Ruislip- love or loathe it?

[Greenmum33]

Hi there, my husband works in West London whilst we are currently renting in the East so we are looking for a property (our first time buy) to move to with our 8-month old. While we were aware that the property market in London is a bit mad, we were still shocked at how little our money can buy! After several disappointing viewings of 2 bedroom flats in West London (mainly in the Ealing borough) over the last few months, we are wondering whether we should find a new location.

A few people have recommended Ruislip and a preliminary online search suggests we could afford a 3 bedroom house there, with stairs and a garden! We're not really enamoured with the style of properties there (we would have preferred something Edwardian/Georgian/Victorian) but we are wondering whether we could live with that given all the advantages of a house over a small flat...

But as we know nothing about Ruislip, can anyone offer any helpful hints on where to search/where to avoid? We obviously are trying to avoid potential HS2 sites and not sure how to 'guarantee' that we won't be affected by noise/building work etc...Estate agents generally seem to suggest that every property they show you is perfect and wont be affected!

Also what does it feel like living in Ruislip? In some ways we are very nervous about living somewhere that doesn't feel like London so we arekeen to know how people with young children find living there? We are likely to have to move again in 5 yrs or so so what would people recommend investment-wise in that area?

Thanks for your advice!

I grew up around there and was house hunting there a couple of years ago, although we decided to leave London altogether in the end.

Pros: lots of green space. The lido and the woods are lovely. Almost all the schools are good or outstanding. There's lots of tube lines, although it can be a bit slow to get into central London on the central line

Cons: it's a bit quiet. There's a few nice pubs around but compared to, say, Ealing there's not much in the way of night life or shopping. The houses often have small 3rd bedrooms and quite a few have downstairs bathrooms.

Prices seem to have gone nuts in the last couple of years. We were looking at 3 beds for around £350k and now they seem to be more like half a million, which seems like a lot of money to live somewhere fairly average.

The nicer areas are to the north and near Eastcote. Bits of Ruislip Manor are quite nice. South Ruislip is ok and a bit cheaper. There's a new development due near the station which will have a cinema and some restaurants (think nandos rather than anywhere swanky though!).

I imagine it'll be a fairly safe investment for the next few years. It's a nice place for small children, but it was a bit dull when I was a teenager but not old enough to go to London by myself.

Hi Hobbes thanks for your helpful information. I think our main concern is the possible hs2 and want impact that would have on a) our quality of life and b) the re sell ability of the property in a few years. Anyone any thoughts ? By focusing on North Ruislip and near Eastcote can we be confident we will avoid disruption caused by hs2?

I think the route is to the South and near the central line route - through South Ruislip, Ruislip Gardens and West Ruislip. So around the metropolitan line stations - Eastcote, Ruislip Manor and Ruislip, and then north of that towards the lido should be OK, and are the nicer areas anyway.

Unfortunately the central line and the A40 are handier for Ealing, but none of it is that far away from each other.

I'm happy to keep helping by the way - I love a bit of fantasy house shopping! What's your budget? Do you need a primary school or do you think you'll be moving on by then?