Another where to live in (South) London question.

Lizling

Hi, hoping there might be some people here who know the outer parts of South London.

We’re hoping to buy a 2-bedroom house with a small garden but with a maximum budget of £250,000, we know we’re going to have to move further out. We both work in central London so we don’t need much in the way of pubs and restaurants on our doorstep, although it would be lovely to have a decent local. We don’t particularly need to be near a station or on bus routes either. I’d like to be near a park or common and to feel reasonably safe, and my social life is mainly around Wandsworth/Tooting so I’d like to stay reasonably close by. OH’s main requirements are spacious rooms, a garden and not having his motorbike stolen. No kids, so not bothered about schools. Ideally I’d like somewhere with a bit of community, but trying to be realistic here!

The Morden/Mitcham/Streatham/Norbury areas seem affordable but I don’t know them very well. I think Mitcham in particular has some problems, and parts of Streatham look dodgy too (although I’ve only really seen Streatham High Road and Brixton Hill.) Can anyone tell us anything about where the nice bits and nasty bits are?

hazyjo

Might just about scrape a house in Hither Green, can't think of anywhere else I'd want to live unless you'd consider a flat? Some parts of Kent (just outside London boroughs) like Bexley are nice. New Eltham's okay too - not much there, but doesn't sound like that'd be a prob. No idea about getting to Wandsworth/Tooting though.

A flat with a garden/part of a garden might suffice...

Jx

Lizling

hazyjo wrote: »

Might just about scrape a house in Hither Green, can't think of anywhere else I'd want to live unless you'd consider a flat? Some parts of Kent (just outside London boroughs) like Bexley are nice. New Eltham's okay too - not much there, but doesn't sound like that'd be a prob. No idea about getting to Wandsworth/Tooting though.

A flat with a garden/part of a garden might suffice...

Jx

I'd be totally happy with a flat myself. Perhaps OH will start to agree when he's looked around the areas we can afford a house in.:rotfl: For the moment though, he's really set his heart on having a little house.

Thanks for the Hither Green and Eltham suggestions. I hadn't really considered anything that far east because I don't know anyone out that way, but I'll take a look.

DannyboyMidlands

With that budget and wanting a house I reckon you need to look much further out otherwise you'll be living in a dump of an area that is far from safe.

Streatham is mostly awful and over budget anyway. A friend just sold a ropey 3 bed flat for £250k at the Streatham Hill/Tulse Hill end.

Norbury, Mitcham, Norwood all grim.

Frankly (and I've lived all over) most of south London is a dump. This is acceptable if you're young enough and central enough (Brixton, Clapham, Balham, Tooting) but seems silly if you end up in somewhere like Thornton Heath.

I'd be making the leap outside the M25. I am an old fart.

fluffpot

What about Crystal Palace? Or Brockley?
I do quite lot of work in these areas and there are some lovely houses. Plus there's the ginger line for getting into London central


Mitcham is a bit depressing I think. Friends of mine didn't like Norbury - but that could have been coz they were the only privately owned house in a street of council houses - next doors had 5 kids in a 2 bed house - eek!
You won't get anything of any size in Brixton/Streatham for that money

Lizling

DannyboyMidlands wrote: »

Frankly (and I've lived all over) most of south London is a dump.
[...]
I'd be making the leap outside the M25. I am an old fart.

I actually really like most of SW London. Can't rent forever though. I've already done years of commuting in from Surrey and I can't take any more of that. 40 minutes each way is my limit now, no matter what.

fluffpot wrote: »

What about Crystal Palace? Or Brockley?
I do quite lot of work in these areas and there are some lovely houses. Plus there's the ginger line for getting into London central


Mitcham is a bit depressing I think. Friends of mine didn't like Norbury - but that could have been coz they were the only privately owned house in a street of council houses - next doors had 5 kids in a 2 bed house - eek!
You won't get anything of any size in Brixton/Streatham for that money

Thanks - Brockley's an area that's come up a couple of times now in my research. I'll definitely need to consider it.

Brixton was never an option in the first place. I vetoed it, along with most of Peckham. I have seen a couple of things within budget in Streatham though, e.g. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-22424172.html (ugly, with appallingly taken photos, but a good size).

5 kids in a 2-bed house :eek: :eek:

Strapped

Are you sure you couldn't get something in Tooting itself for that budget? Otherwise, Collier's Wood?

ETA: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-22076700.html

I have family in the area and they seem to like it :-)

Ivana_Tinkle

Would you consider ex-council? There's a couple of "posh" council estates (no, really!) around West Dulwich and Sydenham Hill.

Lizling

Strapped wrote: »

Are you sure you couldn't get something in Tooting itself for that budget? Otherwise, Collier's Wood?

ETA: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-22076700.html

I have family in the area and they seem to like it :-)

Yeah, unfortunately I've been priced right out of Tooting. There's only 1 in that price range up on rightmove and I think it's someone's garage turned into a semi.

Thanks for the Collier's Wood area recommendation. The one you linked looks nice. Tbh I was considering that area but lumping it in with Merton. Is it very much a separate place? Not sure what you mean by ETA though. Sorry if it was just a typo for e.g. and I'm drawing attention to it!

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

Would you consider ex-council? There's a couple of "posh" council estates (no, really!) around West Dulwich and Sydenham Hill.

Absolutely! Nothing against ex-council. I think they were built subject to some sort of minimum standards, which is more than you can say for rabbit hutch flat conversions. I'd be very grateful if you could share which ones the nice ones are.

fluffpot

At least the Streatham one had a big garden and off street parking..

I've been in Brixton 10 years (downgrade/upsized from Clapham) but there's now way I could afford to buy my house now! My heart goes out to young (and the not so young) trying to buys a house these days..

Good luck with it!

olly300

Morden is at the end of the Northern Line so you have the advantage that you can always get a seat on the tube. There isn't really much there socially and everyone I know who lives there goes out elsewhere as it takes 10 minutes on the 93 to get to Wimbledon. They have Morden Hall Park nearby which is quite nice. I felt safe running through there in the very early morning.

I would avoid Mitcham and Norbury due to the problems in those areas.

Streatham though it has nice looking housing has a very run down high street. There will be a large supermarket soon but they have been waiting over 10 years for it. I also don't like waiting at the train stations in Streatham in the day, though I've had no issues waiting at the bus stops any time of day or night.

Colliers Wood is fine if you can't afford Tooting but it was one of the places that was looted last August due to how the shops are located i.e. in shopping centres away from most housing. If you drive or take the bus you will find the traffic doesn't move along the high street in rush hour. Oddly it's quicker to drive around the area at those times or even walk. Wandle Park there is now quite busy as it's the only local green space. The newer housing i.e. anything built after 1970 tends to be small with small gardens. The terraced housing in Morden tends to be older and so some of the properties have surprisingly massive gardens. The pubs in Colliers Wood are better so you will have no issues in going out. You also have a very large Sainsburys on your doorstep and the staff tend to be friendly.

Also regards to ex-council some of the terraced housing in Tooting is ex-council, they are Victorian and they are tiny so don't expect ex-council in London to be automatically bigger than newer private housing.