Leasehold flat in South East London or Freehold House in Croydon?

bucksbloke

Avoid a leasehold if you can. 
I've heard South Croydon is really nice.

Sandyra

I was brought up and still live in Croydon. Funnily the best places to avoid are the areas closest to central London such as Thornton Heath and West Croydon. I dunno but I just can’t take to Waddon either. South Croydon, Sanderstead, Shirley, Purley, Coulsdon are very desirable leafy areas.

bouicca21

What sort of area do you want to live in?  What sort of transport connections? Bits of the borough of Croydon are very nice.  I looked at places in and around Portland Road in South Norwood and hated it but a friend lives near there and loves it.  I really like Catford but many people dislike multicultural neighbourhoods.  

I don’t see any point in trying to spot the next up and coming neighbourhood (if I did I’d have bought in Peckham), you should concentrate on finding a neighbourhood that suits you.

zagubov

Don't see the house as an investment, but as a home for living in. Plenty of good places in Croydon as Sandyra says, as well as places worth avoiding.

JeffMason

AdrianC said:

Umm, the London Borough of Croydon is London...

You are absolutely right. I'm being influenced by Londoners I've spoken to, noboby counts Croydon as London and I don't know why. So I've picked up some of that from them. Apologies.

JeffMason

Windofchange said:

JeffMason said:

....but London is nicer than Croydon.

This is like saying but a red car is nicer than cars. I can certainly think of parts of London that are far worse than Croydon despite all of its short comings. As pointed out above, Croydon is London anyway! 

Which specific bit of London are you talking about, and which specific part of Croydon? As above, I grew up and lived my early adult years in Croydon, so have a pretty good grasp of what areas to avoid, and what areas aren't actually all that bad. And there are a lot that actually aren't all that bad! 

The parts I mentioned in the first post. South / South East London - Forest Hill, Catford area but looking futher out too.

East Croydon has incredible connections and I've heard mixed things. West Croydon I've not heard one good thing about. South Croydon mixed again. Nothing much about areas other than those, and there seem to be lots.  

JeffMason

bucksbloke said:

Avoid a leasehold if you can. 
I've heard South Croydon is really nice.

I'm going to try, but it's impossible in the areas I'm looking, accept perhaps Croydon. 

Nick_C

AdrianC said:

Umm, the London Borough of Croydon is London...

Although Croydon is a London Borough, it is also a Postal Town with it's own Postcode - CR

As far as addresses are concerned, Croydon is not London

Much of Croydon is in the County of Surrey

GixerKate

The problem with Croydon is the image and lets face it, central Croydon can be a bit rough.  But, the outskirts of Croydon can be pretty nice.  For instance I have a Croydon postcode and am half an hour away from central London but live on the outskirts of Happy Valley Downs so very rural :-)

Freehold over leasehold every time for me.

zagubov

It's easy to get confused about where it belongs; it's entirely within Greater London and the tfl Travel zones for oyster cards. Most inner areas have London telephone numbers, the outer areas have Redhill or Farnborough (Kent) ones. Apart from the northern edge, most areas have Surrey postal addresses, as have all of Sutton and Kingston and some of Merton.
It feels more urban than most of London and is the only bit of South London with a skyline.
Most importantly is as varied as many a city would be; bear in mind that if it wasn't attached to London, it'd be a city in its own right; it's bigger than Nottingham, Leicester or Cardiff.