Where to buy to start a family around London (750-900k)

[AX35]

Hi,

We are in our mid thirties and would like to start a family but before that we'd love to buy a house to avoid being moved around at random by landlords.

We both work in tech so we need to be in the office twice a week max but we'd like to be able to get there within roughly an hour (Canary Wharf and Liverpool Street). We currently don't drive so we would need somewhere walkable to a train station.

We are looking for 3-4 bedroom houses with garden in an area with a nice community vibe and independent shops and ideally not too small (Berkhamstead is lovely but didn't vibe with us for that reason)

I've done plenty of research but as an EU immigrant it's hard to judge a lot of those places without first hand knowledge.

We love St. Albans and had an offer accepted already before the seller pulled out and we are still looking there but there is nothing reasonable on the market right now.

Other places we looked at but can't really tell if it would be a good fit are Tunbridge Wells, Beaconsfield, Harpenden, Seven Oaks, Guildford or Maidenhead but not sure about those as we haven't visited them yet.

Does anyone have any recommendations, any places we should be checking out or should be avoiding with our criteria?

All my neighbours in SW London are from the home counties & went to private school so they all start to freak out about secondary schools! Growing up all my neighbours were 1st gen immigrants like my parents 😆

If you move out of London to anywhere, the expectation is you can drive. Even if you live in somewhere like St Alban’s chances are once you have DC you drive them around to activities, parties etc.

If you found a place you like stick with it as something will come up. In the mean time, book driving lessons!

Hey OP, I posted similar on another thread...

Definitely Hitchin!

Great diversity, vibrant town, real community spirit. They've launched a new website for the town visithitchin.com which will tell you more about it.

Around 30mins into London, but easy access to country walks too. £700-900k would get you a decent 3-4 bed house in walking distance to the station.

Overground stops at;

Kings Cross and St Pancras
Farringdon
City Thames Link
Black Friars
London Bridge

We can drive we just don't have a car because there was no need so far. What we would like to avoid is having to drive every day if we can.

Not at all, but I’m not sure that is necessarily a priority for the OP, so I’m recommending it based on what I think they might like (rather than what I might like !).

SE London - Forest Hill. Easy commute to Canary Wharf. Leafy roads and decent enough sized houses for £900k

SE London. I’m near Lewisham, it takes about 30-40 mins door to door to Canary Wharf. Neighbours are about to put their house in the market for 900k.

Sorry I don't mean to offend anyone but paying 900k to live in Lewisham seems crazy to me. We lived in New Cross before so we know the area a bit and I can't imagine a house that would make this a worthwhile option for us.

I was also thinking £900k is a hell of a lot for Lewisham.

Have you looked at Cockfosters?

Another vote for Hitchin. We moved to Hitchin from London a few years ago and have no regrets. It has a really nice town and close to lots of other towns to visit. Great for kids and the schools are excellent.

Sorry I don't mean to offend anyone but paying 900k to live in Lewisham seems crazy to me

I agree!

I'd look around Chelmsford. There are pretty terraced and semi detached houses in your price range, within 10 min walk of the station and it's just over 30 mins to Liverpool Street. It's seen as a lovely, safe town to raise a family.

That first one 😱

The edit button has vanished, but here's a link to a house in Chelmsford that could be absolutely stunning! Just around the corner from an Ofsted Good primary school and a grammar secondary, across the road from a huge park and about 10 mins from the station, getting you into Liverpool Street in 35 mins.

Why not buy further in and have all that London has to offer for families (lots....) and an easier commute so more family time

CLapham https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/86278479#/?channel=RES_BUY

BAttersea https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136210739#/?channel=RES_BUY

Camberwell https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132621389#/?channel=RES_BUY

Oval/Kennington https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/138543707#/?channel=RES_BUY

I feel there's a lot of people advising about the house prices but if you have a family, you really should start with the schools and the availability of places.

Hahaha. Fair enough re Lewisham but I did say near not in. I’m afraid that’s the cost of living in zone 3 and close to Canary Wharf with good schools and parks.

Best of luck 😊

Though as OP is at the "starting a family" stage rather than already has kids starting school, this will be much less of an issue, given the population peak has already passed in the primary population and the state primary population will drop by about half a million by 2028.

I agree definitely look at schools! But availability of places might decline as an issue (depending on how councils manage the decline.)

Yeah we are planning and starting after getting the house to avoid not being able to borrow as much as roughly 90k of our 200k combined salary would be wiped out during the maternity leave.

If we need to move when we get to the school age that's fine as well.

Just booked viewings in Guildford and Surbiton btw. and a lot of interesting houses seem to disappear from the market right now as the sellers don't seem to be willing to reduce their inflated expectations.

Good luck! We've been in Surbiton 15 years now, it's changed so much since we've been here, more buzz, lots more independent restaurants/cafes/shops.

@AX35 Yep, I think both those are solid family places with a good commute. Surbiton is in zones, so house may be a bit more but commute costs would be less. I really like both. I've lived in St Albans (twice) but actually prefer both of these as much prefer Guildford and kingston for shopping.

Just to keep everyone updated, we made an offer for a house in Guildford after viewing 9 houses there in total over the last two weeks.

Let's see if this works out, but both Guildford and St. Albans are still on the top of our list.

@AX35 ah, really hope it works out- I love Guildford, far more than I loved st Albans and have lived in both .

Good luck with the purchase @AX35. we’re in a similar position and Guildford is high on our list, along with Surbiton. I think St Albans is very expensive for what you get, but it has got very fast transport links to London.