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!

Have you looked at Wokingham? It's a nice market town in Berkshire with direct trains to Waterloo in around an hour and a quarter.

This 3 bedroomed house is a short walk to the train station so although the commute is a bit longer than you are hoping the proximity to the station might make up for that.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50157921.html

Also agree that South East London is your best bet. It wont be the cosmopolitan London you might be expecting though. Much more pleasant than Iford/Dagenham etc in my opinion and safe too. You may get a 3 bed in Bexley/Sidcup/Swanley for 300k or somewhere like St Mary's Cray which has good train links to the London side that you need (around 30 minute commute). Plumstead, Abbeywood and Dartford are rising in price quickly due to the new Crossrail which is opening later this year which will slash journey times to Central London and general regeneration. You might be lucky and pick up a two bed there for around 300K.

Also it's been on for ages so would probably take an offer. (No, I'm not selling it!)

OP take a look at Farnborough in Hampshire. Some bits are nicer than others but it's cheaper than Farnham and trains are better than Farnham or Aldershot - lots of trains and you can get to Waterloo in about 40 mins. You should be able to get a decent sized Victorian 2 bed semi or terrace for £300k. And it has 2 M3 junctions and also another 2 train stations that take you direct to
Reading / Guildford / Gatwick etc so v good transport. Fleet is also ok (same train line) but more pricey.

Just spotted that Bracknell goes direct to Waterloo in 1 hour 2 minutes.

Bracknell has had a huge regeneration and I think is a nice safe place to live now (just down the road from Wokingham.)

Found this in Bracknell for around £300,000, walking distance of train station and town centre:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52085325.html

Agree about Reading being nice and affordable (in parts) but I think the fast Reading train goes to Paddington, not Waterloo.

@PencilledIn ^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 confused
Wouldn't bring up a child in Romford as their English would be fucked^

Rude and a huge generalisation. I live not too far from Romford. A different English curriculum hasn’t been taught in Romford resulting in a whole area having ‘terrible grammar’
You are referring to the accent of locals. Surely judging people’s intelligence based on their accent isn’t still happening?

Good luck OP

Thanks a lot for all your wonderful messages and suggestions! They are all super helpful and will help us in our long term goal.

@ivt03 take a look at Beckenham you won’t get a house, but definitely a one bed flat for approx 250ish my (dd sold a large one bed opposite Beckenham place park for 220 last year) or a bit under, possible two bedrooms a really nice area & few stations that go to Waterloo (New Beckenham, Clock house, Eden Park Elmers end) commuting costs would be a lot cheaper than some of the places on the very edge of London.
Could also have a look at Penge, but cheaper than Crystal Palace or West Wickham, if you really want a house then I think have to be outer London or towards Sutton & Surrey.

id try woking, there's a fast train into waterloo. and you should get something within your budget.

Just to wade in on the Essex accent tangent, my Mum revels in calling me and her DGDS her 'Essex girls'!
FWIW I speak the Queens English as does DD1. Despite my best endeavours DD2 seems drawn to TOWIE rather than MIC.

Factor in commute cost from outside of zone 6.
Reading, Redhill or any place outside of M25 will add a lot to your ticket price.

How about this?
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71969003.html

Antimatter, the auction will probably start at over 300k. What s random guide price!

Train prices vary significantly, worth investigating.

Home counties pricey, but less so than London!

Not London but 20 mins to Waterloo- Woking. Some good small 2 Bed houses for your budget. Surrounded by beautiful countryside.

You might just get something in Edmonton. The train line runs right into Liverpool Street, but there's no tube. www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?searchType=SALE&locationIdentifier=REGION%5E87505&insId=1&radius=0.0&minPrice=&maxPrice=290000&minBedrooms=&maxBedrooms=&displayPropertyType=houses&maxDaysSinceAdded=&_includeSSTC=on&sortByPriceDescending=&primaryDisplayPropertyType=&secondaryDisplayPropertyType=&oldDisplayPropertyType=&oldPrimaryDisplayPropertyType=&newHome=&auction=false

Anyone know what Eltham is like? This is nicely done!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53187330.html

Beautiful communal tree.....imagine picnics

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52098951.html

Three somebody, that property is in an area bordering Eltham called Mottingham. It's a large housing estate which has some nice properties but also some anti social behaviour. It's good value though and that's a nicely done house. There are two train lines into London nearby and it's about a 20 minute walk to Chislehurst which is scenic and has some nice restaurants and bars.

Theres, very nice houses for the price. The Met Police crime stats look pretty awful - lots of ASBOs and thefts.

South Norwood is on the up:
www.theguardian.com/money/2016/may/13/lets-move-to-south-norwood-thornton-heath-south-london

South Norwood/Thornton Heath is really not nice, it’s been up & coming for the last thirty years & is still a dive I’m afraid.

Don’t move to Hayes! It’s a shithole.
How about Watford or Aylesbury?

I would look near Guildford (40 mins to Waterloo) and around that way if I had to get to Waterloo. 300k is not going to buy you a house in a nice part of London OP.

Technically it is!
Sutton is definitely in London.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Borough_of_Sutton