Another one bites the dust
NS April 26th, 2007
Thought we’d found a fantastic flat, in a great location. Georgian era, ground floor flat with private outdoor space, a basement for storage, two big bedrooms, a reasonably-sized living room and kitchen, nice bathroom, period features (large, arched windows, cornicing on the crown moulding, high ceilings, etc..) and even a little sun room leading out to the patio. All it needed was a good clean and a few fixtures done up and it would’ve been gorgeous. The price was a bit high, 10k over our max budget, but I liked it so much and thought it’d be such a good investment that we found the extra money and went to see it again today. We were prepared to put in an offer right there and then if Paul liked it. Paul’s dad even met us there to give it a once-over (he’s a surveyor so knows a lot about structure).
Not long before I left home, the estate agent rang to say that he’d actually shown me the wrong flat the day before and that that one was already sold. It was the one above it that was for sale. I was mightily annoyed but seeing as it was still the same price, same building and in the same great location, we decided it was still worth a look. With such nice parks nearby it isn’t a tragedy if we don’t have a garden. It would be nice but it’s not a must. So we went to see the upper floor flat and arrived at 1pm. The shit-for-brains agent informed us that, once again, there’d been a horrible screw-up and that the flat above wasn’t ready to be lived in yet. It needed a LOT of work done to make it livable, like, 25k worth of work, and that is was pretty much a shell at the moment. No water, wiring, etc… If we waited until the developer had it finished, the price would go up by 50k.
I wanted to be angry but all I could feel was disappointment and despair. Are we EVER going to find a place to live?! I wouldn’t usually talk about money and how much things cost but just to illustrate how hopeless this is and how bloody expensive it is in London right now, we have gone from a budget of £250k to £265k to now a max budget of £275k and we STILL can’t find anything that isn’t a grotty shithole and/or not near anything remotely interesting or convenient. We could live in a concrete high-rise building with hypodermic needles strewn around the parking lot, sure, but I don’t think I’d be happy there. I’m not asking for luxury, I just want a simple 2-bed apartment with a nice kitchen and a living room big enough to hold a sofa, an armchair, some bookshelves, a TV and a table for two to eat at. I’m willing to compromise on many things (the garden, the condition and size of the bathroom, size of rooms, whether it is ex-council or not) but I am not willing to be completely ass-raped by this market and still end up living in a dump.
Jesus. Maybe I’m being a real snob, I don’t know. Maybe I should be okay with living on the 22nd floor of a concrete jungle with shopping carts blocking the stairway and paying over a quarter of a mill to do so. Maybe I’m being really unreasonable. But I’m losing hope, quickly, that we will ever find anything. Maybe this is my curse, my punishment for not getting with the program and buying a few years ago when the market was fantastic. Friends of ours who bought their 2-bed flats three or four years ago are making £80k+ profits. Assholes. I hate them all.
We have the worst luck.
