Location, location, location Viewers were shocked to see a ‘snobbish’ millennial couple having to spend £1million on a house in north-west London.
In the latest installment of Channel 4’s home-hunting series, Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer were helping Dom and Arta find a family home after months of fruitless searching.
The couple, who are City solicitors, had managed to save a huge £1m budget, but were very determined on their location – they wanted to be within commutable distance of the centre.
Phil showed them three and four-bedroom properties in areas such as St Albans, Radlett and Whetstone, with the couple eventually settling on a £950,000 home in the latter.
But viewers were shocked to see that with such a huge budget they could only buy a semi-detached house.
Location, Location, Location viewers have branded a young couple’s decision to spend £1million on a house in London as “absolute madness”. In the photo: Dom, Arta and baby Florence.
Dom and Arta found the modernized four-bedroom house alone after being disappointed with the houses they had been shown.
They said they had “overpaid” when they bought their first apartment four years ago and were now hoping to find a bigger home after welcoming their daughter Florence seven months ago.
Viewers couldn’t believe how little it stretched their £1 million budget, with all the properties seen being semi-detached or semi-detached houses – a major drawback considering the huge sum.
They wrote: “For a million pounds I would at least expect the house to be detached.”
‘Spending over £900,000 on a semi-detached house seems crazy. You could get a huge 5-bedroom detached house in the Midlands and still have money to build an extension for it’;
‘Let’s all laugh at London prices’;
‘Cheer up, you’ve just spent a million pounds on a semi-trailer’;
Viewers were shocked that their huge £1million budget had only gotten them a semi-detached property.
Dom and Arta spent £950,000 on the modern home in Whetstone, north London.
Phil Spencer also took them to see a three-bedroom property worth £1 million in St Albans (pictured).
A million pounds is not enough! Bless them;
‘Pah…..location snobs’;
‘A couple walking through a bog standard 3 bedroom semis on a million pound budget. What the fuck is happening? ‘A million pounds. It’s a suburban SEMI!’;
“I can’t ignore the fact that for a million pounds the house isn’t even separate”;
‘A young couple with a million pound budget looking at terraced houses…makes you sick, doesn’t it?’;
“A million pounds… London is fantastic, but this is totally crazy.”
Dom, originally from Liverpool, and Arta, raised in London, met at a festival six years ago in Germany.
They had sold their flat last year and had been renting in Highgate while they searched hard for their new home, viewing more than 50 properties.
Viewers were horrified to see how with such a huge budget they could only buy a semi-detached house.
The couple were impressed by the bright interior of the St Albans house, but found it was too small.
They said other houses they saw in north London required too much work.
Dom said: “I’m always amazed at how little a million pounds gets you in this part of London.” You must earn at least £1.5-£2 million.
But after starting their search in St Albans, they soon realized that moving further into the commuter belt wouldn’t necessarily give them more space.
The first property was just a 15-minute walk from the train station and featured floor-to-ceiling windows and an open-plan kitchen and dining room.
According to Phil, it was a “really immaculately finished house”, but with a price tag of £1 million exactly, it was just over their budget and was a similar size to properties they had seen closer to London.
Phil moved the search to a more central location, searching in Radlett, and found a four-bedroom house for £950,000, but a little more run-down despite having more space.
He then demoed a house in Whetstone, which needed a “bit of life”, and was surprisingly described as a “doer-upper” home, despite the £850,000 asking price.
However, Ara and Dom fell in love with the area and it was where they found their final home, also a terraced house that cost £950,000.
Earlier in the show, viewers criticized a “miserable” couple for claiming their huge four-bedroom houses in Belfast were “too small”.
Tony and Val were looking to move to Northern Ireland after living in London for three decades.
The couple, who have been married for 27 years, had very specific requirements for their search, including being close to a train station, proximity to the coast and having four spacious bedrooms, despite it being just the two of them.
Time and time again, Val and Tony left Phil frustrated and eventually ruled out all five properties they came to visit.
They did not agree with how “small” the properties were and the “low ceilings”, and although they wanted an old-fashioned character, they wanted them to be in modern condition to avoid renovations.
Location, Location, Location airs on Channel 4 on Wednesdays at 8pm
