This. Â 
At least that was the asking price at Dabora Conway, who are now saying the very rundown property on Grosvenor Road is sold subject to contract. And as they pointed out in their details, this was an “extremely rare opportunity to acquire one of the last remaining mid-Victorian character townhouses in Wanstead”.
Showing that estate agent-speak is alive and well, they added that the property “requires an extensive programme of refurbishment”, (bits are liable to fall off), Â and said that it retains much of the “delightful character of the period”.
It does have five bedrooms, three bathrooms and a 120-foot garden. Congratulations to its new owners. When your work is done this should be a beauty.
Very sad to hear the old fella’s gone
If he has gone, I must have seen a ghost last week, he walked past me with that mad hat he wears, alive and well.
Estate agent definitely told us he’s passed away.
I just hope it’s retained as a house, rather than split into flats.
And from what I hear it went for well above the asking price which means unlikely to be flats as wouldn’t be economically viable unless each sold for £500k + . Brian passed away in February by the way.
Sadly, Wanstead is rapidly becoming a real indicator of the social inequality within the capital (and the rest of the UK). While we hear of hundreds of first-time buyers who can’t scrape together their deposits because rents are sky-high, we see (big) house after (big) house sell in record time…THEN the new owners architects, builders, gardeners et al move in and completely gut and renovate the place. There are currently four of these projects ongoing on Grove Park alone! Talk about haves and have nots…
What do you want people to do? Relinquish their heir rights to their home and let squatters move in for free? It is the same old tale based on envy. You should consider the fact that many people who now own these large properties have acquired them through shear hard work, without holidays, new cars, working flat out to build up a nest egg for their families, even sacrificing time off to spend with their children. What do you suggest? The property market model is based on supply and demand, older large properties are in short supply because they were built over 100 years ago essentially and land was cheaper then. You would never get a new build with such generous gardens these days. Many of the large houses like in Hermon Hill have been converted into flats years ago and some continue to be turned into flats. The same has happened in Hackney and Waltham Forest. Hackney and Stoke Newington are even dearer places than Wanstead and many in Wanstead think the area is still undervalued compared with other areas in London which do not have the facilities and open space as in Wanstead. Your views remind me of the failed Labour angle and approach and dire policy of a Mansion Tax where you feel those who have succeeded in life should be penalised to help ‘the poor’ whoever these are. Do you include the people who chose not to work officially and claim everything under the sun , spend every penny they get on new cars, new TV, jewellery, expensive gadgets, awoke themselves sick and booze their money away?
Let people who have been prudent with their money enjoy their well deserved bit of luck and to those who cannot get a big house, maybe work harder and try to budget better like most successful people have.
….and we’ll have more delusion half-truths from our Daily Mail correspondent later.
I would write a cogent and clear reply but your rant is so ludicrous I won’t justify it. Run along now. Nothing to see here.
Well, house down Overton Drive that went on the market at #1.1m end of last year finally sold in the spring for #975k so below the asking price for this well presented Edwardian semi with a mature garden and all mod cons.
So Juan Stead expects to preach his views unchallenged? There are plenty of us Daily Mail readers in Wanstead and I can’t be the only one fed up with being patronised because I have different standards and priorities from the likes of Comrade Juan.
I hope the buyer respects the architectural heritage of this property; whether the end game is a house or flats.
Wanstead’s period housing stock seems to be enjoying more sympathetic treatment of late which is a good thing and I suspect the opportunities still available for restoring period houses is one reason why development properties in Wanstead are sort after.
I suspect the intervention in the housing market which would restore affordability, would be unpalatable to very many voters. Capital gains tax on (first) property sales.
No, Mr Stead, please elaborate, put up or I suggest you remain quiet. There is nothing illegal about voting anything non- Labour or indeed reading the Daily Mail or actually the Observer or Guardian. In fact, if you vary your reading material, you may educate yourself and learn that creation of wealth is not an evil thing. Wealth creates employment and a livelihood for the masses.
Whilst writing, I can assure you that the owner of this property is very much with us still, thank God. I wonder why Mr Stead did not use his energies protesting outside his property campaigning for him to be taxed to the hilt and evicted.
Well – quite a spirited debate. Please do remember our house rule, though: all comments should be polite, friendly and constructive. Thank you.
@wansteadium – and all readers.
Has anyone noticed a similarity between Bert Small and the well-known troll on the Wanstead and Woodford Guardian site, who has many monickers but is collectively known as Cornbeefur? He too launches into irrational and ad hominem attacks to get replies and often uses several sock puppets to attempt to elicit responses. Just a thought.
Enjoy your weekend readers and remember – don’t feed the trolls!
Juan, far from being a Troll , I have questioned your postings because they lacked substance. I do not have a clue what you are on about now either, with your wild accusations. By attacking my good self you are the only person acting like a Troll. You cannot make wild allegations without substance. Can you elaborate on your original post here and suggest how you would solve this alleged ‘inequality’ in the local housing market? Would you want the owners to have their large houses seized under a Compulsory Purchase Order or similar?
There is a problem with housing. We are fortunate enough to have bought a nice house in Wanstead. We managed this by hard work and saving. We also achieved this by starting on the property ladder when it was within reach of first-time buyers.
I do, however, wonder what my children will be able to do. Starter flats now are much more expensive relative to average earnings 15 years ago, that is to say wages have not kept up with property prices.
I do agree that we can;t have a state funded system of managing property but we also will have a massive problem with people simply unable to get onto the ladder and at the mercy of landlords.
There are many reasons for this, not least the issue of investors buying large numbers of flats and driving up prices. These are often left vacant. This does not happen as such in Wanstead but is very common in London thus affecting Wanstead too.
What we need, therefore, are more affordable houses. However, this was only recently voted down, most likely due to fears over infrastructure catering for the increased population.
There is no right answer, but what is for sure is that the current situation does benefit the rich rather than the poor, but the worst part is that it also prevents the poor from having a chance of escaping the housing crisis as nothing is available for them as the property ladder we most likely all used is being pulled up behind us.