Commuting to London/ Surrey or Kent?/£1m budget for 4-5bed house

[mmmom]

Hi all,

My DH, baby, dog and I recently moved to Clapham Common/Wandsworth. Although I love the area and would love to buy here, after seeing a few properties, to my dismay, I realise that £1m for a 4/5 bed house in the area really doesn't get you much at all (narrow Victorian houses in real need of modernisation with mostly tiny gardens). The £1m budget is really the cap so if we buy something at that price we will not have any budget for renovations.

I have briefly looked at other areas around South London but am starting to get the feeling that if I want to live in a desirable area, prices are going to be pretty much the same. I have looked at Balham, Wimbledon, Putney, Dulwich and liked them all ; have also looked around New Cross and Tooting Bec but would not like to move there (did not look very nice or felt particularly safe).

Both DH and work (he in Canary Wharf and I in the City (Bank or Cannon Street are my closest tube stations)) and given our current commute is roughly 50 mins (if all goes smoothly), we wouldn't mind adding another 10-20 mins to it, so we are starting to consider moving out of London to get more for our money and hopefully be in an area with good state schools.

Have done a quick search in Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Well (which I'm getting the feeling are the equivalent areas to those we'd like in London), and again, I am surprised to see that though you get a bit more for your money, it's really not that much more. Am I missing something? Are there any other areas I should consider? Is Surrey a workable option given where we need to get in the City/Canary Wharf?

Also, when I mention moving out to the country to my London friends who have kids, I am invariably told that yes, it's great if you're a SAHM, but if both parents work full time (which we do), it's really not workable. Is that right? Frankly, given that at the moment, no matter how I slice it (tube or cab), I'm still a good 40-50mins from home, I don't see how another 10-20 mins would make much a difference.

Would appreciate any feedback and thank you in advance.

If you work Cannon St way have you looked at Blackheath or Greenwich? Both skippy-hop distances from DLR / Cannon St and has some really lovely houses and shops.

DH and I have our eyes on Faversham for our next step, DH is also City based and is genuinely puzzled at how much more you can get for your money despite it only being an additional 20 / 40 mins (depending on trains) to Cannon St.

Good luck with your search!

Have you looked East to places like Buckhurst Hill?
Otherwise Brockley/Blackhealth

Oxted goes into London Bridge- you can change trains to get to Cannon street v easily. more reasonable prices there

Have you thought of Beckenham? Easy to Canary Wharf / Cannon Street from New Beckenham station and Beckenham Juction station goes to Victoria.
I'm in Oxted and it's quite an easy commute, it goes through East Croydon so plenty of train choices.

Bromley is a great area for schools and you could get a lot more for your money there.

Greenwich & Blackheath again. Both easy commutes and £1m buys you quite a bit of house with a reasonable size garden if you look outside West Greenwich towards Maze Hill & Westcombe Park. State schools are an issue (some excellent primaries but you have to live on top of them), second level is not amazing and nursery places nigh on impossible to find though. Most of the private primary schools are towards Blackheath common/village. I think a lot of the kids go on to private secondary schools by bus when they are older.

Kent is lovely but a bit of a b*tch to come into London Bridge and then back out to Canary Wharf. You really are at the mercy of the Jubilee line then. A friend does it from TW and it is 1.5 hrs without his walk to the station. Sevenoaks is definitely doable with 20 mins I believe into London.

Chislehurst is another option. V good schools, large houses, lots of open space and a short commute. Surprised you can't find anything in budget in Dulwich though?

Depends what you want to do for child are. An extra 10-20 minutes may mean the difference between being able to pick up from after-school club at 6 pm or not.

This is going north not south, but have you thought about St Albans? You can still get a decent 4-bed for that, I think. As you can tell from the fact that £1m will only buy you a normal-ish house rather than a gold-plated palace, St Albans is largely populated by people in your field. Excellent state and private schools, nice parks, beautiful old centre, a very good, twice-weekly market that's been running for over a thousand years (seriously), 20mins on the train to City Thameslink. The downsides (depending on your perspective): these days it's a dormitory town for the City and its not exactly one of Britain's great hotbeds of culture (the cinema shut down 20 years ago).

Thank you so much for everyone's input. It looks like I have a few more options to look into.

Have you looked at other places near where you are currently such as earlsfield or Southfields? I'm not sure what prices are like exactly but I think a bit cheaper than Clapham.

Were you looking in dulwich village or East dulwich? East dulwich is popular but I'd have thought you could get something decent for that budget. Also hereby herne hill is nice, particularly the poets corner area and I'd have thought you could get something good for your budget there.

The mainline station for the majority of Surrey is Waterloo - which is still a considerable walk/ bus and or tube to your destination. Having to rely on other transport adds lots of time and £££ to an already expensive ticket.

I suppose the upside of living further is perhaps you do get a bigger (comparitively) bang for your buck and there are more green, open spaces.

Commuting via Waterloo would be easy - jubilee line to canary wharf and W&City line to Bank. I'd say the majority of SW london/surrey people get onward transport from waterloo no problem. In fact I'd have thought most people need to get some further transport from whatever london terminal they come into.

If you like wimbledon you might find something you like if you expand out to West Wimbledon/Raynes Park. Also Kingston? I'm not too familiar with the residential areas, but know it's v popular. Likewise the areas around Richmond (Richmond itself prob will pose the same problems you've already encountered) - Strawberry Hill etc?

We live in Lee, the other side of Blackheath to Greenwich and look what £1.1 million can buy you here. This is near the station Hither Green, which is only 10-15 minutes into London Bridge. A really lovely area! Especially around the conservation bit... Best of luck! We've been here for a year (chanced upon it!) and love it!

In theory, Waterloo sounds a good deal, but it does require you having to get across the river or rely on the Jubilee line to get you to work, which adds more time to a journey (not the 10-20 mins the OP desires)

But if she's currently in Clapham that's probably the journey she's already doing.

Have you looked out near Surbiton? Thames Ditton is a lovely village about 10 mins drive from Surbiton which is a 16 minute ride into Waterloo on SouthWest trains

Doesn't everyone have to 'rely' on a particular route? And getting accross the river isn't hard- there's a bridge right outside the station.

You're unlikely to find any mainline station walkable to both people's work. And what if you move jobs, anyway?

Sorry, don't mean to sound antagonistic, just a bit by the anti-waterloo stance.

I think you will pay similar prices for anywhere "naice" (which sounds like what you are looking for) and within commuting distance of the City - whether it is London or not.

You will get a bit more garden and space for your money outside London but not loads more, as you have found (and especially if you want a period property).

To me, the real reasons to move are (a) schools - more decent state schools outside London usually, though the catchment areas can be just as tight; and (b) if you are just not a city person. Some people love London and find the country mind bendingly dull, others can't wait to get out of the London noise and crowds and into village life. Which are you?

If you did want to stay in London, I think there are plenty of "naice" (or nice enough) areas that you could afford:

Clapham Common Northside
"Boundaries Triangle" (eg Rowfant Road, Marius Road)
Earlsfield
Herne Hill
East Dulwich

All these areas have quite a few 4 or 5 bed houses which do not need much in the way of refurb for under £1m.

Crystal Palace. Great area and plenty of house for £1m.

I don't know about london areas, but just to say we moved out of London, but have moved back, as for us it just wasn't workable for both of us to commute - it meant we were away from the dcs too long and it caused problems if one of us needed to work late/missed trains/had sick children etc.

I have a lower house budget than you, but we decided that it was better to be in a smaller property closer to work. this was the right decision for us.

Have you looked at Chislehurst that's where lots of people seem to go to for a bigger house when they can't afford blackheath. 20 mins commute to Cannon street

Just to add friend's dh commutes from Chislehurst to CW on motorbike via Blackwall Tunnel takes him 20 mins on a good run

We're in Faversham and it's lovely. £1m would get you a lot (we're pleased with our 3-bed terrace for a fraction of that!).

The commute is a bit of a bugger though, if you're also dealing with nursery/childminder. If you could afford a nanny though, you'd be laughing.

I go to Canary Wharf once a week and it's fine really - an hour on the 'high speed' train to Stratford International and then a short DLR/jubilee line hop. DH commutes to London Bridge, which he doesn't mind, but he is wiped out at weekends.

Agree that the difference between 50 mins and 70 mins is the difference between being able to use breakfast/ after school clubs or not. And if you get a call from school saying that your DC has fallen over and wants mummy Noooooow then the fast train you commute on might not go for another half hour, whereas if you're still in London you could jump on a tube/taxi.