Please help - which house would you prefer (SW London/Twickenham area)

[karmi2010]

I have already posted a question just on the location of the houses, but did not get many replies :( so really hoping for some opinions here! :) :)

I am looking to buy a 3-bed house in St-Margarets/Twickenham area with a very limited budget (for that area) of around 500K. There isn't anything in that price brackets in St-Margarets/Twickenham, so I have started looking at the borders of these area.

There are 2 houses on the market now, please please give me your opinions which one you would prefer and why (or none of these really :) ) - I am going to throw myself into a really huge mortgage commitment, so this isn't an easy decision for me.

1 - First house on sale for 550K but is on the market for quite a while now, so hopefully the seller will agree for a lesser amount.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32372220.html

2 - Second house just got on the market at 470 but there is an open day coming, so it may go for more than that.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32852436.html

I am not from this part of London so would really really appreciate any comments about the above locations and generally about good areas around where I can still buy for around 500K. Transport is very important consideration (commuting to City of London), and schools will be important in the future (not kids yet though, and we are CoE so would consider CoE schools in the future).

Thanks a lot in advance!

Is house 2 of standard construction?
The beam makes me a bit suspish

Brentford (TW8)?

Many thanks ChippyMinton and Brentford - I will definitely look at Hounslow part of Whitton and Brentford! To be honest though, I always dreamed of living withing walking distance to Richmond, that's why I got so attracted to these two properties, which are, although not ideal, still walkable to Richmond :)

7to25 - good point, thank you! did not think of this, but will definitely check. The whole street has identical houses, but not sure whether it is standard construction...

first one is a better location i think
isleworth doesn't feel quite as nice

my friends used to live on chertsey road itself, and while the road noise was noticeable from their house late at night, i think you'd be fine even just one street back, given that the housing is densely packed.

i think twickenham to the City is an ok commute if you're near Bank.

I don't know about the schools at primary level, but my niece and nephew are at Orleans Park which seems fine, and is nearer to the first house.

Good luck Karmi. Richmond is lovely (but under a flight path which I would def not mind if I had the £ for a home there!!). Not sure where "London" ends wrt the Freedom Pass. Thames Ditton is lovely, and in the zones, but not especially cheap. Or Kingston/New Malden?

OP, my mum has a Freedom Pass and uses it to come out to visit me in the arse end of Surrey (still zone 6)

Hi OP, not familiar with the area, but I'm intrigued by the Freedom Pass point you make. If your budget is 500k and pushing it out by 10%/50K is a push for you, how does this compare with going further out, paying less for your house and paying for transport? Surely, transport for two people in their 60s can't cost more than 50k + interest?!

I'd go for the first one, OP. I don't know much about schools but the second one looks like you'd get lots of plane noise and potential smells from Mogden.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure it's on a flood plain too (not sure how much of an issue this will be though).

Know both of these roads extremely well.

Park Crescent, TW2 is on the Meadway. Crane Park is within walking distance, great little park and you can cut through the park to get to Twickenham Green, which has a few nice local restaurants and a Sainsbury's local. On the minus side, Meadway is a rat run from the A316 to Twickenham/Hampton, you have to walk to the other end of Meadway for buses to Richmond and I wouldn't call it walking distance to Richmond town centre.

Crane Avenue, TW7 takes 30 minutes to walk to Richmond and it's a lovely walk across the rivers Crane and Thames and the Old Deer Park. Mini Asda about 5 minutes walk away with cashpoint (and a TK Maxx and Comet), Tesco on Mogden Lane for big shops. Isleworth Recreation Centre and Redlees Park about ten minutes walk, but I find them a bit boring - no small shops or cafes within nipping distance, but St Margarets is a 15 minute walk.

I've lived in these areas for ages and never even notice aircraft noise: only time it's been noticeable recently is when LHR trialled early takeoffs in July, but everyone kicked off so they stopped.

Everyone complains about Mogden but again, I rarely smell anything in this particular area - maybe because it's so close: smells are prevalent down by Gumley House school and Worton Road to the north.

If I had to decide based on your commute, I'd go for Crane Avenue. Twickenham station has so many more trains. Whitton station only has the Hounslow loop (SO SLOW) and Windsor & Eton (normally packed when it gets to Whitton, but empties enough at Twickenham to stand a chance of getting on). Twickenham gets the fast reading service and the Teddington stopping service.

Can probably think of lots more if needed!

We live in Twickers and dh loves a bit of property porn. This is his view:

I would say option one as it closer to parks, shops and buses to get her to the train station (she mentions she commutes to town). The second option would see her having to get stopping service from St Margarets.

The one draw back is that it is close to A316 so could be noisy. She might want to come check on a Saturday morning.

New build so looks in better nick than the second property.

Just my view....

I've lived in this area & looked for houses high & low in both areas in recent years.

In my view house 1 is a winner. Great location, school catchment & close to a nice park. Twickenham is a nice place to be. However do check the in& out routes to see how congested they are in your travel hours as these parts are really narrow to commute. The house is lovely but honestly is never buy a townhouse - only coz I need my kitchen & lounge to be on the same floor. I can't compromise on this as I have small children that I need to keep an eye on. May not apply to you though!

House 2 I wouldn't buy coz it doesn't offer you much space & the smells from Mogden are real no no! While it may just be occasional, when you do get a whiff of it - it makes you want to puke! Also considering wind direction it's not great to live to the east/north of the sewage works as it is the most likely direction in which the wind/smells will blow. Also while you've said it's St Margaret's, it's really Isleworth. If you want to look at Isleworth there are some lovely areas close to the A4 side (near st Mary's church). But that area is pricey!

Given the choices I'd vote for 1.

Good luck!

I know this area very well.
Option 1 is a much nicer location than option 2.
Also speak to the richmond council schools admissions team. We moved within the area and the admissions team had excellent knowledge of which schools kids get into from areas and which points were the blackspots not to buy in. The first house would get you into Trafger, Very rated school. The second option may only get you into Ivybridge. This year no one from that location would have got into St Stephen's. Although that may not apply if your practicing CofE as there are loads of excellent church Schools in the area

If it helps OP, I live very close to Option 1 (within a couple of blocks) and commute into central London everyday (near Harley Street). It takes me just over an hour door to door.

We love the area and are very happy here.

Things to consider:
Secondary schools can be a bit tricky.
Planes noise when Heathrow is operating Easterlies.
Twickenham traffic on match days.
House 1 will have higher council tax as Twickenham is in RUT and House 2 is in Hounslow.
We never get The Mogden pong.

Teddington is a nicer area but the house and garden look crampt. In Isleworth you can see the whites of the pilot's eyes. Hersham is nice and has quickLondon links. If you're looking at Whitton, come out two train stops to the Staines /Ashford area which is quiter for planes.

But Staines/Ashford is in Surrey, so no Freedom Pass but I think pensioners get a bus pass. Everyone can use Oyster on the buses, and the DC get free travel on the London buses with an Oyster Zip. It's the trains that are pricey though, as it's one/two stops outside the Zones, which adds to the cost of a Travelcard/season ticket. The cheaper house prices and lack of aircraft noise are worth considering though.

House 1 looks like their badging it as Twickenham, but it's practically in Whitton, which is a much cheaper area. Have you tried searching for Whitton instead?

I used to drive from Feltham to Ealing and it's pretty quick, and my husband used to get the train into Waterloo and then the tube to Bank. It's quick enough but the tube is hell.

I would not recommend Hanworth. Perhaps around Hampton though?

Surbiton in my view would be a far better bet. More house for your money, some of it is kingston borough, great schools, easy commute to city via overland (18 mins) and then the drain into the city.

St Mags and isleworth are both plagued byplane noise and I never got used to it. A plane goes over every 30 seconds.

The bedrooms in the townhouse are small.Townhouses, especially if built 80s or 90s, can be poor on sound insulation.

Thank you so much to everyone! Lots of thing to consider... I really appreciate your opinions!

A friend of mine lives in one of those town houses in an adjacent road and it's tall but cosy. Rooms are an ok size but all on different levels. She has 2 small children and manages ok with kitchen not being on same level as living room etc.

That area is within the catchment for Archdeacon primary on Twickenham Green, which is CofE, but they are really strict about church attendance in the months/years leading up to school applications because it's such a popular school.

I used to live in Twickenham and you do get used to the planes going overhead all the time. If you have double glazing i don't think you can hear the A316 from that road even though you are practically on it. My friend uses Whitton station to commute into town which is just on the other side of the 316, and much closer than Twickenham station.

The houses overlook a park, kneller gardens, which is lovely (excellent playground when you do have kids!) and you can easily walk into either Twickenham or Whitton from there.

I don't know Isleworth so well so can't comment on the second house I'm afraid.

HTH

thank you very much, ronconcoke! very helpful!

You're welcome!