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!

Need, have you just compared Woolwich to Petts Wood? I think you might have caused offence.

What you describe is exactly how gentrification happens but not everyone wants to be on the forefront of gentrification and live in an armpit waiting for it to improve over 10+ years. Some people just prefer established areas.

A lot of places in zones 5-6 that people mentioned (like Petts Wood) is somewhere that you'd choose to live. They're established areas offering a different lifestyle to inner London. We also live in such an area - we chose it for the space, greenery, walking distance to the coutryside and easy access to central London. very low crime rates, top state schools and still being on the travelcard (and we could actually afford to live anywhere in London but felt it would be daft to spend another 7 figures to go from somewhere very decent indeed to somewhere posh).

So I suppose it boils down to whether someone just wants somewhere nice to live or they want to find the next property hotspot (and put up with the mankiness while hoping the property is a good investment).

I did not mean to cause offense. And Woolwich riverside is really quite swanky. With Crossrail about to open I do think people will have missed the boat (ferry?).

Op wants a house on a budget. Something has to give. Either she changes her mind and buys a two bed flat somewhere more established or she plays the gentrification game and relies on the fact that others too will be doing the same. Then you look for somewhere with decent housing stock, with the transport you need and where other fundementals are good and improving. Erith, say, has a grammar school, a decent train service into Waterloo, river frontage and marchland (albeit within a declining industrial landscape) and will improve as Crossrail comes on stream. The same will be true of bits of Essex. OP has already identified that houses can be found for under £300,000. A couple of posters have suggested Erith is an "armpit", it has never struck me as that. (Though my Zone 1 DC was concerned when invited to a party there. She and her friends spent a lot of time pouring over the A-Z working out how to get there, despite the fact their school friend somehow managed to do the journey each day.)

I doubt if OP has another 7 figures to live somewhere posh. Her decision is where to invest the money she has.

The OP seems to have disappeared but this is a useful thread for others I think. Like Need, I think South East London (Woolwich, Plumstead, Abbeywood and even out to Dartford) offer very good value for money London. With the advent of Crossrail, I think I read somewhere that Woolwich is being reclassified as Zone 2/3 (possibly). I think these areas are much nicer than Romford/Harold Wood (sorry, don't mean to offend anyone from the East!) and also better connected/faster journey times to London. I'm no good at linking but you can definitely get 2-3 bedroomed houses on nice streets for 300k.

@AndromedaPerseus I’d rather live in chapeltown than most of the suggestions! At least that is close geographically to the city centre and a short hop to the bars and restaurants of chapel A!

When a postal address says Surrey - that doesn't mean it is in Surrey. Surrey means the Surrey County Council, which excludes Sutton and Kingston (even though the offices are there...).
If you want Surrey - then you might get something in Woking - excellent and fast connections to Waterloo, and safer than Dagenham.
This for example

People saying Horsham…do you mean Hersham?

Have you tried Uxbridge/ Hillingdon in the West? The metropolitan line takes about 40 mins from Hillingdon station to Victoria.

There is this house there:
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-61782775.html

Have you tried Uxbridge/ Hillingdon in the West? The metropolitan line takes about 40 mins from Hillingdon station to Victoria.

FluffyWuffy100

But OP will be working on London. The last thing she wants is a rental property several hours away. And its hourses for courses. I would take
SE London over Chapeltown any day. London is a great place to live.

@Needmoresleep

But that isn’t her choice is it? SE London over Charlestown. Her choice is the shittiest bits of London over the nicest bits of Leeds...

Charlestown? Chapeltown.

All this "armpit" "shittiest" etc stuff is straight depressing, especially when the alternatives proposed seem to be dreary commuter belt with the added costs of season tickets.

Do you actually know SE London? It is surprisingly green, often with well established communities, and an awful lot cheaper than SW London.

I'm really surprised no one has mentioned BASILDON!

45 minutes from Fenchurch street

Is Basildon in London? OP needed to get to Waterloo.

Need It's Essex, but very close to East London and Waterloo is close by once in Fenchurch street or LimeHoude

*Limehouse

Mrspatmore, have you been to Harold Wood? OPs budget would only get her a one bed in Harold Wood. It's an affluent area compared to Abbey wood or Dartford

Redhill/Reigate

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E1119&maxPrice=300000&propertyTypes=terraced&secondaryDisplayPropertyType=terracedhouses&includeSSTC=false

I'n going to throw a curveball in and suggest NW London. Neasden, Dollis Hill or Willesden Green (latter being zone 2 so more expensive) are all on the Jubilee Line and commute time to Waterloo is around 25 mins. Residential and suburban, but v multicultural with pockets of cool appearing here and there.

This flat v close to Dollis Hill tube:

Chapter Road, NW2
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49628103.html

This is within budget and is lovely.

You'll not get a mortgage on a lease with under 50 years, I should think.

Also, not a house!

And the Dollis Hill flat has only 37 years!

Carshalton (Sutton)

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-50800242.html

Wallington

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-63405622.html

@Needmoresleep , don't stress about it. Let them enjoy the SW and the E of London, and we'll get on with enjoying SE london. I think that we know why there is such negativity about the area; some would prefer to settle in certain areas and still have the ethnic /Turkish/Afro-Caribbean/Punjabi grocers....but maybe just not as neighbours or at the DC's schools?? If you're from say a Kingston-upon Thames type of area, that's what you'll seek after. If you see an area like Plumstead or Woolwich as a great opportunity both financially and culturally, then you'll head there and you won't see it as a threat to your own living standards.