London - Areas

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I would love a second property in London (we live up north but visit regularly).

I have looked and dreamed and Googled but I need some local insider knowledge - can anyone recommend areas to look at?

criteria would be

1. on the tube line
2. safe area, I like a bohemian vibe - Notting Hill, Portobello Road, Camden Market, Covent Garden, South Bank are the areas I spend time although I am well aware they’d be way out of budget (hence the struggle, I don’t know anywhere further out).
3. house rather than apartment to remove service charges
4. in an ideal world under £700k

Am I living in a dream world to think this may be doable? Can anyone suggest areas to look?

Morden, Colliers Wood maybe? The only places in South London I can think of that’s on the tube with 700k houses.

What do you want? A house or flat? How many bedrooms?

A house in covent garden for 700k is never going to happen I'm afraid😂 although I see you know that obviously!

What's more important to you... having a house rather than flat or location?

Not very bohemian though

You could get a two-bed house in Walthamstow 'village' for that. I guess it could be described as bohemian. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147100520#/?channel=RES_BUY

Kennington - quite a nice little development of mews style houses https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/148992020#/?channel=RES_BUY

Apparently you can buy near Clapham Common although I wonder if the price is a typo as it seems cheap. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/146192282#/?channel=RES_BUY

@Comedycook the OP doesn’t have the budget for bohemian though.

The Kennington one is leasehold. Clapham one seems ok-ish but not exactly attractive.

OP honestly a flat would be much better for you than a house. For that budget a house would be in the suburbs, maybe not even close to a tube station. A flat has service charges, yes, but also far, far less maintainance than a house, and generally much better security. If I was going to buy somewhere I wasn’t going to live in full time, those factors would trump the service charge massively.

Bear in mind stamp duty - for a second home at that price you’ll be paying over £43k.

You won’t get a house in a ‘bohemian’ area for 700k. A flat in some areas, but probably not the areas you mentioned.

That house in Clapham isn’t in a great part.

Yes bohemian does come with quite a price tag 😂

Thank you so much. I hadn’t considered service charge being lower than maintenance of a house so that’s definitely something to think of.

All we would actually need size wise is a studio! Could afford into 7 figures in fairness but wouldn’t ideally want to.

That is largely why I posted - to ascertain how realistic my thoughts are and how I would need to adjust them to make it workable. I really appreciate the input so much!

(and yes I absolutely know I can’t afford Covent Garden 🤣)

Enough empty second homes in London already, please don't do this.

You missed a zero from your budget for these areas.

You can afford 7 figures for a second home?
I think you may be better contacting property finders who will do it for a fee, rather than this site.

Look for a share of freehold flat instead.
Barnes, Crouch End, East Dulwich, Bethnal Green.

Is the tube line a deal breaker or do you just mean on a train line? There are a lot of places out in the suburbs where 700k will get you a large property, and the travel time into central London is going to be the same as going a few stops on the tube due to it being on a fast Trainline. I’m zone 5 in south London and can be into London Victoria, London Bridge, Farringdon etc etc in 15-20 mins from my station. You may be better served to think about this from a perspective of speed of travel in rather than having to be on a tube line unless of course you like the romanticism of tube travel for some reason?

For additional context - home is oooop north where it’s grim and you can buy a 10 bedroom mansion for 50p (obviously very heavily sarcastic here). So although it would be a ‘second home’ it would cost more than home itself.

My husband’s office is based in London and he has lots of meetings in London (which is a large part of why we visit often).

It was more of a musing of ‘is this actually doable’ because (as up thread) the areas I know are totally unaffordable. So while Rightmove may show me X houses for X budget, I have absolutely no context of what the area is like and it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack without some gentle guidance/a complete reality check.

The same as if someone asked me whether £X would realistically get them house type Y in an area like ABC, if this was my local area I could answer that no problem in a few seconds.

I know! I could find myself a home if I had the budget for those areas, as they’re the areas I know 🤣

That is my dilemma - where could I look that would be in budget, if anywhere.

Not romanticism, lack of understanding. Thank you, I had no idea! All I hear is about needing to be on the tube line to easily get into London (I don’t even like the tube).

This was really the kind of advice I posted hoping for so I’m really grateful.

I’m zone 5 in south London and can be into London Victoria, London Bridge, Farringdon etc etc in 15-20 mins from my station. You may be better served to think about this from a perspective of speed of travel in rather than having to be on a tube line unless of course you like the romanticism of tube travel for some reason?

15 mins, where is this place in z5?! The beauty of the tube is that you don’t have a long wait to start your journey, it doesn’t matter if you miss one & even in outer zones there’s quite a premium to live very close to a station.

It’s not quite the normal reason for a second home - my husband needs to be down south more but it’s such a huge lifestyle change that we couldn’t do it in the childhood of our daughter, who has grown up up north in the countryside. I’d move to London full time in a heartbeat otherwise - I love it. But we could never afford to replicate the lifestyle she has up here in London, so it’s completely out of reach until she’s grown up.

Part of my reasoning is that it’s a foot in the door on the London property ladder (again happy to be corrected and told this is a bad idea) until we could move properly in the future.

Service charges can be much cheaper than insurance, basic building maintenance etc .

Look in Westminster/Pimlico Zone 1 - typically best value in Central London . You can walk to Covent Garden in 25 mins . I live in SW1P and you can get an amazing flat for £700,000 here. Victoria line (5 mins walk) and Jubilee line (10 mins walk) district and circle (12 mins walk) . Thames Clipper etc etc

You can also get Millbank near Tate Modern for a similar price and a bit more lively

The tube is easier & often more reliable. I have friends in outer zones & if their train is cancelled or they miss the fast train the journey can be a pain in the ass.

Thank you so much!

It isn’t something we are looking to jump into tomorrow but within the next couple of years I think 🤞