Good places to buy house in London under £300K

[ivt03]

Hi there,

Due to personal change in our circumstances, me and my husband may have to relocate to London in a couple of months.

Rather than spending dead money in rents, we were thinking of buying a house (not flat/apartments) under £300K in a good locality that's safe to live in, commutable from central London under an hour and has good affinity for schools/shops, etc.

We stumbled upon areas like Tilbury and Gravesend and while the houses internally were wonderful for their price, the locality and people around didn't seem safe.

Would people living in and around London/Greater London advise of some good, safe, commutable areas to buy a house?

Many thanks!

I don't think you'll get a house in Crystal Palace on that budget - it's pretty pricey. New Eltham would be an easy journey, or anywhere along that train line (though trains are packed) Sidcup, Mottingham, Elmstead Woods maybe?
this one for example

Technically it is!

People commute to Waterloo from as far away as Portsmouth, but Surrey and Hampshire are expensive on the whole too. Aldershot is on a direct line to Waterloo (about an hour) and relatively cheap - the town centre itself isn't great but it does seem to be coming up in the world, and you are close to nice countryside, also the M3 for longer car journeys. You could get a 3-bed terrace there for that sort of money, but would have to factor in train fares.

And Morden!

I lived in Bishops Stortford. It's a nice little town set in some great countryside with good schools. It's about 45 mins from Liverpool St. Culturally it's a bit dead, but there is a cinema and a small arts centre.

Harlow is classic post-war new town. The houses are good value and there are lots of parks but the town centre has not been invested in very much over the years and feels run down. It is closer to London though...

OP please make sure you check out the commuting costs from the areas you look at into central London - it can be eye-wateringly expensive

Try:

www.commutefrom.com

It gives you some ballpark figures on commute prices, times and basic crime stats

You could look at Staines, Ashford, Sunbury or Egham, won't be a huge choice within your budget but doable. The train line is straight into Waterloo.

Whether they’re actually in London is debatable, for I would try:
Stoneleigh
Ewell
Epsom
Leatherhead
Sutton
Carshalton
Whitton

Beet and bexleyheayh are nice enough sidcup, greenhithe parts of gravesend Edith not so much barnhurst

@SoupDragon Sutton is in Surrey! I got married there!

Bexley not beet

Waterloo trains are out the other way...

Hmmm tight budget

You won’t find a house for £300k in a “good” area of Sutton (South of station), sorry. Ewell, Epsom and Carlshaton are even more expensive.

You definitely won’t find anything in Sevenoaks (£££) but you might find something further out in Kent, like Tonbridge (and possibly Tunbridge Wells) as long as you’re happy to buy in a “black hole” area for school catchments. Prices are very driven by primary school catchments.

You can get to Waterloo east/London bridge/Charing cross in 45-50 minutes (depending on regular or fast trains) and the trains are MUCH more reliable than those servicing Surrey-London commute... but annual tickets are VERY expensive, so you do need to factor that into your budget. Also helpful is if you don’t need tube/bus once you get off at your London station, as that further adds to your travel costs.

Sutton is in Surrey!

No, it’s in Greater London. It’s not been in Surrey since at least 1965.

I’ve lived in/around there my whole life :)

I used to work in Romford. I couldn't undertand the locals. I'll be chased off the thread now, but they used to laugh at my accent (Irish) while telling me that they worked in eckzig in ass (hexagon house). I struggled. The grammar is terrible. Loads of we was, he were, she were

Wouldn't bring up a child in Romford as their English would be fucked.

Farnham, near Aldershot - looks like you would get a house for your budget. Have heard it's nice from a friend who lives there.

Hahaha..
My proudest achievement is that my children dispute being raised in deepest darkest Essex all have an "RP" accent.
I have always insisted on out H; T and W's being prounoused. My eldest now at UNI laughs when people don't believe she is from Essex

Search on Right Move or Zoopla:

• enter W1 as the search post code
• select 20 miles as the search distance
• choose house/2 bedrooms minimum/£300k maximum price

Right Move is showing 900+ properties. Beware some will be auction listings or 'over 60s lifetime home scheme' (eg the ones in Sutton). Don't know if there's a way to filter those out.

East of London has the most but areas may be dubious. Also bear in mind possible flood risk in those areas (the Thames Barrier is at Woolwich - anywhere east of that and definitely check the flood risk report.)

Remember that Waterloo has two train stations (Waterloo for south west and Waterloo East for the south east) and many of the trains from Dartford etc call at at Waterloo East.

And as other posters have said, commuting costs can be extremely high (thousands of pounds a year).

Pencilledin lolol
also, racism.

soupdragon i thought the postcode was SM3 Surrey. That's what i write on my xmas cards to friends who live there! Oops!

Farnham is lovely (i haved mates there) but fares will be enormous.

Happysbno4 that is an accomplishment! They will thank you for it.

Farnham is nice but not many houses under 300k there.

@EllieFitz and OP I live in that area, it is a lovely area in general (pockets of less good as with everywhere) but you won’t get much for under £300,000. Maybe a one bed started home? There’s a bizarre lack of two bed houses here.

Get this flat. Spend nothing on commute and put family up in a Premier Inn.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E85216&insId=1&maxPrice=325000&googleAnalyticsChannel=buying