Looking to buy on Overground/East London Line SE London...can you recommend your area...

[SarfEasticated]

We need a 3 bed house, I want big garden, must cost under £450k, be near a nice park (Crystal Palace ideally!), and within walking distance to Overground/East London Line. Close to some nice friendly schools would be good. Am thinking about Anerley (sp?) Norwood etc, but have no idea of areas. Can you give me some hints? Nice schools, just to guide my Zoopla search... Need to be able to get to Brockley every day for DD's school... I do not intend to move from the house ever again, so happy to put time and effort into it. Any ideas?

Hmmm £450k was our budget when we were looking and we massively struggled to find anything. Norwood/anerly your best bet though closer to the park more expensive obviously,

Location location were raving about Croydon the other night!

We just sold our (smallish, modernish) 3 bed in Forest Hill for £520k in March of this year (mad house prices in London!) though prices may have dropped since the Spring/Summer. I would say Crystal Palace, Honor Oak Park and the nice bits of Sydenham would be on a par with this. Anerley and Penge a bit cheaper and Norwood cheaper still but not as nice.

Beware of places listed as Forest Hill that are actually Catford!
For that price you won't get much any higher up than Crystal Palace, so Penge/Anerley are you're best bets though might be worth looking at places a short bus ride to an overground station - Nunhead and Crofton Park are a little cheaper.
I live 10 mins from Forest Hill in East Dulwich and you wouldn't get what you're after for much under £800k....

Yes, I agree that Crofton Park might be worth a look and you'd then be reasonably close to much of Brockley, and possibly just in catchment for the girls' Prendergast for secondary.

Ham, I'm pretty sure anywhere in reach of prendergast will be waaaay over £450. It really has gone mental round here, and even though it's cooled slightly in the past few months you are looking at least £500 but prob a lot more for a 3 bed. We got outbid on enough properties to be pretty sure of this

Further out is the way to go.

This is nice in Norwood. I know a couple of people moving round the area and whilst still a bit shabby, it has everything in place for improvement (nice housing stock, parks, good transport links and lots of people moving in priced out of other a areas)

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31935180.html

Very nice littlepicklehead thanks! Will have a look around and see what else I can find round there. Would ideally like a bigger 3rd bedroom as my parents stay over every week. Please forward me anything else! Where did you end up by the way?

You might be better off buying a nice two-bed and converting the loft for 30k. The jump in price between a 3-bed and a good size 2-bed is often considerable so extending might be a way to live where you want and eventually have the bedrooms you need.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48205283.html

You could add a bathroom upstairs and convert the loft into a bedroom and still be within your budget. Overtime you could extend the kitchen into the ground floor bathroom or do a side return extension and convert the ground floor bathroom into a utility room. If you don't mind a bit of work and can take your time, this might work for your family long term.

We are still in the same place - about to start an extension to get a third bedroom and extra living space (except see my post regarding our builder pulling out, argh!)

My dd is at school locally so we didn't want to move to far and just couldn't get anywhere in budget round here. Otherwise we would have definitely looked further down the line

Agree about the 2 bed and doing the loft - that was our plan on the property we were buying that fell through

Our area is luvverly, but perhaps not really where you are looking. We are on the overground 12 mins to Liverpool St (Forest Gate), or cycling to East London fairly quickly or 5 mins to Stratford which gets you jubliee line, DLR, central line. On the doorstep of huge park (Wanstead flats and Wanstead Park) as well as close to numerous play parks including the Olympic Park and many others (about 5 really good ones in under 10 mins drive).

Why does dd need to go to school in Brockley?

Well pfb DD loves her school and doesn't want to leave. I really like her school too, and all her friends parents, we have a really nice community, so I would like to keep a foot in both camps if possible.
Thanks for suggesting though Merry.

littlepicklehead I have a real soft spot for 1930's semis and like how wide they are and their gardens are. The problem with a 2 bd house is that they tend to be quite narrow. I will look though - just to make sure. Thanks for the suggestion Londongirl83.

Do you know what the nice parts of south norwood are? Not that we live in the nice part of Brockley, but I like to get a feel of where to look in zoopla.

It's not the prettiest but is a lot closer to Brockley
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-46112122.html

Well, you may as well stay where you're used to, I suppose. Just that when it comes to secondary you want to be in a decent area for catchments if you don't want to move again.

Thanks Merry when I first started looking for flat we are in now (12 years ago) I looked at Wanstead, looks lovely, I will be sure to pass your recommendations on.

Wanstead is PRICEY. Just across the flats where we are, nice and cheap (ish), but going up fast.

We're in Penge. We have a small 2-bed Victorian cottage and it's recently been valued at 450-475

We want a 3-bed. In this area you're looking at 500k+ for a decent-sized one. You might get one for under 500 if the bathroom's downstairs or the 3rd bedroom is small, or if the house overall is small.

So maybe CountBapula we will see you in Norwood?

Ha! You never know

South Croydon is on the right line to go into Brockley, so would work for Prendergast. You get a lot more for your money in that direction - and with Croydon being the next place to get a Westfield and there being a lot of tech startups in the area it's tipped to be on the up too.

This is nice, for example:
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-47841488.html

Regarding nice parts of South Norwood, check out the South Norwood Lakes area, the lake and its surroundings are lovely and there are some very nice houses around. It's also within walking distance from Crystal Palace triangle which has loads of good restaurants, pubs and shops :)

Look between Hither Green and CatfordCatford. The Corbett Conservation area is fab, super friendly and full of young families. 3 bed Victorians around 350k.