Affordable freehold houses in London - where to look

7sefton

Hi everyone

I'm at the stage of being able to move up the property ladder in London from my first time buyer flat... 

Total budget is £750-800K (absolute max). Various issues with my flat (thankfully not cladding) have made me prioritise trying to find a freehold house within the capital, but I'm not really sure where to look.

Initial criteria is:
- North of the river ideally over South
- Preference for older-style of property (not new build)
- Within walking distance (1hr) of central areas

Where would you consider? I've seen a few promising terraced houses in Queens Park, but otherwise not sure.

Really appreciate any thoughts - most articles I find on the web don't focus on freehold houses, making it harder for me to find a starting point.

[Deleted User]

When you said affordable I thought you meant 150-200k. Just depressed that 800k is affordable now.

hazyjo

Do you work in London? I mean is there sometimes you need to get to X number of weekdays? Pointless suggesting somewhere that might then take an hour to get to your work.

Do you have a limit on what zone? 1-2? Or is it more about speed you can get in?

Any family or friends you need an easy journey to?

I'm presuming you're buying alone and don't need to consider schools in the near future.

Is parking important?

2+ bedrooms enough?

Terraced house alright?

Main roads okay, or quiet street?

LAD917

I briefly toyed with the idea of a freehold house north of the river.  Based on my limited research, I'd estimate you'll need to go at least as west as Shepherd's Bush or at least as east as Mile End.  There is a "house" search filter on Rightmove you can play around with.

Cast a wide net, as you might get lucky with a freehold mews house popping up in an unexpected location - e.g., I've seen the occasional 2 bed freehold house in Bayswater/Notting Hill in the 800s (usually in need of some work and with a noisy or sub-par location). 

Ultimately, I decided I would be paying too much of a premium for too little square footage and just bought a bigger flat.

LAD917

I briefly toyed with the idea of a freehold house north of the river.  Based on my limited research, I'd estimate you'll need to go at least as west as Shepherd's Bush or at least as east as Mile End.  There is a "house" search filter on Rightmove you can play around with.

Cast a wide net, as you might get lucky with a freehold mews house popping up in an unexpected location - e.g., I've seen the occasional 2 bed freehold house in Bayswater/Notting Hill in the 800s (usually in need of some work and with a noisy or sub-par location). 

Ultimately, I decided I would be paying too much of a premium for too little square footage and just bought a bigger flat.  Good luck.

7sefton

hazyjo said:

Do you work in London? I mean is there sometimes you need to get to X number of weekdays? Pointless suggesting somewhere that might then take an hour to get to your work.

Do you have a limit on what zone? 1-2? Or is it more about speed you can get in?

Any family or friends you need an easy journey to?

I'm presuming you're buying alone and don't need to consider schools in the near future.

Is parking important?

2+ bedrooms enough?

Terraced house alright?

Main roads okay, or quiet street?

We want to be in London for social stuff - work is less of an issue as we can work from home and only need to go into the office one day a week.

So it's less about speed to get in to town, more like zones 1-3.

We're just a couple and don't have kids (with no plans to), so this doesn't need to be a family house... it's more of a couple's terrace/townhouse we're after and 2 bedrooms is enough. Hopefully this makes it a (little!) easier to find something.

Main roads OK.

sourpuss2021

Amazing location here:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114117482#/?channel=RES_BUY

Wonder if it would be possible to convert into one dwelling.

Or leave as is, with the basement flat and ground floor business giving you a tasty income.

I'm actually surprised how cheap it is, though the floor space isn't much.

Newnoel

Have a look around Blackhorse Road station. Served by Victoria line and London Overground, and plenty in your price range:
Properties For Sale near Blackhorse Road Station | Rightmove

user1977

sourpuss2021 said:

Amazing location here:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114117482#/?channel=RES_BUY

Wonder if it would be possible to convert into one dwelling.

Or leave as is, with the basement flat and ground floor business giving you a tasty income.

Impossible to buy with a normal residential mortgage though (at least until you've got planning to convert the ground floor to residential - and the planners tend to be reluctant to allow that unless you've demonstrated there's no market for commercial use).