£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 is not a snowballs chance in hell of getting any semi-decent 3 bed in Twickenham for under 500k.

What’s travel in from Hanwell like? I mean at the moment?

Well I think all other things being equal we’d prefer North but everyone is recommending South.

I get the feeling there’s more wanky hipsters south of the river, but perhaps I will have to get on a bus / Train / tube to get my weekly exposure of wanky hipsters. It’s doable.

Fear not, OP. Those wanky hipsters are everywhere these days. There's plenty of them North of the river - I can vouch for their omnipresence in Walthamstow anyhow.

I can be at my sister's flat in wanky hipster Bermondsey in under half an hour

As I said, you might get a 3 bed in an ok area in the outskirts of London, but it won’t be in the catchment of a good school.

There are plenty of wanky hipsters in North London, you just won't be able to buy a three bedroom house where they live but you will be able to go and have a cup,of coffee there!

No, all the wanky hipster places are in north London and it’s easier to travel there because there are barely any tubes in south London (because it’s built on chalk, not clay)

South east London is probably your best bet...I'd go for Bromley.

I haven’t read through whole thing but if you want the London experience I would recommend ruling out commuter towns. You might as well stay where you are and have spacious house. So that means something else has to compromise. For me it would be size of accommodation and garden. So if you went for a flat it opens up lots more options. Shared ownership or new buy with help to buy may also help.

I was in Twickenham today and bits of the town centre are cute with nice pubs. You might just get a three bed for under 500k

I doubt it.

If Paddington, Heathrow access and Mayfair all important then for example you could look at Ealing Broadway. Ealing very leafy and family friendly. Or you could look up the Bakerloo line like Kilburn.

You can get a bus roughly every 3 mins to Brixton tube station, or stay on the bus into central london.

Dunraven schools are great!

I live in Streatham and we like it here. Have always felt safe and perfectly happy here - and I grew up in leafy Richmond and Teddington. Our kids go to an outstanding primary which has just opened a secondary school too, plus there are other secondaries around. Definitely three-beds here for 500k or under. You've got Streatham common and loads of playgrounds and cafes. London Victoria takes about 15 mins on the train. Lots of buses. We have no tube though. I'd like to be closer to Tooting way for family and the tube but we're content here at the moment.

watford, (actually Hertfordshire) just outside greater London terrific transport links, very good schools and 20 mins on train to central London

I lived in Streatham for years and I loved it. Streatham station is on thameslink so transport good. And v close to Tooting Bec common which is lovely.

Worcester park/north cheam borders. 2 min walk to the end of the road and hop on a bus to take you to the end of the northern line at Morden. Sutton has lots of good schools, a standard primary in that road, a catholic junior in the next road and two high schools with a mile. Hey - Check out this property I found via the Zoopla App -
www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/48554077

I'd go for location over space. Commuting is hell and what is 50 minutes on a good day in rush hour is 2 hours off peak with a bit of bad weather.

If you could build a garden room or extend into the loft or even put some stuff in storage for a bit that might help.

Penge - 17mins on train to Victoria. Good sense of community - up and coming.
This property is on at OIEO £475, 000 www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/56842710

You can’t live in Penge, it sounds too much like minge.

What’s travel in from Hanwell like? I mean at the moment?

Very easy journey, trains are twice an hour, but once cross rail is up and running will be much more frequent. I get on at West Ealing (1 stop away and larger choice of trains) but have friends in Hanwell who commute from there quite happily. It's 16 mins to Paddington.

Look carefully at the crime stats for the cheaper parts of London. You will want your children to be safe travelling around independently. Pence/Crystal Palace nice areas but your budget will need to stretch for a nicer part of this area. Lewisham hit and miss - Hither Green area nice but you're looking st £650K plus for a decent 3 bed. A lot of the places mentioned here like Sutton, Croydon, Bromley, Ruislip etc are nice, safe, family areas but not really London (although some on fast overground lines). Anywhere with a London postcode on that budget may be a bit gritty/urban. I second Plumstead Common/Shooters Hill slopes. Very close to Blackheath and Greenwich (which sound exactly like where you live now but out of budget unfortunately.) Green, family friendly, Grammar school catchments in neighbouring Borough. Other places nearby are Charlton (SE7) and Eltham (SE9) - both a bit more expensive. Easy to get up North from S London via Blackwall Tunnel/N Circular or round the M25.

I don't think you will get anything decent in your budget in N London.

Easy to get up North from S London via Blackwall Tunnel/N Circular or round the M25

Lol at the “easy” description. It is extremely rare to drive 3 miles on those toads in less than 45 mins. Driving in London is a different animal. I used to allow an hour to get anywhere. 3 miles may take 10 mins, it could easily take an hour and a half. With no rhyme or reason.

It wasn’t unusual for it to take me an hour and a half to get from the north entrance of the blackwall tunnel to greenwich.

@Batteriesallgone

There must be somewhere in London we can live where you can get to Mayfair and Stratford in under an hour, and Heathrow in under 2.

You totally can if your

😁 took me three hours to get north of the river a few weeks ago... when the M25 is doing its thing well it's fine but the rest of the time not so much. Likewise the Blackwell tunnel.

BUT, provided you're on the right train line you can do it fairly easily by public transport.