Where to live in London? 850-900k budget

[Butterflypoetry]

Hi everyone. My partner and I (early 30s) are looking to move to buy a house, one that we intend to live in for at least 10 years. I am currently pregnant and baby will be out by the end of the year. We are quite flexible with where we want to live in terms of location but are mostly familiar with WL given weve lived here for most of our lives.

what we are looking for

• house w a garden
• safe area
• good schools. We will not be looking at private schooling
• Close to amenities - groceries, shops

we have looked at some areas - Streatham (specifically Streatham Hill as we’ve been told it’s the nicer part of Streatham), Clapham, surbiton, CP, Dulwich, Raynes Park. Not sure if this is helpful, but we have looked at Hounslow and it is just not the area for us. Where would you recommend?

obviously we will be doing more research but would be helpful to know from those that are more familiar. We have family in Surrey who are keen for us to move there but we aren’t too familiar w it - from what we’ve seen, it’s very villagey and the crowd where my extended family live is much older and we would somehow prefer a place closer to london, although understand that our budget limits us.

If you'd be willing to move out of the London postcode, you'd get a lovely house with decent garden in Letchworth, or Hitchin, for that price. There are direct trains from the station to central London so you could be in and out quickly- lots of people commute. There are also good schools, leisure centres and a nice town centre in both places, lots of families.

North Kingston? You have Ham Common, the river and Richmond Park, and schools are good.

We lived in a maisonette in Raynes Park and I miss it so much! Great place to live and the waterloo train is pretty quick and reliable. With your budget I'd definitely go back there.

Clapham has loads for families, lots of mum and baby groups and having access to the common is so great for toddlers.
However I would say you might feel a bit differently about moving close to family once the baby is here. I could never imagine moving out of zone 3, now I have a (almost) 2 year old and I'm desperate to move out closer to family. Having help is really massive! Plus your lifestyle changes so much once you have a toddler.

Depending on the type of property your looking for Dulwich might be over budget. Possibly parts of Bromley? Hayes in Bromley has really good schools and it's own station (stopping train) as well as easy access to Bromley for fast trains to London and shopping.

Teddington would always be my top choice. Beautiful area with bushy park and the river on your doorstep

Wimbledon, Raynes park, Surbiton.

You will find that for that budget, 3 bedroom is comfortable for these areas. If you are both working from home some days and plan to have 2+ kids, I think 4 bedroom would be good. So you may want to move to other areas like Bromley, Orpington. Unfortunately it's very hard to find good properties with 4 bedroom in that budget

Forest Hill, Sydenham, Beckenham.

What part of Surrey are your parents in? It’s invaluable having parents close by with dc particularly when they are small. 10 yrs means accounting for schools, would you look at private? The nice parts of Streatham (Balham borders) will be more than your budget and secondary schools can be an issue so many go private. Wimbledon is great, with loads on your doorstep but I think the best secondaries are single sex. Teddington is lovely. Kingston has some very good state schools so that’s a good long term option.

Basically secondary schools tends to be the sticky point, if you can afford private then obviously not an issue & if you are Catholic again less restrictive catchments. But if you need state the outer boroughs have some of the best state options including grammars (although they are highly competitive), so if it’s a long term move focus on that.

And better to stay South vs north if family are South

Where in London is your work now and where is it likely to be in the future, commuting is such a consideration.

Streatham Hill is excellent for primary schools: Dunraven, Hitherfield , Streatham Wells, Julian’s, as well as the ones on the Balham side. And the roads between Wavertree and Amesbury are good with a community sprit. Also from Here down the other side towards Tulse Hill.

Secondary: Dunraven, lottery place at Kingsdale, selective place at Graveney, various scholarship places at Chestnut Grove or Norwood School. Bishop Thomas Grant if Catholic.

Very good and quick transport to town and Brixton. Cinema, theatre.

Wimbledon/South Wimbledon. Very good transport links and you'd get something like this...

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/67340915

Check school catchment areas carefully.

Do you have a car/drive? Or do you require public transport to visit your family? If you are using public transport, I'd look along the train line to make your life easy for visits (if they are close enough family that you would visit often). We live the wrong side of London to DH family and it's such a pain getting across London to them with (now) two DC and all the paraphernalia that goes alongside. So if the train goes out via Wimbledon / Raynes Park / Surbiton, that's where I'd focus my search rather than Streatham / Balham. It's things you also don't think about before having kids that become a regular frustration - eg. no lift at Clapham Underground, or the steps at Balham Underground so it's a faff with the buggy.

I agree with the pp about wanting to be near family - I've never wanted to leave London as much as when my babies were tiny. Obviously as they get bigger and settled, that feeling has passed a little but I would have loved so much to be able to get to my DM more easily.

Worth having a look at West Norwood too if you like Streatham Hill.

It's quieter and still in the catchment for a lot of the excellent primary and secondary schools in the area.

“I’m currently pregnant and baby will be out by end of the year..”
Well, I certainly hope so!😀

Secondary: Dunraven, lottery place at Kingsdale, selective place at Graveney, various scholarship places at Chestnut Grove or Norwood School. Bishop Thomas Grant if Catholic.

Why do people still rave about Dunraven? Its results are really not great & a selective place at Graveney is extremely hard to get. BTG is very good though.

If family in Surrey go for Surbiton (or Kingston / Teddington areas).

I think Colliers Wood is a good area - lots of young families are moving in. On the tube so really easy to get around London and there is a community feel, especially around the grid to the east of the high street. Walking distance to Tooting which has a lot of nice restaurants and bars.

£900 K for a house?!!! I cannot conceive spending so much on a house. Ours only cost us 50p.

Raynes Park and Wimbledon

£900 K for a house?!!! I cannot conceive spending so much on a house. Ours only cost us 50p.

One of my school friends lived in Wim Village in the late 90s. was just under 1m then. About 7m now.

Depends which bit of Surrey too!