Neils Pre-2008 Property Blog |
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Thursday, December 06, 2007 |
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We had the plans and computer generated images back from John (from John Lewis) and they look great, so we’ve given it the go ahead. I’ve arranged for my cousin to come down the day after the kitchen has been installed to do all the tiling and painting and tidying up etc.
Above - these are the computer images John did for us. Very exciting. |
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1. Plan everything as far in advance as you can, but always try to build in some flexibility. |
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Friday, November 30, 2007 |
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John, the kitchen man from John Lewis came over today with a laptop. He measured everything and wrote down all our ideas. The hardest part is working around things that you can’t move. Like the sink can only really be in one place, and the hob and extractor can only really be in one place. Then we have to work out the dishwasher, fridge freezer etc. |
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1. For below the worktop, draws always work better than cupboards. They give you more flexibility and better use of space. |
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Saturday, November 03, 2007 |
It was too nice, and with a few corners cut here and there we can just about afford a John Lewis kitchen. Basically the quality is head and shoulders above MFI and above ankle height too when it comes to Ikea. We’ve decided on gloss white cabinets, grey speckly worktops (not granite – too expensive), black granite floor tiles and matching electric hob and oven.
We’ve gone for a great kitchen tap that comes out on a flexi-tube so you can get right inside the big pots and pans. Have also decided on soft-closing for all cabinets and draws. It’s an extravagance but I love being able push a draw ¾ closes and it does the rest. |
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1. Get a quote from the most expensive place right from the start, it’ll help put a real value on other quotes in terms of cost and quality. |
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Saturday, October 27, 2007 |
It’s been a long time since the last blog. We’ve decided to renovate the kitchen – actually it’s taken us a long time to save up the cash to do it.
We’ve already been to MFI and Ikea and have decided to go to John Lewis in Oxford Street to see what their kitchens are like. I’m sure it’ll be expensive but worth a look.
We looked at MFI because of one our neighbours used them for their new kitchen. They kindly let us take a look at their kitchen which looks great. We’ve decided to copy a few of their ideas. |
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Wednesday, December 27, 2006 |
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Mum & Dad have come down for Xmas in our new apartment. Feels like home. We ordered some oak furniture online for the living room, and some new furniture for the boys room.
The saying “Buy cheap, buy twice” is true. The bed, wardrobe and chest of draws we bought for the nursery were cheap and now we’re throwing them away already. They were self-assembly from John Lewis. They weight a ton and I think they’re collapsing under their own weight. |
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Monday, October 30, 2006 |
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If a neighbour has had a renovation don’t be shy in asking to have a look. They’ll be full of tips. |
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1. If a neighbour has had a renovation don’t be shy in asking to have a look. They’ll be full of tips. |
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Saturday, October 28, 2006 |
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I moved in yesterday. Feels great. Everything smells of paint and wood – I love it. I’m on an inflatable bed in the main bedroom. The blinds are up but the lights from the footpath along the Thames light up the whole bedroom. Very excited. Very tired. |
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1. When moving it’s easier to pack stuff into smaller transparent plastic boxes that stack. They’re easy to pack, they go into a van easily and you can see what’s inside without having to open a box up. |
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Thursday, October 26, 2006 |
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Got back to London yesterday and my cousin has made good progress on the apartment. It’s ready for me to move into, and Kim has arranged for a removal van and cleaners. My cousin has gone home and has done an excellent job. This is the first time I’ve done this kind of renovation and I don’t know why I was so nervous. |
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Tuesday, October 17, 2006 |
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I’m at Heathrow airport and I’m about to leave to fly overseas to meet up with Kim, the boy and in-laws. I had a last minute panic as all the light fittings that arrived from John Lewis were wrong. It turns out they had the wrong label by the fitting, so when I ordered a box of ten they ordered the wrong one. I took them back and they’ll deliver the correct ones while I’m away. |
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Tips
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1. Always do a sanity check when you’re ordering stuff – “That’s the oval fitting 20cm wide yes?” would have saved me a panic. |
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Sunday, October 15, 2006 |
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My cousin has arrived and so has all the paint and flooring. I’ve already stripped some light fittings off and the whole place looks like a building site which is quite surreal as it’s an apartment. There’s stuff everywhere including take away food containers which I really must tidy up. I’m still living at Cascades Tower and will move everything while Kim and the boy are overseas. |
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Tuesday, October 10, 2006 |
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WE EXCHANGED!!! Excellent – Kim and the boy are off overseas tomorrow and I’ll follow in a few days once my cousin has come down and we go through all the work that has to be done. |
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Sunday, August 20, 2006 |
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Ok so we bought all the wooden flooring – engineered oak from Topps Tiles in Beckton. Very friendly manager. My cousin who has a professional tradesman’s card will go there later to pay for it so we get the trade discount. All the flooring comes to £1,100. We decided on white for the ceilings and an off-white for the walls, except the wall dividing the kitchen and living room which we (Kim) has decided to paint red. All the paint comes to about £400 I think – my cousin will pick it up from B&Q. |
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1. Stay real when you’re renovating. We almost bought solid wood flooring and under floor heating, but for an apartment it doesn’t make sense – especially as we’ll probably only live here for a few years. |
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Sunday, August 13, 2006 |
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Deciding on the wood flooring and paint has been relatively painless. Kim and I agree easily on how we want the place to look, and also agree on the bedroom, nursery and living room furniture. I think that buying everything in one go makes it easier to match everything as it’s all in your mind as the same time. |
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Friday, August 11, 2006 |
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I found out that my cousin who I haven’t seen for a while is now a painter decorator. I called him yesterday and he said he can lay a wooden floor and do all the painting etc. Fantastic. Kim and the boy will go overseas to see her parents and while they’re away my cousin can do the work. I’ll go for a week as I haven’t seen the in-laws since 2004, then come back to work to pay for all the renovations. |
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Wednesday, August 09, 2006 |
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Our offer has been accepted. Holy crap I’ve just bought my third and most expensive place. If you’d have told me in 1996 I’d be buying an APARTMENT for about £400k I would have said something very rude. But here we are. It’s a great place right on the Thames with a nice balcony, two good sized bedrooms, one ensuite. The living room is large and I can’t wait to renovate it. |
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Tuesday, August 08, 2006 |
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Ok so the owner of this apartment owns about 17 in Millennium Harbour and he won’t budge an inch on the price. Someone else has already offered the full asking price of £395k but our advantage is that we’re not in a chain. We have also offered the full asking price but won’t go over this – I think that would be stupid and we’d end up in a price bid war, what ever it’s called. |
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Monday, August 07, 2006 |
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We’ve offered £375k for the Millennium Harbour apartment. Prices seem to be going up every week. We really like it and it has some scope for renovating the bathroom, ensuite and kitchen all of which are about 8 years old and look quite cheap. |
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Saturday, August 05, 2006 |
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We saw two apartments in Millennium Harbour – right back where I first looked in 2004. The two apartments are of different configurations, one more square and simple, the other larger but more higgledy piggledy. We’ve decide to see the square one again. |
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Thursday, June 01, 2006 |
Our son is nine months old and we’re still living in Cascades Tower in Canary Wharf. Despite strong temptation to jump off the balcony and to escape down the Thames we’re still looking at apartments. It’s been very depressing.
Apartment after apartment is too small, bad location, too expensive, too complicated. We made an offer on a two bed apartment in Limehouse, but luckily they refused our highest offer. |
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1. Don’t get depressed when you see apartment after apartment that is no good. Each viewing helps you to recognise the right apartment when you see it (it’s a bit like dating I guess). |
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Monday, November 07, 2005 |
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Our fabulous son is a couple of months old now and sleeping in a Moses basket in our bedroom. The apartment feels very, very small especially with all the baby paraphernalia – we need to move. We ned space. I need sleep. |
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Friday, August 12, 2005 |
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We still haven’t found anything we can afford. It’s too late now to buy anyway, the baby will be here in 5 weeks and I can’t think about buying anything. Having said that, have decided to sell the house in Brisbane - am hoping to make a reasonable profit. |
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Monday, January 10, 2005 |
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Long time no blog. I’ve been busy making babies – well baby – and we’re expecting our first baby in September. Ok so now we really do need to move. We’ve decided to start looking, but I don’t think we have enough money for a deposit. I don’t want to sell the house in Brisbane – sounds too complicated to sell it remotely and bring the money over. |
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Tuesday, October 12, 2004 |
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On honeymoon in Sydney. Am using this trip to Sydney to box up and post back to London all my stuff from eight years of living in Sydney. When I arrived in Sydney in 1996 I had only one suitcase. Now I have a whole apartment full of rubbish – where does it call come from? I don’t remember buying these jeans or jumpers. Why would I buy these jeans? They don’t fit and they look stupid. Anyway, Kim and I have packed and posted all my relevant stuff back to London.
I’ve given a load of stuff away to my other good friends Mark and Carlos. I was very sad when I sold my car back to the Toyota dealer, but was happy to get a good price. That cash will come in handy towards a deposit for an apartment back in London.
On the last day in Sydney it feels like the end of an era. Here I am on honeymoon visiting Sydney as a holiday destination rather than as home for the first time in eight years. I hand the key back in to the estate agents just as we’re going to take a taxi to Sydney airport bound back to London.
I realise now that instead of buying a three bed house in Brisbane I should have bought a studio in Sydney. Location, Location, Location, Location. I was a but stupid, but the house in Brisbane is yielding good rent and I’m sure it’s increasing in value as I type this. |
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Sunday, July 04, 2004 |
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As an aside I just got engaged and she’s just moved in (we met last year). We’ve decided to look to buy an apartment after the wedding. |
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Sunday, March 28, 2004 |
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I love this apartment. It has great, great views of Canary Wharf and of the Thames and out towards the West End. From the very small balcony I can see the London Eye, Tower Bridge, the Gherkin and on a good day the top of the Post Office tower (yes I know it’s called something else now but that’s how I remember it). |
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Saturday, March 27, 2004 |
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I pack my parents car with all my current relevant possessions which now seem to fit into two suitcases and a back pack. Mum & Dad drive me to London and we quickly find the apartment block where I’ve arranged to meet the landlord. He’s there on time and seems to be a really nice guy. He even helps me unpack my stuff.
The apartment is on the eighth floor so it’s up and down holding the lift doors open as we lug all my stuff into the apartment. Mum has come armed with a bucket and some cleaning products as she’s used to me renting places less salubrious that this.
The landlord goes over the apartment with me explaining everything. “This is the door to the balcony. You open this handle, open the door and you can step out onto the balcony”. He’s very thorough. After counting how many teas spoons there are, and me initialling the paperwork he and his wife wish me luck and unexpectedly give me a bottle of champagne as a moving in present. Not Moet but very nice all the same.
I’m officially knackered, but need dinner so I take Mum & Dad to Zizzi to say thanks and they head off home. I go to bed wondering how long I’ll be here for. |
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Thursday, March 18, 2004 |
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I get the “ok” that there is definitely a 6 month break out clause in the contract on the Canary Wharf apartment so I go ahead and rent it. No looking back now. |
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Wednesday, March 17, 2004 |
I double check with Alex Neal that the contract for the apartment has a six month break out clause. This is very important because my contract is only for 6 months and if there’s no renewal and I can’t find more work I’ve already decided to go back to Sydney. I’m still renting the studio apartment in Neutral Bay.
My thinking is like this. If I stay in good contract work in London I’ll have ample spare cash to pay for the Sydney apartment for a few months until I get a chance to go back and send all my stuff back and release the apartment. If on the other hand I can’t find enough work in London I’ll just go back to Sydney and my apartment in Neutral Bay and my great Toyota (which I really miss) in the secure underground car park. |
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Wednesday, March 10, 2004 |
Wow. Both apartments I saw yesterday were excellent. The two bed apartment was in the Millennium Harbour complex and the one bed apartment was in Cascades Tower which I think is the oldest tall apartment block in the Isle of Dogs.
Anyway, I don’t know how long I’m going to be in London for, and even if my girlfriend and I get engaged and she moves in we’ll still only need a one bed. I put in an offer which is accepted. The only problem now is that I need to come up with 6 weeks deposit money (because it’s fully furnished) and then a month in advance.
So ten times £325 is £3,250 which leaves me close to zero. I really need my first paycheque. |
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Tuesday, March 09, 2004 |
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I called another agency called Alex Neal and they have two apartments definitely in walking distance. I checked on the map and yes they’re in walking distance. Looking forward to seeing them tomorrow. |
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Tips
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1. Buy a big map of the area you want to move into and use post-its to label where you’ve seen, how much the property was and what your score out of ten was. It’s helps you to be objective. This applies for whether your buying or renting. |
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Tuesday, March 09, 2004 |
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Useless. I was driven around the Isle of Dogs looking at one and two bed apartments and even though I explicitly asked to see apartments within walking distance none were. Not on that but the apartments I saw were old, untidy and not what I’m looking for. |
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Monday, March 08, 2004 |
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Made contact with Felicity J. Lord in Canary Wharf to see some apartments. |
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Monday, March 01, 2004 |
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I just moved back to London from Sydney and have just secured a contract at Barclays Capital in Canary Wharf. Ok so now I need to find an apartment. |
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Monday, January 12, 2004 |
From 1999 to now in 2004 I had a short stint back in London. Basically after 9/11 and dot-com there was no work. So I kept renting the studio apartment and left my beloved Toyota in Sydney and flew back to work in the City (well, Cannon Street) for six months.
In that time I lived in an excellent brand new one bed apartment right in the heart of Islington. After Sydney, Islington felt like grunge city and I felt like I was going to be mugged any second. The apartment was literally brand new with all new furniture, knives and forks etc.
It had a long balcony with a great view over Goswell Road and the Islington rooftops to the east. It was very expensive but very nice and safe and was right on top of the Virgin gym where I used to go swimming most nights after work. After Islington and a rather rubbish job in Cannon St I moved back to my apartment in Neutral Bay in Sydney.
I was so happy to be back. But then life began to change and even though I was having a good time in Sydney, I needed work, money and I wanted to buy a house or apartment. I was sick of renting. |
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Monday, February 01, 1999 |
After the money from the sale of the Guildford house came through I put it into a savings account. I had been looking to buy an apartment in Sydney but I wanted more than I could afford. In the end and on the spur of the moment whilst visiting friends in Brisbane, I bought a brand new three-bed town house in Saint Lucia in Brisbane.
I briefly moved there thinking that it might be fun. It wasn’t. I had a few friends there but missed my busy life back in Sydney. I populated the house with some nice furniture and a fridge freezer and moved back to Sydney. I had to find a place to live quickly and regretted having given up my one bed apartment in Manly Beach.
It was the best apartment I’d ever rented. The rate was good at AUD 300 per week and it head a great view and was a 2 minute walk from the beaches, restaurants and Wharf. Anyway, the town house in Brisbane rented out right away, and my good friend Juan told me about a studio apartment in his block that had just become available. I pounced on it, signing the paperwork right away. I flew back to Brisbane, packed my Toyota with all my stuff drove back to Sydney - literally, four sad McDonalds stops from Brisbane to Sydney about 1000km.
Normally I’d stay in Coffs Harbour Chelsea Motel en-route but I couldn’t bear being away from Sydney one hour longer. I made it back to Sydney and checked into a hotel, got a take away and some beers and went to bed. Couldn’t sleep a wink. I was at the estate agents before they opened to pick up my key for the studio apartment. Juan helped me unpack my stuff and we went for breakfast. |
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1. When relocating it’s ok (infact a good idea) to overlap timings just in case you need to go back! |
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Monday, August 01, 1994 |
Before moving to Sydney worked in Paris for the best part of a year. I lived in St Sulpice which was a great place to live. I rented a one bed apartment from an American couple who initially seemed nice, but at the end of the lease they kept all my bond saying that it needed significant cleaning.
This was nonsense because I’m a very tidy person who likes to keep any place really clean. There was no damage at all and I didn’t use the oven once – why would I in Paris?! |
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1. Before handing over your bond, get a contract which specifies exactly why the landlord may take money out of it. Australia has a great system as we’ll see later. |
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Saturday, July 03, 1993 |
I’d tried in 1992 to buy a house in Brighton but it all fell through and I was sick of travelling down there all the time whilst living in Leighton Buzzard and working in London.
The first house I bought was in Ludlow Road, Guildford just a few doors away from a friend of mine, and very close to Guildford station which was very handy for Waterloo and the office in Moorgate. I stripped the house to the bone and repainted everything, lifted up the old parquet flooring to reveal original Victorian floorboards which I sanded and varnished. This was an excellent house with a nice garden and I was close to all my friends.
I bought it for £73k in 1993 and sold it in 1998 for £155k. I should have realised then that there was some good money to be made in property, but I was too wrapped up living a new life in Sydney to notice. |
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