Two affordable options for first time buyers have made the pick this week with a renovation project in Golders Green and an ex-local authority home in Kentish Town, plus a house that lured Carrie Fisher to the Village.
First time buy
Kennistoun House, Leighton Road, NW5, £399,950
An ex-council flat is a great way for first time buyers to get a foot on the housing ladder in desirable areas, which, despite it’s endearingly and enduringly scruffy high street, Kentish Town has indisputably become.
This one-bedroom apartment near Kentish Town tube is in decent condition in a low-rise block on a small estate, with plenty of natural light, good sized rooms and cycle parking. Not bad for a first home.
Chestertons, 020 7267 1010
Fixer upper
Britten Close, Golders Green, NW11, £330,000
Within walking distance of the Heath Extension and Golders Green tube, this one-bedroom, ground floor flat’s desirable location is assured. Even better for those with a penchant for a property project is it’s tired, dated interior, which is ripe for a revamp.
You can almost hear the wall between the kitchen and the living room begging to be put out of its misery to create a more spacious, open plan living-kitchen-dining room; the bathroom aches to be replace; while the bedroom’s gorgeous aspect, opening out on to a patio is currently hiding its light under a bushel.
Moreland, 020 8381 4970
Word on the street
Hampstead has a longstanding reputation as a hub for the gay community and as a home to a legion of dog-lovers, who love the easy access to Hampstead Heath.
Little surprise then, that when gay icon Carrie Fisher was looking for a London base for her and her French bulldog, Gary Fisher, last year she turned her attention to the area.
Although the Star Wars actress, author and mental health spokesperson, who died at the end of 2016, eventually plumped for a Chelsea abode, she was tempted by this four-bedroom, 18th century house on Holly Mount with its attractive decor, stunning views – and Jamie Oliver’s old Aga.
The property is for sale for £3,250,000 through Benham & Reeves.
Big buy
Glenilla Road, NW3, £5,750,000
From the outside, this semi-detached red brick house is like any other turn of the century home on the lower slopes of Hampstead. But step inside and you’ll be dazzled by the ultra-modern interiors by RIBA award-winning architect James Gorst. The Edwardian property has been entirely stripped out by the architect behind the designs for the proposed house on a plot on the Vale of Health on Hampstead Heath. The house offers a media room, basement gym and floor-to-ceiling sliding doors.
Marcus Parfitt, 020 7431 0000
Rental
Avenue Road, NW8, £20,000pw
This seven-bedroom St John’s Wood house boasts a home cinema, wine cellar, off-street parking and the hottest in home spa trends – a built-in salt grotto as part of its spa, gym and indoor pool complex. Salt spas are temperature and humidity controlled grottoes, which users sit in for up to an hour at a time as a dry saline diffuser circulates micro-particles of salt in the air. Fans of the salty treatment claim it helps to treat conditions such as asthma, eczema, bronchitis and cystic fibrosis, although there are currently no conclusive medical studies on the subject.
Knight Frank St John’s Wood, 020 3627 9585
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