30 Mar 07 Going for a little walk
We received booking confirmation for a walk in Scotland in July:
“You have chosen to walk along the Great Glen Way, which is a scenic and exciting walk through the Highlands of Scotland. From Fort William to Inverness, this trek offers much variety and interest.”
The itinerary:
Fort William to Gairlochy 10.5 miles / 17 km
Gairlochy to South Laggan 12 miles / 19 km
South Laggan to Fort Augustus 10.5 miles / 17 km
Fort Augustus to Invermoriston 8 miles / 13 km
Invermoriston to Drumnadrochit 14 miles / 22 km
Foyers to Dores 12 miles / 19 km (cruise across Loch Ness from Drum.)
Dores to Inverness 10 miles / 16 km
Total distance: 77 miles / 123 km
Flickr has over 700 photos tagged “Great Glen Way” but I’m reluctant to look through them since I’m looking forward to experiencing it for myself!
30 Mar 07 The latest on the new flat
We received the valuation report yesterday which is required by the lender to ensure the property is worth the purchase price, since it will be held as security for the mortgage. The report costs £225 and in addition to that we commissioned a Homebuyer’s Report costing £260. It’s a general survey meant to determine if there are major defects needing repair.
The valuation has some interesting bits that reinforce our thoughts that we’ve made the right buying decision. First off, though, the surveyor just determines whether the purchase price is fair and, if it is, enters that price as the cost valuation, which he did in our case.
A bunch of boxes are ticked in the form: Brick Construction, Asphalt Roof, Gas Central Heating, etc. Surprisingly the size of the flat is written as 80 sq.m or 861 sq.ft. Methinks that’s a bit generous, by 100 square feet or so.
Reassuring that the flat is listed as Habitable :) Standard of Construction, Structural and Decorative Repair are ticked as Good (the highest rating).
Best bits are entered in the General Section of the report:
Is there a ready demand for this class of property in this area: YES
Is the district Improving/Static/Declining as a residential area: IMPROVING
All fine news. We should receive the full Homebuyer’s Report shortly but since the same inspector carried that out there shouldn’t be any surprises.
There’s a significant wait in store for us now until the mortgage funds are released for draw down. It takes about four weeks, which seems very strange and I don’t understand it. Realistically the deal should be done!
30 Mar 07 New Starbucks
As I mentioned in my last post, Starbucks has now opened a shop in Whitechapel Road. It really is quite a big deal, as indicated by the BBC.co.uk front page story today.
Protestors claim that the new Starbucks store on Whitechapel High Street will damage the East End’s unique character
They put these posters up on the storefront
meanwhile…
Tower Hamlets Councillor Ohid Ahmed, the Lead Member for Regeneration in the borough, said that the council wants to encourage regeneration by promoting outside investment from companies like Starbucks.
“This place is the heart of London and obviously we encourage more investment. We’re glad to see more investment coming into this area,” he said.
22 Mar 07 Approved
Not sure whether to break out in a dandy celebratory boogie, or hide under the blankets for the next 25 years… but today we received notification that our mortgage was approved.
YAY?
Now the bank sends papers to both us and our solicitor, and next comes the valuation of the property. Our solicitor cashed the cheque, but aside from that we haven’t heard if she’s actually begun her research yet.
Next week more shall become clear, I think, and we’re still hoping to move by the end of April.
Moving from this flat soon is a good idea too, since new construction is set to start on either side of us any day now. Jackhammers can be distracting. Also, we never imagined we’d see our neighbourhood get gentrified as soon as it has! Around the corner on Whitechapel Road is a freaking Starbucks “Opening Soon”.. !! Shocker. Where we’re going there’ll be no sign of Starbucks for a long while.
13 Mar 07 Some more flat photos
Well these aren’t the best images, lighting is a bit poor, but you get the idea. I pulled them off the agent’s website.
Kitchen
Main Bathroom
Master Bedroom
Master Ensuite
Second bedroom
7 Mar 07 Under Offer
Matt viewed the flat today and we made an offer on the spot, for full asking price! The agent called the vendor immediately and she was very pleased, but further viewings had been scheduled after ours that were too soon to cancel.
We got a call later in the afternoon that two more offers had been made, but Mr Agent liked us and recommended to the vendor that she accept our offer… which she did! All scheduled viewings have now been cancelled and the flat is essentially off the market.
It has seriously paid off to scour new property listings every 24 hours (for the past three months), as this one was listed only yesterday around noon. Big time score for us!
The listing:
Set within this quiet gated mews development is this extremley well presented two bedroom, two bathroom apartment located in a very desirable location. Arranged on the first floor and with views over the parkland and Hawksmoor church, interest will be high. The living area is wonderfully bright with four double glazed multi pane sash windows overlooking the park land area, The kitchen is open plan to the living room and is modern and fully equipped, there are two bedrooms the master being en-suite and main bathroom. The property profits from laminated wood flooring to the main reception and hallway and is in excellent decorative order. The property comes with a secure parking space and is walking distance to Brick Lane only 5 minutes away.
A whole lot of stuff happens next of course, but mostly it involves handing cash to various people. Our agent recommended a solicitor that we might go with.
But we found a great deal! And in the general area we wanted, too. We should be moved in by mid-May if all goes according to plan.
6 Mar 07 become old, become new
It seems we have lost out on our dream flat! (see the last post). We had a really lousy night being sad, last night.
But then I’m a bit of a property ninja now! I found something to look at today that would be very easy to move into. It’s priced very well but not exciting in any way. It overlooks a graveyard.. of a Hawksmoor church!
As an investment it likely wouldn’t yield much over the next three years… but we would live in it, travel from it, sell it later for a little bit more.
Ugh
5 Mar 07 New prospects
After viewing about fifteen properties since the new year, there’s now one that is an absolute standout. I took a look last week, raved about it to Matt and finally he will get to see it today.
I say ‘finally’ because we’ve experienced some appallingly poor service that estate agents are notorious for. Our contact cancelled not one, but two viewing appointments at very short notice with no justifiable excuse. Normally this bad service would just be an annoyance, but in London a four-day delay in activity could mean losing out on a property you really want if another buyer makes an offer before you. Good properties can easily sell the same day they are listed, so it’s no exaggeration.
Anyway this flat is further east down the road from where we are now, still on Commercial Road. Amazingly it’s the top two floors of a large brick building erected around 1810 with three bedrooms in 1200 square feet. To compare, all other spaces I have seen in the same price range were between 500-750 square feet. The interior is in remarkably good condition, though first the kitchen then eventually the two bathrooms will need upgrading. It’s carpeted throughout which we would remove to restore original wood floors that are hopefully underneath! Original ironwork fireplaces remain in two rooms, and there is direct (though possibly not legal) rooftop access.
The cons are: The flat is directly facing Commercial Road which is a very busy transport artery (but we’re used to this as we currently face the same road now); That section of Commercial Road lacks any neighbourhoodly destination points (but has very good transport access); No parking (we don’t own a car but this could be a problem when reselling); and other minor things like no lift.
Aside from the good stuff mentioned above, Matt and I discovered further details on a visit to the local history library, most notably that the building is ‘Grade II listed‘ or protected for having ’special architectural or historic interest’. Practically this is insignificant, really, but it does mean the building has unique value and this can be a major feature for selling it on later. Funny the estate agent knows nothing of this, or much else about the property for that matter.
This week could get interesting…
5 Mar 07 February gone
Well the month of February started out well enough, with a visit from a Vancouver friend. Karl was in London photographing hotels and having not seen him in two years, we all had some catching up to do. I took him on a whirlwind walking tour and showed him all the London sights in just an afternoon. He certainly remembers very little of the details - “We saw Trafalgar Square?” - but it was good fun nonetheless.
Early in the month I did a fashion/portrait photo session with a clothing designer from Manchester who was here for a trade event. We discovered some interesting locations around Kensington Olympia where she had her booth at the Londonedge show.
In-between days I trolled property listings and viewed the odd flat here and there - the keyword being ‘odd’. Not much to get excited about. One flat had a large hole under the flooring in front of the kitchen sink and the owner, who was home at the time, said the building had safety problems, which I verified on my way out by spotting the multiple deadbolt locks pocking the door.
February 13th there was a ‘little’ accident in the building next door where builders were renovating the interior. They were near completion of the work when something rather terrible happened - either a supporting wall had been erroneously removed, or their space was overloaded with boxes, we’re not sure which, but four floors of the front elevation collapsed. Luckily all the workers managed to get out safe and alive. Unfortunately the event caused a logistical problem for all powers that be who had to figure out how to clean up the mess, resulting in an 8-day road closure and denied access to other buildings in the block. We weren’t allowed home until February 21st which meant we had to stay with a friend down the road for 8 nights, unable to access our most basic necessities. Glad that’s over!
Chinese New Year (of the Pig) came around with the most enormous crowds I’ve seen descend into central London, causing small pockets of claustrophobic hysteria. I managed to get a few good photos, but it’s a difficult prospect to frame a picture when you can’t see beyond the person squished in front of you.
Since then I had a portfolio review with London Independent Photography, signed up for a Monday dance class (urban street jazz) and spent a record amount of time with Matt viewing one exhibition - the Gilbert & George Major Exhibition. These fellas have collaborated for 40 years and work in Fournier Street, not far from us. Many sites from Spitalfields and Brick Lane are incorporated into their art, so it’s a pleasure to recognise our neighbourhood expressed in their work.
GET FED: