Brockley in the media: The Sunday Times' "Buying and Selling"

A Brockley flat features in a piece on buying houses at auction in today's Sunday Times.

The writer visits places in Kilburn, Crystal Palace and Camberwell, before coming to her senses and checking out SE4:

"The third property I singled out was a lower-ground-floor flat in Brockley, a short drive to the southeast. It was on Wickham Road, a beautiful street lined with oak trees and impressive Grade II-listed homes. A five-minute walk from Brockley station (a stop on the East London Line extension, due to open in 2010), the flat was in a Victorian brick house with a jolly red staircase."

But like many Brockley landlords, the owner hadn't bothered to do some basic improvements before putting it on the market:

"It was not quite so jolly inside: the walls were filthy and cracked, and the smell of damp was overpowering. The flat had gone on the market at £190,000 in March, but was going to auction with a guide price of £110,000-£120,000. The owners, who lived in the country and had been letting out the flat, appeared to have put little effort into making it attractive to potential buyers. The ceilings were fairly high for a lower-ground-floor flat and most of the problems were cosmetic: the kitchen cupboards were filthy, while the garish bathroom decor, all fake marble tiles, dirty pink cupboards and swirly bronze handles, made me want to run a mile.

"Dealing with all this would cost a lot of money, but given that one-bed flats in the area sell for upwards of £180,000, it still seemed a good deal..."

And guess what? The flat failed to reach its reserve price at auction. So instead of a property supplement writer living in the area, we have an empty, mildewed husk.

As an anon points out in 'Suggest a Topic', the final twist is an apocalyptic note from a 'former estate agent', who took a folder of hyperbole with him when he cleared his desk:

"I wouldn't waste your hard earned cash on areas like Brockley. Wait another year and you will find you can afford Clapham and Battersea. Wait another two years and you will find you can afford to move to Fulham. Happy hunting from a former estate agent.
Lawrence, London, UK"