Cyclemonkey

I'd imagine it has been on the market for a while because it appears to be a damp infested shit tip with hideous carpets. At least two of the "bedrooms" appear to be pokey attic rooms with barely any light. It's also fairly ugly from the outside, the asking price of ?1.2 million is just insane.

I agree Otta. We paid around that for a very nice two bedroom flat with a garage on Forest Hill earlier this year. Miga i understand what you are saying but London is a constantly moving and dynamic city. People have to accept if they have fixed ideas about a particular location then that will affect the choice they have in terms of property. House buying for most of us is a series of compromises. House price inflation in London means we have to make more compromises and choices than most. This is a very good Illustration of why house price Inflation isn't good for anyone Homeowners or renters.

It does sound a little petulant I am afraid. At your age most people in London are still renting and haven't managed to buy their first place let alone their second. Yes you have a reasonable budget and yes it does not seem fair that you can't buy a house where you want for that. However that is the reality of the situation. You now have to decide what is more important location or space. East Dulwich is not the cheap and slightly dowdy suburb it was 15 years ago. I expect if it still was you wouldn't be living there. On your budget you can get a nice house in Catford or Bromley. Or you can stay where you are and upgrade to a larger flat. Your choice and to be honest be thankful you have the choice. Many of my friends a good few years older than you are moving out to areas you dismiss just to be able to afford a small flat.

Without knowing your budget it's tough to tell. We couldn't afford what we wanted in Peckham so moved to Forest Hill and we are very happy there but a house was still out of reach. We decided a large flat was a good compromise. You can get some houses in Catford for under ?500,000 but you'll have to be quick. Bromley is worth a look as is Beckenham.

Pat, we rented our flat from Acorn in East Dulwich and bought our current flat through Acorn in Forest Hill. Obviously we didn't have a choice in the agent but they were ok. The agents on the ground were helpful and keen to progress the sale so I assume that they might be Ok if you were choosing them to sell through.

What things? Food, clothes, going out? I use the Lidl in Peckham a lot as well as Sainsburys (who have the same prices where ever their stores are) and some of the shops in Rye Lane like Khans for cheap vegetables and spices. It is true there are a lot of chichi clothes and home ware places that are expensive but that's not really an issue as we are very near central London where you c as n get cheaper clothes and home ware from chain stores. Going out is expensive in most areas of London it is true and East Dulwich is no exception. There are however a fair few free events locally, some reasonably priced places to eat (Franco Manca is cheaper than Pizza Express), also for a cheap pub night out there are several Wetherspoons nearby (Peckham, Denmark Hill and Forest Hill)

Having done a LOT of house hunting over the last year I would say the price should be more like ?425,000 to ?450,000. Also get the details on the nature of the lease. Will the buyer be buying the freehold of the whole building in the price or is it a shared freehold with the downstairs flat. These thing matter.

Desmond I looked at your place. It's nice but frankly overpriced. Over half a million for a conversion flat with one of the rooms as an attic conversion will not appeal. You can get a house for that in Forest Hill and Honor Oak. Also if it is a freehold maisonette that will actively put buyers off as many mortgage lenders will not lend on them. To the person despairing of finding a flat for under ?400,000 look wider than East Dulwich and forget Period conversions (they are often pretty crap anyway) Our budget was ?300,000 to ?350,000 and we saw loads of acceptable places.

Re: security at the Dolls place they should use the local firm whose staff wear red ties - i think Franks and other Peckham based venues use them. The guys that work for them are always very professional and friendly in my experience.

Do you have to be a member to go there as well? It's a little off the beaten track and i'm not sure i would want to have to remember a membership card on the off chance i would want to go for a drink in a pub in Hanover Park of an evening. The location is a little strange for that type of venture it's true.

Ha Ha. Our survey identifed "limied areas of penetrating damp" in one room and suggested strongly we get the vendor to do remedial work. This held up things for a while until we decided to jsut go and meet the vendor and talk it out. Turned out it was a small area of mildew on the paintwork at the top of a window frame due to winter condensation. (the vendor didn't have the trickle vents for the double glazing open)

Ahh that has solved the mystery of the smoke and horrible burning smell on Saturday morning that we got in our flat over on Taymount Rise. It was driving me mad for about an hour as i couldn't see any obvious source.

When we sold last year we didn't go with Foxtons despite the incentives because they were pushy and awful to deal with - we decided it waasn't worth the extra ?5000 they were promising to get us. In terms of the internet makign estate agents extincy i found that the couple of places we viewed that were marketed through online agents were problematic. The vendor had to be around to do viewings meaning that viewing times were very constrained. Also one vendor was very evasive about some of the questions we had. I think the very fraught and personal process of selling your home is sometimes best handled by someone with a bit of distance.

Well they don't always. I assume the promise high valuations to get the seller to sign up and then try loads of pushy tactics to try and scare buyers in to offering at the asked for price. Last time i viewed something with Foxtons it was a flat that was advertised as needing "a little cosmetic updating" in reality it was a disaster zone that would need significant work. The agent was very pushy when i commented it was priced in the high side for something that needed a lot of work. They kept on with scare tactics like prices will be higher soon, loads of better off people from East London are interested in Peckham now, this could be your only chance etc... I decided if Shoreditch hipsters were willing to pay ?350,000 for a rubbish ex council flat in need of a complete overhaul they were welcome to it.

Ha Ha - Tw*t Palace was our phrase.

That's true Jeremy When i was renting i never registered with Foxtons as i always assumed the flats they let were not for the likes of me. However when i started renting in South East London 15 years ago Foxtons wouldn't have touched most of this area!

That is very true worldwiser. I was reminding myself that despite the fits of the vapours over Foxtons moving in there have been KFH and Acorn offices in Peckham for many many years. I think the impression is that Foxtons are only interested in the upper end of the market so them moving in is seen as an indication of house prices going stratospheric. Having said that when i was looking last year Foxtons had the same parade of poorly treated ex council places that everyone else had.

I think a lot of buyers avoid them if they can as they have a reputation for being pushy and pricing very high.

Try freecycle maybe?

I thought that was odd. When we were house hunting any SE15/SE5 properties Foxtons were marketing came out of the Lordship Lane branch and they didn't seem overly busy to be honest. Although the fact it was being marketed by Foxtons often put me off as their properties were always priced at the top end and their sales agents were almost always aggressive bellends.

Well the location of the firework throwers certainly explains why i was woken up feeling like the bangs were actually inside my flat - it was very disorientating! They dance on the roofs of parked cars? why does no one tell them to get the f*ck down and grow up?

I doubt it John - if it was organised and a lot of money was spent to celebrate a specific event i imagine the organisers wouldn't have chosen 1am on a Tuesday morning when it was about -3 degrees outside.

We heard them as well. In fact we were woken up by them as we are very near Peckham Rye. It took me another 2 hours to get back to sleep. I was not best pleased. I think fireworks in built up areas are not allowed after 11pm so it was more than just inconsiderate.

We did indeed!

John - try putting in an offer below the asking price - we routinely knocked 10% off the asking price when putting in an offer. Some vendors were of course outraged and rejected us out right but you know what - some of thoese are still hanging round on RightMove a good few months since they first went on to the market.