Where would you spend a million in London?

[hiphophippity]

I have NCed for this. Would love some ideas/MN wisdom. if you have a budget of a million or thereabouts and wanted to buy a family house in London for a young family of 2 young girls where would you look? Can budget for independent school. Have been looking West but wanted some new ideas thrown out. Happy to go pretty urban... Too suburban would probably put us off.

But more I would love to here where YOU would go (or already are) and why. Need reasonable access to town for daily commute (West End/City). We have lived all over (but not with children, and now moving back from abroad)

Wimbledon - some good schools there, but also you have Tiffins in Kingston which is just a couple of stations down the line. Wimbledon will get you into Waterloo in about 10 minutes. I grew up a little further out, but went to school in Wimbledon. Spent many happy weekends Red Rovering around London. Easy commute when I started work too, and could live at the parent's place, so made it very cheap (London Weighting on salary but not on accommodation helped as well!).

Glad I'm also so identifiable, Lulu.

Wimbledon
Chiswick
Barnes (not Sheen or Mortlake though)

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=POSTCODE^1156014&insId=2&minPrice=700000&maxPrice=1250000&minBedrooms=3&radius=0.25&includeSSTC=true&_includeSSTC=on&googleAnalyticsChannel=buying#/property-for-sale/property-32856405.html

Harringay. Geographically and spiritually midway between muswell hill / crouch end, stokey and tottenham. Very bustling (slightly edgy!) high street with lovely residential roads, loads of great parks, nature reserves etc, good primaries, amazing transport links.

Oops sorry about that untidy link!

Stanmore mentioned above jubilee line to bond street is 38 minutes journey time it s not really 20 minutes. ! West hampstead south hampstead area nice but you compromise on size for location you could get nice garden flat.... This is 20 minutes to Central London 17 minutes finchley road to bond street n and easy cab ride to /from Central London.

And you could walk it from central. London in emergency if all transport stopped...

OK OP. You are thinking in terms of location and have given us no clue as to your lifetyle. Questions you need to be honest about

a. Do you want to walk everywhere, to the shops, pub, tube etc or do you want to drive to pick up a big shop a couple of times a week. This makes a massive difference regarding urban/suburban.

b. Do you want to walk your girls to school and if so which schools are you seriously considering?

c. Do you want a big park or small green or are you happy to drive/bus it to the nearest (are you a runner/jogger?)

d. Where are your nearest and dearest in the country - North, South East or West. This makes a huge difference. Pointless living in South London if all your family/old friends are in Birmingham.

e. Do you want a big garden or is a small patch OK? What about a flat with a communal garden?

f. Do you want to cycle to work, if so, where do you work exactly?

I could tell you exactly where to live if you can ask at least a few of these questions.

Keen prices in Haringey Rewardchart! I remember it not being very nice 15 years ago, but a lot of places have changed beyond all recognition since then.

Good questions cottageinthecountry.

London has so much to offer and is so diverse in terms of individual properties, communities, transport connections etc that your Qs are spot in to narrow it down. I asked many of these Qs up thread already - but also additional Q on how OP wants to socialise etc.

OP has said that independent schools are her choice - but she still needs to think thru which indi's are her pref and the work through what sort of school commute she wants and how this works with the parents. Also think that you would need to do some forensic work once you focus on an area - as you will pay a massive premium if you are in a good state catchment - so you would be paying for this premium and deriving no benefit. So house on same street at other end across the rd which does not fall in catchment is £100k cheaper....

However most predications for London property 2015 are for a correction/crash/soft landing depending on what media you read....I think that that OP dodged a bullet (x3) when sales fell through on 3 houses she was trying to buy in Acton....plenty of time to get back to London and get a feel for areas by not committing to by and renting for say 6-12 months - daughters not at school yet so time to work this through for the 5-8 yr plan.

Harringay is really not very nice though! Yes, there are some lovely houses, for a reasonable (for London) price, but it has few redeeming features. A lot of my family live in the area, and it's not somewhere I feel particularly safe.

Haringey isn't Harringay. Haringey is a huge borough stretching from Highgate to Bounds Green and across to Tottenham. Harringay is a small area around Green Lanes with some lovely streets and Finsbury Park, quite central but along the extremely urban Green Lanes. Despite the streets and the Lanes being adjacent to each other, they are worlds away.

Good idea to rent for a while as Somethingtodo suggests.

Also think about local services for health etc, if you have a health issue in the family you might want a hospital within walking distance.

And what type of house do you like? Early/late Victorian (2 different things, one has a piano nobile), modern semi for your big garden, contemporary)?

Some people like a grand house in a rubbish area just for the grandness, others a small house in a very central location.

I think we may have lost OP... But I do hope the thread continues, I'm finding it fascinating!

I lived in N8 and N22 and I never knew that about harringay! I only knew about Haringey.

Is there another name for harringay that is also used?

Ie There are some areas, like canonbury, which not everyone has heard of.

Harringay is just a railway station really plus a small area around it. Haringey is the borough, big and diverse.

If her friends have moved to Peckham she will probably go there. I wouldn't live there if I had sons. Lots of gangs and knife/gun crime as there are lots of very big estates and most teenage boys just don't go out.

Checking the local free newspaper is a good way to get to know an area.

Harringay is the area around green lanes, north of Finsbury Park and south of turnpike lane. I lived there for seven years (till just recently) abd it's a fabulous place to be with kids. Very strong community feel, whilst being really diverse and exciting. All independent shops and restaurants, great new bars, food markets, plus the nature reserves and parks. Love it!

Finsbury Park has a new theatre. It's quite a nice park with athletics clubs etc. Very quick for central London and the Parkland Walk goes through to Crouch End IIRC.

Harringay is the area around Green Lanes, north of Finsbury Park and south of Turnpike Lane. We lived there for seven years with kids and it's a fabulous place. All independent shops and restaurants, a real food destination these days, and street markets too. Great new bars, loads going on and close to loads if green space - and there's nature reserves too. Brilliant place to bring up kids!

I remember harringay railway station. It seemed plopped in the middle of nowhere, to me. Nice to hear the context. I always liked Turnpike Lane. That never gets mentioned on MN.
Friend moved to Clissold Park and loved it.

Seven sisters road always seems clogged with traffic though, is that right? And is Tottenham hale still ..err...not considered des res?

I agree about Peckam. I'm amazed to be able to say that I've familiarity with that area over the past forty years. Never ever liked it.

So good I thought I'd say it twice!

Will be back to answer emeline! Visitors arrived.....

Heh heh! And I read it twice!

emeline Tot. Hale is quite dingy. But I know of a few arty/foody businesses who've moved there to get good sized premises without paying Hackney Wick prices, and a bunch of the real skip-diving, art-making, trapeze-practising warehouse dwellers are there now too, after being similarly nudged up the river from hackney, so I have a feeling it won't be gross forever - particularly the riverside bit. Ditto for Manor House actually re the warehouses, that seems to be the main warehouse community these days.

There is an amazing pub on the river just south of T.Hale - proper daytime drunks with dogs type thing.

I completely agree with somethingtodo in that deciding where to live in London is very much about what sort of person you are and what you like to do. There are perfect spots for everyone, but if you get it wrong it can be quite miserable.

There's a lot of buzz about Tottenham these days, and lots of development, though it's a bit controversial- loss of social housing.

The main station in Harringay is Harringay Green Lanes, which is on the overground.

Good website for all things Harringay! www.harringayonline.com

"I completely agree with somethingtodo in that deciding where to live in London is very much about what sort of person you are and what you like to do. There are perfect spots for everyone, but if you get it wrong it can be quite miserable."

Even more miserable being trapped in big character house locked behind closed doors in shitsville and even worse not being able to get out of shitsville because you have haemorrhaged quarter of a million quid of your equity in fees.....just as the market nosed dives ouuchh....

Thank you shaska that's really interesting about t.hale, heartening to hear, too. The amazing pub..... I may be able to do without first hand experience of that amazingness, but I appreciate the image.

London being a collection of villages, I also agree with something to do. It's definitely not easy to truly assess a place without insider Intel, this forum is an amazing resource, even so, you have to read the mosaic with a discerning eye. One mans meat, and all that. ( surely there's a more up to date, more vegetarian friendly cliche I could have resorted to there..)

Not lost me. Still here enjoying the info. Very interested in renting for a while to give us time to identify our spot. London rent is bonkers though for short term. Obviously not as bonkers as spending a million quid without thinking about it.