buying a London flat- doing the right thing?

GracieP

Actually I've looked it up a bit further and Emmanual Road SW12 is in Lambeth borough, Thornton ward and as such is Streatham Hill, rather than Balham.

And apparently Emmanual Road, has more than it's share of problems.

Thornton: burglary; anti social behaviour and gangs on Poynders estate and Cotton and Angus House; and, robbery of the person, specifically along Emmanuel Road;

http://www.streathamlabour.org.uk/2008/06/safer-neighbourhoods-your-priorities/

byrneand

I think this is getting a bit off-track an dnot particularly useful to the OP (I take some responsibility).

The facts as far as I can see it are that the flat is:

1.) In the location that the OP wants to buy in (this is not a whim decision since she has lived there for a number of years).
2.) Compared to many areas of London it IS a nice area... not copared to other parts of the Uk however
3.) Has many great features in terms of location, local ammenities, friends.
4.) OP obviously is financially solvent and mature (if you take £70k over 7 years is an after-tax saving of about £9k pa assuming capital build).
5.) The figures look about right in terms of being able to afford the flat. It doesn't take into account some things but equally doesn't include others like bonuses and salary increase.

6.) It sounds like a great flat and is exactly what you want.

If you do decide to buy it then I'm sure you'll be amazingly happy and you know what for two years don't look twice at what properties are selling for in the area. Once you have the keys you can't influence the market and if you don't need to sell or remortgage then it doesn't really matter.

If you decide not to buy then lets hope the market does fall a little bit more for you and you get the same flat cheaper or find one as nice sometime soon.

Best of luck whatever you decide.

... and maybe invest in some Kevlar

pickledpink

olly300 wrote: »

It's also the postcode for parts of Streatham.

Both places suffer from the London effect which is nice areas next to crime riddled council estates.

Unlike in lots of other cities in the UK council estates and council properties are not so segregated. So you could easily find yourself living next to council tenants.

Oh and Clapham Junction or Battersea ( as Clapham Junction is the just the name of the train station) is in Wandsworth.

You are wrong!! Streatham's postcode is SW16 or SW2!

SW12 is Balham.

You obviously don't know the area either!

pickledpink

lynzpower wrote: »

streatham is SW2 in parts and sw16 too. Maybe gracie mistyped?

I dont tihnk anyone can suggest that crime isnt high in clapham- maybe not "high" for london, but certainly high when compared with outside., I live in Lambeth, and work a lot in clapham ( few days a month im there) Freinds of mine have lived there for years, and I go for drinks there fairly often. Ive never lived there cos I wouldnt pay the premium for what is after all dodgy city.

Few incidents that I can talk of.

*gang of hoodies rounding on my van eyeing my sat nav as I was parking up ( scooted off quicly)
* colleague ( lady in mid 40s) came out of the post office on clapham high st around lunchtime and was offered crack
*drug addicts dealing from a steps of a property NOT THIERS! worth 1.7million, flagrantly in the daytime until police "moved them on"
* 3 freinds have had thier bags snatched at various times of the day on the high st , always before midnight
*one freinds boyfreind threatened with knife at cashpoint on clapham high st friday night at about 8pm

so not LOADS of evidence, but certainly none of these things would happen in the celebrity village/ small town where my parents live. So you can see why the upmy street results will make anyone who is not used to living with the insane level of crime that we do when we live here.- shocked and think the area is a hole. theyd be right! It broadly is!!

Who cares where gordon ramsey lives :rotfl: loads of celebrtities live in dalston as well, doesnt mean its untouchable :rotfl: My mate moved into a block of flats opposite where Amanda holden lived in St Johns wood and there was a gang of hoodies with a machete outside her door. ( again we drove off sharpish) Ive had clients live in the same road as celebrities when I was a social worker.

Poverty is cheek by jowl with riches in this city, and its one of the most unequal cities on earth. the idiosyncracies are fascinating, one of the reasons Im here.

my rule of thumb is , vast majority is rough, there are some nicer bits, and they usually have a waitrose.

Yep you're right - Balham's got a Waitrose,:p

GracieP

pickledpink wrote: »

You are wrong!! Streatham's postcode is SW16 or SW2!

SW12 is Balham.

You obviously don't know the area either!

Wrong! Emmanuel Road is in Lambeth borough, Thornton ward. Which is Streatham Hill.

Unless of course you somehow are correct and the electoral register, my A to Z, the Labour Party and the Greater London Authority are wrong.

pickledpink

byrneand wrote: »

Another way to consider it is that you've become accustomed to it. The higher prices are due to the supply and demand factors of London, coupled witht he merits of Clapham/Balham relative to other parts of London (e.g as I mentioned E. London, NE and far West).



- I took Clapham North - Balham to illustrate that there is a fair distance between the two areas. I then used Clapham common... "which is commonly recognised as the central underground in clapham" to show that a journey from Bank to Balham is approximately 24% longer than one to Clapham.

... Both compared to the majority of the country are pretty much holes. This is why most people as soon as they qualify as solicitors, lawyers, doctors etc.. choose to leave



.. is that Brixton/stockwell that's a mile away... or about 10 minutes on bike... probably want to keep a hoodie on to keep warm whilst your peddling though. I'm being sarky there but seriously as you walk out of any of the tubes after 9pm it's properly shady. As bad as any of the worst parts of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham etc. that I've seen and lived.



... find a set of data then that says clapham has crime rates within 20% of the national average.

Oh, you're hysterical!!!:rotfl:


You haven't got a clue!

You've just argued with yourself!

On the one hand you're trying to say that Clapham North is miles away from Balham.........................and then in the next breath you're saying Stockwell is just a bicycle ride away!!!!!!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Stockwell is even FURTHER away from Balham than Clapham North. You're doing your Googling wrong!!!

By the way, my ex next-door neighbour was a professor - and he still lives there. He's now retired and is in his 60's.:p

pickledpink

lynzpower wrote: »

I also was going to say about the budget being tight.
I dont think you wil have the ability to overpay 100 per month to be honest, as you have not budgeted for the things you do not buy every month.

I dont buy a holiday every month, but probalby spend 2k a year - therefore every month the money gets set aside for it. Likewise dental treatment. Without budgeting for everything I think you will be in very deep water.

Additionally, you have missed out the maintaince and service charge costs on the fla- not only the decor inside which sounds liek you wont need to do much decorating wise, but more the external fabric of the building. ,especially if yours is SOF, you will have to be puitting away at least a couple of hundred a month for major repairs such as roof/ guttering/ staircase work and other related maintainence? Who manages the property at the moment- or is it SOF.

I know as I bought a flat without budgeting and its exactly what happened. you need to be totally sure you can afford it and Im looking at your budget and I dont think you can- there is SO much you have missed. Do you really only spend 25 a week on going out? I bought a round of 4 drinks the other day in a fairly average fulham pub and it was 27 quid. Im not flamboyant at all, but thats what things cost.

Please please tread very carefully, and save yourself from making the mistakes that I made. It was only through finding MSE that now I could see my mistake- that I did not budget. If I had budgeted properly before hanf, I really would have saved a lot of heartache all round.

Additionally, you have missed out the maintaince and service charge costs on the fla- not only the decor inside which sounds liek you wont need to do much decorating wise, but more the external fabric of the building. ,especially if yours is SOF, you will have to be puitting away at least a couple of hundred a month for major repairs such as roof/ guttering/ staircase work and other related maintainence? Who manages the property at the moment- or is it SOF.

Er.........................don't think so!

Putting away AT LEAST £200 a MONTH for repairs/maintenence>>>>>:eek:

More like £15 a month!!!!!! That's the going rate per household for a house divided into flats in that area.

If you've been paying that much you've been had!

pickledpink

GracieP wrote: »

Nothing to do with the postcode, just take a look at the map. Streatham High St is half the distance from that house as Balham's. Unless the postcode creates a temporal shift around it's streets that keeps the scum of Streatham out.

Gracie,

You don't know the area - I do - I lived there!

SW12 is BALHAM (you were wrong weren't you?!) and Emmanuel Road takes you directly to Balham High Road.

The trouble with bitter busybodies like you is you spend your time looking at maps, but you can't read them.

Now, is SW12 Balham or not? Or do you want to make yourself look even MORE pathetic than you already have?

byrneand

pickledpink wrote: »

Oh, you're hysterical!!!:rotfl:
You haven't got a clue!

You've just argued with yourself!

On the one hand you're trying to say that Clapham North is miles away from Balham.........................and then in the next breath you're saying Stockwell is just a bicycle ride away!!!!!!!:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

It takes time to go between places because the trains stops retard. I've never counted it but I'd say at least 45 seconds a stop.

From Brixton tube the distances are about 0.5 miles (clapham north), 0.8 miles (Clapham common) and 2 miles (Balham).

I think I'd manage all of them on a bike.

pickledpink wrote: »

Stockwell is even FURTHER away from Balham than Clapham North. You're doing your Googling wrong!!!

And also further away from the city as was my orginal point... I don't even think I mentioned stockwell, although similar to Brixton, clapham or Balham it's not really somewhere I'd be chosing to bring up a family.

pickledpink wrote: »

By the way, my ex next-door neighbour was a professor - and he still lives there. He's now retired and is in his 60's.:p

Is that professors who are known for their high level of earnings and therfore choice of home location...

Your arguments about why Balham's great are watertight.... and completely backed up by facts such as national crime statistics, electorial register data and stuff like that.

Your also oblivous to the fact that most people here are saying that Balham and Clapham are ok compared to a lot of areas. It's fine for your first home and when you want to be close to the city and friends but most people are saying that as soon as you would want any quality of life and actually spending an increasing amount of time at the property then they chose to leave.... because the other areas are more appealing.

facingthefuture

Just type in house price crash forum and read it - enlightening.