Help deciding between two properties in North Greenwich

bouicca21

Deptford Creek is a great suggestion. Friend’s DD lives near there, loves it. Lots of young couples with children, good transport, short walk into Greenwich.

AlexMac

You've probably decided by now, BUT... I wouldn't go for either

We very nearly bought a Millennium Village flat in 2003 - one of the earliest phases; a 2-bedder, ground floor with a balcony on the lake...

and I'm really glad we didn't. We instead, bought a 2-bed period conversion in Blackheath - at an identical price- then £375k. The Blackheath flat was miles better in terms of atmosphere, liveability, access to open space, decent bars and restaurants and friendly neighbours (although it was a shared freehold where the owners of each of the six flats in the block were members of the Freehold Company, so that was an incentive to bond)

And although you should buy a home to live in, not as an investment, it also far out-performed the new-build in terms of house price inflation. We sold on, eight years later, by which time the period flat had increased in value by 70% to £640k; the North Greenwich flat, being one of, by then, hundreds of similar ones probably increased by barely half that.

We didn't get as far as asking about the new-build's service charges, but I guess they would have been in line with those eye-watering £4-5k p.a. sums you're quoting. I'd be asking how much more mortgage we could afford with up to £400 a month; because we self-managed the period block's shared freehold, we had total control, so the SC was only about £1,300 pa, and that included a generous contribution to a sinking fund for cyclical repairs like external decs every 6 years.

Speak to an experienced local Agent- like Richard O'Toole, manager of John Payne in Blackheath, who's helped us buy and sell our homes locally for over 30 years. I bet he'd have views worth listening to; and although I have no interest in the firm (other than as a very satisfied customer) he has a few up at £550k which I'd far prefer to those you describe; e.g.
http://www.johnpayne.com/p/2-bedroom-flat-in-parkside-blackheath-se3-217052/?MinPrice=500000&MaxPrice=600000&MinBeds=2&Location=SE3&sold_stc=1&for_sale=1&Postcodes=SE3

OK, you can't walk to N Greenwich tube from there, but local buses are very good...

Anyway- good luck with your decisions

chami1982

Hi. On a second thought, considering to buy a house Vs flat to save on service charge. Nothing against North Greenwich as I like that area. From House perspective, looking at Worcester Park - getting 3 bed terrace house around £500k ( 7-18 min commute to cheam park farm and cheam common and 60-65 commute to work) , Carshalton - 3 bed terrace -~£500 ( part of 5-10 year build residential development but bit more of daily walk to station) and bromley (4 bed terrace but about 70-75 min door to door commute).
Worcester park - its 7 min from London Road/A24. Although the roads and houses are not as posh as Carshalton residential development or may be Bromley ( Trinity development - not seen yet) but feel from better school aspect ( primary and secondary) worcester park location could be most convenient.

letitbe90

chami1982 wrote: »

Hi. On a second thought, considering to buy a house Vs flat to save on service charge. Nothing against North Greenwich as I like that area. From House perspective, looking at Worcester Park - getting 3 bed terrace house around £500k ( 7-18 min commute to cheam park farm and cheam common and 60-65 commute to work) , Carshalton - 3 bed terrace -~£500 ( part of 5-10 year build residential development but bit more of daily walk to station) and bromley (4 bed terrace but about 70-75 min door to door commute).
Worcester park - its 7 min from London Road/A24. Although the roads and houses are not as posh as Carshalton residential development or may be Bromley ( Trinity development - not seen yet) but feel from better school aspect ( primary and secondary) worcester park location could be most convenient.

Sounds like a good plan. I don’t know anyone who bought a house and wished they bought a flat instead.

short_butt_sweet

i've no argument with going for a house instead of a flat, but if you're prepared to go further out, why go south when going north would give you much shorter journey times?

e.g. plenty of 3/4 bedroom houses around £500k near Colindale Station, which is a 31-minute journey (with no changes) to Bank.