FTB in London - keen on Mill Hill/Hendon and would welcome thoughts

[Tikitaka20]

Hi all,

I’m a FTB and single, and looking to buy a 2-3 bed house with a garden. I’m very happy to buy somewhere I can live up and do up over time. I’m not looking for a complete doer-upper that would cost a lot of time and money and the need to live out whilst doing it up.

I work in London and currently live there (renting in Ealing). My main priority is to stay in London, as I can’t drive due to a health condition, but I can’t afford Ealing or places nearby. I’d really like to live in a safe area (as much as that’s possible for London) with good transport links, and have a top budget of £750k.

I’m interested in looking at Mill Hill (MH East and Broadway) and Hendon Central. Would welcome thoughts on these areas please.

Thanks!

i lived in West Hendon up until recently (was a FTB, but had a flat rather than a house) right by the Welsh Harp which is lovely to walk around in good weather. Quick walk to Brent Cross if I ever needed the shops. Good transport links from Hendon Central or Hendon Thameslink and only a couple of stops to Hampstead which of course is lovely. Some nice independent cafes and pubs (the greyhound, zaza, cafegenic) around, friendly local community with some nice events if you like to get involved in that type of thing. I would rate it for a FTB!

Have you looked at Ruislip, Eastcote, Pinner? Great transport links and a lovely community. You have the Met line, Piccadilly and Central line plus a train to Marylebone although I don’t think South Ruislip is as nice as other parts of Ruislip. We moved here from Ealing 10 years ago and haven’t looked back. Quieter than Ealing Broadway in terms of shopping but some good coffee shops and restaurants.

Mill Hill fine.

Hendon you couldn't pay me to live there.

Thanks @MayBaby1! I’ve thought about Ruislip, but it’s quite far ou (Zone 5/6), and ideally I’d like to be as central as possible to avoid a long commute and spending a lot on public transport.

Would really appreciate hearing any thoughts on Mill Hill - East and Broadway - @SalmonOnFinnCrisp and anyone else. Thanks so much.

Whats your budget / required bedrooms ?

Do you need the northern line?

Time is a factor on commute but I think commute type is more important. met line has fast trains.
Id rather do 60 mins on one train for example... than have a 30min commute that means I get on a rammed train at east Finchley then crush my way onto central line.

in london if you trade off mortgage and commute the cost difference is often negligible eg....
£201.60 for z1-3
£293.40 for z1-5

If you buy a z5 place with 250k mortgage and assume 25 yrs at 4.5% it is £1,389 monthly + 293 = 1682
The equiv mortgage costs in z3 ( with £201 for travel) is a £265k ....

So not much in it and thats assuming you HAVE to commute 5 days per week forever.
I'm z5 I go in 2 -3 days its 45-50 mins door to door and i get a seat. It costs about £100 per month.
If i was z3 it would be £50-60? So really negligible.

£700k budget (because of a high deposit) and I would like 3 bedrooms if possible.

I don’t need the Northern line but don’t mind changing trains halfway through my commute. If I lived in MH and was doing my current commute, I’d change at Embankment and get the Circle line, which isn’t too bad. The commute from MH Broadway looks even better and quicker, so I might focus on looking there.

The transport costs between zone 3 and zone 5 would eat into my budget, so that’s why I’m looking for a place somewhere more central than zone 5.