Where to buy home in London ?

[Omsairama]

Hi all,

We’re first time buyers and have a budget of 700K. It’s getting hard to find the right house also as we haven’t decided on the areas we want to live. We don’t want flat but semidetached 3 bed wirh more than 1000sqft with a garden preferably in a safe area. We’re currently looking at Pinner but nothing available. Can someone please suggest good areas to live in London? We live in west London currently and prefer north or west. Also, how’s Mill Hill? And if anyone from Mill Hill please suggest streets/area in Mill Hill. Thank you. All suggestions welcome.

I think people are being a bit dramatic about Thameslink. It's pretty standard rail service - not perfect but frequent and good enough, like most other lines.

Thank you. I’ll check those areas.

I understand our budget is less. We don’t want to spend £400/500+ in the commute/ month and not more than 1 hour of travel. We aren’t bothered about the year of made as we found newly built are over priced. The only thing is mould issues I’m worried about, it should be decently maintained for us to move in and don’t mind doing the upgrade after move in. Being immigrants, we like to live in a multi cultural area. Don’t care about the school. But we don’t want to go too far where the possibility of traveling to central London is lost during weekends and walking from station to home in a safer area.

I realise unless you live in the area, you don’t understand the vibe. I feels overwhelming to move in a new neighbourhood where you can’t make out good vs bad areas.

thank you for your suggestions.

Where do you live now? Have you v considered coming to London for a couple of weekends and travelling around summer if the staff in question just my see what you think of them before you start house hunting?

I agree that people are being a bit dramatic about Thameslink. I guess it depends how far out you are, but the more central part is great. What other train line takes you right through central London and connects major rail stations like London Bridge and St Pancras?

The places you need to get to are central and can be reached relatively easily from any side of London. The key will be to identify places with fast train lines. Take a look at south east London. Cheaper than going north but loads of train stations to choose from.

Those are words I never thought I'd read together! It has been about 15 years since I last commuted on Thameslink so they must have improved as they were bloody awful back then.

West wick ham is on the Hayes line and an absolute pig. I used to do it and never again. How about Penge / Penge East or Hither Green.

No way you can get these specs on that budget, not in a safe area at least. 850k is more realistic, otherwise flat/doer upper.

When I say "thameslink is great", I'll qualify

• trains are modern with aircon and more space than tube trains
• the line to St Albans is fast and pretty frequent at commuter times.
• trains are often 5-10 minutes late but if you build that into your schedule, you are fine.

All of Mill Hill is NW7, including Mill Hill East area and the Ridgeway where Mill Hill School is.

Thameslink through Broadway I think is on a couple of lines, St Albans and Luton I want to say? But can't remember off the top of my head. A return journey to central London during peak times is around £11, so not extortionate but more than the tube to Mill Hill East (zone 1-4).

North of Apex Corner - do you mean on Barnet Way/the A1? That's Mill Hill but not much between there until you get to Borehamwood, but some nice houses if you head towards Mill Hill County High School (approaching Uphill Road spenny area though). If you mean the Edgware Way/A41 you're basically leaving Mill Hill and going into Edgware. I had a friend live on Riverdene right next to Apex and that's considered Edgware.

Borehamwood is cut off. Barnet has two tube lines. Northern and picadilly. Good buses and mainline train into moorgate.

Barnet is very leafy and safe and not too expensive.

Me and DH both work in the City and commute into work 3-4 times a week. West Wickham is on the Hayes line as someone else mentioned upthread. The line is fine - takes roughly 28-30 minutes into London Bridge from where you have easy connections to various tube lines. You can also go further into Charing Cross on this line. Most days it’s reliable. I always use Apple Pay and pay around 14-15 pounds per day for the journey which includes a connection on the tube. The good thing is that you always get a seat in the morning as WW is nearly the end of the line.

I live in Mill Hill. It is great. It feels safe for families and has lots of lovely country walks etc. I would avoid Mill Hill East and live near Mill Hill broadway. You can get a 3 bed in that area. Maybe go for roads off hale lane .
Thames link is good in the day and if I go out in the evening I drive to burnt oak and park there and use that station. Good luck!

Thank you for this, you are very kind. We drove around and walked to check this area. It was helpful. :)

ok good to know. thanks