where would you spend a £1m in London?

[whererthewottingers]

Would love some ideas from you! Looking to buy a family home to live in for min 5-7 years.
Not too suburban, family friendly, a bit of cafe culture, baby/toddler things to do, near green space, or feeling leafy. Easy access to city, good schools. House. Min 3 bed with garden, with room to go up into loft. 4 bed preferable.
Can you recommend where you think and why?
:-)

Ealing?

I can't believe I am saying this - but 1 mil for a 4 bed = its going to be a suburban location in London, albeit you'll get a nice suburban location for that.

You won't get anything much further in and with all those stipulations for a million. Ridiculously....

Ealing is a good shout. Finchley?

I'm a N/W-er, so not sure what you're money will get south of the over...possibly more.

A boggo terraced house near my sister in West London with 3 beds plus one in the loft and a very small garden has just been marketed for £1.6million, she tells me. That is in Shepherd's Bush.

So I think you will have to be in the suburbs proper (i.e. outer Zone 3 or Zone 4) to get 4 beds for £1million. Unless you take on a wreck.

Greenwich or Blackheath 100%

We're 'oop norf' (London) in Zone 4, by the way.

Its suburban, I guess, and there isn't that trendy Crouch End-ey cafe culture, but there is a decent high street and a tube that gets you into central London in 25 mins. Schools are largely very good at primary and secondary.

A 4-bed semi is £900k-1.2 mil depending on how desirable the road is and how done up it is.

Just to give you an idea...

Another vote for Greenwich.

East Dulwich / Stoke Newington / Forest Hill - probably looking at 3 bedrooms with option to go into loft in Stokey though but Forest Hill you could get quite a lot for your Million.

I'm selling a 4 bed at the moment which fits your criteria, in Sydenham (which is z3/4 borders, 15 minutes to London Bridge, 20 to Victoria).

Ealing is nice but dull. You can get a three/four bed house in Dartmouth Park area (albeit N19 rather than NW5) within your budget. Excellent links, close to Hampstead Heath.

For example: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-51737906.html

Personally I'm the type of person who would hate to go too suburban, so I'd compromise on the house rather than location.

Something like this would suit me, though you wouldn't get a loft
4 bed in SE1 (Borough Station - zone 1), house with garden for £1m.

or

3 bed house in Kentish Town (Zone 2), house with garden & roof terrace for £1m

you could scrape into Chiswick
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E85345&maxPrice=1000000&minBedrooms=4&displayPropertyType=houses&googleAnalyticsChannel=buying

Balham / Tooting / Furzedown / Streatham Common?

I would look at big flats/maisonettes, too - you pay a premium for a house - eg the LOVELY 3 bed in Kentish Town which socarcot pointed out actually doesn't have any more square footage than a big flat around Shepherds Bush, which would set you back less. Maisonettes often come with garden access, too: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50974729.html?premiumA=true

Acton is also worth a look!

Oh yes, and Crossrail is coming to Acton in a couple of years, so if you are around the station you should get quite a value boost.

Maybe far too suburban for you but if I had £1m going this would be my dream house. 25 minutes on the train from London Bridge.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54003041.html

My friend is selling her house in Finchley - almost everything you’re looking for and more! It has 4 bedrooms including loft room, 2 receptions and 2 bathrooms plus a self-contained modern and well built annexe. All the rooms are good sized rooms and they are superbly decorated. Personally I can’t see any more things to be done.

Located within easy reach of some of the finest state schools in London, not to mention the other 4 top grammar schools in the country. The price: less than 75% of £1m.

I personally wouldn't, I'd buy something much, much better elsewhere. However, used to live in Forest Hill and it's a lovely area in parts, with great transport links. Sydenham the same. Buy LBOCS2's house!! ^

The door in pic 3 of Freckled's post at 14.11 is set high in the wall. Looks like you have to jump down into the room! Or am I missing something?

Personal preference obv but ealing is not boring and is family- ville, huge number of parks, loads going on, cross rail. Easily get something for 1m

Stoke Newington - no question.great restaurants and park and pubs and shops and groups etc... You'd have to go into loft for 4th bed.

What ere the schools like in Stokey these days, though? Secondary options used to be dire when I lived there (10 yrs ago now). You also had to live about 300 metres from a decent primary to get a place .

House prices in London mean it will be harder to get what you want than you would think for your generous budget.

Even in the Forest Hill/Sydenham/East Dulwich areas, which have all been mentioned, you will have to get in early to nab anything half decent in your budget. Half decent (they won't be huge) houses are still available, but they sell very quickly.

But if you move just a little into Kent - Beckenham or the leafier parts of Bromley - then you can still get a decent sized property with a garden. Rail links are good, and Beckenham is so close to Sydenham as to make it neither here nor there really I terms of 'urban-ness'. It's also nice and leafy (with both a Waitrose and M&S!). The state schools are mostly better the further you go into Kent, but there are good private schools close to Sydenham and East Dulwich.

Greenwich is lovely, but I'm surprised if you can still get something nice there in that price range (unless you move closer to Lewisham....).

On the North side, I agree with the person who suggested close to Crouch end, if you can find something there for that price.

I don't know Stoke Newington very well, but I know people who live there and they rave about it. I expect house prices will go up if it is as 'happening' as they claim!

Good luck!

Stoke Newington has gone up. We moved away 6 years ago when 3 beds were selling for £500k. Now you need £1m for the same house . But it's lovely. The high school is very decent and plenty of good primaries to be within the catchment for one.

I don't live there anymore but I visit weekly! I live in Walthamstow where £1m is hard to spend still!

Oh perfect thread for me OP. We have about that to spend - we have been looking at Dulwich, Forest Hill, Herne Hill, Brixton.

You can still get something really decent in Streatham for that budget (which is where we live now, but we are really trying to trade up in location!)

Have also looked at Camberwell, Elephant and Castle, Kentish Town and Kensall Rise.

Have come to the conclusion we are about £250k short for a 4 bed with 1800 square foot (+) and a garden in the areas we want to be.

Loving this thread though and will keep on eye on it in case any posts our perfect house!