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Buying flat in london

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  • bouicca21
    bouicca21 Posts: 6,696 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Bow also has cycle superhighway 2 into central London.  It takes me an hour cycling at a leisurely pace to get from my home in zone 4 to central London would  be a lot quicker from Bow, especially as the cycling infrastructure north of the River is way better than south.
  • kaymee
    kaymee Posts: 16 Forumite
    10 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 18 January 2022 at 3:13PM
    GDB2222 said:
    A good walk is a great way to start the day.  I’m just saying that you might think again about being close to the station. 


    I wish I had that kind of enthusiasm in life :P I am wary about days I’ll be rushing to work, or days I’m working (from home) late, but have plans to meet friends after, it’s just added stress to add the walk to the travel time! I value convenience, and as AF8879 and Schwarzwald added, on days I would like the luxury of a walk, I can ‘choose’ to add it :) I may still compromise on this criteria if all other criteria meet.
  • kaymee
    kaymee Posts: 16 Forumite
    10 Posts Name Dropper

    In terms of valuing, I put together a “comparison sheet” in excel and tracked each single property that I viewed. To prepare my offer, I also researched all Sold properties and prices in the very street I was looking at for the last 5 years (e.g. Rightmove).

    I primarily focused on price per sq.ft, as I find the number of bedrooms v misleading. You can change the number of bedrooms in a given property easily, but square footage is square footage unless you do an extension.

    I then adjusted for Leasehold vs (Share of) Freehold, garden vs no garden, etc. to come up with the specific price I was willing to bid. I also included a 5-7% budget for furniture, modernizing the space and select room refurbs.

    Very methodical, thanks for sharing! I’ve looked at the sold prices history at land registry before, but it unfortunately has no information on square footage!
  • K_S
    K_S Posts: 6,880 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    kaymee said:

    In terms of valuing, I put together a “comparison sheet” in excel and tracked each single property that I viewed. To prepare my offer, I also researched all Sold properties and prices in the very street I was looking at for the last 5 years (e.g. Rightmove).

    I primarily focused on price per sq.ft, as I find the number of bedrooms v misleading. You can change the number of bedrooms in a given property easily, but square footage is square footage unless you do an extension.

    I then adjusted for Leasehold vs (Share of) Freehold, garden vs no garden, etc. to come up with the specific price I was willing to bid. I also included a 5-7% budget for furniture, modernizing the space and select room refurbs.

    Very methodical, thanks for sharing! I’ve looked at the sold prices history at land registry before, but it unfortunately has no information on square footage!
    @kaymee To see the floor area for the property, check if it has an EPC certificate here https://find-energy-certificate.service.gov.uk/find-a-certificate/search-by-postcode?lang=en&property_type=domestic

    If it does, that will show the total floor area in sq metres.

    I am a Mortgage Adviser - You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. 

    PLEASE DO NOT SEND PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.

  • Aprtment prices are about to be hit by the building safety bill now in the house of lords but will be law by end of March and come in 2013/14.  All flats will need to pass the PAS9980 and no one knows if any will so remediation/buildings ins bills will hit service charges hard with a 2 bed flat likely to double form 2.5k to 5k.  No one knows how this will affect prices but I would wait a couple of years to see what happens before buying as prices won't rise in the short term until all flats have this certificate.
  • Schwarzwald
    Schwarzwald Posts: 642 Forumite
    500 Posts Third Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 18 January 2022 at 4:40PM
    kaymee said:

    In terms of valuing, I put together a “comparison sheet” in excel and tracked each single property that I viewed. To prepare my offer, I also researched all Sold properties and prices in the very street I was looking at for the last 5 years (e.g. Rightmove).

    I primarily focused on price per sq.ft, as I find the number of bedrooms v misleading. You can change the number of bedrooms in a given property easily, but square footage is square footage unless you do an extension.

    I then adjusted for Leasehold vs (Share of) Freehold, garden vs no garden, etc. to come up with the specific price I was willing to bid. I also included a 5-7% budget for furniture, modernizing the space and select room refurbs.

    Very methodical, thanks for sharing! I’ve looked at the sold prices history at land registry before, but it unfortunately has no information on square footage!
    you can also sometimes find floorplans of previous listings on Rightmove, i.e. sold properties, and then sometimes the old EA ads are still saved, not for every property, but for some 
  • kaymee
    kaymee Posts: 16 Forumite
    10 Posts Name Dropper
    K_S said:

    @kaymee To see the floor area for the property, check if it has an EPC certificate here https://find-energy-certificate.service.gov.uk/find-a-certificate/search-by-postcode?lang=en&property_type=domestic

    If it does, that will show the total floor area in sq metres.
    Very useful - thank you!

    I don’t suppose I can find this information in a downloadable format (that will help me get sqm data in bulk, to be able to calculate / study psf data in bulk)?
  • Aprtment prices are about to be hit by the building safety bill now in the house of lords but will be law by end of March and come in 2013/14.  All flats will need to pass the PAS9980 and no one knows if any will so remediation/buildings ins bills will hit service charges hard with a 2 bed flat likely to double form 2.5k to 5k.  No one knows how this will affect prices but I would wait a couple of years to see what happens before buying as prices won't rise in the short term until all flats have this certificate.

    dont have details at hand at this topic, but I think a far too broad statement to make to generally dismiss purchases right now. What if property prices continue to increase substantially in the short to medium term?
    An increase in services charges might then still be not top of your worries in 5 years.

    Consider yes, but who knows where the market is in the next years?


  • kaymee
    kaymee Posts: 16 Forumite
    10 Posts Name Dropper
    Aprtment prices are about to be hit by the building safety bill now in the house of lords but will be law by end of March and come in 2013/14.  All flats will need to pass the PAS9980 and no one knows if any will so remediation/buildings ins bills will hit service charges hard with a 2 bed flat likely to double form 2.5k to 5k.  No one knows how this will affect prices but I would wait a couple of years to see what happens before buying as prices won't rise in the short term until all flats have this certificate.
    Thanks @coypondboy. Is this the same as the cladding issue? I’m not a cash buyer ;) and my understanding was that the banks already look for compliance to these safety standards before approving any mortgage. Or am i confusing issues?
  • K_S
    K_S Posts: 6,880 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    kaymee said:
    K_S said:

    @kaymee To see the floor area for the property, check if it has an EPC certificate here https://find-energy-certificate.service.gov.uk/find-a-certificate/search-by-postcode?lang=en&property_type=domestic

    If it does, that will show the total floor area in sq metres.
    Very useful - thank you!

    I don’t suppose I can find this information in a downloadable format (that will help me get sqm data in bulk, to be able to calculate / study psf data in bulk)?
    @kaymee Not that I know of but might well be available from sources like Nimbus Maps . You sound like my partner, they're in a numerate profession, always looking for excel datasets :)

    But unless you're comparing very similar properties, in London there are as-significant or more-significant factors than floor-area that impact price, even for flats.

    I am a Mortgage Adviser - You should note that this site doesn't check my status as a mortgage adviser, so you need to take my word for it. This signature is here as I follow MSE's Mortgage Adviser Code of Conduct. Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as financial advice. 

    PLEASE DO NOT SEND PMs asking for one-to-one-advice, or representation.

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