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Hi, my name is Frank and I'm a proper local dog.
As a proper local, I'm going to show you around E14.
I'm going to be writing stuff every week. I'm out and about quite a lot.
When people talk about E14 they often think 'Canary Wharf', and they don't think about the Isle of Dogs, or Limehouse or Poplar, or Leamouth or Blackwall.
Today I'm on the Isle of Dogs (of course), on my way down to Island Gardens.
Over my shoulder you can see the Thames, and on the other side is a power station in Greenwich.
I do know that Greenwich is in SE10, not E14, but lots of people wonder if its a working power station. Well it is, sort of.
Greenwich power station is a back up supply for Transport for London. If we have a power cut on the National Grid, the power station will start working so we can still use the tube.
But, the power station might have a different future; you can read about TFL's plan here.
So, nice speaking to you.
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For us, Property Management should be simple.
That isn’t to say that we’ll do the bear minimum to make our own lives easy, what it means is that if you apply some common-sense to property management, the process becomes much easier.
From experience, we know the one thing that annoys both tenants and landlords the most is poor communication. At Proper Local we’re not scared of the phone, we like to talk, and we always return emails promptly. The simple fact is that bad things do happen in a tenancy, things do break down, but we also know that if you’re kept updated (both landlord and tenant) then you’ll be assured that it’s going to be resolved.
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Ask most people why Canary Wharf would be good place to live and you’ll probably find that most say:
“I guess it would be convenient for work if you worked there.”
Yes, Canary Wharf is London’s key financial district and of course yes, it would be the most convenient place to live if you work there. All rather obvious really, but it’s what most people think.
However, as proper locals we know there’s a bit more to the Canary Wharf than the glass and steel that first meets the eye…
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One of the main reasons for a loft conversion is to swap unused space in the roof for useful living space. However, once the design of the proposed room appears, it’s often easy to spot that not all the potential space is being used, largely because it’s awkward – in size, shape or accessibility. So what are the creative ideas for bringing this dead space back to life so you can make the most of your new loft conversion’s accommodation?
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Proper Local has been fortunate enough to be instructed on Vive Living @ Childers Street, developer Aitch Group's first build-to-rent venture.
This scheme of 83 private residential apartments is located on the Deptford-New Cross borders, an area increasing in popularity. It very much reminds us of what Hackney used to be in the late 1990's. Whilst there's still some good old-fashioned South East London charm, the influx of coffee shops, bars and restaurants is most welcome.
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Canary Wharf Property Prices - Part 1
I don't know about you, but I always find that whenever national property prices are published they never 'fit' with what I'm thinking, or how my local area is performing.
I write, of course, as an estate agent (because I am one), but I'm also a local resident on the Isle of Dogs E14. So therefore believe me when I say, I'll try to give you a balanced, realistic opinion on what is actually happening right now.
There are several national commentators on property prices. The Halifax and Nationwide, in their capacity as mortgage lenders. The Office of National Statistics and the Land Registry, as governmental sources. And Rightmove & Zoopla as property marketeers.
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What is property marketing in the modern world?
In the olden days (a much under-used word these days don’t ya/you think) property marketing consisted of listings in the local newspaper, sometimes even with photos, or a trip down to your local estate agent to ask what they had ‘in stock’.
Of course, the interweb changed all that.
We may think that Rightmove has been around for ages, but in fact it was only founded in 2000. Back in 2000 it’s also perfectly conceivable that your local estate agent didn’t have their own website.
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It’s a big place, East London, stretching from the City via Shoreditch and Hackney to Leyton, and from Bow and Stratford through to Canary Wharf, Limehouse and Wapping, but across that area there’s only one estate agent who will offer you fixed selling and letting fees, Proper Local.
We know we’re swimming against the tide somewhat, with most agents charging percentage-based fees to sell or let, but we think that’s all a bit old hat. The rise of online agents, like Purple Bricks, comes down to the public saying they’ve had enough of paying high fees to sell and let property.
We think there’s a middle way, a third way.
It doesn’t need to be high fees and proper local knowledge versus low fees and a marketing service (because they’re not estate agents, Purple Bricks, they just put your property on Rightmove, it’s a marketing service, that’s all) - you can have your cake and eat it.
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OK, so it may not feel like it this week, but the famed Spring property market has arrived, but what does that mean in reality.
Estate agents often bang on about the best time to sell or let property, or indeed the right time to buy or rent, but isn’t this just playing up to commonly held notions of what estate agents themselves think, rather than how buyers and tenants actually behave?
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OK, so I’m being deliberately cryptic, just so I’ve got your attention. But there’s a serious point here.
I’m sure we’ve all seen that, amongst many commentators, Rightmove is maintaining that property prices in the UK are still continuing to rise. Just published today, the headline figure is that the property prices are up 1.1% on last month, and 2.2% annually.
Very importantly it’s worth noting that these stats are based upon asking prices and not sold prices, but that’s not my main point. At least this time.
Rightmove also provide regional data, and for owners of property in London those stats are far more telling. London prices are in fact DOWN 1.5% annually.
