FTBuyer: where to buy in East London or South East London

manuce

BigAunty Watford is not cheaper at all as there is 15 mins to Euston travel route. Anything which is commutable to central London people seems to be giving an arm and leg for it which is pushing the prices further up. Beyond Watford yes I might get something a flat may be.

Cornucopia

manuce wrote: »

Great Cornucopia for the valuable suggestion. Can you please also tell some better postcode in Gravesend so that I limit my search as there are always North / South / east and west of areas to avoid

The areas to the South seem to be more desirable. (Though it depends what size/type of property you are after). The South/SE side has a lot of 1920/30 3-bed semis, whereas the more central/west side has more Victorian (small cottages, terraces & converted flats). There is a fair amount of new-build dotted around. The station is in the town centre, and car-parking looks a bit limited. There are lots of buses, though, both to Gravesend centre and to Ebbsfleet station.

Sorry, I don't know about schools or crime, but it always feels pretty safe when I go there.

AndyGuil

The location of Euston being towards NW will make the commute from SE longer. I would absolutely rule out other areas before commiting to SE. Consider also Kings Cross is almost next door to Euston (10 minutes walk max between the two,) which could open up some more options going up north from London.

manuce

Anyone living Barking, Illford areas what's your say on that. There is direct train line from Barking to Great portland street takes about 45 mins or something.

115K

I would love to live in Crystal Palace if I had to live in South East London again. Lovely park, nice restaurants and bars.

115K

manuce wrote: »

Anyone living Barking, Illford areas what's your say on that. There is direct train line from Barking to Great portland street takes about 45 mins or something.

IMO Barking is pretty rough although the train links are good and there are nice houses in some parts. Ilford seems nicer to me as it has a better range of shops.

Cornucopia

AndyGuil wrote: »

The location of Euston being towards NW will make the commute from SE longer.

That's true of most of SE, but not if the High Speed line is used, because that goes in to St Pancras (and it's very fast).

Angie_B

Lizling wrote: »

Btw, for your criteria and at a similar price to the areas you've picked, I'd also have a look at Streatham.

You won't get anything in Streatham for that price these days. 1 beds are easily going for £250k now. In fact, a quick rightmove search of SW16 tells me there is one two-bed flat under £200k in a block you probably don't want to move into alone, let alone with a 2 year old.

Jason74

I live in Crystal Palace, and unfortunately you'll struggle to get a two bed anything for £200k, and a house will probably be out of the question at that kind of money. £200k will just about have you at the bottom end of the 2 bed flat market in that area, but you'll be looking at properties that are seen as less desirable. There are currently 4 2 bed properties available on Zoopla with an asking price of £210k or less (it also shows a couple more that have actually sold), 2 are ex council, one is on a busy crossroads where 4 main roads meet, and the last is on a busy road in a not very nice block right on the edge of the area. Only one of them appears to be in what I would in good order, and that's a fifth floor ex council flat.

Of course, one of those properties might work for you, but if you wanted a "mid range" 2 bed flat, you're probably looking at a starting point of £250k ish for a modern purpose built, going up from there.

Some of the surrounding areas (like Penge, Anerley, South Norwood etc.) can offer you quite a bit more for your money property wise, and some of the schools and transport links can be as good as Crystal Palace itself. Not as fashionable though, and the crime stats in South Norwood in particular will probably put you off, although in practice it probably depends a great deal which group of roads you're on.

Lizling

Angie_B wrote: »

You won't get anything in Streatham for that price these days. 1 beds are easily going for £250k now. In fact, a quick rightmove search of SW16 tells me there is one two-bed flat under £200k in a block you probably don't want to move into alone, let alone with a 2 year old.

You absolutely can. Try including the ones that are under offer or sold STC in your search and you'll see 14 or so. Like the rest of London, not everything is making it onto Rightmove and most properties don't seem to stay there for long -I've got 3 recent/soon-to-be FTB friends in the area so I know!

A 2-bed flat in the small block next to mine sold a month or 2 ago for £180k and there are at least 2 or 3 others on my road that have gone for about £180-£200 recently. I'm pretty sure I'm not in or anywhere near the block you're thinking of either!

E.g.http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39159106.html only has a teeny tiny bathroom, but on the other hand it's only being sold at £165k.