Wanstead property update, 14.7.11; Dial WAN for Wanstead

Wanstead’s property blogger George C Parker writes:

Like many people I was outraged by the recent phone hacking scandal, and I made sure I left an angry message to the News of the World on my voicemail. However I try though, I soon turn from the news pages to the property pages – it’s the way we moguls are made.

Talking of telecoms, much of Wanstead’s voice and data traffic still travels through the exchange in Gordon Road, though regretfully fibre-optics have now replaced the rows of nimble-fingered, honey-toned lady operators… I’m sorry, where was I?

As well as being a communications hub, Gordon Road is well positioned for many of Wanstead’s primary schools, Christchurch Green, and either local Tube station.

It’s a good example of a road where property is still snapped up when it becomes available – according to mouseprice.co.uk, three Gordon Road houses have changed hands this year with strong annualised returns. Registering for online alerts with estate agents and web property portals will give you a competitive advantage, and the fateful email might even whizz through one of those fibre-optics ..

Vertical gardening
I’m mildly impressed by these people who can croft great mounds of food from their window boxes and garden containers, like this chap. They festoon their home and castle with every manner of fruit and legume, conjuring up veritable Harvest Festivals of grub. Part of me wonders why they don’t turn their roof tile over to grazing cattle and be done with it. But please don’t ask George C Parker for a valuation on one of these agricultural spectaculars! Most buyers will not want to inherit a ploughing schedule when they move in – if they did, they’d buy a real farm.

However, for those green-fingered people who want to grow a little happiness outdoors, there’s always an allotment. Local plots include as those at Redbridge Lane West, which are more than handy for the Warren Estate. Now I’m no gardener, and would always prefer my organic veg to arrive ready washed fresh from the delivery van to having to dig them up. But I’d be happy to trundle down to tend my patch from this lovely Tennyson Avenue property (5 bedroom detached, just £1.275m). Possibly a little on the Margo and Jerry end of the Good Life scale, but I guess I could always wipe my wellies carefully outside.

At the other end of the property scale, here is a bijou residencethat might help you with pests in the garden – at £24.95 this comes in well below the Stamp Duty threshold, and is not subject to HIP (Hedgehog Information Pack) legislation.