I drive past these regularly, and love the look of them. The Times' Anne Ashworth pays a visit to one, and asks why it's not selling. There's apparently no traffic noise, no Talgarth Road grime; the big windows were designed for the young artists who originally lived in this row and apparently do just what you'd imagine... let in loads of light. My own guess? The price. The owners apparently bought the place for £458,700 in 2000. Admittedly, it seems they've done a huge amount of work on the house, but an asking price of £1.75m now is probably doing them few favours. Still... it's lovely.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

An interesting Merryn newsletter, on developer scams, buy-to-let gullibility, the Batoum Gardens house (tasty) heading to auction and what a central London agent let drop recently:

One agent caught off his guard told me a few weeks ago that going on his experience prices are already off 10-15% in some areas.

It's an interesting read. Catch it here.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Monevator.com is an interesting new personal finance blog with a healthy distrust of the finance industry and an emphasis on personal responsibility. Here, you'll find an examination of the relative costs of buying versus renting in the W6 neighbourhood. It's a good read, and the end result suggests there's little value in buying. However, variables that are harder to quantify and calculate include the freedom to turn a house into home exactly the way you want, and - of course - the market. Certainly, it's fair to say residential properties boom days are likely to be (ought to be) over for the immediate future. But mortgages last longer than the immediate future... and although house price crashes and negative equity have been realities, it's difficult to find a full mortgage term in which properties haven't been a sound investment.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

If I've read the very good housing strategy PDF for Hammersmith and Fulham correctly (here) only 3,000 people have registered for affordable housing despite the maximum wage [with which you're allowed to apply] being £60,000.

But 50% of residents rent...

The posters for the affordable housing scheme are all over Hammersmith. So why aren't people signing up??

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

Thanks to the Rat and Mouse reader who sent me a link to this announcement... a new "one-stop shop" to be called H&F Home Buy with the aim of helping first-time buyers in Hammersmith & Fulham via a range of shared-ownership options. Apparently more than half of the borough's residents rent, one of the highest proportions in the UK. The new scheme will be open to first-time buyers with a combined household income of £19,000 to £60,000.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

The clearest explanation we've seen, courtesy of This Is London: he exercises his right-to-buy on a council flat in Hammersmith, spending £75,000. After three years, he applies to the Land Registry to have the property transferred into his son's name. The property's sold in September 2004 for £228,000 and, with the assets, his son buys a semi in Greenford for £280,000. Apparently, shortly afterwards, the assets are returned to Hamza.

Hamza's prison property deals [October 12, 2006]
Hammersmith estate agents... own up, which one of you acted for Abu Hamza? [February 10, 2006]

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate

First of all, in the light of recent events, there's a giant difference between would like to and plotting. But Alain de Botton takes, in this interview with Bookslut, what can only be a described as a hardline view of Hammersmith:

I live in London, which is a hideous city, I think, and I live in a part of London that is especially hideous. I'd love to just blow up the whole place and start again.

Why pick on W6? Nice bridge. Old style venue at a time when so many are being knocked down. A doctor's surgery that dares to be modern. Okay, the flyover... Botton and his dynamite... he can have that.

Readers with an interest in urban design might want to read the full interview.

Ouch. News reaches us that Christopher Taylor and Harunur Rashid of Lawsons & Daughters estate agents in Hammersmith have just been banned from estate agency work by the OFT. They were convicted, at Blackfriars Crown Court last year, of pocketing money from sublets without the official landlord's consent or knowledge, and the OFT have decided they can't be trusted to continue working in the profession. Now, this is a story that happens to be of particular interest to the Rat and Mouse. Why? Because we've had reason to deal closely with Lawsons not too long ago, and... (how best to put this?)... whenever you leave that office you somehow feel like you need to take a shower. More here.

This one's a surprise. I can remember being put off the Baron's Court area at one time because of the speed at which prices were rising. If you're not confident and able to move quickly a rapidly rising investors' market can translate into a bad deal, the wrong property or occasionally even an inflated value. But now here's the Independent, revealing there are still bargains to be had there. Bargains by west London standards, anyway. Don't be too beguiled by the prospects of living near the Queen's Club, though. Remember to turn right, once in a while, when you come out of the station and check out the roads leading to Fulham Palace Road. Not too far, though. At kicking out time, that sixth form college is noisy.

Mr Justice Hughes, who jailed Hamza yesterday, wants to know whether the cleric sold a property in Adie Road, Hammersmith in 2004. He's looking for assets to use to offset the costs of the trial. He'd particularly like to hear from the agent who arranged the sale. So, if you're an estate agent in the W6 area, try to think back to 2004... did you represent a big bearded man with a hook? Alternatively, residents of Adie Road... does the photograph remind you of the man who gave you the tour? Do you recall noticing an excessive amount of race-hate material on the bookshelves? Drop us a line, and we'll pass on your comments. More, here.

Bradshaw, Hutton and Hamza - nabes [December 14]

According to this, she's taken a £10,000 kicking on the sale of her three-storey Georgian house in Hammersmith. If this is truly a story, it's that the house was bought - for £10,000 more than the £680,000 she's said to have accepted - way back in 2001. It originally joined the market with an asking price of £775,900.