Where would you live in London? Budget up to £1.25m

[GinsanityBeckons]

So I've had it with where we're living at the moment. It's supposed to be nice but it's grotty and I want out. We are in a regeneration area so we have 10+ years of building work to put up with, literally on our doorstep, and we have a neighbour clearly drug dealing who seems to be made of teflon.

What we want is 2/3 bedrooms, off road parking (if possible), outdoor space, on the tube and decent neighbours. Does anyone have anywhere they would suggest/recommend?

What zone on the tube would you prefer to be in?

If I had your budget I'd look at Chiswick. You almost certainly would not get off-road parking (unless it was in the front garden), but it's very naice, good transport connections, lovely shops and cafes, green space nearby, etc etc.

With that budget I'd look at northwest London - Golders Green (clearly where we live), Hendon, Temple Fortune. It's got a family friendly, ethnic and Jewish vibe to it so keep that in mind. We're immigrants but not Jewish but love it here. Good value for money.

Where do you live now? So we know not to recommend the area to you!

Which tube zone do you want to live in?

With that budget I'd look overseas

We're zone 1 at the moment, south of the river. I'm sure we'd manage as far out as zone 3, though our vicar has called it social suicide

I don't know much about North London tbh, so will have a scout around Golders Green online. And Chiswick sounds worth a look too, thought might be too grown up for DH.

Jobs are in London so moving overseas, particularly with DH's language skills, might be a bit of a stretch.

You know London - you have a huge budget but it won't go far in the properly nice north London areas of Hampstead, Highgate etc... and lots of expensive central areas are also pretty edgy. Like others I'd be looking west towards Chiswick, Barnes, Kew, Richmond.

If you're used to south of the River, how about Southfields, Wimbledon, Raynes Park? Wimbledon is good for transport as there is both the District Line and mainline into Waterloo.

You'll get most for your money in south east London and even then it's not a lot (unless that's where you live now and want to avoid!)

with that budget I'd look overseas

I know, what, is £1.25 million not sufficient for London

Other considerations - schools?

In your situation I'd look at Barnes, Barnes Bridge, Richmond, Dulwich Village, Greenwich, Blackheath. On train lines but good connections.

Our 1.2 million family home in east Sussex is very similar to our friend's 4.5 million house in earlsfield.

My house in London will buy a castle elsewhere in the uk, but let's try to see if we can help OP where she wants to live the best place in the UK by far

If off-street parking is not 100% essential, Balham, Tooting, Clapham South
You can probably stretch to Battersea as well because prices are dropping a bit

Chiswick certainly ticks all of your boxes but it is definitely grown up. But that also means it's NOT at all grotty and your neighbors are likely to be friendly young middle class families or empty nesters. Your budget won't get you a palace but you could probably get a modest 2-3 BR with outdoor space, that you could fix up over time. I don't know about the state schools as ours are in private but I think you have to be careful with catchment areas. There are also wonderful private schools in the area.

Sauv has good ideas.

Semi detached in Dulwich village probably £1.5 plus though. Richmond more expensive. Terraced house in Greenwich a possibility.

Chiswick is nice but feels well into middle class grown up suburbia (I live in zone 2 but also in grown up area so not looking down on grown up areas at all)

I think if I wanted somewhere a bit more hip and Chiswick was too grown-up for me, I'd consider Walthamstow.

Actually you probably won't get off street parking in Chiswick, but you won't need it. We never walk more than half a block to either of our cars, and more likely they are right in front of our house.

Ealing, lovely family area and will be on Crossrail

We don't need to worry about schools as we're child free. I kind of wish our friends had all migrated to one area but they're scattered far and wide so we can't just copy them! There are places I hadn't considered coming up, which is great and I've spotted something interesting in Balham on rightmove to get the ball rolling with DH. He agrees we need to move but I need to come up with the where to part.

I would choose Blackheath or Greenwich as I love them and they are close to where my family lives.
Otherwise, I'd choose Finchley. It's a lovely family friendly area and for London, offers good vale for money in comparison to many areas.

DH is desperate to move to Wimbledon. It's nice there, but not really 'me.'