Forum Topic

House Hunt Mission Impossible

SORRY IF THIS MESSAGE APPEARS TWICE - MY LAPTOP CRASHED WHEN I TRIED TO POST IT A MINUTE AGO, SO NOT SURE IF IT SENT.Hello all,Apologies if this is a bit of a random post, and I know my request is somewhat of a long shot....but I thought it was worth a try anyway!Basically, my partner and I are looking to move to Ealing. We've looked around quite a few different areas in the West, but whenever we look elsewhere, we keep finding ourselves liking Ealing more.We're looking for an area to basically "set up home", and hopefully, if we are lucky one day soon, raise a family.With all its greenery, community feel, lovely Victorian/Edwardian houses, and great transport links, Ealing seems the perfect place for us.So, now that the tricky location decision has been made, we now have the seemingly impossible task of finding a home to buy!We know that August is a notoriously slow time for the property market, and most of the local agents seem to be pretty much out of stock and our waiting for instructions.Which brings me FINALLY to my question....I was wondering if there was anyone out there, or if anyone knew of someone who was thinking of putting their family home on the market in September/October time, but would perhaps consider a private sale rather than having to go through an agent and pay their fees?Like I say, I know it's a long shot....but if you don;t ask and all that.The area that we love in particular is between Ealing Broadway and SOuth Ealing tube (Lammas/Walpole Park area).Ok - I'll stop rambling now.Oh, and just to be clear, in case there is any doubt, this is a genuine request - I am not an estate agent trying to bag instructions!Thanks for reading.

Kristina Wilson-Brown ● 5014d8 Comments

I agree on the school catchment, when I moved to Ealing 7 years ago it didn't really cross my mind being single and without a child.  Now I have a little boy who is nearly 5 starting school this September. Luckily I have been fortunate enough to get him into St Saviours. The school in my catchment is not really one I wanted him to go. This is why Northfields is such a popular area and prices higher - the schools are very good. It is also true that just because you live in the catchment of a popular over subscribed school doesn't mean you get in!

Diane Gill ● 5012d

One aspect of Ealing that you have to consider if you have children is school catchment.If this is important to you that is.  At the moment even if you are in catchment you may not get in.Ealing is probably one primary school down on what it needs and with less people leaving London now and increasing birth rate as more younger people move in to the area the pressure in some areas is very high.As I say good luck.  Personally I think there's a lot of property on various agents books that has been there a while as it is (ahem) optimistically priced.If you use RightMove - use Firefox as a browser and load the Property Bee (Google it) add on.  Shows this history of how long the house has been on the market and price changes. Sorry if that's egg sucking to Grandma!

Roger Smith ● 5012d

Hi Roger,I thought I had managed to reply to your message yesterday from my phone - but when I checked today, i see it failed to appear, so ill try again.Yes - my day job is as a property developer (a small family business literally consisting of myself and my dad), but this request is purely a personal search for my own family home. The fact that I am in the property game, does mean that I am not afraid of a property that may need some TLC/work doing to it, hence the large budget bracket.Anyway, I had a good walk around yesterday and went to a few viewings. I certainly seen some lovely streets on my walk, so like you say, I think I will try the old letter drop plan at some stage - got nothing to lose, and may get lucky! I think I'll pick a sunnier day for that task though!

Kristina Wilson-Brown ● 5012d

To Y Johnson.Thanks for your response. I shall email you when I am back home. Trying to type on an iphone in the rain is proving tricky!My email is kristinabrown10@hotmail.com

Kristina Wilson-Brown ● 5013d

Best of luck ... you same to share a name with someone who is a director of a property development company.http://www.levelbusiness.com/doc/company/uk/04354028Assuming this is outside your company have you considered a good old fashioned leaflet drop? 

Roger Smith ● 5013d

Good morningAfter nearly 30 years, we are just about to put our much loved Edwardian mid terraced 4 bedroomed house on the market.  We are situated just to the west of Northfields Avenue, a short walk (approximately 5 mins) from Lammas Park and Northfields Tube station.  If you are interested in more details email me at yjohnson@btinternet.com.

Y Johnson ● 5013d

Of course, no problem.Here are the list of things that we would love to have in our future home - i realise it may be near to impossible to tick all of them off the list, but a few of them would be great!- No more than a 10mins walk from either Ealing Broadway, Northfields or South Ealing tube- Period property- House not flat- Sunny garden (anything but north facing)- 3 double bedrooms with potential to go into the loft OR 4 beds (loft already done)- Feeling of space in the downstairs area – ie. wide property, large entertaining space- Period features (especially fireplaces and original wood floors)- Downstairs WC (or potential to put one in)- Near Lammas and Walpole Park- Budget - quite a large bracket between £600 - £850k. The reason for the large bracket is that we are willing to do works to a property if it needs it, but the amount of work needed will have to be reflected in the price.Thanks

Kristina Wilson-Brown ● 5013d

Can you give a bit more guidance?  How many bedrooms do you want/need?  Period property or modern?  House or flat?  Budget?

Rebecca Smith ● 5014d