London is a joke (moan)

Surrey_EA

Digsby wrote: »

How much are agents fees in general? 5%? (not rhetorical)

I wish!!

I know it varies a little between areas, but never anywhere near as high as 5%, the max I've ever seen is 3%, and that is tremendously rare.

As far as our area is concerned fees are generally between 0.75% - 1.25%.

Jhoney_2

London 2014:

6 quotes - for valuation, but also to see if/whom I could work with in terms of service. Turned down 3 due to poor initial meeting, 1 wanted 3.5% and was worst of the lot in terms of attitude and wouldn't want that for my viewers, Of the other 2 the fees alone varied by 2%... The cheaper was best initial meeting, picked up on my things to do 'traps' - but is not a main player in the immediate area so his client base was wrong for me, imv.

Decided I would wait and go with Online EA as I'm not in a rush.

DiamondLil

ClaireJ23 wrote: »

I think some of the comments here are mean. A generation ago this wouldn´t have seemed so unreasonable for a young man to be able to afford a one-bedroom flat near his family and work in a suburb of London.

A generation ago the situation was exactly the same - my son will never be able to buy his own home because he has stayed in Greater London.
My daughter moved two hundred miles away to be able to buy her own home.
And it was the same for the generation before that too. We had to move out to, for example, the Medway towns, and the new towns in Essex and Hertfordshire, before we could even think about being able to afford to buy.

Jhoney_2

ClaireJ23 wrote: »

I think some of the comments here are mean. A generation ago this wouldn´t have seemed so unreasonable for a young man to be able to afford a one-bedroom flat near his family and work in a suburb of London.

I'm sorry you feel that way claire and there is no joy taken in the reply - but it the reality. What was reasonable a generation ago, is simply not the case now in this situation.

A (few) generation(s) ago, it wouldn't have been so unreasonable for many a young man to have died on a battlefield.

I am not saying he shouldn't want it, but that he must go out there and make it happen in the world that exists today, just like everybody else.

As has been posted, people shared rooms on their way to their ownership and many other sacrifices too, It wasn't a bailout/help to buy/buy to let/Shared ownership world then. If you didn't have it, you couldn't buy it or needed to find a deposit and lend as now, if possible. No different really.

Pokey? Less desirable area? wiping feet on the way out? This is a mindset.

Affordabilty in terms of salary freezes and below inflation pay increases are things I empathise with, but cannot improve except (hopefully) by my vote.

DiamondLil

Jhoney wrote: »

As has been posted, people shared rooms on their way to their ownership and many other sacrifices too, It wasn't a bailout/help to buy/buy to let/Shared ownership world then. If you didn't have it, you couldn't buy it

Oh yes, I'd forgotten that; we shared a bathroom and kitchen for nearly five years. And when we were looking to buy, what was on offer was just the empty shell - no fitted kitchen, just a butler sink and nothing else - no cooker, no cupboards, no white goods; flooring throughout was just the bare floorboards.
Some had an outside toilet and one had no bathroom at all, not even a toilet....

buglawton

Careful we're getting near 3 Yorkshiremen territory!

Fraise

benn25 wrote: »

Ill tell you what...London postcode prices are !!!!ing me right off.

Im not even looking to buy till the end of the year but ive been looking at the various sites over the last 3 months to see whats around for my budget.

The answer is practically jack diddly (!!!!!!!) squat!

Im looking at prices in the region of 170 to 180 and need something close to work as Im not and have never been keen on living far from work. Anyway, theres me thinking I could get something half decent for the money.

Im from Essex originally and moved to London 2 years ago. Quite frankly I thought I had acclimatised myself to property prices, but obviously ive been kidding myself for the last 2 years.

1st I thought I could get a 2 bed flat...yea no sweat. Wrong! Think again. It took me 2 months to come to terms with the fact I had to start looking at 1 beds. It literally killed me. So I start looking at 1 beds. Hell yea, this is much better. Wrong! Think again.

All the decent stuff is either "cash buyers only", "guide prices"!!!!

I mean cmon, give a guy a break! Im a single guy, who works hard and just wants a nice flat to live in and call my own. Not a pokey studio flat thats still gonna cost me the earth even though Im gonna have to wipe my feet on the way out.

What the hell is happening? When I looked at going to auction I got dealt a cruel hand that not many lenders can work towards a 28 day window, so that blows that idea out of the water. Then I started looking at the not so desirable areas of London. Basically where I have more chance of being robbed for my holey socks. But then found out that my petrol costs are gonna be included into affordability. Then I thought to myself its ok if I can get a lender who's multiplying by 5. Oh hang on theyve just decided to reduce that to 4.5 now. So even my 170 to 180 looks like pie in the sky now.

Im sick to death with this !!!!. A studio flat!? A bloody studio flat!? I lived in a studio flat when I was 19. Im well into my 30s now and never thought Id be going back to the same !!!!! I had to deal with 10 to 15 years ago.

Its just a complete and utter joke. I came to London to better my life and Im being forced...quite literally forced to turn around and go back. Not that me moaning is going to change anything but i might feel a little better when I wake up tomorrow knowing ive got it off my chest.

I doubt it though.

You're not being forced to do anything - you're making a choice.

You want to live in London, right where it's at - and pay peanuts for a two bed flat. That will never happen, and never did. All the best parts of London have always been hugely expensive, and that is never going to change.

Before you came to London you must have known property was expensive, both to buy and rent?

Unfortunately (or fortunately for some) most ALL of London is expensive now, everywhere within the M25 costs a lot of money. The huge prices inner London once fetched has spread to all of Greater London, and parts of the South East, and anyone living in Zones 1-6 either pays big rent or has a big mortgage. But if they can afford it good luck to them, for they will benefit one day. Prices go up and up and up in London (except for the occasional blip) as they do in the South East.

You're young and need to realise you have to compromise in life. I'm sure you'd like a Porsche, but you buy what you can afford. It's the same with property.

I was lucky in that I was born and bred in inner London and inherited my house. I certainly wouldn't have been able to have bought it. I lived between Zone 2 and Zone 3' and each tube station (one was also BR) was a 20 minute walk. Door to door to central London took me approximately 45 minutes.

I now live in Zone 6 with none of the inner London rubbish and crime that was so apparent, and my walk to the station is just 5 minutes. The train takes 16 minutes to either London Bridge or Victoria, and I'm always guaranteed a seat! so, it's actually QUICKER for me to reach central London from where I am now in Zone 6 than when I was between Zones 2 and 3. Yes, a season ticket is more expensive, but not immensely so, and the journey is almost a pleasure. The station I leave from is quiet and peaceful, I buy a coffee and newspaper, take a seat on the train and in just over 15 minutes plus a 5 minute walk the other end I am at work. It's quicker, less stressful, and if I want to stay out in central London at night I'm back home in 20 minutes.

The property I have now is far bigger and much nicer than the one I had previously. I also have green all around me, a big garden, tree-lined street, crime is almost zilch in the part I live (though 5 minutes away there's crime, just like in Inner London).

I have beautiful country style pubs and restaurants on my doorstep, no parking restrictions outside my house, a huge choice of supermarkets, local shops, and a brilliant shopping centre that people travel miles to. there's House of Fraser, John Lewis...all the shops I used to travel to in Oxford Street are now 5 minutes away. We have gymnasiums, a swimming pool, leisure centre/spas, beautiful hotels, golf courses, riding stables...all that and just 15/20 minutes to Central London. You can also get the bus direct.

On top of that I'm just a 20 minute drive to Gatwick, 40 minutes to Heathrow, and if the weather is hot I can be in Brighton in 40 minutes.

I actually can't believe my luck!

Why on earth aren't you looking in Zone 6? I know it's still London prices, but it isn't inner London prices, and the journey time is often quicker!

buglawton

Funny thing is, I'm a suburban dweller, 30 miles from central London, love popping into London occasionally on a travelcard especially if the weather is nice. But I pity London residents for their traffic pollution and traffic congestion, not to mention the endless duplicated franchise/chain businesses. I think that many Londoners missed a real life discovery by not moving out to the suburbs/edge of green belt!

Fraise

buglawton wrote: »

Funny thing is, I'm a suburban dweller, 30 miles from central London, love popping into London occasionally on a travelcard especially if the weather is nice. But I pity London residents for their traffic pollution and traffic congestion, not to mention the endless duplicated franchise/chain businesses. I think that many Londoners missed a real life discovery by not moving out to the suburbs/edge of green belt!

Couldn't agree more. It's a no brainier and a win win situation.

Moving just that little bit further from inner London (and for the snobby types Zone 6 is still London, it's just Greater Londer rather than the polluted inner London), you get more for your money, a better lifestyle, cleaner air, and the best of both worlds. If you do want to go into central London in the evening it's just 20 minutes...how quick is that?? When I lived in inner London it could take me 20 minutes in the car to travel two miles when it was busy.

I think some people have this strange kind of need to feel they're bang in the middle of everywhere, but unless you're living in a swish apartment overlooking the Thames or suchlike, most inner city properties are surrounded by pollution, crime, noise, police sirens, littered streets, traffic queues....and you pay a huge amount to live in a cramped little flat..with parking restrictions to boot.

I think it's unhealthy, both mentally and physically.

steve2005

Fraise wrote: »

Moving just that little bit further from inner London (and for the snobby types Zone 6 is still London, it's just Greater Londer rather than the polluted inner London),

Depends which Zone 6 you are looking at - Heathrow is Zone 6 and is very much London, with Hillingdon at the north and Hounslow at the south, and is surrounded by motorway, roads, industrial estates and some water but Epping on the other end is also Zone 6 and is very much Essex, and is surrounded by lovely trees and other green things.

I'm just being a pedant though - it's late, and I'm bored