SE London houses - what do you think?

[MrFirstTimeBuyer]

Hi everyone, first time poster, long time reader.

We want to buy a house for a young couple / family in SE London. Budget is around 1-1.25m, and main criteria are a nice/safe area, finished house (not in need of renovation), and decent commute.

Any thoughts on these? The prices seem a bit crazy compared to properties that sold just last year.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118492337#/?channel=RES_BUY

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/116841581#/?channel=RES_BUY

I'd rather be too conservative and miss out on the first couple, then overpay and regret later. What do you think? Any thoughts/advice greatly appreciated!

That Bromley house is stunning MrFirstTimeBuyer

@sunshinesupermum

That Bromley house is stunning MrFirstTimeBuyer

This one in Chislehurst/Bickley/Bromley (short walk to Elmstead Woods train station) is lovely: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/117961874#/?channel=RES_BUY

We loved living in Penge. There are some pockets that have a really lovely vibe.

Lennard Rd is right next to Alexandra Rec which is a really nice park that is popular with families. You can't beat the Penge East-Victoria train. 19 minutes ish I think.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113305283?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

I loved living in several of these areas 10 years ago. We moved out west when we had our first dc but if we could have afforded a house and garden I would have stayed in a heartbeat.

This one is lovely. Incredible window :)

Lots of green spaces, the centre is a wonder. Not far from Peckham Rye to go feed the ducks with the kids even they come along. Ivydake primary had a good reputation when we lived there.

Couple of typos cemetery Ivydale

@Twizbe

Thanks for the advice, truly appreciate it.

How is Pengenham with respect to demographics? Ideally we would like a place with decent number of young families/kids and would appreciate some diversity too.

[quote EnjoyingTheSilence]@MrFirstTimeBuyer what an road is lovely, just round the corner from the station and all the shops in HOP, but parking a nightmare. The other house, I don’t know the road but it has off street parking so I’d look more to that one.[/quote]
Hi - sorry, which road did you have in mind? I think there's a typo.

@Attictroll

Sounds like a good plan, we have done some walking but focused more on distance than properly enjoying the area. Will take it easier going forward and make sure to do some people watching too

@JulesRimetStillGleaming

We might take a look, but we would prefer somewhere more open/green, so haven't really considered places like Rotherhithe or Isle of Dogs.

@friendlycat

We are renting a flat in Greenwich. We enjoy being close to the Greenwich park, having an easy commute to work and enough stores/restaurants in easy walking distance.

Don't enjoy the lack of space outside of the park and the crowded streets on weekends (and the noise from the cars/people).

ha - appreciate the effort to make me feel better about missing that one

@PosiePerkinPootleFlump

saw that one, but looked so unusual that that I skipped over it quickly. How is the area around there?

@PutYourBackIntoit

We'll check out that area too. House looks very interesting, but 100 sqm feels a bit small (especially for that price).

@MsFogi

it does, but I suspect a place like that will require a lot of work (and I can only imagine the heating bill starting in April ha).

The Beckenham house is gorgeous, seems in comparable condition to number 8 which sold last summer for a few hundred thousand less. Have the prices in that area really gone up 20% in 5 months?!?

@Starseeking

The Beckenham house is gorgeous, seems in comparable condition to number 8 which sold last summer for a few hundred thousand less. Have the prices in that area really gone up 20% in 5 months?!?

That's exactly what I was thinking! And funny enough, both of the houses next to this one sold in the last 15 months or so, and also for substantially less

Westcombe park
Blackheath
Chislehurst
West wickham
Some parts of Bromley

All nice areas, I’d personally avoid hithergreen as I grew up there (my mother still lives there) then rented and had my flowers stolen of my windowsill sounds silly but I was furious at the time! I wouldn’t move back, also there’s no decent secondary schools unless you go private.

[quote MrFirstTimeBuyer]@Twizbe

Thanks for the advice, truly appreciate it.

How is Pengenham with respect to demographics? Ideally we would like a place with decent number of young families/kids and would appreciate some diversity too.[/quote]
It's right up your street for that.

We have a 3 and 5 year old and both were born here.

Pre pandemic there were loads of baby groups and I was involved in the NCT run ones. Slowly these are reopening now. There are LOADS of families here. Penge is also very community minded. Every summer we have Pengefest which is a great 'village fete' type thing. They have an Oktoberfest in September. At Christmas we have Pengmas which was lots of fun. They did a Halloween trail this year too. I'd never seen so many kids or families out in Penge it was great.

As for diversity, I think the answer is the same as for lot of London. Penge and Sydenham are very diverse, beckenham a bit less so. Of the white population, there are a good size where one or both parents weren't born in the UK. I used to hear lots of German spoken here as there is a German school not too far away. Since brexit I've heard more North American voices.

Schools can be a bit less diverse. My daughters preschool has only 1 non white kid at the moment. My son's school is the opposite and he's is one of 5 white children in his class.

[quote MrFirstTimeBuyer]@PutYourBackIntoit

We'll check out that area too. House looks very interesting, but 100 sqm feels a bit small (especially for that price).

@MsFogi

it does, but I suspect a place like that will require a lot of work (and I can only imagine the heating bill starting in April ha).[/quote]
That's because the area is much more central and much nicer!

@LuluBlakey1

I don't know that I'd want to live in Penge-there was an infamous bungalow murder case, huge trial 'The Penge Bungalow Murders'. Is the house anywhere near that?

Er, that was a novel. There aren't even any bungalows in Penge.

There was a murder in Forbes Road that was infamous but that was 150 years ago.... The road has since been renamed Mosslea Road.

Barnmead Road is lovely and has Kent House station on its doorstep, which will get you to Victoria in 22 mins. There's also a nice coffee shop, a Spanish tapas restaurant and a craft beer bar in the immediate area. It's Beckenham by postcode but closer to Penge, which is a really good community focused area. Lots of events arranged by locals including:

Penge Tourist Board Halloween and Easter Trails for kids
Penge Day and Pengemas with music and stalls
Penge Festival - 3 weeks of events including a Fete
Paws in the Park - a dog event in Cator Park
Pengefest - beer event with oompah band on High St

There are also loads of events, gigs and festivals in Crystal Palace Park, which is local.

The Penge Tourist Board is a website, Facebook group and Twitter page that is worth following for all things local.

@sweetbellyhigh

The Beckenham one seems more of a proper house, better garden and so on.

Penge is ok, there are some lovely parts to it especially those beautiful little houses in the square (can't remember the name!)
and I remember Sarah Beeny redecorated an entire street and it looked amazing.

The Penge house looks fine apart from the garden which looks very shabby, they haven't even tried. But the house itself looks perfectly nice.

The Sarah Beeny street was Somerville Road.

@SD25

Beckenham has a nice high street and lots of parks, decent transport, that's basically what people are looking for. As mentioned, you won't get anywhere the size of property in Dulwich or let alone Clapham/Wandsworth. Also very hard to get a decent sized garden in any of those areas, unlike Beckenham. Dulwich and Clapham have lovely 1+ mill houses with postage stamp outside space. Not really in vogue right now

Beckenham's High Street is nice by day but Friday and Saturday night it becomes awful. It has too many chain pubs and bars with late licenses and it is quite rowdy and unpleasant with too many groups of drunken lads and girls staggering around.

By contrast Penge High Street is more practical but less attractive, and in the evening is a nice night out with some really nice independent places on or just off it (Southey taproom, Alexandra pub, Craft Metropolis, Friends of Flavours, Goldsmiths, Chez Yves, Sicilian Art Pizza)

@Luredbyapomegranate

It seems a lot for either area…

I wouldn’t personally want to live in Beckenham,it is deathly dull. What I would do is edge yourself more into Crystal Palace/Gypsy Hill where you have the triangle etc. I do think Penge is gradually being gentrified, but not sure the schools up to it.

If you want very naice area then Dulwich, but it would be smaller at that price. Other wise Blackheath as PP suggests. But do take a look at CP and GH, still quite good value, lovely green spaces and lively.

The schools in Penge are actually really good now for infants/junior. Lots of choice. It isn't well served for secondaries though.

Have you looked at St John’s or Brockley?? You may be able to get a gorgeous house on the fringe of the conservation area for that budget. Much more central than other areas that you’ve noted. Plus there is a food market every Saturday there that attracts people from all over south London. The transport links are great to Canary Wharf as it’s close to the DLR. You can also get into Cannon Street in 10 minutes. I think it’s wildly under priced given the architecture, price, transport links and proximity to the city. (We are looking to possibly move but only because we have never lived anywhere for so long and honestly, cannot find anywhere better for the money!)

Hi everyone,

we listened to the suggestions and walked around the areas in the last couple weeks (definitely walked over 50 miles in the wider beckenham/dulwich area in the last month). Our top areas have been Beckenham and East Dulwich, and we were planning on spending more time in the next couple months figuring out what we like more (and waiting for the right place to come up).

This place just came up last week and we really liked it. Any thoughts on the house (and/or the surrounding area)? Have a feeling it will move quickly so we are trying to decide whether to make an offer or not.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/119497289#/?channel=RES_BUY

It ticks the boxes and is not that expensive (compared to other properties that we've seen). We were told that there is a very good primary nearby (Balgowan) - any thoughts/experiences with the school?

Thanks!

@Twizbe
@BovineJuice
@Classicblunder
@Rrrob
@Clairelucyr
@HavfrueDenizKisi
@Therealrealitystar
@Kipperandarthur

Looks gorgeous. School is meant to be good I hear! I have a friend with a child at Harris Beckenham and they are v happy with that too, so you have options

@MrFirstTimeBuyer I LOVE this road. We looked at a house there a couple of years ago. Balgowan is a v good school. Parking is often tricky on those roads but I have a feeling they are permitted now.

If you can afford it and aren’t concerned about adding value, I would go for it.

[quote Rrrob]@MrFirstTimeBuyer I LOVE this road. We looked at a house there a couple of years ago. Balgowan is a v good school. Parking is often tricky on those roads but I have a feeling they are permitted now.

If you can afford it and aren’t concerned about adding value, I would go for it.[/quote]
Glad to hear that!

Can afford it, not concrned about not being able to extend it either. We are actually not keen on doing significant work on the property at all, and so we've only been looking at "finished" places.

You can't go wrong with Beckenham!
Balgowan has a very good reputation locally. House looks lovely! You might even get into Eden Park High when the time comes, which is a newer, very popular secondary.
Go for it!