thanks

Murphybear

i_like_cats said:

Thanks again for your insight, EssexHebridean.

Yes I know what you mean about dogs in flats, having been driven crazy by a neighbour’s dog when I lived in a Victorian terrace.   

Cats are also problematic - I don’t believe in indoor cats - unless you have a ground floor flat with a decent sized sole use garden.   

And if you do have a ground floor flat, the trade-off compared to the upper floor flats may be that the rooms have privacy issues or just aren’t ones you’ll want to spend much time in.   

I suppose I was spoiled because I had a couple of years in university accommodation in zone 1, and then had a cheap rental in zone 2 for over a decade, and various inner London flatshares along the way.

I can imagine buying somewhere small in inner London, or a detached house in the middle of nowhere without any neighbours for miles around.   I can’t really imagine much inbetween!

I don’t have kids and I don’t date, so I really would feel super uncomfortable in anywhere suburban.   I also don’t want a 3 hour daily commute and to be spending £800 on tube and train fairs.  So really somewhere like Hertford would never be suitable, nice though it is.

Tooting could also be worth a look if I want more than a studio or 1-bed.   Otherwise somewhere really central but tiny could work but I’d still have to be wary of who the neighbours might be. 

I thought I’d seen somewhere workable in SW London, only to spot the £8000 a year service charge!!!

Bec or Broadway?  I used to work in Tooting Broadway and bought an ex council flat in Tooting Bec.  It was a small block and I had a flat on the 4th floor.  It overlooked the Common and had a lovely view.  There was an open air swimming pool on the Commin, I dint know if it’s still there.  The flats were very well built and I rarely heard any noise.  

Bec or Broadway?  I used to work in Tooting Broadway and bought an ex council flat in Tooting Bec.  It was a small block and I had a flat on the 4th floor.  It overlooked the Common and had a lovely view.  There was an open air swimming pool on the Commin, I don’t know if it’s still there.  The flats were very well built and I rarely heard any noise.  I sold it for a big profit to move in with my boyfriend (still with him after many years) and we bought a house in Milton Keynes.  That’s not a bad place to live and it’s fairly commutable. 

AlexMac

dinosaur66 said:

i like …

blackheath /maze hill /clockhouse/crystal palace although i would not like to ride a bike in those areas to hilly but nice places to live

….

my only misgiving is i refuse to buy leasehold / hope the law changes very soon as in places like london 90% of propertys that people can afford are leasehold

Of dinosaur66’s advice options, I’d say look closely not just at Blackheath SE3 ( the beautiful suburb and village we live in), but the much cheaper and immediately adjacent Charlton SE7 area (where our granddaughter lives and never wants to leave). 

One of the cheapest “nice” areas in London and if you ain’t snobbish about ex-council property (which don’t always come with feral neighbours; I woz dragged up on a Council estate in Brixton and now gotta gaff well norf of a Mil)…

…there are local 2 bed flats with great Local Authority freeholders and reasonable service charges around £1-2k pa at £300k (I own two) and…

… freeholds well under £500k. 

Check out SE7

arthurdick

Hi I Like Cats,
I do agree with Alexmac about SE7, there are some lovely big old houses around Charlton Church Lane and Victoria Way, and a massive retail shopping park down the bottom (completely changed since I went to school there, I think my old school is now a fire station).  SE7 has Charlton station, around 20mins trip to London Bridge, also SE7 is not too far away from the Lizzy Line in Woolwich.   I now live in SE3, walkable to Blackheath Village, I don't go too  much on the Village, people there seem a bit snobby but there are a couple of nice pubs.  Greenwich is nice around the Cutty Sark area and the park.  Lovely pubs around there too.