First time buyer in London

MastermindJapan

Hi guys,

I'm looking for some opinions and advice or maybe even some insight if anyone has faced a similar situation in the past.

Basically, my wife and I have around £350,000 to purchase our first property with.

We are currently both working in London (Bank station) and are contemplating between buying an apartment or a house.

Of course, the property prices in London doesn't help and we are currently looking for options with up to 45minutes commute into Bank.

Can anyone provide any tips or pointers in regards to areas where we can look at?

We have taken a look at Leighton Buzzard, Milton Keynes, Welwyn Garden City etc.
Also compared them to places closer like expensive flats in Woolwich, Greenwich etc.

Looking forward to any insights that you guys can provided!

Cheers!

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Bit vague.

Do you want a garden? To live in quiet leafy suburbs or somewhere with trendy cafes and nightlife? Will you walk, cycle or drive to your commuting station? Where do you currently live and what do/don't you like about it? Thinking of starting a family? Definitely working in central London long term?

bouicca21

What Out vile jelly says plus are you prepared to change trains/buses or do you want a simple through journey?

lovehackney

If you want to stay in London, try Clapton. It's about 15 minutes on the train to Liverpool St, trains run until about midnight. It's good if you want a relatively 'trendy' area, there are a few nice roads round there with good indie shops and restaurants (Chatsworth Road, parts of Lower Clapton Road). You would be looking at a flat though on that budget (as you would be in nearly all of 'inner' London).
Regarding Greenwich - I think the transport links are generally a bit poor (the DLR is so slow!) and although the place is kind of nice to look at, the restaurants are mostly chains (Cafe Rouge, GBK etc.). The park is lovely though.

I work in Welwyn Garden City and although it seems like a nice town, it also seems a bit boring and more for old people. Doesn't seem to be many good restaurants, and all the shops in the shopping centre close around 5pm - so definitely not somewhere you want to live if you want a bit of life! Also the commute into London would obviously cost more than if you lived actually in London.

Dollyrockerz

Does it have to be north of London?

Sevenoaks is lovely and it's less than 45 mins to Cannon Street

bouicca21

As a south east London person - I have reservations about Woolwich, which has trendy nice bits next to really poor scruffy bits. Bromley might be worth a look - 20 minutes on the non stop train Bromley south to Victoria, but then you hit the ghastly scrum trying to get on the tube. Abbey Wood is supposed to be up and coming, what with Crossrail, but you would have to change at Woolwich for the DLR.

MastermindJapan

Thanks for the all the prompt response!

Sorry for being a bit vague, been reading around the forums and first time posting.

I'll provide a little bit more info;

We don't mind having or not having a garden, we do prefer peace and quiet rather than "trendy" or "happening" locations.

Schools wouldn't matter as we are intending to move overseas after a period of 5-8 years and we are both quite young, so not thinking of starting a family any time soon.

Would rather have a simple commute, i.e. only trains + tube, no buses.

We are currently living in the Docklands area and really like the peace and quiet on the weekends.

Hope this info provides a little bit more background and hopefully more people will be chipping in with their opinions!

And maybe this will help other first time buyer folks with their decisions.

BlaEm

If you're looking at moving on in < 10 years, I'd personally be leaning towards a flat in Greater London than a house further out - I'd be looking for something that also had a good rental potential, so I could keep hold of it when moving overseas and get some rental income. I'd be more fussed about a house if it was going to be a 'forever' place.

Have a look along the South Eastern Cannon Street line (e.g. Hither Green, Lee) - no tube means the prices are more reasonable, but you can use a zone 3 travelcard and be at bank within 30-40 minutes.
I've mentioned HG on this forum before as it's where I moved to, it's in no way trendy or happening but well connected to 3 London terminals and interchanges to the DLR and Overground

benjus

I don't think there's anything you can do other than scour the market and see what takes your fancy. Everyone has different priorities.

My wife and I were in the same position with a similar budget not long ago. We ended up buying a flat in "The Hollies" in Sidcup (Zone 5, direct trains to Cannon Street, Lewisham DLR and Charing Cross). Although it is a bit far out from the centre and there are no trendy cafes/restaurants/pubs (which we do miss a bit from areas we lived in before), the place itself suited us down to the ground. A big, spacious flat, finished to a very high standard, garage and 2 parking spaces, good sized shared garden, lots of green space and mature trees around the building, residents' facilities including tennis courts, swimming pool and gym.

But that won't appeal to someone whose main priority is to be 2 minutes' walk to a tube station and near a cool pub.

bouicca21

Hither green is lovely, but I was priced out of there last year and I hate to think what prices are like now. 350 will be very tight, but just about doable for a 1 or 2 bed flat. I think the same might apply to Sidcup.

boliston

MastermindJapan wrote: »

.....
We are currently living in the Docklands area and really like the peace and quiet on the weekends......

Are you saying that you currently rent BUT cannot find anything in the area you currently live to buy?