ED house prices: sanity check please

[Earl Aelfheah]

I have never asked for, or considered the square footage when buying a house. I usually look round it several times and make an assessment of whether I like it or not. I've been using nothing more than a visual assessment of it's adequacy in terms of size. Am I insane? Has anyone got an equation which I can use to produce a desirability index of the local area and character ratio concerning the style? Blimey, I've not been looking at any of this objectively enough. Clearly, I am not cut out to occupy my own investment vehicle.

[Gidget]

That Nutfield Rd. house looks really small. Perhaps the ones on the shops side are smaller. Usually they had kitchen before bathroom, so you could knock it through to make a big kitchen, and then put bathroom upstairs. Then you would have two rooms at the front, usually divided by a wall. Can also put extension on top, and possibly at the back and then add extra bedroom on top of extension.

[Jeremy]

rahrahrah, I think a lot of people would agree with you. The total area is important, but so is the layout.

[LondonMix]

Exactly, people like being near good schools, close to transport, near green spaces and to live on quiet tidy roads. How many streets have these properties in an area will determine if this is an extra that people pay a premium for or if its common and part of the avg price psm. Most individuals don't do any calculation but its common sense and so is automatically reflected in the sales prices.

The issue is with agents who mislead buyers into thinking there 900 sqf 3 bed is worth as much as the property next door which is 50 percent bigger. These properties sit on the market forever until the sellers finally reset their expectations. Even if someone thought about overpaying the mortgage surveyors would knock it back these days so the agents are just wasting everyone's time.

Jeremy Wrote:

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> rahrahrah, I think a lot of people would agree

> with you. The total area is important, but so is

> the layout.

[edhistory]

The size of double bedrooms in the Victorian terraces and semis under consideration is the width of the house by half the depth of the main body of the house.

Bedroom inflation is an artefact of gentrification.

John K

[dulwichgirl2]

Sfootage is your automatic starting point, enabling comp of different roads. Obviously you then apply common sense and add for terraces, gardens, great condition etc and subtract for any work you will have to do.

Incidentally most agents here price off sfootage, as can be seen by the round numbers.

Continental agents price off a mixture of sfootage and cubic footage for old houses. This would take account of the fact that a first floor flat in a four storey Georgian building will have wonderful ceilings and a sense of space. I find that using sfootage and adjusting for positive factors/floors works just as well.

I am finding nervousness creeping into what had been an over hyped market in my view. Or maybe the summer has been too busy for the normal buying activity. How are you finding it, if anyone reading this is also trying to buy?

[dulwichgirl2]

Rararaha, I know where you are coming from. I find objective measures easier as I tend to fall in love with beautifully done up places instead of staying calm and thinking - can we fit into this studio?!