It feels crazy that nearly £900k isn’t enough to buy a nice house with a garden in a safe area of London!

[Propertyahhh]

A complaint post really.

I know, first world problems. But we have almost £900k to spend and it won’t get us a house with a garden in any London neighbourhood we like (Blackheath, Hackney, Muswell Hill, Crouch End, East Dulwich). So we thought we’d look at Bath, Bristol, Hove, etc and it doesn’t even stretch very far there. Tiny terraces with tiny gardens - if that.

Why is property so expensive?!?! How can so many people afford excess £1m to spend on houses?

That’s just not true. You could get a lovely house in Bristol for that - I live there and that would buy you a big family house in a nice area. Also lots of nice places in South London like Brockley, Nunhead etc where you could get a nice 3/4 bedroom Victorian terrace.

Beckenham. Great schools and lots of parks. Just check catchments.

@thatonehasalittlecar

In my area of London (Z3, just) the houses are about 2/3 of your budget with decent gardens (70ft +) and I’m within walking distance of 4 outstanding primaries (the rest are all good). Plenty of the houses nearby have garages and even larger gardens, plus the council have invested heavily in LTNs / cycle schemes so are looking at long term health. Safety-wise, it’s on par with everywhere else I’ve lived in the capital - Z1, 2 or 3.

You’re not looking in the right places.

Not very useful unless you tell where this is

@snotf

It really does annoy me when people make bogus claims of 35mins door to door from village outside London to work in London.

I see this all the time on MNs and I always want to know the places.

My tube journey on paper is 15-20 mins but I have always allowed an hour to travel into London from most parts.

I’ve put under 40 minutes because my train hasn’t had that very many severe delays,but I’m travelling from Essex (Chelmsford) to Liverpool St.I find that I encounter more problems when in London.I know many Londoners who’ve moved to Braintree,Witham and Chelmsford who commute to London.It’s always best to do a few trial runs to assess whether it’s viable for you.

Try St Albans

Hayes, (the Bromley one), Beckenham. Both have great transport links into London, lots of green spaces, and good schools.

You requirements of:

Large garden
3 bed plus room to extend
Safe and liberal
Commute to London 2/3 days PW

Mean you would be bonkers to keep looking in your current search areas of posh London and Bristol etc.

You are looking for Harpenden.

You're welcome.

@Paulina23

I’d say it’s useful to know these places exist; I don’t have to get involved in pushing house prices up. I’m sure the OP can use Google.

Maybe look in some new areas. Brockley is leafy and safe. The terraced houses are bigger than in many areas. It's the kind of area that East Dulwich was twenty years ago. Families move in and the shops and cafes improve...

Look at this one

@MrsBobDylan

You requirements of:

Large garden
3 bed plus room to extend
Safe and liberal
Commute to London 2/3 days PW

Mean you would be bonkers to keep looking in your current search areas of posh London and Bristol etc.

You are looking for Harpenden.

You're welcome.

I can't believe Hackney is posher than Harpenden! Times have changed.

North Chingford, South Woodford, Walthamstow, Highams Park

Wow that is an amazing deposit saved.
How long did that take to save up and do you work in the financial sector ? High salary jobs?

@RobynNora

Without meaning to sound horrible *@Hallyup6*, it’s because Londoners are paid considerably more on average and career prospects are generally better. I hate the daft house prices in London as much as the next person, but we’re not stupid for paying what we did. My family think we’re idiotic for living in London and tell us frequently! In real life I’m too polite to point out that I’m paid much more than the rest of my family (who all live in a very low cost area of Wales) So I bite my lip! But it’s just economics, I guess.

We haven’t had any inheritance or gifts and saved a 300K deposit quite easily. I know that’s mad privileged in so many unfair ways but it’s a fact and we did it entirely without help in our 30s. Meanwhile, my parents in their early 60 still have a mortgage.

@RobynNora Wow that is an amazing deposit saved. How long did that take to save up? Also do you work in the financial sector, high salary jobs which can make it easier to save a larger deposit?

It is nuts. We could only afford a family sized house somewhere decent (and with a tiny garden at that) because I had inheritance and therefore two properties to sell, and that's with our household income being over £100k. Otherwise would have had to have left London (which I didn't want to do)

Streatham Hill: great parks, schools, walk to a lovely cinema, 3 bed, 2 bath, off street parking and garden, well under budget
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/107650730#/

Lovely! www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109785806#/

Great transport links, catchment for outstanding primaries and secondary

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/106668770#/

And any number of possibilities in the area.

Housing in London is outrageously expensive. It helps to have the imagination and curiosity to go beyond the middle class cliche areas.

I've recently moved to the fringes of Petts Wood, got a 3 double bedroom + study semi detached with large garden for £660k. The house decor is dated but structurally sound. 13 mins walk to the station, 100 metres from a woods. Trains to Charing Cross, Cannon St and Victoria.

For your budget you could easily something closer to the station with fully up to spec decor. Petts Wood has loads of restaurants and cafes. Schools are excellent, and you're in the Kent grammar school system.

@PicsInRed

£900k only a tiny terrace in Bristol?! Only if you were trying to buy in Clifton.

What constitutes a "safe" area, such that only £900k will do the job?

Rightmove, Detached, Clifton +5 miles, you're welcome.

I agree with this. Even in London £900k will get you something in an acceptable area, albeit not necessarily on your restrictive shortlist.

If you like blackheath, definitely look at Lee and Hither Green! Walkable to Blackheath, lots of period houses

This is the cheaper side of Hither Green www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108353999#/

This is on the more expensive side (closer to Blackheath and feels almost like an extension of it)

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/106256849#/

Not sure things are as bad as you imagine!

Just to add direct train from Hither Green to London Bridge (one stop, 10 min) for going into the office

@Lifeat40 we saved loads by buying a shared ownership flat and paying peanuts in rent/tiny mortgage payments in zone 2 for years. I’m also a natural worrier about money so I'm not a huge spender. We both work in commercial roles (sales/marketing) but not finance or anything you have to be particularly clever or specialised to do!

I think our super low shared ownership rent/mortgage also allowed us to be pretty risk tolerant professionally and we’ve both been freelance at various points, which also helped.

@MrsBobDylan

You requirements of:

Large garden
3 bed plus room to extend
Safe and liberal
Commute to London 2/3 days PW

Mean you would be bonkers to keep looking in your current search areas of posh London and Bristol etc.

You are looking for Harpenden.

You're welcome.

Harpenden seems to shift at around 7.5k per sqm that’s as much as the Totteridge or the bad part of MH. OP would only be able to afford 120sqm for 900k, barely a 3 bed, but arguable might have a slightly bigger garden. Then comes the usual annual train ticket etc. What is it with Saint Albans and co that is so attractive versus zone 3-5?

I know you said no to Tottenham but what about turnpike lane way- outstanding primary and secondary, 10 mins to the tube www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/88778449#/

[quote ghislaine]If you’re considering East Dulwich, you could go just a bit further out to Forest Hill where you could get this: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110302154#/[/quote]
That's great house

@Paulina23 Good question! I live in St Albans and the main advantages are - mostly excellent schools, the fast train to London only takes 18 minutes (faster to central London than when I lived in Zone 2), easy access to open countryside and road links to the rest of the UK. Harpenden has a quieter, more upmarket, villagey feel, and some people want just that without losing quick access to London, even if it costs as much as being in the London outer zones.

This is on the more expensive side (closer to Blackheath and feels almost like an extension of it)

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/106256849#/

Not sure things are as bad as you imagine!

Having just moved from the Lee area i can vouch for this area and street for convenience to shops and station, and you can walk to Blackheath in ten minutes. Only downside is high schools in the area are pretty poor unless you pay for Colfs or get into Thomas Tallis, which from there is not a certainty