Home buying - London SW

Gowardo

Hi all,

I appreciate this is potentially a pandora's box question, although I was hoping to get some feedback from the MSE crew. It's really not just about money to be perfectly honest, although considering the potential investment retention of a property is certainly preferable too.

Either way, here goes. Me and my wife are looking to buy a house which needs to fit the below criteria. What we are wondering is whether we have already considered all areas in our budgets and "taste-range" or not, but also whether we should be looking at something completely different.

- Good schools area (i.e. Surbiton has a good reputation)
- Nice area, potentially with some green, Surrey sounds nice but a little too far out
- 2 to 3 bed house, preferably semi-detached
- Garden
- Period features would be nice, with a "pretty" factor for when we get home at night. Victorian/Georgian
- Close to transport (overground is fine, we don't expect to find what we want within the tube range)
- "Alive" area with a decent presence of some restaurants and/or bars, we don't just want to go out in Surrey in a tiny village etc
- River vicinity a bonus
- Budget is reasonable, fairly flexible and what you would expect for that kind of house in SW London (up to 400k)

We are already looking in some areas in Surrey, Sutton, Kingston, Croydon, but we are really looking for any advice to find out if there's any areas we are missing out on...

Thanks in advance for any advice! :j

jc808

whats your budget

BitterAndTwisted

Sutton is a dive, so don't bother looking there.

Gowardo

Budget is 400 tops

princeofpounds

To be honest, Surbiton would probably meet most of those criteria (although I don't know about schools).

You don't have the budget for Barnes or Wimbledon to get what you want there yet.

If you are cutting out Surrey then that's a lot of good options gone. Though why you'd look at Kingston then I don't know because it's such a slow train it's faster to get to many places in Surrey. Unless you are close to Surbiton anyway and travel in that way.

Surbiton has fantastic trains, quick ~20mins and frequent. Also relatively late running too. It is river 'vicinity' though it doesn't make great use of its riverfront. It has some life in it and is very accessible to Kingston. Housing is a mix but a good proportion will meet your criteria.

Earlsfield is another possibility. Southfields (not an amazing area but getting better and close to wimbledon). Some of the areas of 'extended Richmond' (both side of river) might suit like Twickenham. The areas around Bushy park too, though you might find the trains a bit slow and too 'surrey-like'.

Cissi

Depending on what and how much you're prepared to compromise on (2 vs 3 bed, garden, property needing some work etc) I think you'd be able to find something in the Twickenham area, and if so I would highly recommend that you try - great schools, excellent transport links, good community, definitely "alive". It's obviously on the river too and with some of the best green spaces in London within easy reach. Great place for young couples/families to start out - some end up moving way out later on (cashing in on the rise in the value of their house compared with other areas!), others stay in the general area as it has so much to offer.

Just throwing a couple of possibilities out there - I searched up to £425k as you may be able to negotiate, and I'm including a few in Old Isleworth which is just over the road from St Margarets and very attractive - don't go further into Isleworth though.

Personally I would really consider the ones that are near Twickenham Green - never lived in this area myself but the schools around there are all excellent.

Hope that helps - good luck!


http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-42828407.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-43117634.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40530928.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40653655.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40559593.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-28086141.html

hazyjo

My friend lives in Surbiton and couldn't get her daughter into any of the nearby half-decent primary schools (including one in their road). They've gone against everything they believe in and put her into private school.

Might be worth bearing in mind if you're planning on moving somewhere just for the schools. Most are in huge demand.

Jx

Dunroamin

Have you considered Guildford?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41911814.html?premiumA=true

Cornucopia

princeofpounds wrote: »

Earlsfield is another possibility. Southfields (not an amazing area but getting better and close to wimbledon).

You have these the wrong way round.

Southfields is up-market, with a small, local high street that has the restaurants and bars that the OP is looking for. It is on the end of the Wimbledon branch of the District line tube, so access to the City is slow (West End not so bad).

Earlsfield has nice houses, and is on a very fast overground link to Waterloo, but the high street is take-aways and estate agents (mainly). There is also a fair amount of light industrial stuff there.

I would have thought that aside from the areas listed, anywhere on a fast overground line is worth considering, including Woking, West Byfleet and Guildford, and maybe Putney (if affordable).

The number of 2-bed Semi-detached properties is probably very small.

It's also worth saying that SW London/Surrey has some of the most expensive houses in the country, and there are similar areas that offer much better VFM. These would include Blackheath, Bromley and Seveoaks.

princeofpounds

You have these the wrong way round.

I wasn't meaning to compare them actually. Was just lazy about my paragraphing.

I know Southfields very well... I'm not sure I would bracket it as being upmarket personally, though such things are always relative. But point taken re Earlsfield, which I don't know as well.

Cornucopia

Even within the Southfields area there are better and not so nice bits.

I'm thinking of the "grid" area and Replingham Road (the high street), and also the area to the south west, near the Lawn Tennis Association, as the area merges with Wimbledon.