To want to escape the ghetto

[N15]

I have name changed for this for obvious reasons.

I live in a part of London that has long resisted gentrification, and has a stubbornly high (and rising) crime rate. Stabbings, and even shootings, are far too common. Neighbours have witnessed shootings, with their children. The local secondaries are seen as finishing schools for criminals, with a lot of gang involvement, and knives carried around.

I really worry about my children when they reach secondary school age. I would sooner home school than send them to the local secondaries, but I don't have the ability to home school due to working. I work as a junior doctor, but the wages are low, especially for London.

Any suggestions for an area with decent schools that doesn't break the bank? I would need 4+ bedrooms. Even open to buying land and building, anything to escape.

Wow, thank you so much. How is the top one so cheap?!

I also don't understand people's resistance to gentrification. I mean I get not wanting to be priced out of your own area but to clean it up and make it safer, nicer, better? There has to be a way that can happen and (lawful, well-behaved responsible) residents would still retain their homes Where do you think the money is going to come from to make an area nicer, safer and better? Who is going to invest or relocate businesses to somewhere there’ll be no return? Where do you think the homes will come from? Gentrification is only achievable by social cleansing. Get the poor people out of the area, along with their social problems, and take their homes. That will bring the money in. And why would the decent locals want to stay, even if they could afford it? Their community has been decimated. Their friends and families have been moved out. Their local shops and pubs have been turned into juice bars, artisan bakers and independent breweries charging £9 a pint and someone who wants to consider themselves a Londoner is offering them three quarters of a million quid for a run down, two bed semi. Newcomers don’t want to assimilate into the area. They want to wipe out all trace of the working class and/or poor people.

And if gentrification hasn’t happed yet? These areas are fine to buy homes in when people want to get on the housing ladder and they’re ok to have children in when they’re still too young to be wandering about by themselves, but as soon as there’s a chance of their middle class DC mixing with the locals, and in the absence of a Waitrose on the horizon, they exercise their privilege to buy a million pound house somewhere ‘naicer’.

There are flats in London where owners are allowed to go in the main entrance and use all of the amenities. The social housing tenants that they were forced to house have a separate entrance and are barred from the building amenities. That is gentrification.

Where I live is nice, good secondaries (namely Riddlesdown, Warlingham, grammars too). 30 mins into Victoria from upper Warlingham station

@N15 God knows!! Maybe it's odd construction or something- you would have to check with agent- but it doesn't say anything like cash buyers only on description- if there's nothing wrong with it then it looks like an absolute bargain!! I fancied it myself!! There probably is a catch but worth checking out- it's nice inside too!!

I do know these areas I suggested and they are all very liveable and I think fit your bill. They aren't amazingly exciting but are all pleasant and still on zones. It is possible to find good places but they often aren't 'fashionable' and hence aren't on peoples radar. I have a friend in Totteridge and whetstone as well and that's very pleasant too

I do know the area a little and it seems very pleasant and suburban. I think it might be ex local authority, but that doesn't rule it out. Definitely food for thought.

So people are supposed to want their kids to grow up around gangs, drugs and crime just so they're politically correct?

Nope, people want the kids who fall into drugs & gangs to be helped as opposed to shoved to another part of the country because the area they are in is now trendy. 🙄

Also if you're moving to a new area & want to complain about the drug related crime stop taking recreational drugs.

@N15 not having a bath might put some off- or a downstairs loo apart from the en-suite in the annex

Different things work for different people and families though !

I have by the way lived in St Albans too and it does have good schools but it has a massive disadvantage of big commuting costs and it is no cheaper than parts of north London that are in zone. It's a consideration if you have older kids at any point and they want to keep nipping into London. It gets very pricey

@N15 I also thought the one on Rowantree road in Winchmore Hill at £775 is a good buy- looks very nicely done.

Because ‘gentrification’ renders areas unaffordable for people who were born and brought up in the area. They are forced to move away as they are priced out of areas where their families have lived for generations.

@Nagado I get what you are saying- that's why I quite like somewhere like Tooting- as it has a decent mix of both -- I think one of the keys to getting a good mix is some decent good quality social housing and also some shared ownerships. Thing is I have some good friends 'up north' who I am pretty sure would be called working class and are long term locals- but they too like a nice bar , M&S simply food and posh bread , as well as a decent local and a 7/11 and Lidl. Where it all goes wrong I think is where you only have very expensive privately owned housing and often as you say no affordable practical stuff for anyone not in that category.

This is a lovely road in a decent area / Whetstone.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/133872491

Same

Same

@JustDanceAddict ah I missed that one on my list as had my parameter set slightly higher!! Lovely!!

@JustDanceAddict what suprises me is some areas like this are way better priced than some areas I think are far less nice that people always suggest

Used to live one stop further down.

Stuff getting to and from random bits of North London at funny times, and they love breaking that line up into 2 legs at the weekends

my DH is the first to call where he grew up the ghetto, it's common slang for him and his mates, and yes there were crack houses on his childhood neighbourhood, drug dealing, gun and knife crime rampent. i didn't grow up in that place so I personally wouldn't use the word ghetto, but plenty of people do....they're defo not the type to post on mumsnet tho 😂

Neither of us is white, FWIW.

Don't see what's wrong with wanting to make sure your kids are safe, if that means moving to a different area, nice if you have the option. We don't.

@N15 How is the top one so cheap?

That one’s fairly close to where I live. It’s a pleasant, quiet, leafy area but I think a lot of the houses are ex-council, which probably accounts for them being a bit cheaper.

People don't want to grow up around gangs. Some of them are middle class cocaine users.

I remain genuinely perplexed as to why a super bright junior doctor cannot independently work out where to live, with good schools, in a safe area, with a million pound budget. Also why someone who works in an institution so wedded to E&D thinks it appropriate to refer to an underprivileged area as a ghetto.

To be fair we used to live in SW London in a lovely area and the local secondaries did not, in my opinion, pass muster.

Nobody said that, but the views of residents should most certainly be taken into account. Generally, redevelopment of existing housing is better than comprehensive redevelopment. Look at Glasgow as an example of why comprehensive redevelopment is awful - they knocked down the damp tenements and replaced them with damp towers. Then they knocked down the damp towers because they were hotspots for crime. Now, they include affordable rental homes in new build estates; which is a far more sustainable way to gentrify an area (whilst not pricing people out)

@N15 @Crikeyalmighty I think that house is BISF, but might be wrong, hence price.
But that area might meet your needs. EN2 or N21 or N14. You’ve got a range of good primary schools and decent secondary schools. Southgate school (near Cockfosters), Highlands school (N21), Ashmole (N14), Wren Academy in Enfield are all coveted secondary schools and probably all over subscribed.
Not sure if you mentioned your DC’s ages but why don’t you identify a secondary school and base your search round that, the schools I mentioned have tiny catchments (Southgate school is a bit wider).
Alternatively, up the A10 to Hertford or Ware. Lots of decent secondary schools there too: Richard Hale (boys) Presdales (girls) Simon Ball (mixed).

Thank you.

I find the post offensive. Especially the use of the word “ghetto”. Who uses that word these days?

I'd suggest coming out to zone 4 op. Agree Blackheath is nice but you'd get more for your money if you go to Bromley or Bexley.

I see. Thank you for the hints on areas and explanation for the price. It doesn't put me off, but something to investigate further. It doesn't mention cash buyers only.