How to decide area to buy a flat in London?

Nickfirsttimebuyer

@EssexHebridean absolutely! The only thing I am thoughtful about Highams Park is the fact that is in Zone 4 and I wanted something within zone 2-3 max ideally. However, the commute time to central London from HP is the same (or maybe even better) compared to many places in zone 3 (and maybe even 2) therefore that's not an issue for me. 

RHemmings

demontfort said:

You'd get a niceish 2 bed in Leyton for £450K, possibly with a garden. True, Leyton is a bit of a dump but so is most of East London and for some reason it's attracted a lot of 30 somethings who ignore the drugs and deprivation and try to pretend they are living in Hampstead. On the plus side it's very quick and easy to get to Liverpool Street by tube or by bike, there's lots of parks and open space nearby, it has a football team, Stratford and all it's delights are within walking distance and there's a few poncey bars and restaurants (if you like that kind of thing).

I find it hard to get my head around a deprived area where a 2 bed flat is £450K. Clearly it's not unemployeddrig addicts who are buying properties. Gentrification seems baked in. 

silvercar

Nickfirsttimebuyer said:

@silvercar absolutely I agree with you that is more relaxing living where I’d like to be than somewhere I don’t really like that much but I'm close to the center!! SO TRUE ☺️
I'm thinking of BOW (ZONE 2) & HIGHAMS PARK (ZONE 4) or close to Maze Hill/ Deptford/ Greenwich (Zone 2-3) as of now but im having viewings and it really depends if I also like the flats. I've seen however the closer you are in the center the more expensive the service charges/ ground rents are even if it does depend on the building!
My priorities are
1. Flat (ticks the boxes, service charges, ground rent, lease, etc)
2. Location (amenities nearby/ safety/ community)
3. Well connected (reachable easily by night and day)

Just had a conversation with my son, who bought in Lea Bridge just over a year ago. His comment was that it is relaxing to live in your own place (as a FTB who had been renting previously) provided you love your flat, the secondary consideration is well connected and the third is the area. The fourth is that as a place gets gentrified, the quality of the facilities improves. So everyone’s priorities are different.

demontfort

RHemmings said:

demontfort said:

You'd get a niceish 2 bed in Leyton for £450K, possibly with a garden. True, Leyton is a bit of a dump but so is most of East London and for some reason it's attracted a lot of 30 somethings who ignore the drugs and deprivation and try to pretend they are living in Hampstead. On the plus side it's very quick and easy to get to Liverpool Street by tube or by bike, there's lots of parks and open space nearby, it has a football team, Stratford and all it's delights are within walking distance and there's a few poncey bars and restaurants (if you like that kind of thing).

I find it hard to get my head around a deprived area where a 2 bed flat is £450K. Clearly it's not unemployeddrig addicts who are buying properties. Gentrification seems baked in. 

Tell me about it but a lot of relatively well off people in London are willing to pay a fortune for a pokey flat in a traffic choked, drug addled armpit of East London as long as they can buy a sourdough kombucha and have an overpriced brunch with friends.

annetheman

demontfort said:

You'd get a niceish 2 bed in Leyton for £450K, possibly with a garden. True, Leyton is a bit of a dump but so is most of East London and for some reason it's attracted a lot of 30 somethings who ignore the drugs and deprivation and try to pretend they are living in Hampstead. On the plus side it's very quick and easy to get to Liverpool Street by tube or by bike, there's lots of parks and open space nearby, it has a football team, Stratford and all it's delights are within walking distance and there's a few poncey bars and restaurants (if you like that kind of thing).

Woah, I feel seen. I've literally just bought a 2-bed house in an East London z3 dump and posted a thread clutching my pearls about the deprivation I saw (I'm moving from the shires with multi-million-pound houses in the neighbourhood, for comparison) as a 30-something! I have lived in some real dumps though, so I really am not pretending when I say I don't mind it lol.

90% of 30-something I know have dreams when buying in London of picking the area that's going to be gentrified next, but during the pre-gentrification price times.

OP - I would seriously consider if you can stretch to a house, since you say lease and service charge issues are a nuisance already in your search. It doesn't get better - as someone who is selling a flat specifically for those reasons.

pieroabcd

It really depends on what's most important for you.
For me it was absolutely: a freehold house because I didn't want to be a renter in disguise at the mercy of  service charges out of my control, spacious and in a decent area even at the cost of living in zone 16, decently connected, supermarkets at walking distance.
I couldn't care less about bars, cafes and restaurants (where I've never been).

When I bought the house that I chose it ticked all the points (in zone 6 but 5 minutes from the tube station) but I didn't give enough importance to the distance from supermarkets, 15 minutes walk away (I never buy from small stores because there's simply not enough choice). Now if I went back I would probably choose another house that I saw a few weeks before, at 5 minutes walking distance from Lidl and Sainsbuy (15 from the station) because after all going to buy some food happens definitely MUCH more frequently than taking the tube, for me at least (working from home 3 days a week). Incidentally this other house was also 90k cheaper...

RHemmings

pieroabcd said:

It really depends on what's most important for you.
For me it was absolutely: a freehold house because I didn't want to be a renter in disguise at the mercy of  service charges out of my control, spacious and in a decent area even at the cost of living in zone 16, decently connected, supermarkets at walking distance.
I couldn't care less about bars, cafes and restaurants (where I've never been).

When I bought the house that I chose it ticked all the points (in zone 6 but 5 minutes from the tube station) but I didn't give enough importance to the distance from supermarkets, 15 minutes walk away (I never buy from small stores because there's simply not enough choice). Now if I went back I would probably choose another house that I saw a few weeks before, at 5 minutes walking distance from Lidl and Sainsbuy (15 from the station) because after all going to buy some food happens definitely MUCH more frequently than taking the tube, for me at least (working from home 3 days a week). Incidentally this other house was also 90k cheaper...

Couldn't you fix that fifteen minute walk from the supermarket by making it a five minute cycle? Or just getting deliveries?

pieroabcd

RHemmings said:

pieroabcd said:

It really depends on what's most important for you.
For me it was absolutely: a freehold house because I didn't want to be a renter in disguise at the mercy of  service charges out of my control, spacious and in a decent area even at the cost of living in zone 16, decently connected, supermarkets at walking distance.
I couldn't care less about bars, cafes and restaurants (where I've never been).

When I bought the house that I chose it ticked all the points (in zone 6 but 5 minutes from the tube station) but I didn't give enough importance to the distance from supermarkets, 15 minutes walk away (I never buy from small stores because there's simply not enough choice). Now if I went back I would probably choose another house that I saw a few weeks before, at 5 minutes walking distance from Lidl and Sainsbuy (15 from the station) because after all going to buy some food happens definitely MUCH more frequently than taking the tube, for me at least (working from home 3 days a week). Incidentally this other house was also 90k cheaper...

Couldn't you fix that fifteen minute walk from the supermarket by making it a five minute cycle? Or just getting deliveries?

Getting deliveries here is a matter of 4 days.
Cycling no, I've had too many accidents in the past on my motorbikes.
I'll have to be happy to just walk.

RHemmings

pieroabcd said:

RHemmings said:

pieroabcd said:

It really depends on what's most important for you.
For me it was absolutely: a freehold house because I didn't want to be a renter in disguise at the mercy of  service charges out of my control, spacious and in a decent area even at the cost of living in zone 16, decently connected, supermarkets at walking distance.
I couldn't care less about bars, cafes and restaurants (where I've never been).

When I bought the house that I chose it ticked all the points (in zone 6 but 5 minutes from the tube station) but I didn't give enough importance to the distance from supermarkets, 15 minutes walk away (I never buy from small stores because there's simply not enough choice). Now if I went back I would probably choose another house that I saw a few weeks before, at 5 minutes walking distance from Lidl and Sainsbuy (15 from the station) because after all going to buy some food happens definitely MUCH more frequently than taking the tube, for me at least (working from home 3 days a week). Incidentally this other house was also 90k cheaper...

Couldn't you fix that fifteen minute walk from the supermarket by making it a five minute cycle? Or just getting deliveries?

Getting deliveries here is a matter of 4 days.
Cycling no, I've had too many accidents in the past on my motorbikes.
I'll have to be happy to just walk.

I am surprised that you can't get deliveries within four days. I just checked where I am and I can easily book same day deliveries. What part of the country do you live in?

If you are accident prone then cycling could be an issue as you not only risk yourself, but put others at risk as well. 

pieroabcd

RHemmings said:

pieroabcd said:

RHemmings said:

pieroabcd said:

It really depends on what's most important for you.
For me it was absolutely: a freehold house because I didn't want to be a renter in disguise at the mercy of  service charges out of my control, spacious and in a decent area even at the cost of living in zone 16, decently connected, supermarkets at walking distance.
I couldn't care less about bars, cafes and restaurants (where I've never been).

When I bought the house that I chose it ticked all the points (in zone 6 but 5 minutes from the tube station) but I didn't give enough importance to the distance from supermarkets, 15 minutes walk away (I never buy from small stores because there's simply not enough choice). Now if I went back I would probably choose another house that I saw a few weeks before, at 5 minutes walking distance from Lidl and Sainsbuy (15 from the station) because after all going to buy some food happens definitely MUCH more frequently than taking the tube, for me at least (working from home 3 days a week). Incidentally this other house was also 90k cheaper...

Couldn't you fix that fifteen minute walk from the supermarket by making it a five minute cycle? Or just getting deliveries?

Getting deliveries here is a matter of 4 days.
Cycling no, I've had too many accidents in the past on my motorbikes.
I'll have to be happy to just walk.

I am surprised that you can't get deliveries within four days. I just checked where I am and I can easily book same day deliveries. What part of the country do you live in?

If you are accident prone then cycling could be an issue as you not only risk yourself, but put others at risk as well. 

Havering.
Every time that o tried there was no slot before 4 days.
As for the accidents i've always been run over. I've never caused harm to anyone, but enough to stay away from the two wheels for the foreseeable future.