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!

@TeaAddict1235, I think you're misjudging it a bit. Or a lot. Areas like Plumsted offer only small terraces and flats. It's a built up, urban area that's pretty run down and dirty in many places. The schools aren't a patch on Kingston which has some of the highest attaining schools in England. It also has great housing stock, fab open spaces, shops and restaurants. It's also safe and clean. Frankly a bit of a ridiculous comparison (not to mention you implying racism as a factor).

Slightly over budget but you could attempt a low offer on something like this:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53141502.html

Elm Park is actually quite a nice place considering the price, a bit further out (Zone 5/6 I think, I’m from Zone 4 which most non-real-Londoners seem to think is basically the Outer Hebrides). It takes just under an hour to get to Waterloo, but the small high street is quite pleasant and so are most of the people. Definitely family orientated and safer than most cheapish bits of London. Nice pie and mash shop and bakery too! Plus big park very close by.

@dontcallmelen I disagree - my little corner of South Norwood really does feel like it's on the up. Five minutes walk to a gorgeous pub, new Costa on the high street, renovation of the street by the station. I spent a lot of last summer reading books by the lake, and if you're desperate for something less 'urban' then a 10 minute bus or 20 minute walk up to Crystal Palace for some vintage shops. Stanley Halls for independent cinema, CAMRA beer festivals and Saturday yoga classes. You wouldn't get a house but 2 bed flats are definitely affordable. Suggestions:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64517092.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69411365.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52741632.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71657348.html

Though to be honest we bought our family much more centrally, a long time ago when the area was more mixed, then bought an investment property in East Greenwich just before the Millennium.

Since then the City has moved east and transport has improved dramatically. I don't even think that the problem is that SE London is too "edgy" in the way Brixton, say, was. More that dock closures etc meant that the area was economically depressed. Easy access to Canary Wharf, and to some extent to Olympic Park, City Airport and so on means that this bit of London is far less isolated. Last summer I walked the Capital Ring. South of Woolwich was the only bit where we passed fields and horses. It was impressively green, and some parts were very attractive. Yes research is needed but SE London would be my tip for finding a nice, and affordable, property.

Indeed I note there are two other posts today about Plumstead and Gravesend. Perhaps a good sign that regeneration is happening if MNetters are looking?!

I posted that exact house in Elm Park earlier. Elm Park is in zone 6 but only 25 mins from West Ham for the
Jubilee to Waterloo.

There's a growing fashion for Plumsted. It'll probably be the next place to make some money after Brixton and Walthamstow.

Just checked £300 k will get you nothing in Farnham.

This is quite shocking as our budget was "only" £250k, we could not buy this house now.

I would say that £300k will not buy you a house in most parts of London, even if you are looking in places which are beyond the M25 and not part of the London outer travel zones.

We are looking in SE London and have around the same budget as you- the only thing we can afford are flats and are put off as many of these have quite high associated monthly service charges/ground rents.

Yes, we would so much prefer to buy a house, but with our budget it is just not possible. I accept that there may be other places in London (up to zone 5/6) but we are not looking all over and just specifically in SE London.

G1ggleloop

That’ll teach me to RTFT

Great taste though haha!

TurquoiseDress

It depends if you have a particular part of SE London in mind or are open to a bit of Zone 6 action...

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52596447.html

There’s several others you can afford too. I was looking at Abbey Wood when I was first buying a few years ago, it was ok round there, wrong side of the river for me for friends and family though.

It’s not exactly East Dulwich though, which maybe a bit closer to what you’re after! Well within the M25 though.

People are weird about SE London, banging on about how awful the transport is. It really isn't. I can be at London Bridge in 11 minutes.

And sorry but racism absolutely does come in to it, people just won't admit it (maybe not even to themselves).

All those Reigate houses are in the scheme for older buyers. That's not their market price.

I moved to Plumstead six years ago and on my second house here. My two bed terrace was sold for 325k a couple of years ago and it was v small. I've stayed in the area as I really came to love it and made lots of friends. There are problems here but show me a bit of London which doesn't. The point is that a house for 300k round here would be difficult. I think that advice from previous posters to rent in different areas is a good one!!

I commuted from Reading to London Bridge for many years. It's expensive but on a good day you can do it in an hour or just over. You could find a small house for £300 in this area.

Or places like Winnersh, Martin's Heron, etc

To the people suggesting Stoneleigh, Ewell, Epsom... have you ever been here? £300k?

Epsom

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62062765.html

And?

It's 0.9m from Tattenham corner. That's one of the slowest and awkwardest rail connections.

Oh maybe this will do then

Well, if they catch it on a stick they'll have millions to spend

Dagenham is not that bad. I grew up in Barking and Dagenham, mainly near Becontree station. Although I'd say Becontree would be more around the £320k mark these days so could be slightly out of budget.

There were fights and stabbing and drug dealing in Daggers but now I live in the 'naice' area of Loughton and there are still fights and stabbings (high street plagued with violence in bars and clubs) and we have a drug dealer living opposite. Only difference is the tiny houses here are £500k+ as opposed to £320k in Becontree.

What about St Neots.
Pleasant, historic town with good facilities and 38mins to London on fast trains.
Eg.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71384885.html

zebrano - I grew up in Dagenham too, but I got out to a really nice place where there just isn't the crime I grew up with, although I did grow up pretty unscathed. The OP asked for a safe area, and I'm not sure she'd see Barking and Dagenham as that, but admittedly at her budget she might struggle to find it.

People in tattenham corner usually drive to close to epsom or ewell for the train.

Smelly that St Neots property is lovely for the price.