£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.

There’s also a fixer upper on Franklyn rd in Willesden which looks very nice.

I live in Greenwich and have a very very small 3 bed house with a tiny garden. It was £650k. I sold my 2 bed flat there for £450k, it’s pretty impossible to get a 3 bed house for less than £700k. I was v lucky to get mine on that budget.
I’d def recommend Lewisham, Lee, and surrounding areas, but you’d still be hard pushed to get anything for 500k.

I think when I was first looking a couple of days ago I was guilty of thinking Greenwich extended into areas I have now discovered are not Greenwich, like Deptford.

In case it's helpful, OP, we did something sort of similar to you (move into London with small kids to cut down a long commute, rather than the more general trend of moving out into the burbs to raise a family). Never regretted it - having London on your doorstep is awesome

Although there’s a three bed near East Greenwich Pleasunce which is on for £525k, which if you squint and assume the market is sluggish at the moment, you might be forgiven for thinking could be obtained for close enough to £500k to put the different down to rounding. But still I do get your point and that house is probably falling down / has knife fights right outside / etc etc.

Thanks Olennas that is good to know.

Try somewhere like Addiscombe in Croydon. On a good day you can get to London Victoria or London Bridge in 30 mins (tram then train) and has a lovely community feel. Lots of commuters and families end up round here.

There are lots of 3/4 bed houses around the £500k mark. Example - www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-55918353.html#_full-description

Batteries - can you put the link up of that one near East Greenwich? Will be able to tell you right away why it’s so cheap. A lot of properties that end of Greenwich are right on the approach to the Blackwall Tunnel or other major motorways.

You can get some reasonable 3 bed flats in Bethnal Green under 500k. I used to live there, it's nice and walking distance to central London (40 minutes walk).

I've literally just sent this one to my sister who is househunting @Lovelydovey 😁

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-74875703.html

I used to work in Bethnal Green beside the canal, I really liked it as an area but as it was pre dc I have no idea what the schools are like.

I would have a look around Catford/Hither Green. It isn't full on wanky coffee shops, but it is becoming more so. There are several places to go and get overpriced avocado on toast. And yes it's a bit down at heel in places, but this is London! The shit bits and the good bits are always next to each other.

Lewisham & Catford are really not the hot bed of crime & violence. Also prices are sticky here. Your budget is more realistic now than a year or two ago.

Tiger I do take your point, but I don’t expect the moon on a stick, I’m expecting to have to compromise re roads etc.

I know london is the busiest place in the world FACT but we’ve always lived near busy roads.

Not keen on Croydon sorry

Batteries - might well be worth taking a look then, if you’re really not bothered by traffic noise. 525k is a great price for the area!! You can walk into central Greenwich v quickly from East. V near to the Maritime Museum, Greenwich Park and the Observatory, all great for DC.

Batteries - agree re Croydon - sorry, but if you’re moving and uprooting in order to get a proper London vibe, Croydon def isn’t it!!

Did you know that Greenwich is Zone 2!!! 😃😃😃

We like traffic noise although I think train noise might possibly be better. Hard to tell.

Positive of traffic noise is it’s constant and ebbs and flows predictably (morning commute very noisy vs middle of night less so). You don’t get silence then loud traffic - it builds and decreases gradually.

Trains on the other hand appeal because they are uberpredictable. But I don’t know if silence then loud train would be too disturbing / be effectively a ‘transition’. Which would be a chuffing nightmare to manage multiple times a day (just for me, never mind the kids lol).

The joys of a neurodiverse household!

Yes zone 2 is amazing. I do worry about buying a house for £500k in zone 2. Even if we overlook / like the disadvantages, selling it would be hard.

The good thing about Greenwich and surrounding area is that it’ll always be an attractive area for families due to the transport links, the park etc.
My ex DH used to commute into the City by the Thames Clipper river boat!

It's only the tube though, and there are buildings between the Dollis Hill house and the tracks if you look at the satellite image.

Greenwich and some of the surrounds are worth considering. Deptford is very much on the up.

My worry about Deptford would be people doing the head tilt and the ‘but it’s not quite Greenwich, is it darling’

We used to live next to a really desirable area and although in many ways it’s great it’s also a pain in the arse.

Just before I put my phone down I googled Gladstone Park cafe and look I found - a truly wanky one!
www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186338-d10157199-Reviews-Stables_Cafe-London_England.html#travelerReviews

I'd still go there if I was ever in the park though.
Good luck with your house search. Be interesting to know what you eventually decide on.

Haha moredoll. I know that cafe well and yes, it's in the wanky zone however it is rarely bloody open! Drives me bananas when I'm in the park with DC (don't live locally anymore, but visit often) and 90% of the time it's shut, even on glorious Saturday afternoons when the park is full of hungry, thirsty, ice-cream-craving potential customers! When you can get in, it's lovely and I'd be willing to bet it does a mean tumeric latte and avocado toast combo!

This thread is making me miss London, and that area in particular

Although an easy commute into the City would make me returning to work more possible tiger which is something to seriously consider. I imagine Greenwich and the surrounding areas are places where it’s fairly easy to have a nanny share arrangement, although if most families there are dual full time perhaps not. That’s one of the things we need to visit to suss out.

Our current area has lots of dual part time working parents and it makes for a great vibe.