Richmond vs Barnes vs Wimbledon

[Lastnamefirst]

Looking to buy a house in one of the above three areas. Important things to us are

1. Easy commute into London (Don’t know where my husbands permanent long-term job will be yet, but may not for a few years so can’t wait and find out)
2. Nice area, ideally picturesque
3. In catchment for very good local state primary schools

I’m veering towards Wimbledon due to the transport links. Unfortunately we can’t afford Wimbledon village so it would be the area around the station. We absolutely adore Barnes but I’m worried about the transport links. I work near White City. Richmond ticks the boxes though often the gardens for houses in our price range are very small, and worried about on street parking.

Anything I haven’t thought about? Anybody have any other thoughts?

Flood risk area is a standard search when buying a house. They refer to the environment agency maps here:
flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk/confirm-location?easting=529090&northing=179645&placeOrPostcode=sw14%201aa

Barnes is mostly at sea level. A high tide and a breach of the flood defences and it's going to be 'interesting'. Basements will be trashed.

I live in twickenham, so near Richmond and use to live in Wimbledon. Personally I far prefer Richmond to Wimbledon. It's got a nicer feel to it with the river, the green and Richmond park and great transport links to central London as well as been very easy to get out of London too. Lots of great primary schools as well as secondary. Wimbledon has great transport links too but other than the village which you have said is out of your budget I don't find it very pretty and very busy with a lot of congestion right through the centre.

Barnes is absolutely lovely, I would love to live there if I could afford it, but transport links are no where near as good! That would be your compromise there, but of the 3, I would say Barnes is the nicest area.

Barnes is mostly at sea level. A high tide and a breach of the flood defences and it's going to be 'interesting'. Basements will be trashed.

However the flood defences would need to fail. The scary maps don’t take into account the existence of the Thames Barrier or anything that might stop the flow like vegetation. (According to ‘More or Less’.)

Have you thought about Earlsfield?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108745142#/floorplan?activePlan=1&channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109826018#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110134793#/?channel=RES_BUY

Earlsfield is another good option. But as you can see from the pricing the cheapest is ex local authority and actually overpriced (I used to live round the corner) and the other two again above £1 million but very nice.

@Lastnamefirst

Thanks everyone - really helpful especially as I have only been living in London a few years so lots I don’t know. I think we will probably have to compromise on something - probably size And it sounds like we either move next door to an excellent school or be prepared to rent somewhere nearby for a year/move/go private for primary. Our hope for a bargain was mainly driven by the fact we are completely chain free and can move whenever and also from watching the market over the last few months (have been waiting for financial reasons - will enable a bigger mortgage) it seems that very little has sold (as in offer accepted) in the last 2 months. Properties in Barnes seen to be the slowest to sell of the three areas. We had also been thinking about Kingston/Norbiton but prices have definitely gone up in the last year quite a bit and that, plus the commute length, put us off.

I’ve just been sent this map -coastal.climatecentral.org/map/11/-0.1212/51.4848/?theme=sea_level_rise&map_type=year&basemap=roadmap&contiguous=true&elevation_model=best_available&forecast_year=2050&pathway=rcp45&percentile=p50&refresh=true&return_level=return_level_1&slr_model=kopp_2014 - which adds a new layer of complexity/worry!

If you are watching the market - look at the “sold prices” on Rightmove for an accurate idea of transactions as many properties are sold to an estate agents existing waiting list so are not even advertised. The things that stick are likely to be overpriced or there is some other issue.

Slightly old thread I know but have you considered Ealing? Not perhaps as picturesque as some of the others but is pretty great for young families with really good parks and all primary schools are pretty good too. Transport is fab (both to White City and for kids to get to private secondaries by tube later) and no plane noise (or virtually none, certainly in comparison the other places you are looking at). Northfields has lots of nice residential streets with 4 bed houses (incl loft conversion) within your budget.
Note on schools: it's really very hard to pick the right school without knowing your child. Fielding school is very sought after here (although all are good) but I know people who moved their children out of it because it didn't suit them (too big, a bit too much academic pressure).

Biggest downsides of Ealing are a lack of swimming pools and good women's clothes shops.
(And the area around Ealing Broadway station looking really scrappy!)

Have you considered west Wimbledon /cottenham park area? Hollymount primary school is top of the league tables in Merton. Raynes park station has fast trains every few minutes to waterloo. 10 minute walk to Wimbledon common, close to the village and has nice local parks and shops etc.

Those areas were pricey 20 years ago when I lived in Earlsfield, Balham and Putney and finally Morden, and working in Kingston and Richmond before getting out of London.. We loved Earlsfield, it was up and coming then but looks much posher now! Barnes is pretty but public transport is crap. Don.t move to Morden, its shit, worst place I ever lived. Not sure how much you are going to get for that cash any of these regions to be honest, but good luck!