Is £250K for a 1 bed flat about right price for West London in traditional terms?

lisyloo

You've been telling me just how London is so very important and yet suggest government be moved out to an ex-RAF base.

It is currently important to milions of people because that is where millions of jobs are.
Yes I'd prefer some companies including mine (and goverment) to move out to other places, then we wouldn't have the current congestion we have in London and we'd be able to offer some much needed regeneration some other areas and help solve the housing crisis.

I do not look down on service people, RAF bases or RAF accomodation or cities like Bristol which I know well and has a lot to commend it.
It comes across as though you think you are superior.
As you said yourself, 90 minutes to London is not a big deal.

Sorry I don't see the hypocrisy.

I don't WANT to be in London. DH is there for purly business reasons and I have moved so we aren't seperated - that isn't a bug, it's just making the best of the options available.

wotsthat

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

~£20 per month for unlimited swimming and gym at my work. Londoners also walk more, even if it's just to the tube/bus, as it's pointless having a car. I've noticed how podgy and lazy people become when they have to drive everywhere.

I've got a free gym - it's called outside. I can (and do) run anywhere and the biggest 'worry' is some of the local youth shouting 'run, forrest run' (we're a bit behind on the talkies). Cycling to work is a more pleasant experience too.

I do notice when I'm down there that foot travel is much more of an essential and, anecdotally, I see less fat people compared to the Midlands (my claim to fame is my town was/ is the fattest in the UK).

onlyroz

the_flying_pig wrote: »

Well, it's a small place, more like a natural one bed than two bed, but, even so, well under £500 per square foot seems very cheap. How long was the lease on it? There must be something a little 'wrong' with it that I'm not spotting, at that price. say very far from the tube in an area dominated by LA housing? The price seems normal enough by the standards of a few years ago, but post the 2011-2014 London mini bubble less so...

The flat was an ex-council flat in Roehampton in the middle of the Alton estate, with Wandsworth Council as the free-holder. We sold it in 2007 with a 90+ year lease for £202k, which at the time was a record price - and I think that the price of £238k that it went for last year was about right. We sold it with a modern kitchen but the bathroom was a bit crummy and the boiler was on its last legs.

Roehampton itself is not that great and it isn't on any train or tube lines - you've got to get a bus to either Putney or Hammersmith to get into central London. However, the flat did overlook Richmond Park and was within walking distance of Wimbledon Common.

My only point was to illustrate that not everywhere around London is hugely expensive. Of course you've got to pay more for properties in "nice" areas with good transport links but a couple on modest salaries should be able to get themselves a 2-bed property if they look hard enough.

MARTYM8`

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

Apparently it's been gentrified, like Hackney. Of course it wasn't that long ago that Notting Hill was a notorious slum area. They can't gentrify the whole city though- the scum have to live somewhere!

I live in a scruffy part of South London, and the estate agents don't even pretend it's up and coming. I get a decent garden though, which was a priority for me.

Yes - a lot of posters do forget that in some of the less leafy boroughs up to 40% of residents are on housing benefit. That's a lot of potentially unhappy people if those benefits cheques ever stopped.

Hackney, Haringey, Tower Hamlets and Southwark -are all in that sort of range. So you need to be very poor or very rich to live there long term.:D

Out,_Vile_Jelly

wotsthat wrote: »

I've got a free gym - it's called outside. I can (and do) run anywhere and the biggest 'worry' is some of the local youth shouting 'run, forrest run' (we're a bit behind on the talkies). Cycling to work is a more pleasant experience too.

I do notice when I'm down there that foot travel is much more of an essential and, anecdotally, I see less fat people compared to the Midlands (my claim to fame is my town was/ is the fattest in the UK).

I hate running, so wouldn't matter where I live. I love swimming so am lucky to have easy access to a cheap pool.

A lot of my London friends are quite fanatically into running and cycling (in that they try to convert me- no chance) and there seem to be a lot of running clubs, especially for women, in the capital. I was genuinely shocked at how many fatties I saw in the city centre the first time I went to Sheffield.

I know a lot of people can't stand London; fine. What does annoy me are those that choose to live here and whine like girls.

onlyroz

chucknorris wrote: »

They aren't, I totally agree, that's why I said that it was bargain (when it was bought last June) for only £238k, prices rocketed over the last winter/spring and I think that flat someone managed to buy at a very reasonable price. But with the benefit of hindsight it was a bargain. If you don't think so, show me a link to a similar one for sale.


EDIT: If you do find one, there's a drink at least in it for you if I buy it, I'm not in the market, but I wouldn't turn my back on a bargain.

Here are some recently sold places in SW15:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=24381132&sale=53158550&country=england

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=4093072&sale=53158568&country=england

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=46932184&sale=53158520&country=england

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=17640154&sale=53158547&country=england

And here's a nice 3-bed split-level maisonette available for £289k:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33597648.html

wotsthat

lisyloo wrote: »

I don't WANT to be in London. DH is there for purly business reasons and I have moved so we aren't seperated - that isn't a bug, it's just making the best of the options available.

Why not - thought everything about it was great.

lisyloo wrote: »

You can surely see it's impossible for millions of people to try to move out if there aren't millions of jobs available for them to go to.

This is the crux of the matter. The draw of London isn't it's awesomeness but, mainly, it's ability to supply copious quantities of well paid jobs. That's why you're there.

If you could earn a London wage closer to home you'd be off like a shot. Well I'm doing exactly what you want to do but for some reason that's been translated into me hating London and you thinking it's brilliant. There's actually no difference between us at all.

chucknorris

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

I hate running, so wouldn't matter where I live. I love swimming so am lucky to have easy access to a cheap pool.

A lot of my London friends are quite fanatically into running and cycling (in that they try to convert me- no chance) and there seem to be a lot of running clubs, especially for women, in the capital. I was genuinely shocked at how many fatties I saw in the city centre the first time I went to Sheffield.

I know a lot of people can't stand London; fine. What does annoy me are those that choose to live here and whine like girls.

Running is my favourite exercise, even more so because I get to do it with my dog, we are soon leaving for a short drive in the Surrey hills where I am going to run 6 miles with him. I do like cycling, but prefer road cycling, but my dog doesn't benefit from that (so I tend to compromise a fair bit and cycle off road for his benefit). I have only recently got into swimming, I am not very good, but I am really getting into the challenge of ironing out all my technical faults and hope to do a triathlon either this summer, or more likely next year after my retirement (as when I get busy at work my training suffers, usually the swimming and cycling).

chucknorris

onlyroz wrote: »

Here are some recently sold places in SW15:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=24381132&sale=53158550&country=england

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=4093072&sale=53158568&country=england

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=46932184&sale=53158520&country=england

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=17640154&sale=53158547&country=england

And here's a nice 3-bed split-level maisonette available for £289k:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33597648.html

I don't think that they are comparable, that 3 bedder has a single bedroom, we tend to avoid these as our target market is to professional sharers (that was the one problem that I spotted with the flat in question), rather than families. Or perhaps the flat in question is in a particular poor area of Putney, which would be apparent immediately when viewing.

EDIT: It would have to be very good value to tempt me in (and I don't think that value exists any more), because we already have 8 London properties (4 flats in Battersea, 3 houses in Hackney and a house in Tottenham Hale), and currently I am seeking diversification in my portfolio away from property. Property is currently 69% (incl. our home) of my portfolio. This is my current target for investment:
http://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-search-results/v/vanguard-funds-plc-ftse-world-high-div-yld

lisyloo

Why not

None of our family & friends are there.
It's way too congested to indulge in our motorbiking hobby.
We can't afford a decent sized house in an area we'd like to live.

thought everything about it was great

No, it's a compromise with stark downsides and upsides.

The draw of London isn't it's awesomeness but, mainly, it's ability to supply copious quantities of well paid jobs. That's why you're there. If you could earn a London wage closer to home you'd be off like a shot. Well I'm doing exactly what you want to do but for some reason that's been translated into me hating London and you thinking it's brilliant. There's actually no difference between us at all.

Cool. Glad we got that sorted - really :-)

I was just confused by the "london Centric" and "bug" name calling, which comes across as a derogatory term for people that pathologically love London when it appears it's being applied to people who are there merely for business reasons and wouldn't be there otherwise.