How to find and buy a house

[OztoLdn]

We are interested in buying a house in Beckenham near New Beckenham/ Clock House or in the south part of Grove park between Grove park and Sundridge park station.
There are only 4 houses for sale in these areas in right move, we are looking for a 4 bedrooms 2 bathrooms house, up to £900k. Is this a bad time to buy? Are more houses listed in Autumn, winter?
Are there many off the market houses? Should I approach Estate agencies?
Also, any feedback on the above areas would be appreciated, we have 2 kids aged 8 and 12, we are looking for a safe area, where I won't stress too much when they go to school by themselves, with shops around and easy access to central London.

Thank you.

The market has slowed a lot but having had a quick look on RightMove, some of the issue around Beckenham is your budget - there are more properties that do meet your criteria but they’re on for in excess of £1m. Anything on the Kent House side of the road is larger and more expensive, so then you’re looking at a much more limited pool.

Thank you. Do you think I should be reaching out to estate agents? Are properties sometimes sold off the market?

Are you planning to move and your kids keep their current school places?

Look at Inigo (and be captivated!)

I’ll move one of them to one of the local primary school and the other one will stay in the secondary school which is 10 mins from the locations mentioned.

Yes - definitely get in contact with the local agents - we had four estate agents round to value our property (would have been three but DH got talked into Foxtons valuing as well) and then were about a month before we went on the market as we had a couple of things to get done to the house first.

All four of the agents had buyers on their books that came round for viewings before we even signed with one of the agents.

I've been flyered before by buyers looking to buy in a specific area as well.

As a pp says, your issue may be budget though.

Ah OK, so you do need a very specific location. I live close to the area and well remember looking up and down the 314 and 358 bus routes to try to cover DD's journey to primary, to keep access to train stations for secondary in mind and support my commute!

We get "we've just sold a house in your area" or "thinking of selling?" flyers through the door most weeks, so yes you do need to be extremely proactive. And consider widening your search along bus routes, train lines and the tram line.

If you repost this with e.g. Beckenham in the title or the nearest railway station name you never know - you might luck across a Mumsnetter who can't sell!

Thanks, it's helpful to hear your experience. Yes, I'm afraid I know that the budget is tight, it's crazy to think that almost 1mil is not enough!