Buying within M25 London (bellow £650k)

[doart3]

Hello,

I guess there is a ton of post like this, I am sorry for the repetition.
We are a family of a Portuguese father, an Argentinian mother, and an amazing British daughter (father is very proud of having a British daughter :))

We are looking were to move, within the M25 in London with £650k, that is probably the maximum we could ever afford. Currently we live in a nice area in London (renting), but want a more long term solution, and this is not sustainable.

We have looked at places like Kew Gardens, and Richmond, but clearly still above our budget. Our main problem is not knowing so many areas outside central London, to solve this, lately we have been going to different places to explore other nice areas where maybe we could afford to buy.

Do you have any suggestions of nice areas to look for a house, where there are good state schools, and nice places to walk round during the weekends? (also commutable to central London where we work)

All suggestions are welcome. Thank you very much

Where in Central London do you work/need to commute to?
House or flat?
How old is DD?

Open to house or flat, would love to have exterior space, but not mandatory (garden/balcony/pateo).

We need to commute to Blackfriars and Old Street.

Our baby is 11 months (what does DD mean?).

DD is darling daughter.

Have you looked in Essex, great commutes, great schools and generally has a bit of everything (seaside, on londons doorstep, highstreets, woodland, i could go on...)
X

Bromley / Beckenham / Petts Wood / Shortlands s.e London/ Kent boarders very established suburban family areas good schools etc. More inner London West Norwood, West Dulwich, Crystal palace - more urban feel but still great schools / parks. I don't know Essex but from what I have heard I agree it also offers good value. Parts of Croydon are really lovely too - with very good schools.

Generally SE London will give you more for your money. I'm a big fan (and long term resident) of SE4 and SE14 (Brockley/Telegraph Hill) - very, very good primary schools, a fair amount of green space, short commute into central London via overground or Southern when it's running, lots on for young children. Your budget wouldn't stretch to a house unless you were happy with ex-council properties, but you could get a very nice two/three bed flat with garden.

Beckenham/West Wickham. Several decent primary schools, some good secondary schools.

We love Bushey, near Watford. Lovely area, great schools and great transport links.

Kingston
Sutton
Raynes Park

Pinner and Northwood. Both on Metropolitan line and quick into London. Under an hour into Moorgate. Pinner has a few primaries that are really popular, but also some black spots where it's not so easy to get into the primary schools.

Croxley Green (close to Rickmansworth) is also getting quite popular out this way. I don't know this area that well but the green is really nice as is the Rickmansworth aquadrome. Again, Met line. I think they are building some new schools close by.

Pinner could work for you, bit further out NW London. If you’re looking south maybe try Brockley, Beckenham, Crystal Palace.

SE London good to Blackfriars via Thameslink. Charlton/Blackheath borders would get you a lovely 4 bed Victorian house. Great transport links, close to Greenwich and outstanding primary schools. Crossrail coming to Woolwich which is a stop along too.

We sold a house (4 bed, needed some work, small garden) in a new Malden last year for just under £650k - near the high street, train station and good schools. Not all that far from Richmond and Wimbledon- direct trains to both. Also around that area, Raynes Park (maybe a little too pricey), Motspur Park, Worcester Park May be worth considering

@doart3 - you might find this tool helpful. I put in your budget, your two commutes to Old Street / Blackfriars (30min travel each), and ranked 'access to parks' and 'access to schools' as being important.

Here are some results that came up.

Having lived in Clapham, the suggestions in that area make sense. I did enjoy living there, and you've got the common and Battersea park nearby for family strolls.

If you increase the commute time settings then i'm sure you'll get some great results further out. Feel free to adjust your filters accordingly!

The Essex part of central line so Woodford/Chigwell through to Epping would get you a house with garden for that (generally further out the nicer the house and garden) and most of the state schools are rated good. Not as nice as Kew / Richmond but price reflects that.

Going further out on a train you can get nicer houses and areas again with good schools but longer and more expensive commute. Hertford is lovely for example.

Or you could go North, Muswell Hill, East Finchley, Crouch End, bits of Archway.... good family areas x

I'd go for the top section of this rail map. Trains into moorgate stop at Old Street and the trains via St Pancras go into blackfriars so you'd both have easy commutes.

Raynes Park would be above budget, but Cannon Hill just to the south of it would be within budget - transport links would be good for Blackfriars or Old St (Northern Line from Morden, Thameslink from South Merton). Open spaces include Cannon Hill Common and Morden Park with the brand new leisure centre.