How to start your property search: study floor plans and research local areas while house hunting during lockdown

Online property searching is booming during lockdown. You need to read between the lines to find the perfect place.
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Ruth Bloomfield6 May 2020

Lockdown has put physical house hunting on hold, yet property portals report a huge spike in traffic as Londoners search online.

A search will bring up the particulars of a home but if you don’t properly understand the information, you could be getting a false picture of exactly what is for sale, what the area’s like and whether the location will fulfil your needs.

It’s time to turn house detective and look beyond the details.

There is as much to learn from what is not written down, as there is from what you can see.

While you have the time you can do strategic online searches to discover what is planned for the area. You can forensically study the floor plans — which are not always measured accurately — and go far beyond the brochure.

You can work out if the property has potential for creating extra space, and what room there is for improvements that have been carried out by neighbours. You can discover whether the home you are interested in is south-facing and where light falls around it.

It’s a chance to do your homework fully, discovering whether your walk to the station is safe, and if the area offers you the lifestyle you seek with good schools, shops, bars and bistros.

A first-time buyer home in Vauxhall

£475,000: this period conversion flat in Vauxhall makes an ideal first ime buyer home

At first sight: a two-bedroom period conversion flat in a Vauxhall townhouse in Heyford Terrace, priced at £475,000.

The brochure: the kitchen and the bathroom are dated and there’s no sign of radiators so it probably needs new heating and double glazing.

The flat is being sold leasehold so you need to know the length of the lease, the cost of ground rent and how maintenance charges are calculated.

The floor plan: at 581sq ft the flat is small for a two-bedroom place. The second bedroom is just over 5ft wide, so it’s a tight fit even for a single bed. It would work better as a study for a home worker.

The kitchen, main bedroom and living room are all a reasonable size but look at Google Streetview and you’ll see the main bedroom is at the back of the flat and set fairly close to the house behind, so it could be dark or even overlooked.

Google Street View area guide: Heyford Terrace has character as a narrow backstreet off busy South Lambeth Road.

Some of the houses look cared-for and modernised with plantation shutters, alongside plenty of grubby nets — a classic indicator of an up-and-coming area.

The nearest Tube is Vauxhall, a 10-minute walk past local shops, cafés, pubs and a leisure centre.

Nine Elms regeneration will encourage improvement, while Vauxhall Park is an oasis of greenery amid the towers.

The approach to the station is pretty desolate but next year transport options will increase with the opening of the Northern line extension, with stops at Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station, which will have new shops and restaurants.

The neighbourhood displays no obvious blights apart from general city noise and there’s plenty to do within a 20-minute walk, including café culture in Pimlico, cricket at the Oval, culture at Tate Britain and strolls along the Thames Path.

Potential: this flat undoubtedly needs upgrading but the potential lies in its location on the fringes of a massive regeneration zone.

Development: billions are being spent at Battersea and Nine Elms, which should give the wider area a lift over the next few years.

Lambeth council planning register shows no current planning application in Heyford Terrace or nearby to sound alarm bells.

Price: a fully refurbished, very smart two-bedroom flat with a small garden in Rita Road, just around the corner, sold last November for £715,000, or £809 per square foot, Rightmove records show. The Heyford Terrace flat’s price drills down to £817 per square foot.

Meanwhile, KFH is also selling a two-bedroom maisonette in excellent condition in Heyford Terrace for £625,000 — working out at £790 per square foot.

Verdict: this is a great little area but buyers would need to weigh up the cost of improvements. Don’t stretch yourself beyond the selling price of an improved property in your street.

A family home in Finchley Central

£1.1 million: this four-bedroom house in Dukes Ave, N3 is in need of some work

At first sight: a red-brick, four-bedroom, Victorian semi in Dukes Avenue, Finchley Central, N3, at £1.1 million.

The brochure: you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to realise this house needs a makeover.

A structural survey on a house of this age will be crucial. There are original features though, including the stained-glass front door and sash windows.

The floor plan: at 1,870sq ft the house is roomy and the main reception room is a good size, as is the 50ft garden which is east-facing, so it gets the morning sun.

An obvious tweak would be to knock the kitchen and dining room through into a great open-plan space.

Upstairs there is only one bathroom, and the fourth bedroom is tiny. You need to spend money turning the box room into a second family bathroom.

Google Street View: a well-tended, leafy street full of chunky houses, with Victoria Park at the end, this is a no through road and likely to be quiet.

The 10-minute walk to the Tube is well-lit, along a high street with plenty of cafés and restaurants, a supermarket and a good range of everyday shops. No obvious local blights.

Potential: the large front garden could provide an off-street parking space, while a loft conversion is a possibility for an extra bedroom. The rear garden is large enough to take an extension.

A quick search of Barnet council planning portal shows numerous successful planning applications for lofts and rear extensions in the street in the past few years.

Development: a wider search of council records throws up no sign of any nearby schemes.

The most contentious local plan is for 560 new homes next year at the station car park. Critics say this will add to rush-hour crowds — but it will smarten up a scruffy corner of the area and bring in some new shops.

Schools: two of the three nearest primary schools have “outstanding” Ofsted reports and the third is “good”. Local senior schools include the “outstanding” St Michael’s Catholic Grammar.

Price: a similar four-bedroom house in the same road sold for £1,395,000 last spring, Rightmove says.

Verdict: this could be a great family buy but a good-standard full renovation costs about £200 per square foot.

On this basis, doing up and extending the house would cost £350,000 to £400,000, so if you can’t cover the costs, don’t buy it.

In a wobbly market you can’t rely on underlying price rises to cover your spending.

A new-build home in Hackney Wick

£450,000: a new one-bedroom balcony flat at Lock No 19 in Hackney Wick, for sale through JLL

At first sight: a smart, light, one-bedroom flat at Lock No 19, a development in fashionable Hackney Wick, for sale with a guide price of £450,000 through JLL.

The brochure: it’s a good-looking place — but they are computer-generated images.

There’s a good-sized terrace overlooking the Olympic Stadium at Stratford and a residents’ garden.

The scheme’s due to be completed in early summer. There will be a monthly service charge, so it’s crucial you find out what that will be.

The floor plan: at 588sq ft the flat is small but there’s a generous open-plan kitchen and living room, leading to the balcony. The modest bedroom has built-in wardrobes.

Google Street View: this is an area of building sites and warehouses, with new homes sprouting up in clusters along the River Lee Navigation.

Hackney Wick station, along with venues Crate Brewery and Silo London, are half a mile away, but you might not like to walk it in the dark.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is a six-minute walk, while Victoria Park is a 10-minute walk in the opposite direction.

There are a couple of local food shops but for a supermarket you’ll have to walk over to Stratford.

Potential: if you like it, you just move in.

Development: the wider area will be a bit of a building site for several years, with no real local amenities. But Stratford is on the doorstep.

Price: this home costs £765 per square foot. There are cheaper new homes for sale in Hackney Wick, notably Taylor Wimpey’s Aspext in Wick Lane, where one-bedroom flats start from £415,000.

However, these are smaller at 541sq ft, and more expensive by square foot at £767.

Verdict: with Help to Buy London, buyers “only” need a £22,500 deposit to buy at Lock No 19, an attractive scheme with iconic views and Zone 2 links.

The big issue here is whether Hackney Wick will benefit from sensible central planning to give new residents a good local lifestyle.

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