First time buyer: one bedroom in London

[Deleted User]

redefinr said:

It's very tough, I'm not sure of a second Lockdown and I feel like I want to take advantage of the current situation of uncertainty in London...I find it already hard to get a flat now - imagine when it's all back to normal.
This is a good shot in the same area:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-81879187.html
A really good space and it looks like in good nick. I'm not particularly keen on ground floors but maybe I could go and have a look to understand if the windows faces busy roads or private areas maybe?
£1600pa of service charge....a bit expensive but it's feasable.

Hi,
Congratulations on being able to buy in London - quite an achievement.
I am curious if you are looking at just Deptford or would you be happy to live elsewhere? The reason I'm asking this is there are many areas with stations with 20-30 mins access to London Bridge station where you could get a 2 bedroom nice flat without high service charge. 

redefinr

Crashy keeps talking about these prices being too high etc. I mean have you looked at the rent in those area? Studio flats are going for £1000/month - which is more than what my mortgage would be. So if people pay those prices for rent why not buy your own place? Or shall we keep paying up our landlords for the rest of our lives?
Expensive or not, after the mortgage is gone at least you bought a property. Otherwise once you retire you got left with your rent to pay - still.
I need to phone up this LifeResidentials company tomorrow and find out what's the deal with these service charges...I understand gym,pool,concierce...maybe they include hot water too? I know some of those new buils have hot water included.

[Deleted User]

redefinr said:

Crashy keeps talking about these prices being too high etc. I mean have you looked at the rent in those area? Studio flats are going for £1000/month - which is more than what my mortgage would be. So if people pay those prices for rent why not buy your own place? Or shall we keep paying up our landlords for the rest of our lives?
Expensive or not, after the mortgage is gone at least you bought a property. Otherwise once you retire you got left with your rent to pay - still.
I need to phone up this LifeResidentials company tomorrow and find out what's the deal with these service charges...I understand gym,pool,concierce...maybe they include hot water too? I know some of those new buils have hot water included.

Have you looked at places like Charlton/Lee/Mottingham/New Eltham etc? They're all cheaper and you can get a nice 2 bed flat in these areas. All got 20-30 mins direct access to London Bridge. 

hazyjo

holyrottweiler said:

redefinr said:

Crashy keeps talking about these prices being too high etc. I mean have you looked at the rent in those area? Studio flats are going for £1000/month - which is more than what my mortgage would be. So if people pay those prices for rent why not buy your own place? Or shall we keep paying up our landlords for the rest of our lives?
Expensive or not, after the mortgage is gone at least you bought a property. Otherwise once you retire you got left with your rent to pay - still.
I need to phone up this LifeResidentials company tomorrow and find out what's the deal with these service charges...I understand gym,pool,concierce...maybe they include hot water too? I know some of those new buils have hot water included.

Have you looked at places like Charlton/Lee/Mottingham/New Eltham etc? They're all cheaper and you can get a nice 2 bed flat in these areas. All got 20-30 mins direct access to London Bridge. 

Pretty sure the OP is looking to be way more central with access to tubes.

If they'll move further out, Wanstead would be great - but I ruled it out as pretty sure it's in Zone 4 even though you can get into town really quickly.

MaterialGirl*

I agree that owning a property will always be an advantage as not having a mortgage when you’re retired would be the goal for many.

Re the prices being too high I disagree.  Property prices are all due to supply and demand. Sure property prices could fall massively but whatever happens you’d need  a place to live in and if prices fall and you don’t need to sell it won’t have a great impact on you.  I also think a place in London will always rent. 

 Should you need to sell other properties will also have fallen in price so everyone is in the same boat. Sure there’ a risk of negative equity but again as long as you can continue to pay the mortgage at one point your mortgage will be paid off.  I think if someone wants to buy a property and can afford it don’t drive yourself crazy wondering which way house prices might  go. 

Have you thought about the Ealing area? It’s Zone 3 and you can be in the City or West End in about 20 - 30 minutes with  Cross Rail coming along. Good bus connections as well. Hanwell and Greenford are cheaper areas around Ealing.

redefinr

I'm looking for zone 2-3 in London, either West, South East or Islington.
Ealing already went up after the Crossrail - even Acton (near the station) is quite up.
I'm just waiting to see 2 more flats in Deptford Bridge but it feels like it's not happening there either. It's 2 days I'm cashing an EA to get the cost of ground rent,ews1 etc and he can't seem to find it. I'm wondering if he actually wants to sell it or not?
This came up few days ago:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71892552.html
@jimbog you local right? I'm familiar with the building...it seems alright isnt it?

Crashy_Time

MaterialGirl* said:

I agree that owning a property will always be an advantage as not having a mortgage when you’re retired would be the goal for many.

Re the prices being too high I disagree.  Property prices are all due to supply and demand. Sure property prices could fall massively but whatever happens you’d need  a place to live in and if prices fall and you don’t need to sell it won’t have a great impact on you.  I also think a place in London will always rent. 

 Should you need to sell other properties will also have fallen in price so everyone is in the same boat. Sure there’ a risk of negative equity but again as long as you can continue to pay the mortgage at one point your mortgage will be paid off.  I think if someone wants to buy a property and can afford it don’t drive yourself crazy wondering which way house prices might  go. 

Have you thought about the Ealing area? It’s Zone 3 and you can be in the City or West End in about 20 - 30 minutes with  Cross Rail coming along. Good bus connections as well. Hanwell and Greenford are cheaper areas around Ealing.

So why were sales volumes pre-virus half the level they were at the peak of the market for transactions (2006-8) ? Are there less people?

Crashy_Time

redefinr said:

I'm looking for zone 2-3 in London, either West, South East or Islington.
Ealing already went up after the Crossrail - even Acton (near the station) is quite up.
I'm just waiting to see 2 more flats in Deptford Bridge but it feels like it's not happening there either. It's 2 days I'm cashing an EA to get the cost of ground rent,ews1 etc and he can't seem to find it. I'm wondering if he actually wants to sell it or not?
This came up few days ago:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71892552.html
@jimbog you local right? I'm familiar with the building...it seems alright isnt it?

Garden looks like a smoking area in an airport, how long has this one been on the market?

numbercruncher8

Walked past that a few times in the past.
Don't seem much wrong with it, although IMO off Goldhawk Road is slightly nicer.

Some issues seem to be there are very few sales logged. Is the building mortgageable? The outside looks partially made of wood.

The same property is up for sale on shared ownership at £316,000. 

Crashy_Time

numbercruncher8 said:

Walked past that a few times in the past.
Don't seem much wrong with it, although IMO off Goldhawk Road is slightly nicer.

Some issues seem to be there are very few sales logged. Is the building mortgageable? The outside looks partially made of wood.

The same property is up for sale on shared ownership at £316,000. 

No surprises there really?