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…
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