Calling all Eastenders....yet another London based property thread

[Wheretoeast]

Apologies in advance as this is another London based property/location thread. Similar posts have touched upon this subject, but I am looking to hear feedback from mums living in the areas we are considering.

The nuts and bolts are: budget £650k for 3 bed house with garden, although ideal would be 4 bed. Needs to be in East London - areas we are considering are Leyton, Leytonstone, Forest Gate. Possibly South Woodford as a decent primary is essential and I have heard that good schools are aplenty in Woodford.....but have mixed feelings about the area.

To those of you living in one of the above areas, do you like it? Does it feel safe and are you happy with the schools available? We currently live in Hackney (N16) and would like to live in an area with a good community vibe, a few nice cafes/shops and is not overflowing with hipsters who like to party til 6am like our current neighbours. Am too old for that now!

Thanks in advance

Would consider SE but I work North of the river and need my car for work. Think my commute would be too long and I'd end up late for the childminder. Thanks for responding though.

We moved from E5 to Walthamstow in 2013 and almost everyone I meet that has moved here has come from Hackney/Stoke Newington. Prices are very high in the village but better around Wood St area and I have met loads of nice people since coming here. There are many good primaries, certainly as good as Hackney, all over Walthamstow. I have friends in both Leyton/Leytonstone who find it fine but there's definitely less there if you're looking for cafes etc (love The Leyton Technical pub though). I looked in Forest Gate but found the prices crazy and wasn't massively keen on the area.

I live in Forest Gate and yes, the prices have definitely gone crazy, especially over the past year. But if it's still in your price range I would really recommend it. It's a lovely, green, community-minded place with beautiful houses, lots of families and brilliant transport connections. We have been here more than 5 years now and I don't ever want to leave!

I've recently moved to Leytonstone with a 6 month old. Not tried out the schools yet, but on research was happy with the primary schools. I live in "upper leytonstone" near hollows pond and love it. Very safe, I know my neighbours, and they are helping with fixing up my house and recommending nurseries etc. even invited over for Christmas eve. Where I live is very close to hollows pond, I can be in part of Epping forest in 5 minutes, feed the ducks in 10. It is a little further from the shops cafes etc.

Bushwood seems really convenient for station, open spaces and cafes/shops, though like upper Leytonstone the houses which come on the market often seem to be the more neglected ones - not representative of the houses people live in.

There are lots of baby activities, baby sensory, baby yoga etc. and from Leytonstone it is easy to also get to Wanstead, Walthamstow and Stratford.

I've noted a lot of people at baby classes come from the area nearer Leyton Midland station - it's cheaper there, not so near green spaces but seems to be changing fast. Pubs are becoming community pubs, with toddler and tea sessions (Northcote arms) and cafes and restaurants opening on Francis road and grove green road (from memory - I don't live there).

Personally I am not so keen on Walthamstow, but biased because for me the commute would be terrible.

Good luck with whatever you choose. Definitely spend some time visiting the areas and see what you think.

We've looked at houses a lot in Walthamstow. Personally I'm not crazy on the village bit or the area directly north of the tube up to Forest Road as the roads are quite narrow and feels a bit crowded, not a lot of green space/playgrounds. Friends who live there love it but laugh at themselves for living in a bit of a ghetto, especially since the 'mini holland' traffic restrictions came in.
The areas we focused on were around St James/Coppermill Lane to the west - loved it - and Wood Street to the east. Maybe check those out? Out of the two areas I liked Coppermill/St James more, feels very quiet, next to the marshes - St James park is lovely and lots of playing fields. The houses are small though, little terraces/cottages. Wood Street has nice cafes, pub, shops and streets to the east are nice. Stuff just goes so quickly - everywhere has an open day with 20-30 viewers. Crazy!
Forest Gate we've seen a lot of too. The nice bits are Capel Rd and the roads running south off of that - Chesnut Avenue, Cranmer etc. To the south of that is very nice too, called the Woodgrange Conservation Area, but think houses there are going for 800+.
We are now looking again at Leytonstone - I don't love it as much as Coppemill/St James area but the houses are much bigger and room to expand to meet needs of growing families etc. Good luck!

In Leytonstone I noticed what appeared to be estate agents trying really hard to create the open day buzz of other parts of London. Open days of people queuing up, told to make offers on Monday. The reality was that some of these houses were still on the market months later, the estate agents seemed to encourage people through the door that they knew would have no interest - maybe to get numbers up, and in one case I was being suggested to offer 40K below the asking price on the Monday. So keep your nerve, I'm sure some good properties do get snapped right up, but others are just trying to ride on the London buzz and over inflate prices.

I know, it's weird - we've looked at houses in Leytonstone on open days where we've been given an 'offer template' to fill in and get to the agent's office by 10am on the Monday! Just creaates unreasonable pressure surely which makes people panic and offer higher than they can afford - and then pull out later.

Thanks all for the feedback - really useful to hear.

E17 is not on our hit list as it's beyond our budget, although admittedly we had been looking in and around the village! We hadn't considered the Coppermill area....sounds interesting! Thanks for suggesting.

Leytonstone is my top choice. Reassuring to hear that you have settled into the area ftm and that the market isn't as crazy as the estate agents would have you believe.

Would love to hear from parents who have their children in the local e11 primaries, whether they are happy or not?

Does anyone know how I can tag TheCokemachine? There was a thread not too long ago about E18 and I'd like to hear her thoughts on E18 vs e17. South Woodford doesn't really feel like London and I'm not sure whether this would be a move to far.

Have you considered Highams Park? It's two stops further up the Liverpool Street-Chingford line from Walthamstow Central, and on bus routes to Walthamstow proper. I don't know it well, but various friends of mine have houses there and you'd get more for your money than in Walthamstow. Bit more like suburbia, so might not be what you're after, though.

Wheretoeast, have you tried posting this in the local forum? You may get more local attention there, not just those of us hanging around the property/diy to get tips on kitchen design.

We're in Leytonstone and love it. No dcs yet but planning ahead so primary schools were one of the factors that attracted us. Davies lane is supposed to be outstanding I think.

Its a bit arty and there are a fair few independent cafes and shops etc - I think it has nice balance of being fun and cool and a bit lefty but without veering too much into hipster territory iyswim.

650 should get you somewhere nice in bushwood or upper Leytonstone too.

We're in E17, but the Wood St end (in estate agent speak, we're in the Forest Quarter!). It's much more spacious (and affordable) than the Village, and very close to the forest for greenery/space to play. It doesn't feel ghetto. And the primaries are, as far as I understand, pretty good. That said, IMO much of E17 is pretty grim (though on the up) and the traffic really is terrible all over. If we could have afforded it at the time, we'd have moved to S Woodford or Wanstead. Also, worth looking at Highams Park (as mentioned above) - I wish we'd done so.