Page 8 | Where in London to buy for 900K for an international family of four?

internationalfamily · 2022-07-25T11:23:49+00:00

Hi everyone, Sorry for yet another where to buy thread, but we could really use your help and insights. We are planning to buy a house for our family of four. We have been exploring some areas and viewing houses over the past few months, but really struggling to make our mind up.. Here are the key factors... Budget: - Ideally somewhere between 750K-850K, but we can stretch to 900K. Location: - Needs to be relatively easily accessible to City (to both London Bridge & Strand) - Excellent primary schools for our DD (who will start reception in 2023). - Safe - International community: both my DH and I are Europeans, we would like an open-minded and welcoming community - Access to green space - We currently live and like SW, but are (especially DH is) open to move other parts of London. House: - Three bedrooms - Ideally a house with some outdoor space (one of the areas we disagree with DH who prioritise location over house and is fine with a flat too) Our shortlisted areas are: Wimbledon Town (esp. Dundonald/Chase areas), Balham (Hyde Farm/Nightingale Triangle), Colliers Wood, East Dulwich. Where would you buy from if you were in our shoes? Are we missing some other suitable areas? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts/suggestions...

GreenestValley · 27/07/2022 12:14

OP has never once mentioned schools in her response, so not sure they are a concern or factor?

Original poster

internationalfamily · 27/07/2022 12:14

TheWayTheLightFalls · 27/07/2022 12:06

His first impressions: he really liked Honor Oak Park-Brockley parts. Also found Hither Green & Ladywell to be lovely places but a bit limited in terms of what is going on in the centre. Forest Hill didn't quite make an impression (but maybe he missed the right parts).

Like a PP, I suggest you watch the school situation closely. In Brockley and surrounds (I don't know HOP well at all) all the primaries are genuinely good imo - I'd happily send my child to any. Secondaries are patchier with some single-sex schools in the mix. And Brockley itself is bisected by the railway, with the east side generally nicer but also pricier than the west. Except that at some point bits of the west side sidle up to Telegraph Hill, which is ££££ and with Haberdashers primary and secondary. And Waller primary, also great. Can say more if you need, local.

Many thanks. I might take you up on your offer to tell more once we do a bit more research & exploration😀

OP posts:

99870bj · 27/07/2022 12:16

If you have two DDs then do what everyone else does and move to Honor oak park and get into the catchment of Prendergast secondary. Nice secondary school - fabulous primary stillness. It will also means their friends will stay i.e. they will go from primary to secondary. HOP is nice and houses not to bad, lots of professionals and europeans. We only have boys - hence now looking to move from Forest Hill to Herne Hill. But for girls - you have a lot, a lot more options. my suggestion would also be to go on locrating, pay the add on for a month - select girl/mixed secondary and check which areas have the nicest secondaries and look across sw and se london.

99870bj · 27/07/2022 12:18

@GreenestValley read. thats literally in the OP

kirinm · 27/07/2022 12:19

Herne Hill is great but expensive. You might find somewhere close to Ruskin Park.

Original poster

internationalfamily · 27/07/2022 12:19

99870bj · 27/07/2022 12:16

If you have two DDs then do what everyone else does and move to Honor oak park and get into the catchment of Prendergast secondary. Nice secondary school - fabulous primary stillness. It will also means their friends will stay i.e. they will go from primary to secondary. HOP is nice and houses not to bad, lots of professionals and europeans. We only have boys - hence now looking to move from Forest Hill to Herne Hill. But for girls - you have a lot, a lot more options. my suggestion would also be to go on locrating, pay the add on for a month - select girl/mixed secondary and check which areas have the nicest secondaries and look across sw and se london.

Yes, we have the add-on in locrating which saves a lot of time…

OP posts:

JimDixon · 27/07/2022 12:21

No chance of a house on Telegraph Hill within budget but there are a couple of 3 double-bed flats currently listed. A bit short on communal space and they include the dreaded lower-ground floor, however:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124563809#/?channel=RES_BUY
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124976807#/?channel=RES_BUY

For what it's worth I think away from the hill and into Nunhead is a nicer location, since New Cross Road/NXG is, and always will be, a dump. Best to look for somewhere that's equidistant between Nunhead High Street and Peckham Rye Park & Common. Lots of ex-council stock around below the cemetery so you should be able to find something within budget, maybe a maisonette.

Always lots of parents in the cafe on Peckham Common and there are international restaurants opening up, for example the South African grill 'Kudu' on Nunhead Lane.

kirinm · 27/07/2022 12:25

I know there were houses on Bousfield and Gellaty Road on for c£900k recently- there is not much on at all at the moment. Nunhead is no cheaper than those sorts of roads. There is a nice two-bed house on Tresco Road but it is massively overpriced (and not selling as a result). Currently on for £925k but reduced from close to £1.0m.

What they're now calling "Upper Nunhead" is an area you might find a house - it is pretty much Honor Oak Park.

JimDixon · 27/07/2022 12:31

kirinm · 27/07/2022 12:25

I know there were houses on Bousfield and Gellaty Road on for c£900k recently- there is not much on at all at the moment. Nunhead is no cheaper than those sorts of roads. There is a nice two-bed house on Tresco Road but it is massively overpriced (and not selling as a result). Currently on for £925k but reduced from close to £1.0m.

What they're now calling "Upper Nunhead" is an area you might find a house - it is pretty much Honor Oak Park.

I love Tresco Road and Forester Road etc, I'd prefer them to the hill actually. But I can imagine they're commanding East Dulwich prices these days :(.

Here's an 'Upper Nunhead' fixer-upper at top of OP's budget - price has been reduced:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85613880#/?channel=RES_BUY

Or this looks good to go, just on today:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/125415707#/?channel=RES_BUY

kirinm · 27/07/2022 12:33

Oh yes @JimDixon Nunhead is definitely close to or exceeding ED house prices. It would be my preferred location too (am in TH).

pipcuh · 27/07/2022 12:36

@kirinm interesting to hear about Nunhead, but what do people do for secondaries?

kirinm · 27/07/2022 12:45

@pipcuh I've no idea. Perhaps Haberdashers? St Thomas' is a good boys school as far as I'm aware. Personally, I've blanked that stage of school out of my mind for now!

FallingAlong · 27/07/2022 13:22

99870bj · 27/07/2022 12:16

If you have two DDs then do what everyone else does and move to Honor oak park and get into the catchment of Prendergast secondary. Nice secondary school - fabulous primary stillness. It will also means their friends will stay i.e. they will go from primary to secondary. HOP is nice and houses not to bad, lots of professionals and europeans. We only have boys - hence now looking to move from Forest Hill to Herne Hill. But for girls - you have a lot, a lot more options. my suggestion would also be to go on locrating, pay the add on for a month - select girl/mixed secondary and check which areas have the nicest secondaries and look across sw and se london.

Prendergast has a great reputation, and the last distance admitted for in 2022 was 1082m, so you've got quite a wide area to choose from for that school.

OP if you're researching secondaries in the area then have a look at the selective grammar schools too. Ladywell is in catchment for St Olave's and Newstead Woods, Brockley might be too. I also know people in the area whose children go to the Bexley grammars.

TheWayTheLightFalls · 27/07/2022 13:57

No chance of a house on Telegraph Hill within budget but there are a couple of 3 double-bed flats currently listed.

Two on Troutbeck recently sold for £845k (terraced) and £945k (semi). OK they're ugly as fuck, but you'll be getting into Haberdashers! There are (rarely) also four-bed flats around - one on Erlanger recently, one on Pepys earlier in the year. Or Bousfield/Gellatly as @kirinm mentioned.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 27/07/2022 14:22

Bousfield new are selling for over a million, we have friends there.

I'm old enough to remeber when no one wanted the Telegraph Hill flats and they were really cheap 😂

kirinm · 27/07/2022 14:36

God, that is depressing.

onthefencesitter · 27/07/2022 15:41

GreenestValley · 26/07/2022 23:28

They are not the same thing, and in fact often congregate in oppositional areas (expats although not always, tend to be white, affluent professionals where immigrants tend to be not white, less professional social classes).

in her OP the poster is grouping the two as if they were much the same

international / having a lot of different nationalities / cosmopolitan (which suggests sharing of cultures so there is an educational aspect implicit in that)/ open minded / expat / professional / not brexity… fact is, the best place to look for a community like this is probably the whiter, richer areas of London.

no parts of zone 1-3 have Tory MPs that I can think of. If any do exist it must be literally one or two.

I am in zone 3 and my MP is Tory- Mike Freer. Finchley and GG- Finchley Central is zone 4, but East Finchley and Golders Green are solidly zone 3. There are historic immigrant communities- but FInchley did vote for Thatcher back in the day.

banhmi · 27/07/2022 16:01

Interesting that your husband didn't think there was much going on in Ladywell. Did he look at the high street? It has a pub, post office, florist, two great cafes (Oscars and Le Delice), Mama Dough pizza, lovely gift/homewares shop, eco-refill shop, fish and chips, DIY shop, hairdresser/beauty salon, newsagent, fruit & veg shop, estate agent, dry cleaner, bike repair shop. All great local businesses well loved and supported by the community.

Plus we just heard that a large empty betting shop is likely to become a new restaurant.

15 mins to London Bridge, close to Lewisham DLR and easy access to Greenwich. Great people and great schools, especially primaries.

banhmi · 27/07/2022 16:07

I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/123654476

This is already under offer but good example of what you can get in Ladywell for £900k. In catchment for Gordonbrock primary and Prendergast secondary. Moments from Hilly Fields.

User112 · 27/07/2022 16:42

SEVENOAKS!! . Excellent schools, quick commute to London Bridge, safe and really lovely.

Your child will have the advantage of being “in area” for grammar schools for secondary.

Further down the line, there is Tonbridge. Very similar set up there too, you’ll get a nice detached 4 bed for £900k there!

700077fjjk · 27/07/2022 17:00

@User112 i heard that Sevenoaks is lovely but what happens if your child doesnt get into a grammar school? Isnt that the problem with much of Kent, great if you get in, terrible if you dont?

Evianna83 · 27/07/2022 17:28

His first impressions: he really liked Honor Oak Park-Brockley parts. Also found Hither Green & Ladywell to be lovely places but a bit limited in terms of what is going on in the centre. Forest Hill didn't quite make an impression (but maybe he missed the right parts).

FWIW I agree that whilst nice, these areas don't have much going on at the centre. Blackheath Village sounds much more up your street.

churrios · 27/07/2022 17:34

area around prendergast touches on Crofton Park, Brockley, Ladywell and Honour Oak. Agree there’s not a lot in Ladywell if you are comparing to high streets in other areas but it’s quality not quantity. When you do get a night out it’s close to Peckham which is foodie heaven at the moment loads of great places to eat. Plus on a Saturday you have Brockley market close enough.

User112 · 27/07/2022 20:25

there are plenty of high quality private schools if you don’t want to consider comprehensives.

GuidingSpirit · 27/07/2022 20:43

internationalfamily · 25/07/2022 22:12

@IrisVersicolor thanks for the links. Oxted & Kingston (albeit beautiful) are a bit disconnected for us. Agreed re South Wimbledon. BTW, do you know Colliers Wood, one stop after South Wimbledon? What do you think about it?

@internationalfamily I live in Colliers Wood! Often overlooked as the high street is a bit rubbish but merton abbey mills is lovely and it's a lovely walk to Morden Hall Park. Has a very active community facebook group that you could join and ask for views. Can't comment on schools as DD is only 1yr so haven't started looking yet. I nearly always get a seat on the tube as well.