HUNDREDS of first-time home buyers are being taken for a ride by developers in East London. The developers are laying on a fleet of buses to whisk them around nine new sites to view. The buses are picking up potential buyers free at four departure points tomorrow morning (Saturday) and taking them on a grand tour’ of all the sites
HUNDREDS of first-time home buyers are being taken for a ride by developers in East London.
The developers are laying on a fleet of buses to whisk them around nine new sites to view, spread wide in Stratford, Bow, Stepney, Silvertown and right out to the suburbs of Barking and Romford.
The buses are picking up potential buyers free at four departure points tomorrow morning (Saturday) and taking them on a 'grand tour' of all the sites.
The idea was dreamed up by East Thames housing association "to help kick-start" London's dwindling property market.
"We appreciate many people in London don't have cars," explained sales and marketing chief Kate Worley.
"But they want the chance to view all the new developments.
"So our fleet of buses on the 'property run' is just the ticket."
One of the 10am pick-up points is outside East Thames offices at West Ham Lane in Stratford, where tonight housing officials estimated at least 70 potential customers would be turning up for the tour in the morning. Several pick-ups are planned throughout the day at Stratford and the other departure points at Harford-street in Stepney and at Romford's Eldon Court in Western-road.
Among the schemes being promoted are part-ownership, part rent.
"It's important first-time buyers look at different ways of getting their own home," Kate added.
"We did a survey where we found six-out-of-10 Londoners thought these schemes were the only way they could get their foot on the property ladder."
Passengers on the 'property run' also get free professional advice from financial and legal experts at East Thames' offices in Stratford to help take their first step on the road to ownership.
The housing schemes the buses are calling at in East London can be viewed online:
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