Where to move in London?

[RaspberryPi1]

After many years of renting in London we are looking to buy our first place and start a family. I work in clapham, and DP near bank. Our budget is around 650k, though we could push to 700k for something that ticks all the boxes, and we are also happy to get our hands a bit dirty with a project. Over the next few weeks we are planning on visiting a few areas to get a better feeling on where to go.

We preferably would like a house with 3 beds. Though a flat with outdoor space will work. Bar that we are quite flexible. DP would like to keep his commute to 45 mins, and I'm happy with upto an hour. Our families are from the north, so it would be nice to be near the north/west of London, but that is by no means a firm requirement! We'd like to live in an area with lots of things going and a decent high Street.

Shortlist so far:
Honor oak park/forest hill
West harrow/harrow on the hill
Ealing Broadway/pitshanger

Are there any particular roads in these areas to focus a search on?
And please feel free to suggest any other areas!

Thanks!

I would definitely recommend Sydenham - good community, decent shops, green space, schools etc, and generally 'on the up'. A bit cheaper than Forest Hill but without a big compromise. Catford is cheaper than either but is less appealing - doesn't have the same neighbourhood feel, less green space, fewer amenities. Although the amount of house you could get for your money has sometimes looked appealing I have never been remotely tempted to move there.

Last sentence is about Catford not Sydenham BTW - I was tempted to live in Sydenham and did!

My MIL lives in Hampton. Very nice, very expensive but not much there.

Se14

Update

We went for a few viewings yesterday and were generally impressed with Sydenham, better value than FH/HOP. In all honesty I think the house is the key determining factor as opposed to the three areas of interest.

We did see a house that we both liked. It does need everything doing, and has rising damp in the property. It is a project, and in some ways this makes it very appealing. However, we are a bit torn about how we would go about developing it. We appreciate any renovation will have issues in regards of costs and timing. We have 3 ideas, and thought we'd get a general consensus on them. Currently it will be just myself and my partner, however we are planning on having a family and staying in a house for at least 5-10 years.

1. Do the bare minimum and refit a new bathroom, make do with the kitchen/rest of the house now.
2. We'd like to open up the kitchen into the rear lounge. However this is where we are unsure. If money was no object, we'd like to extend a couple of metres and open up the rear lounge and kitchen before moving in. We'd also most likely need to redo the electrics and plumbing.
3. Attic extension - not required now, but if we are doing extensive works it might be easier to do all the building work at once.

Cost is going to be the key determinate here. We don't really see the point on modernising the kitchen, if eventually we want to open it up. It would just be a waste of money in the short term. However the cost of extending the property potentially might make it difficult to do immediately. The attic extension is all dependent on total cost of the build, and not a priority at all. If it is too expensive to do it how we want to, we'd just rather wait until we have the cash.

Question - is a budget of 70k appropriate for a kitchen extension in South London - appreciate this question is similar to how long a piece of string is, but i'd like to have a very rough idea of a ball parked cost figure.

Hi, I live in Sydenham and love it. In one of your posts you mention south of the station/north of Penge East. It's a lovely area, but do suggest you look very carefully at school catchment areas as that part is a bit of a black hole in places. EAs know nothing, but Lewisham admissions office were helpful when I bought.

£70k is somewhat tight, or start with that budget in mind and keep at least £10k contingency. We've just finished a loft conversion and rear extension. I think once you add in the cost of the new kitchen etc you would be closer to £100k especially if you are re-doing electrics etc. Hope that helps

Hi,
We placed quite few bids in run down houses in west London. I felt, there is more competition on these properties as there were lots of bids from property developers (usually cash buyers).

We got quotes from quite lot of builders before placing offers - if you want to do the whole house "properly"- new heating, electrics, a decent kitchen, bathroom etc, it is going to cost 100K.

Ofcourse if you want you can do it, downstairs first or visa versa - but still please keep contingency funds.

We dint buy all of those run down properties as we didn't have enough funds to finish house properly. I feel, life is too precious and one cant spend years in renovating or stressing about money!!

how are the schools in Sydenham? primary and high? Do they have any good private schools as if we move during term time - we may need to enrol my son there.

I am really concerned about high school choices as well. Any good private or grammar schools within a reasonable commute?

Mini update for those interested.
Went to final bids on a 3 bedroom terrace in HOP and missed out. Bit of a shame, but we put our maximum bid. A lot of properties are coming on the market, some well priced, others ridiculous!

This week we've tried to look to the areas around HOP. One area of particular interest.
Ladywell. We were actually quite impressed, nice high street, close to lewisham station. Our wander round was pleasant enough, but when speaking to others if appears to have a bad reputation. Admittedly the last time I went to lewisham it was gritty, but it does seem like a lot of investment has been poured in. It is cheaper than FH/HOP but I think that maybe due to the primary schools not being as desirable.

Thoughts on Ladywell?

I'm not far from Ladywell, but never heard of it having a bad reputation. I think it's very nice. Not that keen on the shops there, but it's the park wot does it for me. It's close to Gordonbrock school which is really nice and Haberdashers girl's school which also has good rep. I think you'll be fine there. Not sure what the train line is like though.

We're looking a bit further round in Catford and there doesn't seem much around at the mo. Very frustrating.

We also looked at ladywell last year, but decided against it in the end because we realised that even though train journey to London Bridge is only about 15 mins, trains only came once every 30-40 mins even at peak times! This was a complete deal breaker for us, cannot imagine the stress in the morning if you missed the train and had to wait for 30 mins for the next one. Unfortunately depending on where you are in ladywell, it is quite a distance to walk to lewisham to catch the train there, and the buses are a nightmare at the moment with the town centre development works.

We also looked at hither green, initially the east side, but couldn't afford the kind of prices decent houses commanded. We eventually bought on the west side of hither green, a nice end of terrace with lots of period features for under your budget. We were lucky I guess. Good commute, trains are more frequent. There are a couple of schools rated outstanding in the area too.

I got off of the train at Lewisham one evening last week and it was pretty horrendous - terrible traffic, big crowds of very bad tempered people, really unpleasant. Not sure if this will change when the road works are finished or not. I wouldn't want it to be my station even if the train service is good. I use Brockley and it's ok, as long as you don't mind the chance that your train will probably be delayed...

We moved to Hither Green last year and it is a great area to live. As designSalmon mentions, the west side would be more accessible with your budget and you would probably find a larger house.

The area is very much set up for young families and the transport links are fab to the city.
We are currently looking into having a kitchen extension carried out and I don't think we will get much change from £70k and we aren't looking at a costly kitchen.
Lewisham is undergoing a huge transformation over the next 5-6 years, it really will be an exciting place to live I believe.

Wouldn't it make sense to go somewhere on the Northern line if you need to get to Bank and Clapham? Also easier to get out of London to the North if you're at the top end.

Did some further viewings today. Glad we went through ladywell, got to explore a little bit more. Very nice near hilly fields parks.

We viewed places near ladywell fields (Bexhill road and manwood road). I was surprised at the value for money, it seems very good. Is there something we are missing.? I appreciate it is a further walk to the station, but if that is the only downside I'm in!

Though we don't have any children yet, how our the schools in this area?
Agent wasn't much help at all!

Ladywell is a really nice little area with a great set up of independent shops and green spaces. Transport links aren't as good as neighbouring areas and the traffic through the centre is pretty much gridlock 80% of the time.
Gordonbrock school is good although there is a lack of primary in the area.
Hither Green does have loads of outstanding schools however, but if you are a few years off having to worry about it, things change quickly.

Bank and Clapham are both on the northern line so I would look at anywhere north of Euston on the Barnet or Edgware branch.

I have friends who live on Manwood Road and for their daughter's school application last year they put down Beecroft, Gordonbrock, Stillness and Dalmain schools. They visited all four and really liked all of them. Eventually their daughter got a place at Gordonbrock and they are really pleased with it.

I live very close to Manwood Road and Bexhill Road and I love the area. It's got a real community feel. I tend to venture out in Crofton Park and Honor Oak and occasionally Ladywell. Very rarely go into Lewisham unless going to the Model Market street food venue in the summer.

Thanks for all the input.

Due to do a second viewing for the manwood road house. Any suggestions for lunch in the area?
Also we'd like to do some exploring, which high streets are worth a wander?

How exciting! I don't rate Oscar's very much, I would probably walk up to Crofton Park and go to Arlo & Mo - good coffee and nice selection of lunch foods. Hope it goes well!

You could try the Jam Circus for lunch in Crofton Park. Or head to Mamma Dough next to Honor Oak Park station. (the Jam Circus will be a shorter walk though).

If you like burgers you could also try the London Beer Dispensary which is close to Crofton Park station.

I'm trying not to get too excited!
Will head down to the jam circus and arlo & moe. Was very impressed with mamma dough last time we went.

Googled gyms ... doesn't seem like there are that many in the area? Seemed to find a dozen or so yoga places!

Gym Raspberry we don't want any trouble here!
Actually most of my fit friends do Boot Camp which would be a great way to make friends - but there are gyms at the Lewisham pool and at Forest Hill pool. Fingers crossed!

Location-wise Camberwell/Denmark Hill would be great for your respective commutes, and if you are open minded you could find what you are looking for here. We love it -loads of independent cafés/restaurants, very friendly, and you are still in spitting distance to C London.

3 bed Victorian house, Camberwell:
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52700131.html
(Needs an update but looks sound, lots of family space, could possibly convert loft)

3 bed new build, by Burgess Park:
www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-37886214.html

Your commute would be via overground from Denmark Hill, or 35 bus. Other half could cycle to Bank in 20 mins, or an easy bus or bus/tube from Elephant.