AIBU to ask you lovely folk for some advice RE areas of London?

[juniper904]

My DP and I are looking at buying somewhere in London next year, but it seems like such a mind boggling thing to do.

We do live in London, but haven't explored much other than the centre so residential areas are new to us.

We've got an upper limit of about £325,000 and want somewhere with 2 or more bedrooms and a garden. I drive to work and DP commutes on public transport, but not into London centre. Both our jobs would be borough bound- making the location even more important!

So far we're looking at places like Stoke Newington, Crouch End, Tottenham, Raynes Park, Wimbledon etc but my brain feels like it's turning to mush and I'm finding it hard to find anywhere that classifies the general feel of each area. Upmystreet used to be fantastic for that, but it's been taken over and all the details about the area have been censored out.

Any advice, before my brain becomes stew? Ta :-)

I second SE London - this is in a nice spot, but needs a bit of work. This is also in a nice spot. If you can stretch to closer to £400k you could get a 2 bed house in a nice part of Greenwich.

Grew up in beckenham, wimbledon, balham, tooting.

Unless you've got megabucks I'd move out to reading/bucks/w berks.

Nothing scary about Tooting, I love it. Feel very safe here, and equally comfortable about my older daughters being out and about and falling in in the early hours ; great shops, Tooting Common and Wandsworth Common both 10 minutes walk either way for us, Southside shopping centre in Wandsworth up the road getting better and better.

If you look carefully, perhaps towards Furzedown and just the other side of Mitcham Lane, or behind Tooting Broadway/Tooting Bec stations you could find somewhere within your budget, 2/3 bed house with a garden, and a decent sized one at that. Great primaries around, a new one attached to Graveney is opening in September next year along with another two in that sort of area.

Excellent transport links in all directions. Lots of things about for children/teens. Moved back here after 8 years abroad and think it unlikely that I will leave here again.

Do you need to live in london at all? Where we live is 138 miles away from london but there is a direct train into the city that takes 1 hour and 15 mins - communiting from south london into the city can take longer than that with buses and rubbish london trains....

We sold our 4 bed terraced house for 360k in 2005 and we brought a lovely detached one with double garage and separate annex etc for 210 :)

Just puTting the idea out there....

I live in Worcester Park. The schools around here are not bad, the housing prices are within your price range. Commute to London is very easy on rail, tube and bus.

We are also ten minutes away from great countryside too, and 45 minutes from the coast.

Crime rate is low.

Just to warn you, DH and I got our first mortgage a few months ago and they gave us 2.5 times our joint salary, which meant they gave us a max of £150k. I thought as we're both full time professionals with a decent deposit that they'd be a bit more generous, but no! Luckily we're up north but in London we'd have been screwed.

(Which makes me very sad, and angry, as a born and bred Londoner who has been permanently priced out of her home town despite being a graduate and a skilled professional. But that's for another thread!)

Tesco New Malden? Beeeeeg.

Here's one that's slightly over

Another on the same road at £330k

Common, under your budget

FrankWippery I work in a primary school in Furzedown! They are fantastic due to their fantastic teachers, obviously

Our alternative is Brighton. My mum has just moved down the coast, and I am a hippy dip-shit vegetarian so it would fit with me. My worry is, I'm not ready to leave London yet...

Screwed last link.

Streatham Common, under your budget

I live in Teddington and it's wonderful if you want great schools, low crime, good community, nice high street, nearby Bushy Park and Richmond Park. Not so good if you want urban vibe, diversity, or to reach central London in under half an hour.

You couldn't buy a house here for that budget, but there are some great flats. A friend of mine just bought a lovely 60s flat in Strawberry Vale for under that. It's really lovely - was designed by whatsisname STirling - three bedrooms, two receptions, huge windows, fantastic storage, beautiful landscaped gardens, great schools nearby, 35 minutes to Waterloo.

South-east london is probably where youd get most for your money. I live on the border of Beckenham (moved out from central
London a year ago) and for your price you'd definitely be able to get a house with a garden.

Hahahahahaha! That's so funny, so no need to tell you too much more then! I have DD3 down for the Graveney one, well will do when I do all the boring form filling shite in a month or two.

I love Crystal Palace for the shops, restaurants & sense of community, but property choices there are very limited, so people who want family friendly homes near there tend to look in neighbouring areas - Gipsy Hill, Sydenham, Anerley.

Honor Oak & Brockley are also very nice.

Or you could buy my house, 2 beds for under £300k, close to Crystal Palace & also near Brixton and Dulwich. We love it but looking for a larger place now...just need to find a buyer!

Sutton and Kingston have grammar schools. I'd choose Kingston over Sutton though, it has great shopping, parks, on the river etc. or Surbiton if you want to be on the fast train to London.

Here you go house it's not a palace but it's a good location with good schools and a big garden. There's a few at that price.

Looky here:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-23654406.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35384014.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35330980.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35371207.html

Though I don't know why I keep encouraging people to move to Teddington. Too many people want to already

I doubt you'd get much in Stokey or Crouch End at that price, other than a flat. Try Walthamstow. Lots of lovely terrace houses with decent sized gardens, the village is great, Lloyd Park is fantastic, you're on the Victoria line and direct train to Liverpool Street and the people are great. I miss it!

Isn't Brighton just as expensive as London? The appeal of Brighton utterly eludes me - I hate it, but tis very very popular and accordingly, very expensive.

Depends on your income and how much time and money you want to spend on fares. If you lived in Brighton and both commuted in that may be too much. We 'moved out' and when we were both commuting were paying over a grand per month and spending 8 hours per day traveling between us. (even if the train takes 45 mins, you still have to walk to the station, then get from the overground to underground platforms in rush hour, then get one or 2 tubes, then walk from the station to your work - it really adds time on).

On your budget, which sadly isn't generous for London or what you want, maybe look at Crystal Palace or West Norwood. I'd steer clear of Thotnton Heath, Norbury and Selhurst tho.

west dulwich or herne hill. not much in west dulwich but you are close to dulwich village, crystal palace, herne hill and brixton all full of nice shops, cafe and restaurants that are mainly run by locals, everyone is so friendly

it has a wonderful community feel and so much going on for young families, great school i love it round here and feel safe

i love it round here

Tottenham or Wimbledon? Massive difference there. I think you need to work out what you are looking for and focus on SW or N London. I don't think your budget will get you SW19, you would need to go further out to Surrey (although not the best bits sadly).

I visited a friend in Dulwich at the weekend - it is gorgeous.

We also have a mate in Plumbstead - he's been there several years and is v. happy, never had any probs with the area.

Hornsey, just outside crouch end is slightly cheaper, doubt you would get a house for that money though. If you want a villagey feel I would avoid Tottenham.

Raynes Park and Wimbledon are probably realistically out of your price range. Wimbledon in particular is super expensive unless you look more like Colliers Wood which isn't that nice and nothing like Wimbledon (imho). The cheaper parts of Raynes Park aren't that nice but I think probably still out of your budget if you want a garden.