Recommended Purchase Areas? Watford, East Ham, Plaistow, Barking

[cheesesalad]

Hi everyone,

I’ve found Mumsnet so useful, so wanted to put our own question up. We are a young professional couple with a budget of £400k. No kids, but probably on the horizon. Looking for a 2-3 bed period house with a garden if possible. Very much want to stay in London, as parents are North & South so we'd be 'in the middle' travel wise.

We're looking at Watford, Some parts of Bushey, Barking, Plaistow, East Ham, Manor Park

We'd happily live in any of the above listed areas as they've all pretty much got what we’re looking for as well as massive potential which excites us. Our question is, what are the recommended roads/areas within the above places that we should be looking at?

Thanks!

Hi cheesesalad, we live in East Ham (12 years now) and love it - it's a bit run down in parts but it has a great community, amazing schools, fantastic parks and increasingly nice cafes, pubs and restaurants popping up (check out East Blam blog). We are currently needing to upsize (larger house in East Ham) due to both working from home and are selling our house in the Burgess Road area which is a great neighbourhood for young couples looking to start a family. If you're still interested in buying, our house might well suit you as it's great for young couple (our recent young professional buyers just sadly had to drop out last minute due to mortgage issues) - do feel free to DM me if so!

I know all those areas and wouldnt want to live there really...to be honest...manor park is very depressing, yet posh wanstead is nearby and super expensive, as is plaistow which has a lot of gang issues but i think has better housing stock and more going on...near the station is the market etc.....barking is drab and huge council estates so all looks the same and a bit chavvy....not sure about east ham either....i would look at a purpose built flat in walthamstow or leyton or leytonstone with your budget....LLoyds park estate or the Abrahams flats in leyton etc...i own property around those areas and lots going on and no major crime issues etc.

Thank you both for the feedback!

We actually visited all places & in the end went for East Ham! Plaistow South came a close second, but there was just no beating the East Ham Central Park area for us-and we’ve lived all over London. We’ve only been here a couple of months but so far, very impressed.

Used to live in Barking. It really was awful.

So glad you're also enjoying East Ham cheesesalad! I personally think it's a great area for families - affordable (for London) period houses with gardens, and not only great primaries but so many secondary schools and sixth form colleges are good or outstanding, especially Brampton Manor. And Central Park (and its cafe!) is wonderful. Welcome to the neighbourhood!

East Ham wouldn’t come top of my list - no where near top of my list if looking East London.

Wanstead, Chingford, Leyton, Leytonstone. Not the n any particular order in terms of a list of preference. These 4 are good. I’d also considerStratford, Ilford, etc

Unfortunately onmyleft, those areas are much more of a stretch for that money (although definitely not impossible, with the probable exception of Wanstead which is £££).

East Ham will likely benefit from the general proximity to Wanstead / flats, good transport links, and overspill from the gentrifying Forest Gate which is already benefitting from crossrail (whenever it will finally open!). So could be a good investment in the long run.

We found quite a lot of negative comments online & were really quite nervous. However we knew only visiting each place would give us a sense of ‘what was right’. What we found was:

• Watford/Bushey: really lovely dependant on the street, but the ring road traffic & parking generally was unbelievable & it’s so densely populated we felt a little bit ‘suffocated’. Also expensive travel into London for work.

• Wanstead, Walthamstow, Chingford, Leyton, Leytonstone: lovely but simply unaffordable for the house we wanted at the budget we wanted.

• Barking: for some reason it felt really depressing- the town centre period homes were in a really poor state & lacked any greenery. It was actually the 30’s houses in Upney nearby that were the nicest areas, but again too expensive!

• Manor Park & Ilford: Beautiful period houses, but again something felt a little depressing about it...couldn’t quite put our fingers on it.

• Plashet, E6/E7: A perfect little oasis of affordable period homes. Would have no issues buying here, particularly with forest gate gentrification tricking down.

• Plaistow South: Lovely, same comments as Plashet- homes & gardens a little on the smaller side though.

• East Ham high street: something about it made us feel a bit on edge so wasn’t for us.

• East Ham Central Park: it’s so GREEN!! I kid you not I drove down the roads in summer and had to call the OH in shock- I will try to add photos. Also has a lovely community feel, beautiful period homes, well located for essentially anything & in the catchment for outstanding schools. Families everywhere...we genuinely fell in love. It’s not disappointed to this day.

From what I gather from our neighbours, the East Ham of even 5 years ago is not the East Ham of today. It’s also getting even better, with lots of new developments planned. Young couples & families move in every week & tbh we’re astounded we found a London zone 3, period home in such a lovely area for sub £375k. Couple of photos attached

You seem sold in East Ham so go for it. I don’t think the Cross Rail will necessarily lead to prices shooting up. After the 2012 Olympics some areas were regenerated but most remain rundown.

Like all areas in the UK, you can have nice streets right next to highly deprived streets. For me it’s about the general area.

If East Ham meets your needs then go for it. Good luck.

@cheesesalad I know this is an old thread but if you're still around I'd be really interested to hear how you're finding East Ham, now that you've been there a while. We've got very similar requirements and budget to you, except we already have the kid. East Ham appears to be pretty much the only place in east London that we could buy a three bed with a garden but as you found, there is lots of negativity about it! I'd be really interested to hear how you find it as a place to live? (my thread here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/4380929-Where-to-live-in-east-London)

We lived in Barking, initially in the flats above Nandos opposite the station and then in a house near Greatfields park. I really liked it there and miss the convenience of a fairly well stocked high street but also 20 minutes to Lakeside and multiple options for getting into work in central London. It might not be the most glamorous part of London but it worked well for us.

@Etherealhedgehog it’s coming up to a year now for us in East Ham, and it’s honestly better than ever, feeling like we seriously lucked out here- and I’m from Barnet in NW London so was extremely picky! It’s a mystery why it’s got such a bad reputation but we believe it’s probably lingerings from the past- I’ll give as much information as I can under your post- also feel free to DM me if you’d like any further info, can also show you around!

@Etherealhedgehog

Agree with @cheesesalad - East Ham (Central Park area) is great. I think a lot of people either think of the immediate station area or are only going by old reputation when they talk about what it's like living here. If you move here with a young child, you will really appreciate the sense of community there is for families in particular. Schools - both primary and secondary - are really good too. I'm a long term Newham resident and amazed how much this area is changing. Mixed feelings about the gentrification but clearly a lot of professional young couples with and without kids are making the move here - you only have to spend an afternoon in Central Park cafe to see that!

Happy for you to DM me too if you want more info.