Where to buy? South West London OR North East London

tony4966

Everyone knows location location and location is more important than anything else when buying a property to live in.

I wonder what people's thought are in terms choosing south west of london (e.g Epsom) or North east of london (e.g. Broxbourne) assuming both are affordable.

Ellie007

I guess it depends on what you want from life. Commute? Lifestyle (swanky restaurants / pubs / horseriding / museums / zoos / golf...and so on and so forth). Single / married / kids / no kids? What sort of property do you want? Townie or country-sider?

It is very hard to answer unless we know what you want. I know Broxbourne very well and prefer that area to Surrey, but that is a personal, and lifestyle, choice.

Perhaps you could give us a little more info about yourself?

LondonDreamer

I don't know either of those specific towns well, however I used to live in South West London and currently live in North London although further in (zone 3 for both) than the areas you've mentioned. Out of the two, I would personally choose SW and intend to move back there.

But as one of your other threads was looking for an easy commute to Liverpool Street, I am going to recommend looking on the north/east side. Using your examples, Broxbourne is half an hour on a direct train to LST. Epsom is 40 minutes into either Victoria or Waterloo, then you have to get across central London on the tube. You'd also need a season ticket that allows Underground travel which will be more expensive than London Terminals only.

tony4966

Ellie007 wrote: »

I guess it depends on what you want from life. Commute? Lifestyle (swanky restaurants / pubs / horseriding / museums / zoos / golf...and so on and so forth). Single / married / kids / no kids? What sort of property do you want? Townie or country-sider?

It is very hard to answer unless we know what you want. I know Broxbourne very well and prefer that area to Surrey, but that is a personal, and lifestyle, choice.

Perhaps you could give us a little more info about yourself?

Thanks for the reply.
I'm married with no kids but plan to have next year. In terms of lifestyle, of the things you mentioned I would only pick restaurants (and possibly museums though not that important). I think a nice quiet and safe community (with some good schools either public or independent) is what I care the most; but I guess there are such areas in both SW london and NE london to fit this criteria? I would prefer a community where people are friendly and look out for each other. Prefer detached property though semi detached is accpetable. Also prefer conutry-sider to townie.

Please can you outline whats the main difference between say Epsom and Broxbourne in terms of lifestyle?
Many thanks.

tony4966

LondonDreamer wrote: »

I don't know either of those specific towns well, however I used to live in South West London and currently live in North London although further in (zone 3 for both) than the areas you've mentioned. Out of the two, I would personally choose SW and intend to move back there.

But as one of your other threads was looking for an easy commute to Liverpool Street, I am going to recommend looking on the north/east side. Using your examples, Broxbourne is half an hour on a direct train to LST. Epsom is 40 minutes into either Victoria or Waterloo, then you have to get across central London on the tube. You'd also need a season ticket that allows Underground travel which will be more expensive than London Terminals only.

If possible, may I ask why you prefer SW to NE ignoring the commuting factor which you are totally right that NE is much better than SW for commuting to LST.

LondonDreamer

tony4966 wrote: »

If possible, may I ask why you prefer SW to NE ignoring the commuting factor which you are totally right that NE is much better than SW for commuting to LST.

As the poster above me said, it's a personal decision. There is nothing wrong with where I live now, it ticked all the boxes and I get more space for the money. But the SW just feels more like home, which is purely an instinctual/emotional choice rather than a rational one.

I wouldn't ignore the commuting factor though. My work is very central so it doesn't really matter which station I travel into. But if I worked near a mainline, I would find a nice area on one of its branches. Although with LST, you can go into any one of the nearby stations and still be under 10 minutes walk. Could open up more options if you're not sure of the Broxbourne area.

chewmylegoff

People on the Internet cannot advise you where you would like to live. Go and spend some time in these places, preferably rent a house and actually live there, and see which one you prefer.