Owning your own home

I love my area.
It's very local.

My area is firmly grounded in its own area.

My favourite thing about the area in which I live is that it is very much local to me, and my home.

I really do not understand the 'area premium' or 'hipster tax' whatever you call it .. we paid £200k less than that Walthamstow flat for a freehold house with a drive for two cars and a massive backyard and its in great shape internally and externally. The family of four moved out because of school preferences.

Area pros:
5 miles cycle to proper nice countryside lanes
Same distance to central as E17
£2.50 a pint pub close by
Mahosive waitrose and a decent butcher very close

Area cons:
£2.50 a pint pub close by
Tbh its slightly rough now but most houses here are being sold so that will change; still better than some parts of N16 etc.

This was in August 2015.

I paid a premium to live in an enclave of people who look like me.

Nail. Head.
We don't have that problem.

but also has people from all corners of the world walking down the market. Where I never go.

What's the earliest you can apply to remortgage?

I have a winning smile...

As long as you don't mind paying the penalty charge to end your fixed term, you can do it any time you like.

how long before the fixed term ends can you sort the next to transfer over smoothly.

I remortgaged 3 months before the end of the fixed term but that was with the same mortgage company (Santander), and at their suggestion. Penalty charges didn't apply. Bonus was I saved more in reduced interest payments for those 3 months than I had to pay in a remortgage fee.

Only ever remortgaged to a different mortgage co outside of the fixed term period.

If your current mortgage company has a better deal then it's worth ringing them and asking them about it, with the other option being "ok, I'll wait for the fixed term to end and remortgage with someone else as they have a better deal."

This is exactly why i moved into the same area as Amey.

We are practically neighbours.

I also wanted a south facing garden, and a very quiet neighbourhood. Theyre practically giving them away where we live.

And to be honest, if him and I are buying, it wont be long now, We are the first wave.

By the way, drinks @amey? (remember im doing sober october but i want to start locals anyway)

You and @amey are in Grove Park right?

Yeah, but how many fried chicken shops do you have, huh?!

Had a nosey on Zoopla at some values for our flat and the neighbouring ones. It's bollocks.

They reckon the upstairs flat (same size, no garden, not recently renovated) is down as being worth 50% more than ours. It last sold in 2005 so I can only imagine they have applied some unrealistic uplift. That, or we got ours for a song.

First wave? Get back in your box.

:)

you were born there so you dont count. plus your street sucks.

Drinks?

Im bromley North
@Amey is GP and @Sparky is ummm....

Where @amey, @ChainBreaker and I live proves that the situation isn't as bad as those Evening Standard stories sometimes make out. For ~£200k you can buy a decent two-bed place in Grove Park/Downham and easily commute into town. With two salaries that is achievable.

I wasn't born there. I was born in rural Norfolk. Prior to October 2013 I was living in Battersea/Clapham.

But you don't even have london postcodes

BR >>>>>>

and i have to make my own flat white .. da fuq >>>>>

SE19 - 2bed, garden, 5% deposit, two slightly above average salaries. Very do-able

racist