for londoners:where would you buy a house if you were a foreigner?

danieladam64

Hello all!
I am Italian and I have 3 children who are 12, 8 , 6 year old.
My husband and I do love London and we would like to buy a little house.
We would use it for our holiday and let it when we are in our country. It would be an investment if we gain a fair rent. Moreover, it could be useful for our kids if they like to study or work in London when they are older.
We have not a lot of money. We cannot spend more than 170 K £ (on the whole). We will look for 2 bedrooms flat/house.
I need "ground-roots" advice from Londoners on where I should look for it.
Here there are some random thoughts:
1) we cannot afford the inner london. We need your local knowledge in Greater London
2) we won't work in London, therefore we do not need a tube service. It would be fine to have good rail connection to the centre of london (zone 1 or 2).I will look at the journey times rather than distances:hopefully, not more than 45 minutes commuting distances
3)the area must be safe and quite, especially at night
4) we'd like to have green space
5)we know there are still many charming villages; I'd like to find out the one we can afford
6)we'd like to have a british (or, at least, anglosaxon - culture) experience.we'd like to stay in an area with a relatively low immigration. Actually, I do not mind at all the percentage of non-white and I don't care ethnic diversity.On the other hand it is to be said that if I come to England and spend (all!) my savings to buy a house I do desire a real taste of english culture.
Any help you can provide would be most gratefully appreciated.
Best regards
Daniela

EagerLearner

Buona sera Daniela - how far out in Km are you prepared to move? It might be somewhere like Hassocks or Brighton might be nice, you would probably only get a 2 bed flat though as they're very desirable areas, I am from Brighton so don't know much about London areas, but I am half Portugues/Englishe and know I love Brighton because it is English but also so colourful and a beautiful place to be, so close to London. Also you have access to lovely towns like Lewes with lots of Brisih history from Brighton, also lots of green spaces and of course the sea. Similar prices to London though!

Doozergirl

That is some wish list! Cheap and safe and green and english. Capable of being a holiday let, presumably easily commutable from one of the airports.

Which airport will you be arriving at? That is really important as it can take hours to cross London as to get out in a different direction you normally have to travel into the centre to one of the main terminals and come back out again. It would be better if you were buying on the same side as the most convenient airport.

ChuteBoxe

if coming from Gatwick... you might consider living in the Croydon area which i am familiar with, so can help you with which area are good and which u should avoid. Croydon is generally regarded as London (just about) but convenient to get to Gatwick airport.

brit1234

Personally I would go out side London for the real England, London is turning to a big dump. Its house prices and rents are liable to fall lossing you lots of money. Not a place i would choose to bring children up.

sjcollett

Croydon is a good idea - easy to commute and still cheap enough to be able to buy something which should tick most of the boxes

inflationbusting

You might have to sacrifice one of your wishes. I don't think £170,000 would stretch to a house unless it was in a not as nice area. But, you would be able to get a flat, and maybe a new-ish one at that, depending on area.

If you like London and for rental purposes, being close to the rail is essential. Especially if your children come over for study and have no other forms of transport.

Somewhere like Surbiton has good transport links and is next to green space. Going a bit further out you'd get a bit more charm: places like Epsom, Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks.

Running_Horse

Croydon is a terrible idea.

bmunky7

Croydon isn't bad at all.

Emy1501

Running_Horse wrote: »

Croydon is a terrible idea.

I live in Croydon and would tend to agree. Its not that safe at times and as the home office is there there is a lot of immigration. Also you are not going to get a real taste of english culture! Some of the areas on the outskirts like Coulsdon etc are quite nice etc,

It does have good train links to London though, Gatwik is not too far away and its cheap compared to other places you would look at. Got to admit its the last place I would be looking for a holiday home though! I suspect the OP would like to live in a nice village in parts of Kent or Surrey but 170K is not going to get you anything in these places really.

Running_Horse

A search on Rightmove within one mile of Farningham Road or Longfield or Higham railway stations in Kent would throw up some Kent possibilities with good commuter links to London. But would not really meet some of the other criteria. No doubt similar areas are available nearer to airports. But I suggest the real problem is the £170,000 budget.