House Hunting

We thought this whole house hunting process was going to be a pleasant experience since it was THE day that the whole family has been looking forward to. However there seems to be a twist of fate there. Honestly viewing all the houses as planned by the relocation agency was just a waste of time and left you with heart and head ache. Half a dozen of the houses do not even meet our basic requirement and the other half are simply not what we expected them to be.

Listed below are among the houses and why the houses are not for us (they might suit others fine).

First house
Location : Brondesbury Park - Perfect.

Stunning house. We were smitten the first time we saw it over the internet. Have we told you about Google Earth and it's Street View feature. "Awesome", to quote the boys.

Why it is not for us?
-it has 5 bedrooms which spread over 4 floors.
that was quite a number of stairs to climb and I can imagine the kids running dangerously up and down the stairs.
-the layout of the house was rather like a flat, not a family house....one room and one bath per floor.
-the swimming pool is to die for however it takes up most of the lawn space and maintanence of the heated pool will be killing us.
- should we choose this house, our parents back home will be worried about the kids and will relentlessly 'remind' us how dangerous it can be. That is the toughest part.
-we KIV'ed the house tho.



Next - Marlborough Mansion
Location: a bit out of the way

A nice flat with access to a communal garden.

Why it is not for us?
- it has only 2 baths. Which means we will need to arbitrate the kids every morning when it's bath time. That's enough to put us off but there are a few other things as well
- street parking which is not what we had in mind for convenience
- kitchen not sophisticated enough for...you know who!
- noisy floor. The wooden flooring, while nice to look at doesn't seem to be 'solid' thus every single step generates loud thumping sound.


Next - Harman Drive
Location: not too bad

Extremely nice 6 bedrooms family house located on a very quite cul-de-sac lane.

Why it is not for us?
- only 2 bathrooms (for a six bedrooms house; we struggled to understand this)
- only 2 bathrooms
- only 2 bathrooms
- it's also not that accessible using public transport






Next - Grove Hall Court, Hall Road
Location: Nice and quite central

Why it is not for us?
- the lift was not working and climbing up to the 5th floor with 3 kids is not fun
- unappealing finishing and....
- only 2 bathrooms
- the external looks nice though
- parking is also on 1st come basis





Next - Castellain Road, Maida Vale
Location: somewhere we wouldn't mind living

A small apartment with an integrated single-car garage.

Why it is not for us?
- it is too small for a family with growing up kids
- no garden
- layout is also not conducive for family living







Next - Avenue Road, St John's Wood
Location: Great central location close to Regent's Park and Regent's Mosque

A lovely apartment in a sought-after area within a 1 unit to a floor building. Huge living area (~1000 sqt). Portered with underground parking.

Why it is not for us?
- No garden
- The master bedroom and the kids bedrooms are the opposite end of the house.
- To a small extend, snob-faced agent. Not even a smile throughout the viewing. The only conversation was, "You have no access to the garden, only the balcony. The garden is the ground floor unit's private garden". Not a good way to promote a property we guess, unless sitting/standing at the balcony drooling over the nice garden below is an attractive proposition to some.

LUNCH BREAK. Timing was great. We ended up going to Regent's Park Mosque for Zuhr and lunch (nice biryani and tandoori).

Next - Shirlock Road
Location - we got lost getting there

A very tastefully decorated house with modern and contemporary interior.

Why it is not for us?
- too small
- very narrow street parking
- impractical family living layout
- we got lost getting there (that's enough reason)






Next - Warwick Avenue
Location: I am not sure

On the only block of dark brick houses on a street of beautiful white-painted victorian houses

Why it is not for us?
- one of us did not even want to view it
- it is small and small





Next - South Lodge, St John's Wood
Location: Great location (and great agent)

This block must have one of the smallest lift in the world. Nice layout too.

Why it is not for us?
- too small for the kids to run around
- no garden at all
- street parking (resident permit)
- very small lift (yeah, I'd mentioned that earlier, but it's really2 small. I guess I won't be able to carry my groceries up the lift with me).