13/16 Listing

[Elizabeth]

These two gems have been on the market for months. I have also seen them in local estate agents who don't advertise on rightmove. They are 13 of the 16 listing in N4 for under 120K. Since one of them has been listed twice by 4 agents agent this might suggest more like 9/12.

"A studio flat hewn from double fronted detached property, situated in a popular residential location close to Manor House Zone two Tube and the green acres of Finsbury Park."

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-632...pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-640...pa_n=2&tr_t=buy

[2005]

Elizabeth.. can you help me out here. I know London is more expensive than the north but looking at that studio flat makes me think they are not much higher than where I live. Now if the difference between London prices and prices in Manchester is not that much...and London prices are coming down what on earth is going to happen in Manchester.

Do you think the prices for that studio flat are still too expensive...what would you expect to pay for that? How much would that need to fall before it was 'reasonable'

I would be interested in your comments as I don't know London very well.

Thanks

[Smell the Fear]

A house has come up for sale near where I rent a flat in South London. It is a large house (around 3000 sq.ft), quite luxurious, but they are asking £1.75m for it. The most a house has ever sold for on the same street is around £1.3m at the height of the boom.

They are asking for 35% more than the highest ever price on the street......

[for those who are wondering, the rent for my flat is not high by London standards - I am a student so what I can afford is limited. It shows how weird London is when the bloody Rockefellers live round the corner from me....].

[Pluto]

Resonable price would be 52,230

[Elizabeth]

Elizabeth.. can you help me out here. I know London is more expensive than the north but looking at that studio flat makes me think they are not much higher than where I live. Now if the difference between London prices and prices in Manchester is not that much...and London prices are coming down what on earth is going to happen in Manchester.

Do you think the prices for that studio flat are still too expensive...what would you expect to pay for that? How much would that need to fall before it was 'reasonable'

I would be interested in your comments as I don't know London very well.

Thanks

Those flats are not worth buying. They are moving towards Walthamstow which is a serious pit. And 1/4 of a mile from the station isn't just around the corner whatever the EAs say. They may not be overpriced. It depends on your point of view, but they are simply not worth the price that is being asked. But note, they are at the very cheap end of the buying spectrum.

Finsbury Park is an OK area (used to be a pit. I squatted there in 1987) but I was living in a flat there in 1997 that was bought for 80K in 1996 and sold for 220K in 2004 - she sold cheap, she wasn't that greedy - the others in the same block were selling for over 300K. Basically now there is less differential between the crap areas and the good areas, so I can buy a 3 bd house in Muswell Hill or Crouch End for 360-400K or a 1 bd flat in Finsbury Park for 250K - why not wait for the extra 90K? Because the people that buy for 250K are stretching themselves across a long rack. The people that are buying for 360 could probably afford the 360 because they were buying up. Example: if they had bought their first 2 bd for 150, sold it for 300 then they only had to find another 50K, so their 3 bd housecost them 210.

I expect that if there is a genuine tumble that basically the differentials will re-establish themselves. Nice middle class areas with relatively high incomes and low Ump will hold up reasonably probably only drop 15-25%. The places that will get hammered are the places that never should have been anywhere near that price in the first place.

I was thinking of moving to Manchester 3 years ago because of London prices (somebody who watches real estate told me it was the next gold mine - they were right. But they've been in and out again by now). Manchester only started to move recently, and it was based on speculation that it was the 'next big thing' rather than anything concrete. What you have to ask your self is, does it have the types of jobs and industry that will sustain in an economic meltdown. If not, honestly Manchester is complete .... starts with F ends with D! basically Moss side will go back down to 12K for a terrace dump, as it was only 2 1/2 years ago.

[2005]

Thanks...that all makes sense.

I have seen prices in parts of Greater Manchester matching those of London and there is just no way Manchester can sustain that. I think it will fall hard...I will be waiting

Edited October 15, 2005 by 2005

[right_freds_dead]

manchester is getting expensive. i blame it on our mams high quality tripe.

[Elizabeth]

manchester is getting expensive. i blame it on our mams high quality tripe.

And is that where you invite me if I pass the damp sleeping bag and the kiwi fruit boot polish test?

Resonable price would be 52,230

Bang on the money! (45 really but they could push me to 53 LOL)

[right_freds_dead]

yes.

bring a tartan flask. we will have a grand day watching the multi coco DMUs leave victoria station. we could buy your favourite railway magazine from wh smith and get a chocolate muffin and latte from shunters coffee bar while picking over the best diagrams. then we can go to the canal street transexuals-through-history museum and trace manchesters cross dressing past right up to today- theres even a transsexual gift shop and chandlery as well as a free gusset ironing demostrations and transsexual falconry show.

if that doesnt get your juices flowing a trip to the boiler room of UMIST should wet your whistle. we can get down and dirty with a pack of cards. playing snap and 7 card rummy in the coal dust. your guaranteed to feel like a true woman as i peel off to my stained string vest and paisly undies, crotch rippling like a dunked tea bag, bobbing and bouncing in the steamy brew....

[Nomadd]

Thanks...that all makes sense.

I have seen prices in parts of Greater Manchester matching those of London and there is just know way Manchester can sustain that. I think it will fall hard...I will be waiting

Agree. 110%

Nomadd

[Dancing Bear]

got an opinion on this one, apollo?

i'd love to hear it if you have.

[2005]

Dancing Bear...I see you are in Sale....which part?

[zorn]

Finsbury Park is an OK area (used to be a pit. I squatted there in 1987) but I was living in a flat there in 1997 that was bought for 80K in 1996 and sold for 220K in 2004 - she sold cheap, she wasn't that greedy - the others in the same block were selling for over 300K. Basically now there is less differential between the crap areas and the good areas, so I can buy a 3 bd house in Muswell Hill or Crouch End for 360-400K or a 1 bd flat in Finsbury Park for 250K - why not wait for the extra 90K?

Because neither Muswell Hill nor Crouch End is on the Tube, whereas Finsbury Park has excellent public transport.

[Muswell Hillbilly]

Because neither Muswell Hill nor Crouch End is on the Tube, whereas Finsbury Park has excellent public transport.

Actually that's not quite true: people in Muswell Hill and Crouch End happily pay ridiculous sums of money for houses and flats simply because they're such nice areas. In fact the lack of a tube station helps these areas remain relatively stable and 'family-oriented', as it's a disincentive for itinerant Australians etc. to live there. No disrespect to itinerant Australians, but being near a tube station, and being in zones 1-2, is generally of more importance to them. Also it's a sad fact of Muswell Hill life that the majority of the residents are so in love with their cars (mostly 4x4s) that they probably wouldn't know a tube station if it bit them on the shin.

"A studio flat hewn from double fronted detached property, situated in a popular residential location close to Manor House Zone two Tube and the green acres of Finsbury Park."

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-632...pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-640...pa_n=2&tr_t=buy

The galling thing is that, in about 1997, I knew somebody who had bought an entire house on Hermitage Road for about 108K, probably with three bedrooms upstairs, if I remember rightly. Now that doesn't even get you a studio flat.

[EmpiricalBear]

I intensely dislike these "chops" because when I lived in one (actually quite a sizeable 2 bedroom) I just felt that the house was meant to be a house. There was a weird hole somewhere that let the smell of the smoking from the flat below come in. Most unpleasant, a bit like someone elses farts.

I'd always prefer a purpose built flat in a block, even ex LEA to one of these bastardisations.

This is mad money even for London.

[CrashedOutAndBurned]

The flats look cheap, as similarly sized studios in the **** end of Watford are 105-110. However, 120 in N4, 105 in Watford are both UTTERLY ridiculous for a STUDIO.

An ex-colleague of mine bought a proper 1-bed flat in Watford for 42k in 1999 while a bookshop assistant! The thing is, back then I'm sure no one thought, 'Wow, great country - look what even a shop worker can buy 30minutes from London!'. Most would have thought, 'Cheap, grubby first time buy for someone on a low salary'. A proper small one bed would now be around £125k.

When you buy a studio, you get virtually NOTHING! Why get a mortgage of 700pcm+ (and bills, ground rent, building insurance, etc) to buy that, when you could find an ok houseshare for 300-400pcm all in. The quality of life would hardly be any different.

Edited October 15, 2005 by CrashedOutAndBurned

[Marina]

I'm in rented at the moment. In my last house you could fit that studio quite comfortably into the main bedroom. And I wasn't living in anything particularly grand.

In the crash these studios will be virtually unsaleable - as people will leapfrog them and buy proper flats.