Leave an 'up and coming' area for a house?

smfdurham

6feet wrote: »

yes but zone 6 travel card much cheaper than outside of zone 6. Property in Shenfield is very expensive now unless you live in Hutton. I am in Gidea Park so know the area. I prefer this area to Leytonstone but I have children.....

Travel card cost is a consideration too so yes very good point thanks!

smfdurham

dell12 wrote: »

We bought in Leytonstone a year before you did and are have just sold our flat. We've made a 60% in two years (It was a bit of a mess when we bought it and we've put in alot of hard work - but still!). Leytonstone's changed alot for the better in the just over 2 years we've been here.

I'd of loved to stay in the area as I think it's on the up, but we've priced out of buying a house sadly. We've taken a punt on somewhere south of the river but we've been able to buy a 3/4 bed house for significantly less than we've sold our 2 bed flat.

In regards to your question - there's ex local authority then there ex local authority. You get terrible unmortgageable concrete constructions and you get nicer brick mansions. It depends alot on what you're looks like and is maintained. For what it's worth I think ex LA property will always be worth less than a nice Victorian house but the better end of the market should still go up in a similar ratio.

Sounds like you've been in a very similar situation to us. We feel priced out of leytonstone too. Ours is a nice ex LA, it's 10 maisonette flats together not a big horrible block, but that was out thought, that the value wouldn't go up as much as a Victorian house long term

smfdurham

cattie wrote: »

I'd definitely leave an ex council flat for a house & an area like Leytonstone for something a little further out & a more civilised way of life.

I've lived in areas in the past that have been classed as up & coming & all it means these days is that a basically grotty area is becoming more appealing because the nearer trendy/more central areas have become far too expensive so people start considering property there.

Moving from an area that is considered up & coming to move a little further out is a good way to capitalise on property prices providing you can buy a property of a bigger size for the same price or for less money than you sell at.

What you need to be aware of is that London & it's environ's have seen huge rises in property prices over the past few months alone. So the longer you leave it to make the move, the more prices can increase. Yes you might get more for your flat, but then the type of house in the location you want will have gone up by at least a similar amount too.

That's exactly it! We are worried that if we leave it longer than a year we will never be able to afford to leave and get a larger place. We can't get a bigger place for the same price as we sell. But we can get a bigger place for an affordable price that wouldn't have been affordable if we had not had such a large rise in the value of the flat. Seems like an opportunity we won't get again unless we are decisive

smfdurham

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

£500k is a bit of a jump from £270k, and in only a year? Are you planning to take on more debt?

When we took out the mortgage on the flat the problem we had was size of deposit. If we move we go from a 90% LTV on £190k to a 70-80% LTV on £400-500k. Mortgage would increase around £500 per month but would be affordable under current circumstances

retepetsir

smfdurham wrote: »

When we took out the mortgage on the flat the problem we had was size of deposit. If we move we go from a 90% LTV on £190k to a 70-80% LTV on £400-500k. Mortgage would increase around £500 per month but would be affordable under current circumstances

Take into account that the banks now do more checks for mortgages, such as if you can afford the mortgage with a 7% interest rate...7% on a £400k mortgage is quite impressive! You'll want to make sure you can afford it with future circumstances too

smfdurham

Thanks, I heard about these new checks, do you know what % of net income they class as 'affordable'?

If we put down £120k deposit against a £500k property that's 37% of net salary at 7% interest rate and 22% of net salary at 3% interest rate. 37% would be pretty bad but hopefully 7% interest isn't likely in the next 5 years and I may be able to fix over that period to be sure. On an £400k property it's more like 17% of salary at 3% interest rate which seems much more comfortable

jackyann

Not sure if you are talking about "going east" as it's on the right line / you have connections there; or if it's because you know it already.
I would look further afield and all around, looking carefully at rail times & connections; I'd also consider the effect of a longer commute on your mental & physical health.

smfdurham

I'm not from London but my wife is from east London. We have driven around Essex so know bits of it but an easy commute is certainly high on the wish list, as is manageable transport costs.thats why I like the idea of something which will be on the cross rail line or central line, especially Loughton where some central line trains start so you can get a seat

hazyjo

I hated Brentwood but know lots love it. Trains were horrendous - always late and full of very annoying people! It's very flashy in some respects too (yet a bit grotty round the edges), I do watch TOWIE but didn't really want to live amongst them and their pop-up shops lol. Also found drugs (coke) a massive problem in some pubs. Some landlords clamped down, one in particular did zilch. Most people I met seemed up to the eyeballs in debt too.

Add North Chingford to that list. No tubes, seat in and out of town. Heaven (where I am now).

Chelmsford feels too big for my tastes, but agree it's one to add to the list. Along with Shenfield - heavenly, lovely, quiet fast trains into London!

In your shoes, I'd sell and trade up. No question. I would try to get something slightly outside the main popular Essex areas though (eg North Chingford or even Highams Park where the prices are currently rocketing. Houses around the £370k mark now are on for a hundred grand more than they were a year ago).

Jx

hazyjo

PS Watch the train prices! Billericay is surprisingly more a year than Leigh on Sea (I considered both when I last moved).

Jx