First time buyer, Good areas of London?

davsidipp

benjus wrote: »

SE London is getting more popular than ever - I think the rest of London has finally cottoned on to the fact that there are some lovely parts of it and it's still generally cheaper than comparable areas in N/W/E/SW London. I've been renting in Blackheath for the past few years and am now looking to buy. I would love to stay where I am but I can't afford anything decent in Blackheath now, so I'm looking at surrounding areas, and areas a bit further out like Chislehurst (which has a similar feel to Blackheath with lots of open green space). You have to move fast - there's huge demand and small supply, so good places go very quickly.

Chisel hurst is nice,I'm 5 mins down the road,you can't go far wrong,prices have shot up round here

johannalf88

benjus wrote: »

SE London is getting more popular than ever - I think the rest of London has finally cottoned on to the fact that there are some lovely parts of it and it's still generally cheaper than comparable areas in N/W/E/SW London. I've been renting in Blackheath for the past few years and am now looking to buy. I would love to stay where I am but I can't afford anything decent in Blackheath now, so I'm looking at surrounding areas, and areas a bit further out like Chislehurst (which has a similar feel to Blackheath with lots of open green space). You have to move fast - there's huge demand and small supply, so good places go very quickly.

I agree Blackheath is gorgeous! (A fellow renter!) I don't think it's under the £200 budget though! :rotfl:

There are plenty of decent homes, but you do need to earn a lot to get them! 2 bed flats on our road go for just under £400 now. :eek: I think hither green is supposed to be more affordable, and you can still walk to Blackheath easily from areas of it.

laughingcow81

If you don't know the areas of London you might need to get to, you might be better off renting for a bit to allow yourself some flexibility.

Especially if you're not sure where you might need to travel to for the other 4 days a week yet.

MysteryMe

sjparker wrote: »

All I hear is people telling me to avoid East London at all costs.

From the standpoint of having family in Southampton it's not best side for you but there are several parts of East London that have undergone huge transformation since Canary Wharf/ Docklands and more recently the Olympics so the advice you received is not particularly well informed.


I don't live in East London BTW, I don't live in London at all I just work in the City.


My sister lives in Lee Green in SE London and it seems a nice area so agree with Hither Green (next stop on train), Blackheath and surrounding areas being worth consideration.
As well as rail into London Bridge you can get DLR from Lewisham into Bank which is short walk to Monument.

eagerftb

Have lived for 5 years in Dulwich and can say South East has some very nice areas and good accessibility.

Just bought our first home in Beckenham and can highly recommend this area.

sarah_id1

Jaybo10 wrote: »

I've recently moved from West to East London. Like every area there are good and bad bits. East and South London tend to be cheaper but always go and investigate for yourself as one persons dream location is another's nightmare.

I think East London is great (I'm in Leytonstone) but I'm biased :rotfl:

Agreed. There are some part of east london which should be avoided while others like Leytonstone, Wansted, Redbridge etc really nice as there are in any other part of London. East London is improving because of some serious infrastructure boost including Stratford and Crossrail in few years.

benjus

Of course, the drawback to SE London is that (unless you move somewhere with DLR or Overground) you will become dependent on SouthEastern trains, recently voted the worst train operator in the country.

They even tried to excuse their bad performance with this pathetic riposte: http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/17/southeastern-why-are-we-worst-train-company-because-you-hate-going-to-the-office-4306846/

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I really think you should rent somewhere while you get a feel for the kind of travelling you're going to be doing. It may end up being exhausting and unsustainable.

Living in London means making a decision between 3 key factors; "niceness" of area, transport links and price. You're unlikely to get all three for £200k.

barbiedoll

benjus wrote: »

Of course, the drawback to SE London is that (unless you move somewhere with DLR or Overground) you will become dependent on SouthEastern trains, recently voted the worst train operator in the country.

They even tried to excuse their bad performance with this pathetic riposte: http://metro.co.uk/2014/02/17/southeastern-why-are-we-worst-train-company-because-you-hate-going-to-the-office-4306846/

Yes, and it's going to get worse before it gets better........:eek:

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/News-Releases/Passengers-advised-of-train-service-changes-at-London-Bridge-next-summer-1e58.aspx