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!
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…
1 Feb 07 Urban Love
Recently I’ve been receiving emails from friends asking me, “So do you like it there?”
It has been over a year since we arrived here, and perhaps my “End of Year” summary didn’t quite get to the poetry of what’s going on.
Living in London has so many negative aspects, you could summarize a few of them if you skim the last couple of posts here. Just like New York City there are far too many tourists here, more than 20 million each year, which causes difficulty when you want to go about doing normal things like buying an iron, or clothing, or even groceries.
Living in any major urban center means you live in a chaotic universe that’s organic, always changing. Some days you want to vanish, while other days you want to give up the safety of your home and live in the buzz of the streets. That could just be me…
A day like today in London is a Royal Treat! It’s sunny and warm, but the days still begin to end around 3:00pm. The sun just doesn’t ride high enough.
But today I took a break from flat hunting to do some shopping in Covent Garden then decided against traveling home underground as I usually would. Weekends we would normally walk home (last weekend we walked the entirety of Zone 1), but today I rode home in the bottom of a double decker bus and enjoyed what is one of the best tourist rides going - from Trafalgar Square down the Strand and Fleet Street past St Pauls church, Tower of London, Tower Bridge and jumped out at home. The ride took 20 mins.
I didn’t have my camera today unfortunately, but enjoyed watching Londoners be, watching the city go.
Not many places in the western world can you ride past thousand-year old buildings to your doorstep in a jiffy.
I love London.
12 Sep 06 Find A Doc
In a couple of hours I have a ‘new patient’ appointment with a GP in my area. Not so interesting or exciting, is it? It is interesting when you consider the difficulty I encountered in arriving at this point.
Way back in February I knew that to receive NHS care it would be necessary to ‘register’ with a GP. I started making calls to practices in my neighbourhood to ask if they were accepting new patients. The first office I called said yes, they were, so I booked an appointment. At the end of the call the receptionist told me there would be a £50 fee for the initial assessment appointment. I asked why NHS didn’t cover the fee and was informed that the practice was private, and NHS would not cover any of their services. I promptly cancelled the appointment and started searching for NHS doctors in the area.
With my shortlist in hand I began walking into practices to find one that felt right. A couple of the offices I visited put me off instantly for such reasons as the waiting room was way overcrowded, the offices appeared unclean or the receptionist was seated behind a cage. I’m of the opinion any person attending their doctor’s office should be comfortable with the service and surroundings.
I quickly learned none of my thoughts mattered. Every patient registering with a GP falls within a catchment area defined by their postal code. This means you cannot see a NHS GP near your office or anywhere you please for that matter, but must attend a practice accepting patients from your address. The shortlist just got shorter.
Feeling deflated, I turned to my local council website for some guidance and discovered the Find A Doc service. You email or call and they provide names of GPs you can see. Back in April I received a ‘list’ of two practices, and just a couple of weeks ago I scouted each of them to choose which I preferred.
The one I preferred was not accepting new patients.
Lots changes in three months I guess, so I called Find A Doc again and received my new shortlist: one practice (the one I didn’t prefer previously). How’s that for healthcare choice?
Yesterday I arrived early (opening time) at the practice and was faced with a lineup at least 25 deep ahead of me. I took a slow breath and chose to wait - I need to finally break in and get my space in the system! Within ten minutes I counted about 25 new people behind me in line.
When I reached the receptionist she immediately asked me what country I was from and I produced my passport. She began to form a sentence that began with “We can’t” or “You don’t”, so I cut in to show my visa, which is valid until 2011. I also needed to provide a proof of address (telephone bill) which was photocopied, and fill out a registration form.
With the number of people in line, how soon could I possibly get in for an appointment? I was amazed to be booked next day, but I expect a long wait regardless.
Why does NHS restrict access to GPs by catchment area? It seems obvious that densely populated, underserved areas will suffer the exact issues I’m dealing with. What happens when the practice I’m attending is no longer accepting patients? The strain will fall on local hospitals.
National healthcare in Canada provides for any person to attend any practice they wish (within their province), provided they are accepting patients. Doesn’t that make more sense? That way every person has freedom of choice and strain on the healthcare system is, ideally, evenly distributed across cities and beyond.
Perhaps NHS is moving in that direction with the recent policy change giving patients some latitude with specialist and hospital care.
For today, though, if I don’t like the doctor I’ve been dealt I’ve just got to suck it up.
10 Jul 06 Spending: pounds vs. dollars
Using today’s currency conversion rates, I thought I’d share a few examples of how much stuff costs here. If you’re traveling to the UK from the US, you might want to save any purchases until you return home! Or take the eurostar to Paris and do some euro shopping there.
Book
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris: £6.39 vs. $9.72
US price is £1.14/$2.11 less
Digital SLR Camera
Canon EOS 20D Body: £829.00 vs. $999.95
US price is £288.80/$534.57 less
Movie/cinema
Weekend Ticket: £12.50 vs $10.75
US price is £6.69/$12.37 less
Matt and I planned to see Pirates of the Caribbean Saturday but couldn’t bring ourselves to drop USD $46 on just two tickets! Yes I know it’s just the cost of entertainment consumption here, and we usually avoid any temptation to convert currency, but this seems such a scam, no?
4 Jun 06 On Becoming a Londoner
I have my first official sunburn from the London sun! Yesterday we enjoyed an entire day of full sunshine with temperatures around 24 degrees Celcius… woot! We started out the day visiting the first part of an eight week art and design show called Free Range at The Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. I’m looking forward to the Photography section starting June 15. Across the street was a designer fashions, samples and rejects sale that offered little more than a diversion - we didn’t leave with any purchases. Then we walked away the afternoon through Fitzrovia and around Regent’s Park and canal. The fields at the park were crowded with teams playing football (soccer), and following the canal presented an entirely different and stunning London experience. Who knew there was a ‘Little Venice’ in the center of London?
Today we’re headed to our first-ever boot sale, the Art Car Boot Fair, again on Brick Lane. I must reiterate how incredibly fun it is to live in this neighbourhood where cultural diversity is celebrated so well. We might even return with a piece or two of dandy local art :)
Some other indications I’m turning Londonese:
- Often when I say “a little bit” or “a lot” I omit the t’s
- When tourists stop me for directions I can guide them accurately
- I’ve considered responding to the question “Where are you from?” with “I’m from London (just speak with a Canadian accent by choice)”
- In my (sleeping) dreams I have two new boyfriends: this one and that one
10 Mar 06 The Saga of Doing Laundry
I don’t know what it is about the combo washer/dryers used here, but each load can take up to four hours to get done! The barrel isn’t even large, sized big enough for what we’d call a ‘medium load’ in North America.
The Saga:
- Fill up the machine (not stuffed)
- Put in your ‘washing powder’ (two tablets that look like giant pills, placed in a net pouch)
- Pick your setting from a somewhat confusing chart (just worry about the temperature, really)
- Notice the machine doesn’t seem to fill with water, clothes get barely damp
- Ninety minutes later, check to see if spin has completed which it probably hasn’t
- When the spin has completed, remove washing powder net-bag thingy
- Set dryer temperature to high or low and time up to 120 minutes
- When drying on high, check clothes after two hours
- Remove clothes that are wrinkled beyond recognition and hang to completely dry
- Go out on the town dressed like a prune because you hate ironing
14 Feb 06 Unpacking!
Just taking a break now from the fun of unpacking boxes! Two cheery guys happily carried all our belongings up three flights of stairs, without complaining once! They were really efficient so it didn’t take long, and they even unpacked all the kitchen boxes. One broken casserole dish, nothing major.
We recently bought a lovely wood filing cabinet, but it didn’t make the journey well and needs some serious repairs. Funny that yesterday I was wishing we hadn’t shipped it since standard paper size here is 8.5 x 12, an inch longer than the cabinet was built to hold :( All things considered though, we’re pleased with the outcome of the overseas shipment.
If I could change one thing, I would have done WAY more purging before we left. I can’t believe how it seems like there’s so much crap I don’t want… or won’t use. Anyway, we should be nearly finished unpacking tonight, though books are staying in boxes until we buy some bookshelves.
We placed an order the other day with Argos for some things we really need, like a vacuum and DVD player (and lots of other things). What an incredibly easy thing! Not having a car makes transporting items like that quite complicated, and these guys deliver your entire order for £4.95 - perfect. The store’s motto is “Don’t shop for it, Argos it!”
Our phone line has been installed, but internet may take up to another 2 weeks… unbelievable. Ah well, I’ve got my kitchen back so what’s there to complain about?!
GET FED: