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Could have a natural light foot-bath.

2-bed tho...

Yeah, not touching that with a barge pole.

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/42679544

Saw a two bed 'lower ground floor' flat in Streatham listed the other day. Didn't take long to work out why it's had 7 or 8 price drops since its initial listing earlier this year.

Suspicious lack of windows in the pictures...

@Howard @diable Thanks both. Should I be worried about multiple price drops since the place was listed?

What questions should I ask when viewing a flat? What do I need to look out for? How do I avoid looking like a complete numpty?

Thanks to everyone who offered advice on Shared Ownership. I haven't ruled it out, but I'm now wary enough that I'm only going to consider it if it gets me a 2-bed in a fantastic location.

The other avenue I'm exploring is full ownership of a 1-bed - which, as I mentioned, involves going further South or East (from Streatham, where I currently rent).

Might be able to maintain a similar distance from Zone 1 by venturing into Forest Hill/ Sydenham/Perry Vale type area.

Got a viewing tomorrow night in Forest Hill - fingers crossed the flat isn't shit! Or at least within an acceptable shitness tolerance!

a) get a 2 bedroom (I rented my spare room out at first, and no I didn't tell the landlord or the bank. He paid me in furniture and appliances)

Possible, given generous gift from parents.

b) you can get a better flat in a better area than you could buying outright,

Absolutely - I wouldn't go for it if I could buy outright in the same area in a year or two.

c) you can afford to staircase to 100% as quickly as possible

Not sure. Depends on how this career lark goes...

All good points, thanks. It's good to get input from people who've done it.

True! I've made extensive use of the night-tube recently - it's brilliant. Wish they'd extend it to Thursdays.

Walkable to Balham is useful for getting back from central, plus there's a taxi rank there for when you get really lazy! :)

Best of luck with your search.

the constant stream of family members sleeping in my spare room will attest to that

This is something my parents have mentioned. When I first moved to London in 2014 my cousin and his wife owned a 2-bed maisonette in Balham. They were kind enough to offer me their spare room while I found a spare room on SpareRoom.

If I can, it would be great to be able to offer the same luxury to younger cousins and family friends - but it's definitely a nice-to-have not a must-have.

West Bristol! Luxury!

Next someone will saying Streatham is nice.

I don't plan on saying anything of the sort. 5 lanes of congested High Road in places... ugh. A friend came to visit this weekend and commented on how noisy and aggressive the drivers seemed to be compared to her native West London. Go figure.

The main thing is probably how long you're planning to stay in London. Going through the whole process to stay for 3 years doesn't seem worth it. If you're staying longer then having somewhere to live that you can't be chucked out of is nice, assuming you'll be happy to live there for a decent number of years if the worst comes to the worst.

Yeah, I get that. My 3-5 years estimate is very much a lower bound (you can remind me of this in 2 years when I sell-up and leave).

Same kind of thought process in terms of quality of life and that was the only way to buy in somewhere they wanted to live.

This is a big part of it. Sure I might be financially better off in Thornton Heath, but c'mon... Brixton's cool! Being able to wander down to the Village on a Saturday morning gets big QoL bonus points. Plus having friends/relatives/other visitors (ahem) come to a flat on the Victoria line is waaaay less hassle than having people come all the way out to visit Croydon. I need to work out what price I personally put on that.

OK, interesting. I've heard lodgers are a no-no in SO flats, but suppose it must depend on the HA in question.

Owning a 2-bed outright would be great, but I would certainly have to sacrifice location. Compromises only to be expected when taking the first leap onto the ladder though. :)

One bed flats...also I'd avoid these.

Could you expand on that?

What are people's thoughts on shared ownership?

I've got the resources to buy into a shared ownership scheme in Brixton/Peckham, but I'm hearing conflicting reports on the value for money - spiraling maintenance costs and difficulty to sell being reported as issues.

Situation: 26yo, single, can see myself in London for at least the next 3-5 years, good salary (in the low 40s), could stretch to £40k deposit using personal savings and parental contribution. Salary likely to increase in coming years.

My options currently:
1) Remain in sharehouse in Streatham for at least another year. 740pcm all-in, living with 2 housemates, 40min ride to work. not responsible for maintenance, can save approx 1/3 of take-home each month.
2) Shared Ownership: Buy 25%-35% of 1 bed flat in Brixton ostensibly worth £350k-£400k. Get to live on my own, better location, but maybe fall into maintenance cost trap/difficulty to sell when the time comes. Attempt to staircase up to 100% as salary increases.
3) Buy 100% of a flat around the £220k mark way further out (Norbury/Thornton Heath/Croydon (shudder)).

This is not a purely financial decision - there's a quality of life aspect to being located further in. I like my ~40min commute ride - it's a distance I'm comfortable with, plus it's not too tough to get to Streatham by tube/bus when I'm not on the bike. I know many people do the Croydon-Zone 1 commute ride (think of the gainz!), but I'm not sure it's for me. Also not sure I could face East Croydon station on mornings when I'm not riding.

Thoughts appreciated, even if it is to tell me I'm being a prat, I'm only 26 and I need to stop getting ahead of myself...

Roadworks all down Brixton Hill and into Brixton itself.

That shit is bananas. Avoid if at all possible.

Easy in theory - I'm just much more comfortable left-foot-forward in practice.

Calling myself out for an attempted trackstand that drifted over the line on Southwark Bridge Road this morning.

I had been doing it properly (in place) with backwards motion and everything but just lost it in the last 5 seconds before the lights went green. Seemed a shame to put my foot down...

On the plus side (forgive the noob excitement), I'm so close to being able to trackstand for extended periods now, provided I've got my left foot foward...

Think of the fitness gainz tho.

First day back from holiday and my chain snapped this morning at the top of Brixton Hill. Must be the huuuuge wattage I've been putting through it...

Walked/rolled down to Brixton Cycles sans power and left the bike in their capable hands. Am taking the opportunity get an iffy-looking brake cable seen to and get some new bars/mudguards fitted, so all was not lost.

Combo of bus/Boris bike into the City from there, which certainly could have been worse. Must have looked properly strange on my Boris bike with my Chrome SPD shoes...

My favourite bit of pavement-warriorship happens at the top of Kennington Park Road, just where it turns into Newington Butts (northbound).

It's often the case that there's no space to filter between a bus in the bus lane and the rest of the traffic, so every cycle of the lights there are a few twats that decide to MGIF on the pavement.

I give mental bonus points to anyone getting caught on the pavement as the lights go green again, and consequently having to perch there waiting for the bus to move past so they can hop back into the road at the same position they would have been in if they'd just sat behind the bus with the rest of us...

It is a bit busy, but it's really lovely to be out.

Need to take a quick breath and realise how much better we have it than pretty much any other mode of transport in this heat.

It was a pretty good adrenaline buzz afterwards - maybe I should have thanked my taxi-driving friend...

Verbal altercation with a dumb taxi-driving cunt on Lower Thames Street.

I'd turned right onto the main carriageway off Southwark Bridge, with a view to turning right again very soon. Assertive position, middle of the lane, he squeezes past to gain all of the 10 yards between me and the vehicle in front.

Touristy-looking passengers look bewildered as he and I remonstrate with each other.

Guess they've got a taste of London now...