Owning your own home

point

spare bedroom

case in point

that should read ONE OF MY spare bedrooms.

#lightscigarwith$50note

If you're considering Bromley, have you considered Romford?

sprays coffee over keyboard

My Romford joke is semi-real talk

I grew up there, you can buy big houses with big gardens for cheap, it's 30 mins away on the train, it's an hour on the bike if you're fit and quick. Easy access to Essex countryside for riding.

You're fucked if you want a decent flat white but there's every shop and every chain restaurant you could ever want. Parks and green spaces are plentiful, and there's even a market, one of the oldest markets in the UK.

If you're going to move to the suburbs might as well do it properly.

We did consider Romford but missus didnt fancy 15+ miles commute each way ..

Not sure why you're directing that at me, or why you're being so frugal with commas.

I'd say I'm still in London in Downham. Once you get past Bromley town centre then things are definitely more Kent than London.

I am over an hour away from the city by public transport (45mins off peak on the fast bus) but only 300m from the sea if I fancy killing myself by stepping on a jellyfish, stone fish, blue ringed octopus...

Swings and roundabouts... We have craft beer, flat whites and an ace market... Restaurants are all a bit shit tho'... #40204lyf

Turns out we have a choice of only two lenders for our place, tbh, I'm amazed anyone's stupid enough to give us money as we're both working part time... I guess the 20% deposit goes a long way...

If you move to Turnpike you will forever be bumping into me and @middleofnowhere this may or may not be a selling point.

I say im on the boarder and i have a BR postcode. Definitely north of Bromley TC.

Obvs something wrong with this but it looks ideal for a forum type... BIKE SHED?

so where are you buying, I want to live vicariously through you.

then I will stalk you....after that it'll get a little weird.

Does anyone fancy their gutter fitting skills and want to give me a hand next week? Can offer money and/or beer.

Alternatively, any recommendation for a professional who could do a good job at short notice in Forest Gate?

You can tell them there's a choice of two coffee shops for flat whites, one pub with craft beer, and one pub for anti-gentrifiers. No LBS, but the velodrome isn't far.

you can buy big houses with big gardens for cheap

Can you give me a guide price? Above or below £500K?

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/38422083?search_identifier=14fadd778bd54844ae2db35b903202e4#xSrMP6ZWyEicgKhE.97

zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details­/38422083?search_identifier=14fadd778bd5­4844ae2db35b903202e4#xSrMP6ZWyEicgKhE.97­

Classy. I like the Southern Spain look for the back garden.

Is that gravel?

We finally got the report from British Gas of the boiler at the place we are buying. Not good - it got an F (G is the worst) and the company that makes the boiler parts no longer exists.

I wouldn't worry too much about the boiler as long as the rest of the installation looks ok. Boilers don't cost that much in the grand scheme of things (buying a house), and you can get yourself a nice Vaillant or Bosch.

Is that a thing now? Getting the boiler surveyed?

Depends where you're buying. A decent boiler can be 2% (at a push) of the purchase price if you're buying outside London.

Having said that, as a vendor, I wouldn't stand for a buyer trying to negotiate over the state of an appliance.

With the way the English system works, I'd be scared to dispute anything relatively minor in case it risked the transaction falling through.

Again - outside of London/SE, things are different. Vendors are terrified of the buyer pulling out.