South Croydon/Purley/Sanderstead good for families?

[Linguaphile]

Sorry, cross-post from the property board, but hoping someone can help! We are currently living near Twickenham and, with baby number 3 on the way, we are completely priced out of our area for a proper size house (our budget is around 400k, whereas a good size 3 or bed family home now costs in excess of a million pounds ). I've been looking toward Purley as it seems a lot cheaper but still a nice green area with good commuter links into London. Can anyone tell me what it's like living there with children? Is it a good place to invest, in terms of capital gains and/or rental potential if we were ever to move? How about toddler groups and shopping? Which stations are the quickest/cheapest for commuting into the centre?

Any advice or suggestions for other places to look greatly appreciated!

Anyone?

Hi Linguaphile, the southern part of Croydon is very popular with families. A lot of couples with young children move to the area due to the great schools in Sanderstead which is the pricier of the areas that you have mentioned. Lots of green spaces and in my experience loads of toddler groups. Shopping isn't great but Westfield should be up and running in central Croydon by 2019.

Hi, Linguaphile.

South Croydon, Purley, Sanderstead and Coulsdon are very nice areas.
I live in Purley. I used to live in a two bed flat Wimbledon but we couldn't find a good sized 3 or 4 bed house with garden.
I didn't know anything about Purley, had never visited, had never heard of it and also I wasn't a confident driver so I was worried when we moved here.

At first, there are many young families live around this area.
When we moved here I didn't see young mothers with pram/pushchair on a road and I couldn't find a nice playground with walking distance. I noticed later that people here drive so this is very different from where I used to live.

Second, Commuting to Central London is good.
My husband commutes from here to Central London. There is an express train which stops only two stations (East Croydon, Norwood Junction) and then London Bridge so it only takes about half an hour.
Same as to London Victoria (East Croydon, Clapham Junction then London Victoria). There are quite new trains with nice clean tables so he is happy.
Also Purley is in a same line to Gatwick Airport so it runs all night.

Third, I recently had a chance to speak to an Estate agent and he said that for an investment purpose, you should buy a flat. You can find a tenant quite quickly and the profit is very good.
He recommends me to sell our house and buy two flats in Purley for investment. Well, we can't do that but this was his advise IF we just think about an investment.
Houses are also good to let as there are good numbers of Expat live this area so if you could find a expat tenant, after their term finishes, next expat usually moves in so your house will be guaranteed of tenancy but more maintenance is required so for this reason he strongly advised me to go for a flat.

Fourth, Primary Schools are fairly good.
Primary schools in Sanderstead are good. Good schools, nice area and nice houses. Woodcote Primary School in Purley is Outstanding ofsted report and houses around the school are very nice, nice environment.
Especially houses in Webb Estate are unbelievable.
Good thing about Woodcote Primary School is a Secondary School is right next door. The high school won Croydon borough Secondary School of the year. GCSE result is good but not so good in A level result.

Also you can apply to Sutton Grammar Schools.
Wilson's school, Sutton Grammar School, Wallington County Grammar School, Wallington High School for Girls and Nonsuch (Nonsuch is a bit far from Purley to commute).

Fifth, Shopping.
As SandersteadMum mentioned, it's not so good.
Purley High Street doesn't look like a high street to me but TESCO Extra is there, if you drive to Purley Way, There are John Lewis Home, NEXT Home, Toysrus, a big Sainsbury's and Mamas & Papas.
If you carry on driving, you will go to Ikea and opposite to this, Next clothe, Mothercare, Boots etc and a Vue Cinema with plenty of parking space (free).

If you go to a bit more close to Central Croydon, there is Centrale shopping centre.
There is a Whitgift Centre next to it but it will be demolished and 'Westfield' is coming so if you can drive, I guess Purley is quite convenient place to live.

Linguaphile - have you made any decisions yet?

I think Purley can be a bit busy, unless you can afford to live on the Webb Estate. South Croydon is nice and has the Outstanding Ridgeway school and good train connections. Sanderstead is the nicest of the bunch. Iy's quite villagey.

Croydon is likely to be a bit of building site for the next few years due to the building development. Hopefully the council are going to manage that well. Boxpark is coming to Crodyon by East Croydon which will be interesting.

I currently live in Sanderstead with my 20 month old. It's a lovely area. We have a play park near by with a local waitrose and costa. There's also a Tescos and Sainburys near by. During maternity i found some love baby sensory classes nears by along with messy play too. There's loads of grean area is let kids run free too.
Defo thumbs up from here!

I love living here. Lots of good primary schools. Great supermarkets and trains into central London every 30 minutes from Sanderstead (23 minutes total journey) and more frequently from Purley Oaks (but stop at lots of stations between). Shopping is getting better as mentioned previously and Boxpark is great - some great activities to do with older kids in the evenings (free films play with decking chairs).

I also feel very safe living in South Croydon.

Did you make the move?

Commuting into London would be good IF Southern Trains was working.

Hopefully at some point they might get their collective arse back into gear.

Hopefully they put their heads together and come up with a solution soon, Green

It is also very expensive here, be warned.
It is a very busy area.

I like Purley but I use to live there, caterham and coulsdon although I feel caterham and coulsdon has a little more for children...

We lived in Coulsdon when the children were younger. Lots of green space, good schools. We moved to Purley when they were secondary school age as public transport links were better so they had more independence. I like Purley as it has bars and restaurants and better train links.
Day to day shopping is better in Coulsdon I think (waitrose, Aldi, a bakers and a butchers plus Woods jewellers, a great independent shop). All Purley has is giant Tesco with the nightmare car park. I used to drive to Bluewater to shop because Croydon is a bit of a dump.