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?

Agree, unfortunately if fortunately there was nothing coming on in St. Albans in the last few weeks anyway that would've been worth the trip.

Guildford seemed very nice but we got some lovely sunny days out there.
Let's see if anyone else is in the mix for the house, it's in the lower end of our affordability so we have wiggle room just not sure if we want to get in bidding war in this market.

southgate is nice. welwyn garden city also

Gidea Park.
London zone 6 so cheaper and more frequent trains than further out. There's a prep school and well regarded state primary and secondaries (plus quite a few go to the Essex grammars - there's a coach). A beautiful park, loads of kids classes and activities, a lovely old pub (The Ship). There's a nice little high street plus you're in easy reach of Romford when you need big chainstores, supermarkets, cinema etc.

This house is on one of the prime roads.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/136920086#/?channel=RES_BUY

Find somewhere on the end of a tube line that also has a rail station. I wouldn't want to solely dependent on rail for commute. The service isn't always that good, which is stressful. Having a tube station nearby makes all the difference.

eg High Barnet is nice. Nice high street and surrounding green areas. Schools are good. Tube station on Northern Line so easy commute into London, for Canary Wharf it's straight through to London Bridge on Northern Line tube then change for a few short stops to Canary Wharf. It also has a rail station - New Barnet.

Similarly you could look for somewhere on the end of the Jubilee Line. I don't go to those areas much but Canons Park seems OK. Maybe check out around Whetstone and Stanmore stations too. Going the other way, as you're commuting to East London then Essex would be easy. Hainault, Epping etc. I'm not a fan of Essex but you may like it. It's a case if getting up and out and spending day wandering around to get a feel.

Good luck with your offer @AX35 !
I live near Guildford -- we moved out of London over 22 years ago to start our family. No regrets :)
Hope all goes well.

I was going to say Bowes Park which is on the train line to Moorgate, 5 minutes from Liverpool Street, and near good schools and Ally Pally. But just seen you've put an offer in Guildford. Fingers crossed for you. My son is at uni there, seems a lovely place and it has lots of countryside and a lido

I don’t know anyone who has regretted the move to Guildford, @AX35, of the maybe dozen friends and colleagues who live there. Wishing you all the best!

Well seems like there are three other offers on the table and it is going to be best and final on Friday so might as well start looking at the other areas again.

Hey everyone,

Loads of things happened since the last post and we had two offers rejected which might have been a blessing as my partner lost their job two weeks ago. Fortunately they found a new higher paying one and will start on Monday.

But our requirements have now changed to commute to Victoria 3x and Canary Wharf 2x.

St. Albans, Guildford and Surbiton are still on the top of the list but anything in the East has fallen off due to the longer commute.

Are there any other areas we should look into with an easy commute into Victoria station?

Thanks!

Sutton.

Also Beckenham or Bickley/Chislehurst or Petts Wood as all London Bridge plus Victoria (I think!)

Isn't Sevenoaks - Victoria? That's nice too OP if you haven't been and fits the other places you liked

Depends how much you want to spend on train tickets really.

.

Honestly in that price range you could afford Herne Hill/North Dulwich, Honor Oak Park or Forest Hill/Sydenham. Lovely areas to bring up children, great schools etc.

Bowes Park is nice and it's 20 mins to Moorgate on the train, then a few minutes walk to Liverpool Street. Not so convenient for Canary Wharf.
Alexandra Palace is in the same area and lovely/ trains more frequent, but property costs more.

We ended up buying in Wanstead by the way, ended up on the more expensive side of the budget but so far it's been great. The Victoria commute is not the best but we really like the area.

You'd get a nice 3-4 bed house for that in Brockley/Honor Oak/Forest Hill. On the overground so an easy commute to Liverpool St (via Shoreditch High St) and Canary Wharf (change at Canada Water). Very family friendly.

To be honest we looked a lot in South London but the only area we seriously considered was Beckenham but there was nothing there that fit the bill before we found the house in Wanstead.

Epping/Loughton

elizabeth line trains don’t appear to stop very often at West Ealing and Hanwell although 8 am talking about a Sunday. Maybe Monday to Friday is much better.