Street View, West End Lane, West Hampstead, zoom out to explore area.

After moving to London 18 months ago, I initially struggled to settle – a small town girl trying to find her place in the big city.

I tried my hand at living in the leafy suburbs of South West London and then I tried the hustle and bustle of Central London.

But, after a bit of soul searching, I happened upon West Hampstead…a great little pocket of North West London. Okay, our Head Office is based here, but regardless of that – I love it! Let me tell you why…

1.    Peaceful: It’s a peaceful retreat from the clamour and chaos of the City. Don’t get me wrong, West Hampstead still gets busy. But, as soon as I step off the train after a hectic day at work I can feel the pace slow right down, take a deep breath…aaahhh, I’m home.

2.    Connected: There are two train stations, one tube station and countless buses linking the jolly West Hampstead residents to the rest of London. You can be in Central London in 15 -20 minutes or South West London in 30 minutes!

3.    Cafés & Restaurants: Spoilt for choice when it comes to cafes, restaurants, and quirky shops. I’m still working my way round all the scrummy places to eat and pubs with cosy fires and beer gardens.

Somewhere I can definitely recommend is Cini’s on Mill Lane. You can read my views on it at The Greene blog.

Or another great place to try is Little Bay, a lovely Bistro on Belsize Road – it’s fantastic value for money and has a truly unique ambience with an old fashioned Moulin Rouge, theatrical feel to it – you can even enjoy your meal from one of the balcony tables.

Ooh, I mustn’t forget to mention Elephant Walk on West End Lane –delicious Sri Lankan curries…yum! Or if you’re happier cosying up at home with a takeaway, then The Bombay Bicycle Club is divine – a nice comfy Indian treat.

4.    The Heath: Just up the road, you have Hampstead Heath… ideal for long country walks, whether it’s crisp and frosty or bright, beaming sunshine.

Then, you can pop along to Hampstead with its old fashioned boozers, independent cafes and funky boutiques.

One of my personal favourite places to visit whilst here is the Freemasons Arms on Downshire Hill. Unless it’s a Sunday, then I’ll be tucking into a mouth watering roast in the humble surroundings of the Holly Bush on Holly Mount.

5.    Regents Park: Heading in another direction, not too far away, you have Regents Park. There are beautiful landscaped gardens, a boating lake, an open air theatre and lots of little cafes to visit along the way.

6.    Architecture: The architecture in West Hampstead takes you back a few years. Hints of Art Deco London are scattered about on the tree lined avenues that hark back to a proud and affluent era, where you can imagine horses and carts, ladies with parasols and top-hatted gentry promenading in the last rays of the evening sun.

7.    Mansion Blocks: Mixed in with that there are striking, red brick mansion houses that demand attention. They’re not only compelling to look at from the outside, but offer huge space and comfort from inside also. Alexandra Mansions, Malborough Mansions and Lyncroft Mansions are prime examples of these imposing buildings. Read more about these at The Greene blog.

8.    Mix of People: There is an eclectic mix of people living in West Hampstead, which makes it an appealing place for anyone to live. I’ve noticed, though, that it’s mainly ambitious young professionals – which is what attracted me, to be honest.

Well, there’s some food for thought. If you haven’t already fallen in love with the place, I’m sure I could chew your ear off for half an hour over a coffee in one of the quirky cafes on West End Lane.

Probably in Le Brioche or Café Plus sipping a coffee and tucking in to some scrambled eggs on toast!

Naomi Buffery works in Greene & Co’s marketing department and writes their The Greene Blog.

After all the excitement of having the offer accepted I calmed down and got straight on the phone to the bank. I wasn’t prepared for the response I got.

No longer lending at 90%. WHAT?!

How can things change so quickly? I had only spoken to them a week or so before and they had said they would definitely lend me 90%?

They started talking insanely about taking out a loan to top up my deposit money, but when you’re taking out the biggest loan of your life, the thought of another one doesn’t really appeal.

I got straight on the phone to another lender and my excitement quickly turned into a blind panic as I got the same response. And then another. And yep, you guessed it, another.

I made an appointment to see a building society the next day who said they were still lending to first-time buyers at 90% but after we had gone through the hour-long process there was a ‘computer says no’ moment when an alert message flashed up on the screen saying 85% only. Great.

I was so annoyed that I could have slapped the poor mortgage manager. And I was starting to worry that I might lose the flat.

I spent the evening doing some more phone bashing and eventually found someone who would lend to me. Made an appointment to visit an actual branch the next day (prefer to do this stuff face to face) and then bingo, we were done: first-time buyer mortgage at 90% on a fixed rate for 5 years.

It is a high rate, I know, but I have done my sums and I can afford it. I hope that down the line I make money on the flat and this will compensate for the limited deals available to me now.

I completed all the forms and I am just waiting for the final, final mortgage offer from the head office and then all systems go.

I am confident but still slightly nervous that anything could happen at any time. I think the mortgage company is waiting for the lease extension before they go in and do their initial valuation. Not entirely sure what is happening. Should probably make a call…

Anyway, the vendor seems to be moving things on and is showing no signs of pulling out - she has packed up the flat and I went round to check out the cooker and fridge that were practically brand new so taking those off her hands for a fair price.

I am so glad I rented unfurnished two years ago as I now pretty much have everything I need to fill the flat. I can’t imagine where I would find the money to buy a bed, sofa, and other furniture. It was all part of my master plan and seems to have paid off.

I want those keys!

It’s been a busy old week here at FaP Towers.

Yesterday we had the launch of the McDonald’s Best Chance Monopoly – we’re sponsoring the two £300k prizes to buy a home.

Today we’re very happy to be partnering Google in the launch of their innovative Street View addition to Google maps.

Street View allows you to view and navigate 360 degree street-level images of 25 UK towns and cities.

We’ve been busy checking it out all morning and we have to say – it’s awesome!

But don’t take our word for it – take a look for yourself on this sample property ad.

Look for the yellow “Pegman” icon on the right-hand side of the property description and then click “Show Street View” to display the pop-up map page.

Click pic for details

Here’s a video of how Street View works, followed by one on privacy and how to get Google to remove an image.

We’ve been asking our users what makes a home?

As you probably know, pretty much everyone in Ireland lives in either a castle or a cottage, so to celebrate this undisputed fact, here are some castles you can currently buy there.

Most of them are of Norman provenance, and they obviously weren’t big on floor-to-ceiling windows, the Normans.

But if security was your main concern, and you’d always wanted a balcony from which you could pour boiling oil on marauding locals, they were the lads to go to.

Grand Designs: it was very different back then!

Click the pics for full details

Thanks to our research team for this week’s graph, which comes from MyHomeLife, their regular consumer survey.

It’s based on responses from 1,000 visitors to Primelocation.com and FindaProperty.com, and it’s fairly self-explanatory.

Most people think the market will bottom out before, or by, autumn of this year.

Do you agree? - send us your views using the Comments link below.

La la la la la!  Three weeks on from our emotional house move and home life has improved heaps.

The house itself seems to have accepted me and is now allowing me unimpeded access as opposed to its previous No Entry stance.

Inside, the box-to-floor-space ratio has decreased massively, so much so that we’ve even had some complimentary comments about our now-visible floorboards.

It’s taken us this long to unpack because - for the first time in about five years – we’re actually sorting through all of our boxes rather than just shoving them, contents intact, into any old place that’s big enough.

The amount of downsizing we’ve done is unbelievable; several local charity shops are bursting at the seams as are the nearest recycling bins.

But it’s been worth all the effort, as it really is a lovely house, and well on the way to becoming our new home sweet home.

However, this doesn’t mean that we’ve mentally discarded our former adored abode which we both still miss immensely.

So, imagine how chuffed we were to hear from our old landlords – who we’ve never met - earlier in the week, inviting us round for a glass of wine once they’ve settled back in.  How sweet is that?

Just need to make sure I keep my emotions under control when we go and not create a scene or scare them off.  Otherwise we’ll never get re-invited and I’ll be back to staring wistfully at the house from a (safe) distance…

The folks over at Park Let have just emailed us a link to a new tool on their website. Type in a postcode and it will calculate how much you could make per month renting out your parking space.

Apparently, I’d be able to make between £87-106 per month. Or at least I would be if I had a parking space to rent out!

Still, it’s a clever little gizmo and worth checking out at Park Let Rental Price Guide.

Oh lordy, it’s all beginning to sound a bit medieval. Numis Securities, a City investment bank, have been making like Nostradamus as far as the housing market goes.

Lo, they say unto us, a veritable plague cometh and there will be much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and a really big fire sale in the buy-to-let sector.

The country could go bankrupt too. And the moon will fall into the sun and create a world of perpetual darkness.

The Daily Mail and The Telegraph, to cite just two, are loving this, and report breathlessly that “house prices could slump by another 55 per cent. The Numis report predicts that price falls will accelerate in coming months as amateur buy-to-let investors begin to ‘panic sell’ their portfolios.”

Now leaving aside the fact that City investment banks haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory recently, the source of this prediction begs a few questions.

Numis produce market reports for various sectors of the economy, and this melodramatic forecast comes from their Financials Team – who have, shall we say, a vested interest in promoting equities and the stock market.

Numis, interestingly, also have a Building & Property Team. So what do they think? I called Chris Millington, from this division, and he said:

“Our central projection is 30 per cent peak-to-trough. The market has actually improved recently, housebuilders have had a good start to the year and activity is on the rise. The downturn is past its middle point. Things are looking a lot more interesting.”

I know who I think is right on this one. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

In the meantime, let’s all hope that the Finance and Property teams over at Numis don’t get stuck in a lift together or it could all kick off.

We’re big fans of Video Jug here at Winging It. And we also like glove puppets.

So we really loved this video.

Check it out … it’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

Pest Control:How To Catch Mice With Peanut Butter

The latest survey from The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reveals that there are plenty of hungry buyers out there circling the market, but very few are actually taking a bite.

But with prices still falling, and rates low it’s surely only a matter of time before all that interest translates into sales. Isn’t it? Your views, please on when the stand-off will end.