The Search Begins

Who we are: a married, late-20s (me)/early-30s (him) couple with a 1-year-old daughter. First time buyers looking for a 2 or 3 bedroom house/flat in the southwest London area. We are on one income at the moment (I'm a full-time parent, he's a full-time IT Engineer -- guess which one of us gets paid!) and have a budget of £250,000 with a £40,000 deposit. Our mortgage has been agreed through our bank and we are not in a chain (don't own another property that we need to sell before we buy).

We have been house hunting for just over a month now. We have redefined our search in terms of area and requirements three times now, in the vain hope that this will yield a greater result. So far, we haven't had much luck.

We live in London, where the average price of a semi-detached (with one adjoining wall to another property), 3-bedroom house was £497,060 in 2006 and looks something like this



A terraced home, which looks like this

costs an average of £435,067

A 2-bedroom flat, with neighbours on all sides and (most likely) no private outside space, will run you £299,310 in the capital. Yikes.

The 2-bedroom maisonette across the street from where we rent is going for £300,000 and this isn't even in London proper; we reside in Greater London, in the southwest suburbs. Needless to say, it is an expensive place to live and an even more expensive place to buy.

The housing market is aggressive right now with many more buyers than properties for sale, resulting in first offers often being put in at above the asking price after 20 potential buyers view it in one day. Many vendors operate a 'sealed bid' system in which buyers submit bids without knowing what has already been offered by others and the house goes to the highest bidder. This basically means that if you offer below the asking price, you have a snowball's chance in hell of having it accepted. Even offering the full asking price won't cut the mustard. A property I recently enquired about went for £15,000 above the asking price. Sellers must be laughing all the way to the bank. Not that I blame them. I would be laughing and skipping to the bank too if I was making a £30-50k+ profit on a property I bought only a few years ago.

At first, our search was focused on areas further out into the suburbs, out of Greater London and into Surrey. I mistakenly thought things would be cheaper the further away we got from London. Wrong! They are marginally cheaper in some areas, but only in the pockets of less desirable areas. Surrey is one of the most exclusive places in the United Kingdom and is home to some of the most expensive properties and best schools in the Home Counties. Ergo its popularity.

But last night, as I searched yet again for decent properties in decent neighbourhood that aren't completely cut off from civilisation, I had an epiphany. I don't want to move out to the 'burbs. I don't want to need a car to go buy a loaf of bread and a pint of milk. I don't want to live in white-bread, homogenised outer Surrey. Okay, maybe someday I will, when I can afford a nice, spacious house with a lovely garden, when I'm ready to learn how to use pruning shears and can afford a cleaning service. But until then, I should be living further INTO the city, not out of it. We're not ready to give up the conveniences, the culture, the people and the buzz that the city has to offer.

So, once again, our search has been redefined, from 3-bedroom house in the 'burbs to 2-bedroom flat in the city. The Clash would be proud.

London calling to the faraway towns
Now war is declared, and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls