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!

It’s certainly not going to get you a house in Guildford!

Bromley if you're after something v basic.

They only houses in Bromley are in the Crays areas of Orpington & there’s a reason they are cheap
Bits of Eltham are quite nice but that house linked isn’t in one of them. Op I would look for a flat

Id look at Rochester. Commutable easily within an hour, cheaper than London, nice personal high street, twenty minutes from Bluewater, and cheap because the rest of Medway is grim.

The land of make believe

For commutable places you have to add in the cost of travel. Almost all the areas you specify have decent streets/areas.
Unfortunately, I don't think there's any alternative than getting down there and having a look around yourself.
But rest assured, for £300k you can pick up something not half bad.

I'd stay in Leeds if possible, you really don't want yo be stuck in some ares-end commuter town that's had its life sucked out by London.

A flat in Catford perhaps or Croydon otherwise you need to look further away; lots of people's commute from Essex and Kent as houses are very expensive in London and they can get mire fur their money.

Romford is fine - half the people have moved out from Walthamstow and other areas of East London. It's much more like London now than it was 10 years ago. However you won't get a house for £300k unless you're prepared to do a lot of work. I bought a 3 bed last year for £350k, knowing it needed a new roof, boiler and full redecoration.
There is a website www.commutefrom.com/ where you can check commuting times to help you find areas depending on the station you need to get to.

Ahahahahahaha aaaaahahahahaha hahaha hahahaaaaahaha aaaahahahaha

I live near Derinton Rd antimatter - those houses are smaller than most flats! Think about 450-500 sq ft of floor space, two up, two down but the rooms are tiny! And it'll still go for £400K plus (non auction ones are about £450-£500K). Tooting is not cheap!

This is another on the same road - link

You could do worse than Croydon - not had a very good rep, but great for commuting as it's zone 5 and actually I know several people who live there and are very happy.

Places like this link 1 or this link 2 might work?

Wouldn't touch Barking and Dagenham. High crime area and just not that nice. Havering is ok just not Romford centre. 300k isn't a lot. I moved from Redbridge (next borough to havering) to chelmsford 10 years ago and love it out here. Can better better bang for your buck but travel will cost more as your on the train network.

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.

I live in Croydon. Regarding Redhill, I'd heard they might be extending the zone to cover it, but looks like it's just a campaign. It can be a bit rough, but not that bad. Coulsdon is okay and in zone 6, but I think you'd struggle with that budget.

Prices in the area have really shot up in the area in the last couple of years.

Some PP suggestions like eltham, Bexley- You would be pushed to get a 1 bed flat for 300k in those areas! Try strood, Rochester, gillingham. Some better places, just need to be careful in terms of area

Wow...the snobbery.

Make sure you factor in commuting costs as well as mortgage payments. It will make some of the far-flung naice places unaffordable.

Then grab a map of Crossrail. Places like Edith and others accessible to Woolwich, and presumably those near Shenfield, may feel like land time forgot, but the will improve fast with greater accessibility.

FWIW I like Edith. I like the marshes and the riverside, but accept some might find the estuary landscape bleak. . Plus there is a very good fish and chip restaurant.

Try Lewisham. It'll be a flat rather than a house but you'll get change from £300k.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71914727.html

@Lillylollylandy no she won't - that is an audition property. IT IS NOT A REAL PRICE

You'd be lucky to get a one bed in Catford for

Ah you're coming from Leeds... so 300k in Leeds gets you a nice house in the better areas. The equivalent is asking where can you buy in Leeds for 50k? Well you can buy some god forsaken 2 up 2 down back to back in Armley that needs work.. That is what you're going to end up in in London! ASBO central.

The logic/ expectations of being a long term flat renter in Leeds but moving to London and expecting to be a home owning house buyer in a nice area is lost on me....

Op i would rent a one bed flat in an area you could afford to buy in and see how things go for a while.

THINk about why you want a house. In London I would focus on sq footage. Many great conversions - if not converted in recent times- are larger than houses. Be wary of the posts about rough. Go and see these places yourself and speak to locals. Look at school/crime reports etc. I would suggest the areas surrounding the abbey wood Woolworths cross rail stations (or close by like Erith). I. My experience those areas definitely are improving and it would also be a good investment.

Woolwich not woolworths

Hounslow?

Bexleyheath and Welling are fair options for a 2/3 bedroomed property, probably a terraced/end of terrace and not huge, but it is a decent area and only 35 mins from Charing Cross. Fairly green with parks and woods. I lived there for years, not an exciting place but reasonable on the whole.

OP think you might be better off saving your being in a house experience for when you're back in Leeds and settling down. London does not lend itself to house purchase on a budget and flats can be fantastic. Don't buy an extra bedroom for visitors - work out how much the nearest premier inn costs per night compared with an extra 100k for a spare room!