Laindon, Basildon or Rainham, Hornchurch, Romford, Orpington

[Finallygrowingup]

Hello All,

Please could I have your opinion. We have looked at house in Laindon, Basildon - apparently the nicer side, close to train station, 3 double bed, long lounge and not a lot of work upon moving in. The house is fine but the travel costs into Victoria London is quite high.

We have alternatively looked at 3 beds in Rainham, Hornchurch (not the nicer part), Romford and Orpington. These areas suit our budget (400k ish) but rooms are smaller, would need some renovation (we dont have the cash on hand to do that). The Basildon house will cost around £138 more per person in travel if we need to travel in for work everyday than if we lived in the oyster zone.

We are looking to live in this property for 5/6 years. We would ideally like a property that will increase in value.

Any thoughts?

TIA

If you're commuting to Victoria, I wouldn't advise looking at Essex at all. You have to change from C2C at Fenchurch Street to the District or Circle, both of which (in normal times) are crowded, slow and unreliable

The bit by Laindon station is not the nice bit! DH used to work in that area and until fairly recently had to attend daily police briefings, lots of drug/knife crime, cuckooing etc. The only parts of that area I would live are Horndon on the hill or some parts of Langdon Hills, I owned a flat on the newish Radford park estate which goes from Laindon to Dunton which was nice and I made a very good profit in five years, but there is nothing in Laindon or Basildon other than dual carriageways, roundabouts and a retail park. Basildon town centre is utterly grim. There's nowhere nice to eat out, shop, go for a drink etc. The only leisure area is on a leisure park around a carpark. The schools aren't great other than great Berry primary which is good and the houses in that bit are nice but pricier. We've moved to the coast and bought a house and the lifestyle change is fantastic local bars, independent shops, restaurants, community events, live music etc. I'd only move there if needs must as you probably will make a profit over five or six years, the journey into fenchurch Street is less than half an hour so property will always sell.
Rainham, couldn't pay me to live there, Hornchurch, the little town centre is ok but it's essentially urban sprawl, Romford the same, there are some very grim parts of all of them , gang, knife and drug crime are an issue in all of them, traffic and pollution are terrible, but that's no different to a lot of parts of greater London.

I disagree with the above poster. I live in Havering and both our crime rates and pollution levels aren't awful for a London borough. I've lived here all my life and never felt unsafe. I would stay away from Basildon and Laindon though, personally. I don't know Orpington.

Romford has the advantage of the TFL line, which can get you to Stratford in 9 mine or so, then next stop Liverpool Street. It also has Crossrail imminent. Practically all of Hornchurch is nice really, the cheaper areas are South Hornchurch and Elm Park and both are fine. I wouldn't choose to live in Rainham Village but I live on the outskirts, practically Elm Park, and it's lovely and quiet here and primaries are great. My sons are at 1 that's joint best in Havering. Prices will definitely appreciate round here at a better rate than Basildon etc.

This is helpful. The house in Laindon was near the Great Berry school. On the other side of High Road. As prices are similar we might look in the South Hornchurch area insteadn even if smaller houses

I live in the Hornchurch area and it's a lovely place to live.

Lots of great schools, green areas and you can get into London in 30 mins.

I've lived here for a long time and the main crime is car theft as it's a reasonably wealthy area and with easy access to the M25 it's a bit of a car crime hotspot.

There is a great sense of community around here and the arts centre in the town puts on lots of open air concerts in the summer in Langtons park.

Personally I'd avoid Basildon as its absolutely soulless and the town centre is pretty grim but it all depends on your budget of course!