Central London anyone having a hard time selling?

puddy

i dont think london is a toilet, but i just dont want to live at the edge of a big sprawling city anymore. i want some greenery, some softness and the beach

in addition, its about basic supply and demand, people want to live in london and the surrounds, there are more people wanting or needing to live in and around london than there is for wales. simple.

monkeybutler_2

This has turned into a South East London lovein- I'm in Sydenham, Forest Hill end. Really like it, currently renting a huge two bed garden flat in a period conversion. Was looking to buy down here, but not untill prices are a little less crazy. The thing that amuses me are all the new, ludicrously overpriced empty flats near Forest Hill train station.

puddy

oh,,, and i forgot the biggest reason, to release some money out of my current property. i can get the same thing down there for about 100k less and a better quality of life

neverdespairgirl

Doozergirl wrote: »

Was it East Dulwich?! I didn't look!

It's alright but I'd much prefer Beckenham actually.

I went to school in East Dulwich - but I'd hate to live in either Dulwich or Beckenham (especially Beckenham!) both just far too surburban for my taste.

chachi

We just exchanged/sold in Streatham SW16 (completing on 03-July) after being on the market for about eight months ... now in the midst of relo'ing to Paphos, Cyprus for a complete lifestyle change and quality of life shift.

Was just back in London a few weeks ago to sign all the papers/etc and must admit within a day I was anxious to get back to Paphos ...

KLB

We live in Stratford, east London. We bought about 9 yrs ago very cheaply so can afford a knock on the value. We have our fingers crossed that where we live will not do so badly because of the Olympic regeneration, but who knows, it could just as well all turn out to be a complete dogs dinner. We do want to leave London but aren’t ready to go yet. Happy to stay for a couple more years but I don’t want to be here come 2012. Anyone from east London or got any thoughts on what the Olympics will mean for house prices?

do_it_today!

katieowl wrote: »

A bigger toilet - LOL! It's turning into the PITS in SE London. I hate being here now, and fear for my kids every time they go out. Too much that has happened here in the last couple of years is less that a couple of people away! KWIM?

We've got lots of friends who have moved out of London, and still more that want to. St Leonards, Whitstable, Southend (although I'd have to say that they are not over the moon with the reality of that choice)
Kate

Well this also concerns me? sometimes the grass isnt that much greener or the problems you think you are leaving just appear in a slightly different variation. Also people move away and then end up moving back again
It just feels like violent crime and anti-social behaviour is getting really out of hand at the moment SE London in particular - is it just a blip or will it just get worse I guess one idea is we could rent somewhere out of town and see how that goes dipping toe without full commitment

curious to know the reality that your friends have experienced?

Doozergirl

do_it_today! wrote: »

Well this also concerns me? sometimes the grass isnt that much greener or the problems you think you are leaving just appear in a slightly different variation. Also people move away and then end up moving back again
It just feels like violent crime and anti-social behaviour is getting really out of hand at the moment SE London in particular - is it just a blip or will it just get worse I guess one idea is we could rent somewhere out of town and see how that goes dipping toe without full commitment

curious to know the reality that your friends have experienced?

I moved to Worcestershire. I'm a born and bred Londoner and I can categorically tell you that here, the grass is absolutely much greener. And it's not just the fact that we actually have grass here!

No one I know of the people who have left London have moved back, in fact, those that have moved back anywhere have moved back towards home from London.

Our friends live in Clapham now. We got followed a few weeks ago by three idiots shouting and hurling abuse at us and really wanting to fight our husbands (what for!) when we were just simply two thirty-something year old couples popping out to a bar within yards of the "saught after Abbeville village"! And then there was the rather large group of young men, on the same journey, with the biggest Boxer dog in the world who all stood in the middle of the road and stared at us. Luckily my friend is a lunatic and started gushing over the dog. To avoid any of this you really do need to be in the very best bits of London in which case, it's one of the very best places to be. But if you're not a multi millionaire you are surrounded by a barely contained agression everywhere you look. It's youth and naivety that makes you think you'll be alright and a simple refusal to admit that it exists to say that it doesn't or that it's somehow 'street' that makes the place such a desirable place to be and think that they're a part of it.

Our friends here are successful, have good jobs or are happily self employed and none of them live in London. If you are good, you will succeed anywhere (expect perhaps in those industries which are purely centred around London).

I'm sure that many people live far poorer lives for struggling with the cost of living in London. Many of those people are the very ones making it such a crap place to live for everyone else.

The perception that it's getting worse however, is probably just that one day you realise that you're actually not immortal and that you need to look after yourself better than you might have done when you were a bit younger.

katieowl_2

do_it_today! wrote: »

Well this also concerns me? sometimes the grass isnt that much greener or the problems you think you are leaving just appear in a slightly different variation. Also people move away and then end up moving back again
It just feels like violent crime and anti-social behaviour is getting really out of hand at the moment SE London in particular - is it just a blip or will it just get worse I guess one idea is we could rent somewhere out of town and see how that goes dipping toe without full commitment

curious to know the reality that your friends have experienced?

In our case, it's a move we've wanted to make for 20 years - we can just about afford to do it now, as frankly whatever happened we wouldn't be a any worse off. My OH is self-employed and we think there is work for him locally - at least at the pityful level we've had in London for the last couple of years. We'd just be in the most beautiful part of the country. We've had allotments for years, and just want to unplug and do the things we can't do here - like have chickens! I know what we want to do isn't for everyone.

Our friend who moved to St Leonards, wishes she had stuck out for Hastings, as she's spending a fortune on cabs back from her social nights out. She was in a couple when she moved and is now on her own. She's looking to trade in for a tiny place in Hasting Old Town.

Our friend who moved to Southend was just about the first to go - she had a bit of culture shock - and her marriage also ended about a year after moving, his relatives were there not hers (am I seeing a theme develop here), so she was 'stuck' there for a bit, as her son had started school there etc. She spent a while bemoaning the fact that all her friends were still in London, and commuting for a social life. She moved a couple of times and eventally met a new partner in the area, and she seems quite settled now.

Our friends in Whitstable loved it - until he got a job for the Red Cross, they've been in the Maldives for two years, and have just taken a post in Sri Lanka....so I guess you can't get much further away from London

The main thing they all seem to miss is the friends they have left behind, as visits tend to become phonecalls..... Nobody is telling me that they can't get X Y or Z or that they actually regret moving. They've all ended up with a better housing deal, but all of my friends are in the 'older' age bracket - over 40 at least, so I guess that makes the job situations different too. My friend in St Leonards can't get a job. My Friend in Southend is supply teaching which she hates. As far as I can see there's next to no work in London either so I can't see that's a lot different frankly.

Don't know what else I can tell you......

Regards

Kate

do_it_today!

Doozergirl wrote: »

The perception that it's getting worse however, is probably just that one day you realise that you're actually not immortal and that you need to look after yourself better than you might have done when you were a bit younger.

You could be right while studying I worked in a bar/club and travelled back from west end on the night bus at 4am regularly - I cannot imagine doing that now :eek: