£500k to buy in London. Three kids

[Batteriesallgone]

Where should we go?

Don’t know london at all (went to Natural History Museum once as a child!). Need a three bed. House or flat. Good transport links to central London. Good primary schools.

Is this possible? I know London is crazy prices, and it’s huge, I have no idea where to start looking on rightmove. Love the idea of living as close to central London as possible but don’t know if that’s too idealistic / unaffordable / ridiculous.

Hayes has a direct train link to Paddington and central London. You might be able to find a nice place for that budget. Also very close to Heathrow!

DH has emailed the guy who made the job offer chatting about various details of the potential move.

We’re hoping they might sub us an apartment for a week or so to come down and look round. One lives in hope, eh? I think they do have some company flats so it’s not as unrealistic as it might sound.

I know there are people who will claim anything outside zone 1 isn't London, but Croydon (& Bromley) are London Boroughs. In both cases their southern boundaries reach into the countryside, but the majority are very much part of London with everything that goes with that, good and bad.
If you can, take a weekend break and travel around the area, I suspect your spider-sense will let you know if it's for you!

Fennel that last one you posted is absolutely bloody gorgeous and below budget and gorgeous BUT

Downstairs bathroom

Still though, gorgeous and below budget, will show to DH but what else is wrong with it lol

Ah just double checked - sandwiched between two schools, that’s what’s wrong with it.

I know I know, compromises...

I think Streatham sounds good. I have a friend who lives there and really loves it. She commutes to Paddington and doesn't like the commute, but this hasn't forced her out, and she's just moved house within Streatham so it can't be that bad!

I moved away from London about a year ago and while there is crime and I was aware of it I didn't feel unsafe. I lived in Islington which, although 'posh', has a rising problem with knife crime and gun crime, as well as gangs. I was forever reading awful crime stories about stuff happening streets away which I never actually encountered or was scared of.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here - mostly just that there is crime everywhere in London but if you live near it it doesn't pray on your mind as much as you might think.

“I am a south London girl through and through. I don't think I would ever leave London. My DD is a 6th former and she says she won't even be leaving London for Uni unless she goes to somewhere like Oxbridge because she won't find anywhere with the same opportunities or amenities (clubs, bars,restaurant,museums,theatres,shops,markets -we use them all).”

Wow, it sounds like she has as narrow minded view of life outside of London as you do

Cities like Leeds, Newcastle and Manchester are vibrant and thriving, and are great for students. They may not have as many museums and theatres as London, but there isn’t the dearth of culture that you imagine.

out of interest, attached is an satellite view of SE London, you can see the loop in the river where Canary Wharf etc. are, with Greenwich park immediately below. Hopefully you will notice just how 'green' it is, and the vast majority of this will be parks etc

Not to sound creepy OP but I live mere moments away from the place you linked to today (Oaklands Court) and just want to say that - it's an awesome place to live!
CP Park is so great- a maze, dinosaurs, giant sphinxes, boating lake and a brand new fancy cafe being built right now. Also an Everyman cinema (a London chain of naice cinema) is almost finished being built in Crystal Palace triangle (as the high street area is known), which is going to be amazing. The whole area has a really independent community vibe and is family central. There's penge for your Aldi and Lidl desires and then CP for all the brilliant restaurants.

Also worth mentioning that you can get so shoreditch/Stratford on the ginger line v easily and if you change at Clapham junction you can easily get to Gatwick.

There’s crime here too, I keep away from it.

I doubt anyone on here recognises my username but if they do you’ll know my background is rough as fuck. I might be naice and middle class now but I can read a situation alright.

Besides, the really dangerous drug dealers all live in suburbia lol

Gimble I doubt we’ll be in a position to buy quickly enough to buy that actual house but it does look really lovely. Very excited about somewhere like that actually being affordable!

Yep, downstairs bathroom is a pain and probably the reason that it's sub-500K. I do wince at the idea of spending the best part of half-a-million for a bathroom that opens on to a kitchen!

It's a lovely house though and the area is handy for shops, transport, green spaces.

I wouldn't say it was 'sandwiched' between two schools really - there's a new and outstanding primary in the next road and then there's Whitgift but that's actually a long way from the house in terms of school buildings!

I shouldn't trying to sell this to you - I actually quite fancy it myself

There’s also this which would need a fair bit of work to house all of us, extend into loft, move bathroom, knock out kitchen. But, pretty and under budget.
St Johns Cottage
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55380138.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53657010.html

If you could deal with a flat...

I don't know what the schools are like in that area but it's a good spot for crystal palace, Sydenham High Street (which I love because it's a bit, erm, real, if you get me), Horniman museum, and transport into town. Sydenham girls/ Forest Hill boys are probably the local secondaries (check this). People slag off FH boys but its pastoral care is excellent and something tells me that's what you're bothered about. Trains go to Victoria and London bridge from one of the penges, and of course the overground for connection to the jubilee.

I think what bothers me about it Fennel is there’s no obvious reconfiguration or scope for extending.

Still, that might mean it takes a long time to sell and we might be in a position to look round it in a few months.

Our current house is very desirable and we’d sell it reasonably quick (over the road sold on first weekend earlier in the year) but it is a family home and they are harder to sell as Christmas looms ever closer. With Brexit also looming though we can’t decide if we should act quick and look to sell now, try and sell in the traditionally good time of Spring and just brazen out the Brexit risks, or... long term rent out the current house and rent in London. Really don’t want to do that though.

Agree, throwing Brexit into the mix makes the whole thing trickier to judge.

Prices in south London are definitely slowing though - I'm currently idly browsing obsessing daily in the south Croydon/Purley area and pretty much everything is getting reduced and/or staying on the market a lot longer.

Feels like a fair bit of that price tag is paying for someone else’s paint job, tbh.

Definitely could cope with the right flat. I love flats. DH doesn’t but could be convinced. Not so keen on flats where there’s only two or three leaseholds to the freehold. Too much potential for dick neighbours being total dicks. At least when the freehold is made up of ten or leaseholds you’ve got more leverage to take action against the one idiot who doesn’t see why they should pay any maintenance ever coz they are still pissed they couldn’t afford a freehold.

Immaculately presented is estate agent code for overpriced for people who don’t like DIY I think.

If you are in a position to buy now Fennel that cottage is lovely.

I did wonder if:
The bathroom could be moved into the small bedroom. The current sitting room could be kitchen, current diner as living room. The current kitchen could be a bedroom / second reception (depending on family size) with a good sized ensuite / downstairs bathroom.

But that’s obviously a lot of work and probably not worth it hence why no one has done it yet. Could be worth it for a forever home though.

I apologise I shouldn't have inferred you found the current London violence humourous i got mixed up. I'm a (sarf) Londoner myself, but I really think it might benefit your DD to go to a UNI outside LDN. I went to Edinburgh and loved it, got to spend a year abroad in San Francisco too. Remember that when we Londoners leave LDN it's us that have the Acccent, the different understanding of things (not smiling at anyone on public transport =P). It's a good way of learning new life skills and learning to adapt to different environments. Of course its none of my business anyway =)

Of you’re looking for him to be in Paddington then you need to be in N London. It’s insane to be south. Look at Finchley. It’s zone 3, all parts of Finchley have good transport links and a buzzy high street, state schools are good and it’s nice and multicultural. It’s also close to really lovely areas such as Highgate / muswell hill and hampstead Looking on zoopla at £500k there are a few really nice 3 bed flats all in good locations.

I'm afraid I haven't read the full thread but I have lived in quite a few areas mentioned...

Sidcup- plenty of options for 500k. Excellent primary and and good secondary school options. Easy transport into city. Airports can be slightly trickier as m25 can be a nightmare and completely un predictable and if taking trains you need to go into london and then out.

Bromley, property slightly more expensive but still lots within your budget. Schools maybe not so great, still good, but sidcup more choice and very high standard. Transport same as Sidcup.

Croydon, not so sure about specific schools but transport to Gatwick is 20 mins by train. South croydon is a nice part if in that general area.

Bromley/ orpington particularly nice leafy areas. Bromley, prices are rising but sidcup they are staying quite stagnant. No idea about current prices in Croydon.
Some stations have fast trains stopping at them, some not, fast trains can make a considerably shorter commute.
Also where in London would you be travelling to? Not all outer London go to all inner London stations.

Sorry this is a bit rushed and I've probably said what the previous 200 posters wrote but just wanted to give a little of my experience, which includes dcs, transport into london and airports.

HTH

@indigenouscelt DD did toy with the idea of going to Uni in the US. We have a lot of family in NYC and visit every year. This year we included visits to Unis in Boston, Connecticut, Jersey and NYC...which is where her 'I don't see the point' came from. She isn't dismissing it if she does a Masters.
As for cities in the rest of the country I am not saying that they are all inferior merely that there's little point. She's already in the biggest city in the UK and she will probably end up working here. Hopefully this quote from her won't offend anyone but her words were "Why would I leave London? Most people are trying to move to London for work. Young people are coming into London looking for buzz. Why would I want to go in the other direction?"

Oh and I love Edinburgh too, along with many other uk cities.

“I am a south London girl through and through. I don't think I would ever leave London. My DD is a 6th former and she says she won't even be leaving London for Uni unless she goes to somewhere like Oxbridge because she won't find anywhere with the same opportunities or amenities (clubs, bars,restaurant,museums,theatres,shops,markets -we use them all).”

See I totally disagree with that. We are Londoners going back generations and make the most of the city. My kids adore London and plan on living and working here permanently. For that reason alone I don’t want them to go to uni in london. They need to understand that there’s a life outside London, it might be different but that doesn’t mean it’s not as good and it’s important for them to realise and experience that. They want to stick with major cities, Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester but unless they can’t do what they wants elsewhere I will heavily discourage staying in London

I really wish I’d gone to uni outside of London. I’ve always used London to it’s full capacity, I take the kids to all the museums and activities now, but being away from London during those years would have done me the world of good.