new home: choose from Belvedere, Croydon, Colindale

[doris238]

want to buy a new-built 2-bed apartment with car park. work at central london. Here are three choices. Would you please advice:

the most affordable one is at Belvedere Park. 160K
the second one is at Croydon, New South Quarter. 260K. quite expensive to me. still affordable
Colindale, The North Quarter, is the most expensive. 300K. Need family help to buy this.

Owl, Croydon has the worse crime stats compared to Colindale & Belvedere.

Belvedere isn't a particular nice area - better places in bexley borough

There is nothing in colindale and miles away from London bridge. Surely there are nicer places in London to live. I would look se on train line into London bridge.

The price in Belvedere does not follow the crazy market. Is it good for BTL?

Belvedere is ok and is getting better; local councillors seem really pro active at getting this part of Bexley a bit more loved than some other (naicer) places which have obviously a bit more attention.

It is pretty green and open compared to other Boroughs and the crime is much less than in other parts of London. It is still a bit rough around the edges but (I'm guessing) that is reflected in the house prices.

BTL is huge, which I think contributes in part to the unloved nature of the area - people just aren't as invested in parts of the area as they are naturally transient, either here for the short term or restricted as to what they can do with the properties they live in. It is striking that once you get into the parts of Belvedere (and Bexley in general) which have a higher owner / occupier ratio the houses and area become more loved and looked after and the prices jump a lot.

Considering we are 35 mins from London Bridge, 8 mins from Woolwich & the DLR and about 20 mins from Bluewater I love that I can still lie in bed and listen to owls at night and have a huge variety of wildlife in my garden. There isn't much here in terms of cafe culture, but it is friendly and still a bit Villagey which is really nice. And we paid about 550k less to live here than the same style of house in Greenwich!

Croydon is a good choice with fast trains to Victoria and London bridge and very frequent service. It's also on the Overground. So easy to live there but socialise in London, Balham, Wimbledon or Brighton. There are also really nice country villagey places nearby like Oxted or Godstone for a chill out Sunday.

There are some good parks like Lloyd park and some fab old buildings in the centre between the 1960s blocks. Slug and lettuce is a nice bar and Fairfield halls theatre and lots of cinema choice. Great shopping at Centrale and they have the green light for Westfield now.

You could get a good flat in Addicombe or south croydon and benefit from transport links at East Croydon without being in the centre.

Addiscombe

I live near south norwood and would avoid if you have kids - it is quite rough around the edges and secondary school choice is not great. I think it is fine for a couple or a single person though.

I lived in South Norwood with my DS and we had no problems, I don't think it's rough. The lakes area is great for kids, you can feed the ducks, have ice cream at the little cafe and there is a playground too. Oh and you could also join the sailing club and go fishing! We also went to Crystal Palace (the park and the village) a lot which is really easy to get to from there, 5 mins by bus or 20 mins walk, depending of course where in South Norwood you are.

The link from sats1977 is good. The commute is even quicker than from East Croydon and it is more central and buzzy location. I would not buy in Croydon town itself, and down know the other two areas.