extending ourselves as far as we could; it's how we ended up with big houses. Don't the youngsters want that? (we had "difficult economic times" too, btw)

Some don't particularly want big houses if they can't afford to live in them. Remember the rate of repossessions in the 15% era?

FWIW, I think it's been proven time and time again that the gap between wages and property prices these days is greater than it ever has been. Even adjusting for inflation and previous economic conditions.

I think also lots of people want to put their own stamp on a property, new kitchen, bathrooms etc which can be very expensive. So if you can get a good deal under your max budget then you have money to play with.

Remember the rate of repossessions in the 15% era?
I certainly do! Thankfully, we weren't part of that. You wanted to "extend as far as you could" not "overextend".

Yes, but don't you factor that in? You think "we can afford £450k for the house and £25k to do it up".
I wouldn't be impressed if K&P then showed me a house £75k under my specified budget but missing a key requirement e.g the right number of bedrooms.

Yeah I guess so. But each house varies massively with how much work needs doing. Agree it’s surprising that they show them houses so far under budget though.

but only one of the reasons though, bit simplistic to suggest otherwise. Wages versus house prices is also a massive factor.

I was really surprised that they brought the Barnes house. The one in Kingston was much nicer and larger. They will regret the train line.