FTB: Feeling nervous about moving to zone 3 London.

[Silksonic]

I’m 30 and currently live in London Z2, no children yet but actively trying to find a partner as I would love to start trying.

All of my friends are similar age/ no kids/ no partner.

We all live in Z2 but scattered around N/E/S

My rent is going up another 25%. I'm tired of moving every year so I finally started looking to buy last year. I wanted to stay in Z2 SE but my budget of £400,000 hasn’t gone far. I haven’t managed to find a 2 bed that has the size I’m looking for.

I did find a modern 2 bed but the service charge was £3800 p/a.

I came across a 2 bed on Collingtree Road in Sydenham that ticks all my boxes. It’s SoF, needs some modernisation but good condition.
My friends are starting to make me feel nervous about being isolated and far from everyone as well as not having access to the tube.

I would have preferred to be in Forest Hill/ Honor Oak or Brockley as they have better restaurants/ independence stores, cafes, which is what I’m interested in but what I viewed in my budget were smaller or had short leases.

I think I just need reassurance that my social life isn’t going to collapse if I continue with this purchase and that there are actually things to do (eat) in Sydenham.

Sydenham is only 2 minutes further down the line than Forest Hill and has a better high street (it even still has a bank!). Both Syd and FH have more amenities than HOP and Brockley. I've never understood the popularity of Brockley as there's hardly anything there. Perhaps it's a psychological effect of it being in Zone 2.

Ignore the clueless people who bleat "it's not on the Tube". It's on the Overground which connects with the Jubilee line at Canada Water and the Elizabeth line at Whitechapel. And the Overground service on the Syd branch is more frequent than the Peckham branch. Admittedly, the Southern service into London Bridge has been eroded since the Overground has been introduced and is a very poor service now, although apparently due to increase in December.

OP I am not sure why you think Forest Hill is out of the question, a Rightmove search shows there are a good number of flats in the £350k - £400k budget range.

However whilst I live in Forest Hill and love it, it is not significantly livelier than Sydenham. There are a small number of restaurants and pubs we like and the Horniman Museum is great, but we tend to head for Crystal Palace or Peckham for local nights out (both an easy bus ride or walk away).

You are at the point in your life where people will start moving to different areas of London (mostly further out) even moving out of London altogether so I wouldn't sweat it too much. When I was in my single 20s I lived in Peckham and Camberwell, whilst I lived near some friends, I also had a good number friends in East and North East London as well as friends to the West, so nights out were often in Central London or places like Camden or Shoreditch.

I live near Forest Hill. There's a lovely pub called the Greyhound in Cobbs Corner, Sydenham. I WALK there. Sydenham isn't cut off. It's got tons of buses, loads of amenities in the High Street, and s massive Sainsbury's. There's even a sodding Overground station.

That aside, as your friendship group starts settling down you will move further away from each other. It's inevitable.

The Greyhound is great and can get pretty lively at the weekend.

Also Collingtree road is really well located. If you are keen on Forest Hill you can walk there is about 10 mins. You are practically on the border of Forest Hill.

Sydenham is great, and 16 mins from London Bridge/12 mins from Canada Water, if you wanted Brockley/Honor Oak Park/Forest Hill, Sydenham is only 6/4/2 minutes further on overground/rail than each of those respectively!! You will get a lot more for your money in SE than N, much more green space, good schools, shh don’t tell everyone or they’ll all get the same idea! Plus it’s an underpriced area so you’re likely to make money on a property in this area.

Sydenham is lovely! I can't believe that anyone could suggest you should consider living in Peckham or east London rather than there!! It's a really nice location and a very short walk to the station. You're within really easy walking distance to Crystal Palace park, close to a lovely gym and swimming pool, and there are some excellent restaurants nearby including probably the best Indian restaurant in south London and a wonderful pizza place. You are a very short bus ride from Forest Hill and Crystal Palace, which has loads of bars and restaurants. It's a relatively safe area, particularly compared with somewhere like Peckham. I'm out of touch with property prices in the area but if the flat you're looking at is reasonably priced, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

I like Sydenham a lot but I agree with PP about buying a one bed in an area you love. By the time you need a two bed lots of change may have happened, your friends will probably have moved, your partner may need to live on the other side of town for commuting, really anything.

If you really want 2 bed I'd suggest Deptford/Greenwich, it's less than 10 minutes to London Bridge on the train and the DLR is practically a tube, there's loads of places to go out, lots of young people. We're looking in the area now you can get something in your budget.

Have you been to Peckham in the last ten years? It has rapidly gentrified.

i moved to zone 3 when I was 30 - one of the first of my friends. A few of them acted like I’d moved to Antarctica 😂Within a couple of years most of them had also moved further out! Some to same area as me as they liked it :)

it was fantastic not to be tied to a landlord/renting and I really got to love my area and was still pretty easy to get around other parts of london (I was near tube though).

Nearing 40, I now live in a lovely leafy part of zone 5… and the same thing is repeating itself!

if you’re looking at north-east, would look at Walthamstow, Blackhorse Road, South Woodford, Wanstead, Forest Gate. All in zone 3/4, on tube, lots of things to do. Should still be able to get a flat in budget.

Hi, Sydenham resident here,

Looking at the road, it looks really nice & is very well located for transport, buses & overground. It's also really close to prob the best pub in Sydenham ( in my opinion), the greyhound. You are also a 10 minute walk from Forest Hill & amenities there. Crystal Palace, East Dulwich & Peckham are a short bus ride away & are worthy of enticing your friends to this part of London.

Crystal palace park is on the doorstep & has amazing music festivals in the summer. there really is nothing like having this like your doorstep!

We also have the coolest little comedy club called the poodle club & a great local italian, which has already been mentioned.

@WitchWithoutChips Yes, I live quite close to Peckham. It may have gentrified but it's still horrible and parts are extremely unsafe, particularly for a single woman. I think gentrification can also really ruin an area, East Dulwich being a prime example.

@Growlybear83 completely agree that gentrification is not a positive thing but can’t agree with you that Peckham is ‘horrible’.

My experience of being single in London in my 30s is that friends start taking more responsible jobs and go out less and for later. As their income grows they also start taking more holidays.

Idk that I would buy a house in a location based on the availability of current friends; it might not last.

I think I would look for a comfortable home in a area that I felt safe in, with a decent number of bars, pubs and cafes to meet new people in locally.

I think you should look at that one where the second bedroom can't fit a single bed. You are single now. You can have a bedroom and a study in this. It's a step up to a 1-bed flat.

Is there anything else wrong with it? You'll be closer to everything. Obviously moving out gives you more space. But do you need the space?

What everyone is missing is £400k is a decent budget for a 2 bed flat in many parts of SE London - Sydenham isn't some sort of awful last chance saloon. Peckham has 2 bed flats for £400k, less if you are prepared to consider ex local authority.

I love Sydenham and go there often (from Forest Hill, takes less than 10 minutes on the bus) - I love 161 (great wine, food and tastings), Mystic Burek, great amenities (butcher, fishmonger, health good shop) and there are better options for yoga and Pilates. It's very close to Crystal Palace which is good for nights out. There's also a brewery (Ignition) which runs events. There's loads going on in Sydenham and the overground is great, much nicer than the tube. I do have friends who live in north London and refuse to set foot south of the river but they live in much smaller places and rented a lot longer than I did. Depends on what you value the most (and the security of owning my own place was really important to me).

@KievLoverTwo that is a very good point. At 29 I lived very near 5 friends in zone 2 ( and actually was sharing a flat with two of them!).

Just 4 years later 2 of those friends had left London altogether, one had moved to zone 6 and had 2 children, one to zone four and I myself to zone 3.

We'll have to agree to disagree! Having lived close to Peckham for almost 50 years, I think it is one of the last places in south London that I would ever choose to live in. I don't think it has improved in the years I've lived here, and I much prefer how it used to be when I first moved to the area.

I would not be basing my mortgage and property buying based on friends !
esp when I was actively looking for a partner so I could have a baby.

concentrate on what you want ! and can afford and get as much square footage for your money as you can in a property you want to live in - your friends are not moving in with you !!!

your friends will not be considering you when they find partners and have children - they will be considering their places of work, their families and school league tables !

If you've lived near there for 50 years @Growlybear83 and found it better to start with, is it not also to do with the fact that you're older and your perspectives change?

I loved living in Peckham in my early 30s- I wouldn't live there now because I don't want to be out all the time looking for a partner and seeing friends regularly but based on what the OP has said they're looking for Peckham is a really good option.

Peckham is fine. I lived there from 2002 - 2004 and then again 2010 - 2014. The gentrification is getting a bit annoying but I am part of that as we do go out there a lot.

I dofind it a little bit too much now I live a bit more suburban!

OP maybe surprised at just how quickly this sort of thing happens from 30 onwards.

Do you need a 2 bed?

I gave up on that and live very happily in a zone 1 one bed. Admittedly it's quite big and I have a study area with a wall bed but there isn't a "proper" second bedroom.

I regard it as a positive. Friends can stay. But not for too long!

And I actually live in all the space I pay for. When I used to own a 2 bed I rarely went into the second bedroom.

EDIT: I used to live in an "up and coming" zone 2 area which was regarded as "dodgy" but had lots of friends around me which made it work. 15 years on. One set are out of london, one set in zone 3 west London, one set in a massive house in zone 1 (parental help!). They all have kids. I don't.

@KievLoverTwo yes it can happen very suddenly at that age and feel a bit of an upheaval. Without being patronising I think the OP seeks to be the first in her group to make that jump and is having a bit of a wobble. It's not actually about Sydenham.

Now I am in my mid 40s my we are all settled happily in our different lives. I have a gang of friends based around suburban SE London who I see a lot (we were actually out at the theatre in Bromley last night) and I see my other parts of London/out of town friends mainly in central London (seeing a couple of friends who moved out west of London at the Southbank on Saturday).

But I will concede the difference is most of us (including me) have been in long term relationships since our late 20s/early 30s.