Where to buy “forever home” in SE/SW London?

[Londongreen1414]

DH and I have two little ones (both still in nursery), and we are bursting out of our current place so looking to upsize. Ideally we want this to be a house we are happy to commit to through our kids’ schooling so the next 10-15 years.. can’t face moving / stamp duty more than once..

While we seemingly have a healthy budget, DH and I each have different priorities which is making it difficult to land on an area. The main non negotiables are:

• Large (around 1900/2000sq ft min, 5 bed) - DH criteria
• Near nice high street / safe, family oriented, community vibe - my criteria
• Within 10 min walk of a station with quick, reliable and regular links to the city - we are both in the office full time so this is a non-negotiable for both of us.
• Good schools in the area - we are flexible on state vs private, ideally would start state primary and move private for secondary. But as long as there generally good private or state schools nearby we are fine. We’d factor having to go state or private in the budget.
• Budget - could go up to 1.7m, but ideally would stick in the region of 1.4-1.6m max.

So far we have looked SE, as we know it better and DH is convinced it’s better value. East Dulwich/Peckham rye borders is our frontrunner and fits the bill on nice high streets (lordship lane, bellenden road), family vibe and schools, but the houses near the stations are not “big” enough by DH’s criteria or if they are, totally out of budget. We’ve also looked at Forest Hill (better value, big houses, but lacking the “naice” high street vibe), West Dulwich / Norwood (some lovely streets and houses, but less going on and we’d need be near Tulse Hill for commuting which I wasn’t as keen on), Herne Hill / North Dulwich (love it but can’t afford it), Brockley (some very nice big houses but feels quite expensive for what you get in the area/high street).

We don’t want to go any further east than those areas due to family/friends being more west. Is there anywhere SW that might fit the bill? DH is convinced SW isn’t in budget but we’ve never actually looked properly. I was thinking we should look at places near a quick / frequent train to Waterloo (eg Earlsfield, Wimbledon, Putney, maybe even Surbiton or south of Clapham junction?) or possibly the Northern line. I don’t really know any of thsee areas that well though or if I’m being totally unrealistic with our budget. Anyone got a unicorn location they can recommend??

I'll pm you if I may.

Thanks again for all the recs - definitely sounds like we need to check out Beckenham. It looks like around new Beckenham / Kent house would be best for commuting (we need London Bridge / Blackfriars links, not Victoria). Is that a nice bit? Any particular roads we should look at?

Also what do people think of around Orpington? I’m conscious it has very quick London Bridge trains and Kent schools are good but don’t know how nice it is as a general area?

Aldersmead Road is lovely as is reddons road. Kings Hall Road, Barnsmead is a privately owned road around Kent house station but walkable to clockhouse/new beckenham. Then closer to clockhouse station is cedars road and a cluster of roads nearer to the sports centre. One stop further out takes you to Eden park and that opens up Park Langley.

Does it absolutely have to be 5 bedrooms? Are you planning more children?

You can't beat the places you already listed, moving further out outside zone 2 and you quickly end up in suburba. Do you really need such a large house when SE is packed with parks and the country's best infrastructure?

I agree.
Much nicer high street than Beckenham, very family friendly and ‘nice’. Good state and private primaries. Either near Clapham
Junction station or near Clapham South.

If you are considering Beckenham to get to London Bridge, look around Clockhouse. There are large houses there and it is near the main High Street.

I used to live in Crystal Palace before moving back around Tooting and the difference in commute is massive. It's not just the extra time, it's being reliant on a bus/train to get you home vs the Tube, they're much less reliable and infrequent. If commuting is going to affect how much time you both get with your kids in the week then I'd rule it out, even though the area itself is gorgeous.

I had a quick look at Beckenham, this looked like it might be a good option for you https://www.useperch.co.uk/properties/buy/5d0e661811efe3182c0ae6f5c5836f27? - about 10 minutes walk from Shortland station which goes to Victoria.

I also had a look at Tooting because I love it but I think you get less for your money there, this was probably the best one I saw - https://www.useperch.co.uk/properties/buy/7ada5f776e3322f01dfcaf909a25793e?.

Although if you fancy a bargain, this just reduced by 100k: https://www.useperch.co.uk/properties/buy/30ff29e19be785cd8084d96ca6d25504?

So Beckenham is fab. And I lived round Kent House too. And I miss it. Parks, high streets, access to London.
But we moved as the secondary schools round there weren’t great. Ok if you go private or grammar as on so many train lines.
To be in the catchment for Langley you need Langley park way/eden park station. Or move further out to Hayes for the mixed school.
All the primaries seem to be good.

It’s lovely but quite car- centric. You’d likely be driving to the station in a morning, the area close to the station itself isn’t very residential. You’d probably want to look at the roads around St Olave’s, which is a good 20 min walk from the station.

What about this- you could do a loft conversion and get the 5th bedroom you want. It needs some work but is liveable. Close to the station and in your preferred area.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/87789441

Honor Oak? Lovely family vibe, horniman museum, station, walk to e Dulwich shops?

Telegraph Hill is just east of Peckham rye/Nunhead but full of large 5bed houses and close to several stations which will get you into the city in 6-10 minutes. Great schools too.

I would do Surbiton or earlsfield in your shoes

5 min bus or lime bike to forest hill. Ginger line every 5 mins into town. Easy.

I used to live in Crystal Palace which was lovely then, I know it’s got stupidly expensive now (I bought for £42k in the 90’s, sold before the prices rocketed alas) trains aren’t fast though

Orpington has some nice houses but a very uninspiring high street. It only has super selective grammars and it’s a trek to get to others. Definitely suburbia.
Chislehurst is also suburbia but has a really nice feel and fairly quick trains.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/88230939

Loads of big houses in Chislehurst.

Beckenham/Orpington are really different in vibe to the places in your OP that you said you liked - East Dulwich/Herne Hill/Peckham etc

Many people love it there and you might too but I would go and spend a bit of time there - they are much more suburban/Home Counties in vibe. The people I know who live there and like it want to be in easy reach of London but not feel like they live in London.

If you want to feel more like you live in London, want a less car centric lifestyle, I would stick with the areas you had scoped out already plus worth looking at between the commons

Me too !