Within The City Walls
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Apr13
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Two houses today in Canterbury, different parts of town, but with things in common. For starters, both too expensive really at 250k each. If the market really is tumbling we might be able to make a cheeky offer on just about anything we see now though I suppose. Also, they were both currently let, and we'd be seeing them with the tenants in situ. Also, both sets of tenants were entirely unprepared for our visits; the first were hastily tidying up, the place was a proper studenty sprawl with bottles and things scattered everywhere, and also what appeared to be a rolled up ten dollar bill left on a mirror, probably some sort of crazy art installation. It was a nice interesting characterful house in a nice old part of town, three big bedrooms, two cellar rooms and two knocked through reception rooms with just the raw brickwork of the chimney left standing in the middle of the property. It needed decorating, but the thing that makes it no good for us is the kitchen, which was too small. If it wasn't at the top of our budget we could have thought about rearranging things, maybe moving the kitchen or extending a bit, but we'd have no money left over for that.
Property two within the city walls is in the ideal location for us, right by The Dolphin. The tenants this time were even less prepared for our visit, they didn't want to let the agent in, they heard nothing from their landlord. We offered to come back next week but in the end they were unhappy but convinced, and the viewing continued. Surprisingly large three bedroom property, all of the downstairs was one big open plan space including the kitchen. I liked this, but it might need some thought. What would it be like living in a house where you can't close the kitchen off from the living room? At a squeeze we might even fit the pool table in this one, if we lived all around it. No garden, and being where it is no parking, but it's on a quiet street so stopping outside for deliveries and removals wouldn't be a problem. There are residents parking spaces right next door, but we know from previous enquiries that there's a waiting list for a permit. There is a small patio out the back, with the river adjacent. It's very shallow at this point, not even really deep enough for the ducks and moorhens to swim in, and is not quite as lovely as it sounds, but I liked it. Clare is less convinced, and at this credit crunching stage in the national economy I don't think we're going to be taking any risks on a place we don't absolutely love. I wouldn't mind seeing this one again though.
Some quick stats, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of todays properties were being offloaded by professional landlords. Possibly in a hurry. If that doesn't tell you the property market is plummetting I don't know what will.
Lunch was at Boho, my first time of eating there and it was lovely, I recommend it. Tea was at Escondido for the first time in ages. Nice, but as with the last several visits they got my order wrong. They recovered quickly, so unfortunately we had no reason to demand a discount. I think that place is a bit expensive now really, but it was full again, I guess there is very little competition in the area. As it was Jen's birthday, we went on for drinks in The Sandgate Hotel for a change, nice but didn't feel all that welcoming. We made our excuses and left before closing time, but the party continued back at Dean's house until 4am apparently.
Nice day today, got our shopping out of the way early so are having a lazy afternoon. Midsomer Murders and chilli later, GREAT!
Comment / reply
Jan19
Saw five houses today in Canterbury, have a map with details of the things we saw. Clare's out tonight with Jenny, so it's a prime opportunity for me to do some fiddling about with maps and things, so sorry if it breaks. Not that you'll be on the computer on a Saturday night.
Some new icons on the maps now that I quite like... The monkey is Clare, the house is a house, the pint is a pub, and so on... Well, I saw "and so on" but that's the only three I've put in so far, any suggestions?
As I said, we saw five places yesterday in Canterbury, the first was only a two bedder, but on a good street within the city walls, it was nice but far too small for us. Odd layout too, the entrance hallway was bigger than all the other rooms, so it gave the impression of going into a much bigger place than you were. The second had potential, claims to be a three bedroom but the third bedroom was off the second, so more a study type area. Very small kitchen and bathroom, a potential though I thought. The third was student let, just around the corner from the Whitstable Road place we saw last week. Very cluttered (had three students in situ) but had some good space that we could make use of with some rearranging. So getting better as we went on! Then, number four, we went to a four bedroom terrace on Black Griffin Lane, really a good location for us within the city walls again, the street leads to the side of The Hobgoblin pub (though we are not basing our move entirely on pubs). From the outside it doesn't look much, but inside the current owners have done a fantastic job. It's not quite four bedrooms, one is more like an upstairs lounge, but the decor was quite fab, lots of exposed brickwork next to very modern features. It's hard not to be wooed by the decor, but I am trying to see past these things. It is at the top end of our budget at £225,000, and I found out when I got home that it was only just sold in August for £189,000. We did see the vendor though and she told us she'd only just bought the place and done it up, so best of luck to her. It's less of a percentage increase than the person who sold us this flat made, even if it does sell for that amount. No garage and parking is tricky within the city walls, but we don't have a car so not actually a deal breaker. Had a garden and shed and nice features like that, and a view of the cathedral which is apparently a plus. Definitely a contender, but I don't like the idea that someone's made all the profit out of it already and that it looks like the highest price house on the street. Would be nice to look at an unmodernised house on the same street and see if we could do the same "property ladder" on it.
The Mystery of the Secret Room
The last house was in Wincheap, out the other side of Canterbury past Canterbury East station, so not such a prime location, but you do get more for your money out there. It was an unassuming terrace from the front, but there was LOADS of space inside. Separate lounge and dining room, huge kitchen, and three big bedrooms upstairs. The dining room would just about have room to play the pool table in, but we're not basing this move on that either... I had a look outside to see if any of the neighbours had extended either out the back or into the loft, and saw some of them had, but then noticed a dormer window in the roof of this house. Confusing, as I know we didn't go up another flight of stairs in this house. The agent knew nothing about this, it wasn't in the particulars or anything, but we found a ladder and went up for a look. I was half expecting to find a radio transmitter or something up in this secret room, it was empty, but decorated, with lights, power points, radiators and everything you'd expect in a real room. All it needs is stairs, and there's room for that too.
So, if we go out to Wincheap, we get a lot more room for our money. Going to look at more in the area we really want next week.
