Real Estate

29th December 2017

Area guide to Walthamstow

Photo source: Wikimedia http://bit.ly/2lhq4IC

Walthamstow, also known as ‘awesomestow’, is exactly that.

An earlier spelling of Walthamstow was ‘Wilcumstowe’ meaning ‘place of welcome.’ AEC was located in Walthamstow and was responsible for the mass production of London’s famous buses. The “mile long” Walthamstow Market began trading in 1885 and is one of the most iconic markets in the city. However, the legend of it being a mile long is a slight overestimation as in reality it measures in at 100 metres. Despite starting life as a rural area, it’s now largely a suburban, built up area. Head to Walthamstow Village for a little taster of what the area was originally like.

Walthamstow is very well served by Underground and Overground stations with stations for both at Walthamstow Central and Blackhorse Road. Full bus services operate from Walthamstow Central. The buses also provide a hopper service making all journeys simple and quick.

All you read is love was a pop-up café/coffee shop with a twist that has just found a permanent spot in Leytonstone (next to Walthamstow). The twist is that it is a book café run by Danish siblings on the beautiful Hoe Street. Serving up sandwiches, cakes, coffee and craft beers along with DJs and writing workshops at certain times.

Walthamstow Market

This historic market has been trading for well over a hundred years. It has a variety of stalls selling food, clothes, furniture, and antique goods while there are also cafes and restaurants selling anything from Caribbean food to jellied eels. It hosts a popular farmer’s market every Sunday between 10am and 2pm.

Address: Walthamstow Market can be found on Walthamstow High Street.

‘The Mall’ have a number of shopping centres all over the UK and are one of the leaders in this market. As well as hosting a number of events throughout the year, including craft markets on Sundays and children’s events this Halloween, the Mall has hundreds of shops under its roof. From household names to eateries, it’s well worth a visit for all the shopaholics out there!

Address: The Mall Walthamstow, 45 Selborne Walk, Walthamstow

27th December 2017

Focus On Canning Town

For affordability and an easy commute to Canary Wharf, the only way is E16.

Canning Town platform Photo source: Geograph.co.uk http://bit.ly/2ljhSX8

East London’s post-industrial landscape is rapidly disappearing in favour of quirky cultural venues, artfully rustic cafes and glassy residential towers. While the investment potential in Hackney and Tower Hamlets has been well-documented, other locations that are just as accessible have managed to slip under the radar.

One of these is Canning Town, a part of town with a rich dockers’ history, that has just been re-zoned along with Stratford into Zone 2. Sitting on the Jubilee line and the DLR, commuters can be in Canary Wharf in 10mins and, once the Elizabeth Line is up and running at nearby Custom House, 17mins from Bond Street.

The first sign of investment interest arrived with the ExCeL London exhibition centre in 2000, but the financial crash slowed down further development – until the recent residential boom.

Now, 10,000 new homes are planned from a variety of developers and housing associations, many for sale on affordability schemes like Help to Buy and Shared Ownership, along with a £600m revamp of the town centre and a hotel along with new pedestrian and cycling routes.

The real jewel in the crown, though, is nearby London City Island sitting just across the border in Tower Hamlets, whose anchor tenant will be the English National Ballet bringing a much-needed cultural boost to the area in 2018.

Compared to other areas with similar commuting times prices are a steal, too, which is why young professionals priced out of surrounding boroughs are looking for value in Canning Town.

Nick Parr, partner at Knight Frank City & East, agrees, but thinks its investment appeal can only be fully realised when put in context with surrounding areas. “It’s a great place to be, two stops down from Canary Wharf and half the price, two stops from Stratford and The Royal Docks are taking off.

Data from Johns & Co bears this out; the estate agent reports that “a lot of interest” is coming from corporate tenants aged between 25 and 35 working in the City or Canary Wharf and, recently, buy-to-let investors.

“It’s proving a hotspot for investors, not least because property price growth is anticipated to rise by up to 30 per cent in the next five years,” says managing director John Morley. “Yields north of five per cent are now hard to come by in many parts of central London, but this is still possible in E16 with yields currently at five to six per cent.”

Area highlights

If you’re a keen comic book fan or just like roaming wistfully around travel shows, you’ll like being a short walk away from the ExCeL London Centre. Regular business travellers will also enjoy being so close to London City Airport, which is only 10 minutes away on the DLR and it’s so small, it’s like waiting to board a plane from someone’s living room. If you’re looking to meet new people, seek out the Canning Town Caravanserai, a flexible space used for art installations, story-telling, food markets and skills workshops. You’re never far from water, with the River Lea, the Thames and the Royal Docks nearby, and you can take the Emirates Skyline over to the 02 Arena. Good restaurants nearby include reasonably-priced Italian Pepenero, contemporary brasserie Docklands Bar and Grill and Fatboy’s Diner the other side of Bow Creek, a 1950s-style diner next to arts space Trinity Buoy Wharf.

21st December 2017

South Woodford Area Guide

Photo source: Geograph http://bit.ly/2BYpnxr

South Woodford lies in the north-east corner of London, minutes away from the border of Essex. In fact Woodford and Woodford Green are both located in Essex.
E18 is leafy and suburban; it’s popular with commuters who love the convenience of being less than 30 minutes away from the West End.
The high street contains your usual, basic convenience chain stores but is broken up by boutiques, gastro pubs and a local cinema.
If you like weekend walks, then this is the place for you, as Epping Forest is on the borders of this area.
The area is reasonably small and quiet, but with that comes a sense of living in safe surroundings.

South Woodford’s retail and business area is centred on George Lane, the location of South Woodford tube station, and Woodford Green High Road. There are several leading chain store shops, such as Sainsbury, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Boots and a number of smaller shops, restaurants and cafes. There is a crown post office and Royal Mail sorting office.

There is a seven screen Odeon cinema, which opened in 1934 as a Majestic and is the only cinema in the area. As of November 2017, its freehold is for sale. Next door, The George pub, an 18th-century building on the site of an earlier inn, was originally a stopping point for stagecoaches, with several bars. The George once had a fine dining area on the first floor and then later a pizzeria in the basement, with a large spiral staircase between the floors. Other amenities include a number of green areas, many of which form part of Epping Forest.

There are numerous churches and chapels representing various Christian denominations, several synagogues and a mosque.

The area is served by South Woodford tube station in Travel card Zone 4 on the Central line of the London Underground.

South Woodford has a good selection of schools including Nightingale Primary, Snaresbrook Primary, Churchfields which has a junior and infant department, as well as Oakdale. There is also Snaresbrook Preparatory, St Josephs’ Convent voluntary maintained school, and Woodbridge Secondary School.

Forest School is an independent school, within close proximity to South Woodford, in that the playing fields are arguably in South Woodford.

15th December 2017

London Hotspots for Millennials

Photo source: PropertyReporter http://bit.ly/2j6Hhmt

Affordable houses may not be a strong point for London, but the city is still on the preferences list of Millennials.

Studies show that Millennials would choose the city for a couple of reasons. And, as stated in this article on Property Reporter, the top five London Millennial Hotspots are:

1. Redbridge – Best For Culture
2. Croydon – Best For Young Families
3. Newham – Best For Star Neighbourhood: East Ham
4. Barking & Dagenham – Best For First Time Buyers
5. Tower Hamlets – Best For Hipsters, Foodies And Festival Heads

Yes, you noticed rightly! Locations with a high cost of living like Kensington and Chelsea are not on the list. This is because Millennials search for cost effective places.

13th December 2017

Careful What You Improve to Your House

Photo source: ThisOldHouse http://bit.ly/2ynxHkj

Taking good care of your house means fixing all that needs to be fixed in time, before the problems overgrow.

However, sometimes the bad road is also paved with good intentions and we tend to exceed. Results may vary upon your house, depending on what you are trying to fix.

We found a very good article on ThisOldHouse about how very good ideas can end up being wrongly implemented and causing more damage than good.

For example:

brighter light bulbs can over-heat and cause fires;
repainting can make even more cracks in the paint;
trees planted too close to the pavement can cause cracks when they grow;

Consult the full list in the article and suggest some more ideas of small reparations that need, in time, some more repairing!

10th December 2017

New Cities’ Principles

Real Estate

Photo source: Grist.org http://bit.ly/2nQFLu2

We can all notice the good and the bad about the city we live in now. The longer we have been staying in one place, the more bad things we seem to notice: the trash is wrongly positioned, the high buildings are creating a shadow all day long over the children’s park, not enough greenery etc.

Some of these we can change and improve by ourselves, but there are some things that are unchangeable. These are usually the things that were designed or simply appeared once with the city. And the more impact they have on us, the more frustrating it is that they cannot be changed.

The continuous development will bring more cities on the world map. It is important that we learn from the current examples and make the new ones better and better.

Having this in mind, Peter Calthorpe, urban designer, started planning the cities of the future and advocating for community design. He made a list of 7 principles to build the new cities on and you can hear them all in his TED conference from April this year.

9th December 2017

Properties on Crossrail

Photo source: MoneyObserver http://bit.ly/2iHG8Bz

The Elizabeth Line: it’s the new, purple Tube line with the royal seal of approval.

Rightmove recently reported that asking prices for homes along the line have soared by up to a third, and they’re continuing to rise, with analysts predicting average price increases of £133,000 between now and when the line launches in 2018/19.

If you want to move or invest to take advantage of the line, here’s some of our top property hotspots…

Forest Gate

Forest Gate is located on the southern edge of Epping Forest, and neighbours Stratford and Leytonstone. It has enjoyed significant gentrification over the past few years, thanks to the Olympic Games and the opening of Westfield shopping centre, and now the anticipated arrival of Crossrail is gentrifying the district even further.

The transport links definitely appeal to potential buyers. There’s an Overground train to the City that takes 13 minutes, and when the Elizabeth line opens, locals will be able to catch a train to Tottenham Court Road in just 17 minutes. Cheap Viagra UK sale or discount generic Viagra online from http://northcentralhealthdistrict.org/viagra/.

The Zone 3 district also offers a wealth of affordable, Victorian houses, and is a haven for investors and first-time buyers.

We expect property prices to rise by 10% by the time Crossrail is complete.

Ilford

Crossrail will finally put Ilford on the Tube map! Although it was not traditionally an elegant place to live, it is certainly becoming gentrified as a result of the new transport plans. New build apartments, trendy eateries and bars are popping up in the east London borough, signalling a wave of new buyers coming into the area.

It is one of the best value spots in London. Despite values rising since the announcement of Crossrail. Ahead of the line’s completion, we forecast further price rises of 10%. It believes the area will prosper as a result, making it an ideal location to both live and invest in.

Romford

Romford is becoming an increasing popular choice for homebuyers, as many are being driven out of the capital because of rising property prices.

The Essex town offers affordable housing, a quick commute, (you can get to Liverpool Street in 20 minutes), and a wealth of trendy cafes, delis, late night bars and independent shops and boutiques.

House prices have already reached record highs in the area due to infrastructure plans, but we predict they will continue to soar until Crossrail is fully operational in 2019.

If you’re planning a move to take advantage of the line, you’ll need to move quickly, we expect the market to get extremely competitive the closer we get to the opening of the line.

7th December 2017

Advantages for Renting

Photo source: Wikimedia http://bit.ly/2jr4fFh

Renting sometimes comes under a lot of scrutiny. Rising rents, spiralling house prices and smaller incomes have all contributed to the development of the term ‘generation rent’. Although for some, a property rental is a short-term measure and something they’d rather leave behind in favour of a mortgage. For many, the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.

No maintenance costs or repairs to fork out for

One of the main pros of renting a property is the lack of repair bills should something go wrong. Broken boilers, severe leaks and damp problems are all issues that can arise and are extremely costly to sort out. New boilers for example can cost up to £1500, while leaks and damp usually need specialist input meaning costs quickly spiral. Owning a home means you are solely responsible for fixing these issues with your own money. However, when you rent a property, your landlord is accountable for all maintenance and repair costs. If an appliance stops working or you spring a leak, you do not hold any financial responsibility to have them fixed.

No big deposit needed

As mortgages have become harder to get, buyers – particularly first-time buyers – are required to have at least a 95% mortgage, however more often than not, a 10% deposit is required. This can result in those buying needing anywhere between £5,000 and £40,000 towards a deposit. Bundle this on top of solicitors’ fees, mortgage arrangement fees and surveys, and it’s easy to see that buying a house can be incredibly costly. In contrast, renting will usually require a deposit equal to one or two months’ rent, making for a much more pocket-friendly alternative to buying.

Renters aren’t vulnerable to fluctuating prices

The housing market is can be notoriously unsteady. Negative equity is currently a worry for many, especially those wanting to sell soon. Renters on the other hand need not worry about fluctuating house prices. Rents are generally agreed on a six or twelve-month basis meaning no unexpected fluctuations.

It gives freedom and flexibility

Renting is ideal for those who may be working on a temporary basis or moving to a new area. It offers the flexibility to move on after a short period without any ties or worries, while giving those new to the area a convenient and cost-effective introduction to the local property market.

Living with friends

Another benefit of renting is that it provides more opportunities to live with friends. What’s more, the boom in flat sharing presents people with a range of opportunities to make new friends for life. Read about Viagra pills on http://northcentralhealthdistrict.org/viagra/ and order Viagra samples 100 mg, 50 mg, 25mg.

Living with a group of friends is no longer just for students – hordes of young professionals now share rental properties in the UK’s largest cities with the aim of minimising costs and maximising social opportunities.

While owning a home may be beneficial over a long period, for many renting is a better option, especially in the short-term. The choice of whether to rent or buy a property is very personal and dependent on various factors. But before making the leap into property, whether renting or buying, it’s always advisable to review your finances and make sure you can afford to live in your new home.

5th December 2017

Key Factors for a Successful Property Transaction

Photo source: Pixabay http://bit.ly/2f2JyR3

We know the property market is going through an offer crisis with resolutions already coming into place like budget for new homes. The demand is high creating huge differences between the original price and the one bid by the potential buyers. And the effects do not stop here, of course.

Latest figures show there are 11 potential buyers for a property, so if you are one of them you should know that it is really hard to get the dream house at the right price.

The key factor is to make a decision fast enough and you can do that only if you know all your limits: budget, clear image of the property you need, extra benefits, acceptable minuses etc.

A study actually brought into attention 10 factors for a successful transaction for the buyer.

Study reveals keys to success in UK’s competitive property market

Which one of the factors did you use for your dream property?

3rd December 2017

Brexit
Stamp duty changes
Mortgage constraints

Read the entire article for the full explanations and arguments and tell us your opinion in a comment!

The top 3 reasons as to why the housing market is slowing in London