First time buyer in London - single occupant

[Deleted User]

Good post, Numbercrumber.  It reminds me of an old joke.  Two colleagues are boasting about their commutes to their jobs in the centre of London:

"I travel here from Zurich.  I can get from my home to my desk in 3 hours!"

"Well, I can beat that.  I live in zone 2, South East London.  And my journey's just 2 hours 55 minutes!"

Trillionski

hazyjo said:

Have you actually been to East Ham?! Viewed the location/streets of the ones you can afford?

I've been once. I went past canning town which I didn't like. East Ham looked meh but I think I need to go back again but don't think it's somewhere up my list but I'm trying to keep as many options open as possib.e. I've only heard bad reviews regarding East Ham. I actually live in Hayes at the moment which is along the cross rail route. I personally don't like it because I'm looking to get away from all the people that I know in this area and I want a fresh start. 

numbercruncher8 said:

Think 300k for a 2-bed house is tough, but I reckon not impossible. 
You will probably need to be a bit more creative on the area though. If work is around Liverpool Street for instance then more areas are possible.
Depending on the individual case I don't think leasehold is automatically a bad thing, and millions of people in London must live this way. Can't really give much advice aside from 2 bedrooms gives a bit more marketability in future than 1. I would also rather live in a 2-bed inexpensive leasehold in a location that I liked rather than a 2-bed freehold house in a location that I did not (assuming equal sqft)

I will be working in Bank so 1 stop away. I was thinking maybe look for somewhere which gets into Cannon St or Fenchurch St but IMO national rail sucks and is flakey. I like the new builds because they come brand new but the price is inflated. I've always been worried about leaseholds into terms of how their prices depreciate over the years and how difficult it will be to sell on.

annetheman said:

bouicca21 said:

If your idea of a bit of Woolwich that is ‘not the best’ is Woolwich Dockyard, I’d look at Abbey Wood instead, and consider a flat rather than a house.

My dad lives in Abbey Wood, I grew up there (he's still there and being hounded for a buy out by developers due to Crossrail/gentrification). Both Abbey Wood and Woolwich Arsenal are cr*pholes, but I'd say Abbey Wood is the safer, family-friendly cr*phole.

Woolwich smells like animal produce and is very busy with litter flying about on the pavements. I couldn't contain my disbelief that the flats on the riverside are being sold for 1/2 a million - the place is a dump!

Out of the two, Abbey Wood is less of a dump but there's less there. 

If you can go up to 300K OP, choose Blackheath instead - please take my word on this!

I don't know the areas well I live on the other side of London but I've used my opinion based on research and people said woolwich was better but everyone here is saying the latter and abbeywood is more promising so that's given me something to think about.

I actually don't have any preference for areas it's just that woolwich is one of the cheapest in terms of prices along crossrail. My thinking was the area would benefit from investment considering it will be a bit more than 15mins into Lpool St.

Poster_586329 said:

annetheman said:

If you can go up to 300K OP, choose Blackheath instead - please take my word on this!

I think you meant to type a higher figure?  Since OP's budget is already 300k.

If the budget REALLY stretches, here's a rather nice Blackheath 3-bed!:  www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/54394274 

And this 2-bed is rather nice, too!: www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/53804871

One is for 1 million the other 800k.

numbercruncher8 said:

Despite what the estate agents might say, 0.6m isn't that close to a station, and that may not be the actual walking distance (as you need to walk along roads, not how the crow flies). Depending on where your work is and your walking speed, this could add quite a bit to your commute, ie 40 mins total door to door instead of 25-30m. Definitely do a 'trial run' if considering this, and many areas of London do not have nice walks at night, especially the cheaper areas (said from experience)

You may have to prioritise your aims a bit. If commuting to work is top of the agenda, having a place next to a well-connected station with frequent services with a slightly longer commute I think is preferable to having one 0.6m from one that is more poorly served (which many in the South East are). So, for someone that works in London Bridge, living next door (<0.1m) to East Croydon station would deliver a more frequent, quicker and safer commute than someone who lives 0.6m from Peckham, even though Peckham is a lot closer geographically. Same goes for some of these places in Blackheath as well.

However, if defending equity position is the priority you could think a bit differently. For instance, using the Croydon example there are an absolute avalanche of flats planned which may dilute the market, on the other hand not many houses are being built. Not many flats are suitable for a family (although families do live in them), a 2-bed house with a garden would broaden appeal.

Ultimately though a margin of safety is built in when you purchase, so negotiating hard/moving fast is probably the best option. Quite a lot of things I see around here are lazily priced, ie stick it on at the highest price the last place achieved, because 'house prices always go up, innit', and end up sitting around for a while before getting reduced. Every so often though there are people that simply need a quick sale. For example a block of flats near me had a 2019 'kite flying price' of £450,000, some reduced to £375,000 and taken off (may appear on Land Registry). Last year one came on at £335,000, sold almost instantly. I'd imagine that the sellers were quite keen and as a FTB you may be quite desirable. 

Totally get you and that's what I'm struggling with because I could be spending a considerable amount of time travelling to the station which takes the sting out of the distance in the first place
It's really tough, I don't know if I'm aiming for too much or I'm looking in the wrong places.

Trillionski

Being in Bank I have Lpool St/CannonSt/Fenchurch St on my doorstep.
I should be open to a lot more commuter towns no? Do people have suggestions for nice areas even if it means not being along cross rail.

hazyjo

IMO you're pinning way too much emphasis on Crossrail areas anyway. The prices have already increased - and they're still cheap! If you want to take a risk on them being improved in the distant future, that's great. But it certainly won't be overnight. Nor prob within the next 15 years minimum.

My FIL lived in East Ham. Know it as well as I want to. Know you're swaying away from it anyway which I think is a good step.

I know loads of nice places, many on the Central Line, but sadly not within budget near to town.

Don't write off the overheads. I use C2C which is pretty reliable. In fact, I have purposely avoided living on tube lines since 1991. Much prefer trains. Tubes are fine for a night out, but not for me for commuting! Too busy, too hot, too annoying. Give me a table, a seat, aircon/heat and a view any day!

Will shout if I see anywhere in budget. Is that your absolute max?

Trillionski

hazyjo said:

IMO you're pinning way too much emphasis on Crossrail areas anyway. The prices have already increased - and they're still cheap! If you want to take a risk on them being improved in the distant future, that's great. But it certainly won't be overnight. Nor prob within the next 15 years minimum.

My FIL lived in East Ham. Know it as well as I want to. Know you're swaying away from it anyway which I think is a good step.

I know loads of nice places, many on the Central Line, but sadly not within budget near to town.

Don't write off the overheads. I use C2C which is pretty reliable. In fact, I have purposely avoided living on tube lines since 1991. Much prefer trains. Tubes are fine for a night out, but not for me for commuting! Too busy, too hot, too annoying. Give me a table, a seat, aircon/heat and a view any day!

Will shout if I see anywhere in budget. Is that your absolute max?

Thanks. At the moment yes it currently stands at 300. I can maybe stretch another 10-20k if I don't find anything soon and I will be able to build the pot a bit more. I don't even mind going for a 1 bed either. I have this "fear" if you want to call it that being out of London I will get really bored. I used to live in Northampton and Portsmouth and being so far from London made me really bored which is why I worry about being in a commuter town but then again if I'm within a reasonable distance it shouldnt be that bad.

If I go for a new build I guess my budget would go a lot further as I can use the equity loan. For a property in which I only really want to live in for 5-10 years maybe a leasehold new build might work but I don't like the idea of service charge and the potential for the house to depreciate. You hear about these horror stories with people stuck with duds. Maybe I'm over reacting. In a way you are right, Woolwich Arsenal isn't going to necessarily bring me the most happiness if the only thing I'm looking at is price.
Theres so much to think off and it's really tricky. 

Edit: Please do recomment some places on an overhead also the central line if they really aren't that bad of a commute. 

hazyjo

There's a couple in (lovely) Wanstead, but 2nd bed is small in one, and both more Wanstead Flats which is maybe a bit far from station (not physical flats, more of an open green area).

Ignore the nice Victorian one as it's next door to a petrol station. Not so easy to mortgage.

Keep an eye out around South Woodford/Woodford too. Prob still money to be made there.

Trillionski

hazyjo said:

There's a couple in (lovely) Wanstead, but 2nd bed is small in one, and both more Wanstead Flats which is maybe a bit far from station (not physical flats, more of an open green area).

Ignore the nice Victorian one as it's next door to a petrol station. Not so easy to mortgage.

Keep an eye out around South Woodford/Woodford too. Prob still money to be made there.

Will be sure to check out wanstead and woodfood. Are they cheap because wanstead IIRC is next to forest gate?

hazyjo

No. Wanstead has always been hugely desirable and is upmarket and pricey. Definitely not cheap. You could barely get a 1-2 bed flat. But some are just in budget. Not many, and there are compromises. I seriously can't think of anywhere else. Maybe Leytonstone, but it's not somewhere I'd choose to live. May have considered it as an investment but don't know it well enough to say where to avoid.

Wanstead was always way more than surrounding areas. Bit like comparing New Cross to next door Blackheath. Worlds apart.

Trillionski

If anyone can share some more areas that are within my budget and maybe commuter towns too that would be great. Thanks

MysteryMe

Hither Green or Lee Green in LB Lewisham are OK. My sister has lived in Lee for years and not had any problems. Cheaper than Blackheath but easy to get there for the cafe society if that is your thing. I think some of the trains go into Cannon St.   You would need to have a good look around East Ham/ Forest Gate. There are pockets of nice streets. I used to live off Katherine Rd as a kid near Plashet park and went back recently and it was nicer than I thought it would be. Houses being done up etc but it's never going to be the best part of town. Much of LB Newham is a deprived area, no getting away from that and that is why housing is more affordable than elsewhere. High St North and Green Street are not nice shopping areas.