Commutable Towns and Cities close to London

lisyloo

I don’t think anyone is talking about being snobby, we’re talking about not living next door to a crack den.
do you have examples of decent property for £200k? I’m skeptical as if it was decent and commutable it would get snapped up at that price.
i’ll keep an open mind but usually people put up links and then someone will find the catch e.g. above a takeaway, short lease, 15th floor (unmortgageable)  next door to a crack den etc. 

Everything vaguely commutable is priced “within an inch of its life” so cheaper places usually have an issue.
Id say £350k minimum and I’m not a snob (my place is a long way from a des res)

numbercruncher8

Isn't being snobby ruling out entire places based on reputation? Not accusing anyone, just a generalisation, if your budget is small there has to be compromises. £200k is about as low as it is for London unless you want a studio.

OP seems to be in the market for a one-bed, so what is so wrong about something like this: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67231350.html

It isn't a high-rise, extremely close to the station and 50sqm is a decent size for a one bedroom. The streets around there are residential with no massive high-rises. If your budget is £350k you are probably looking for something a little different from OP, like location or more bedrooms.

spoovy

I moved away from a one bed flat in South Croydon last year after living there for six years.  The southern areas are not too bad in themselves, but the problem is central Croydon, the influence of which is slowly creeping south.

If you get a flat with a parking space and basically never go anywhere other than in your car then maybe it would be ok, but don't even think about popping into town -- central croydon (which includes East and West Croydon stations) has become really quite frightening over the last few years with the spiralling amount of violent crime.  I'm from a rough part of Birmingham so I don't frighten easily, but it seriously got to the point where I felt like I needed eyes in the back of my head every time I went out.

Shoplifting has got to the point where people just walk in, fill their bags and run out, battering any security guard that tries to stop them.  Stabbings were weekly news.  Apartment blocks see forced entries and randoms roaming the corridors or sleeping in the lobby (this at a friend of ours who still lives there and is desperate to leave -- he also witnessed a stabbing while putting the bins out). There was even an actual sword fight between rival drug gangs right in the town centre last year, in the middle of the day while people were shopping.

lisyloo

Exactly what I predicted. Someone puts up a link of a cheap commutable property that looks fine and someone that knows the area tells you it’s awful.
There are millions of people who want cheap commutable property so there’s very strong demand. If it’s cheap there’s a reason it’s not widely acceptable.
of course people have different tolerances, but no one wants to run the gauntlet of muggers, drugs, knives, acid or put their wife and kids through that.
i still maintain the (widely common) red line I’ve mentioned is not being snobbish.

spoovy

Absolutely.  It's not snobbish to want safety.  There's just no way to trick the system price wise, there are no bargain areas in London IMO.  You have to either win the lottery or decide what big compromise are you prepared to make.  I personally would rather commute 2 hours each way than live somewhere where I am genuinely and with good reason frightened to let my wife go outside on her own.

Crashy_Time

Poster_586329 said:

OP, here's a 3-bed for just £100k!

Okay, the journey is a lot more than 50 minutes. But you'll be the envy of the office when they hear you eat breakfast on the balcony, looking out over the sea....

Might sell for 60k IMO.

lisyloo

I’m not one of those people who believes “well move then” is a good response for 10 million commuters, but in this situation and as already mentioned it is worth considering if there is a better life outside of London. Sometimes the answer is no (prices are correlated with the availability of jobs and salary levels) but it’s worth asking that question.

numbercruncher8

The person lived there for 6 years.... I think you're putting words into their mouth when they said its awful...they actually said nothing of the sort. South Croydon is not Central Croydon. People living in Addiscombe or Purley would have the same problem, and they are regarded as nice places. I know the area really well, and they are right about the other areas of Croydon. But living in that place you don't have to go there at all if you don't want to. 

But the fact is about London that many good parts are not far away from many bad parts. For example, I grew up in East London. There are some fashionable bits of Leytonstone and Walthamstow, and there are some very bad parts where I wouldn't feel safe at night. But I wouldn't let the bad parts rule out a move totally to these areas, it depends.

I too would regard myself pretty street-safe, and in terms of safety living in the place mentioned - a 0.1m trek from the station here is much safer than living 0.5m from a 'better' station, especially at night.  

I am not saying its perfect, but the budget is a massive limitation, that is fact. Writing something off when you have not been there is the type of snobbishness I was talking about.

It isn't going to be for everyone, but that's the compromise people take. Other places are nicer but in terms of commute to work there isn't going to be much cheaper. Fact is, if they had a bigger budget, I would have posted something different, and I already said staying put may be the best option. London isn't for everyone. 

MysteryMe

spoovy said:

I'm in a similar situation. Swindon, Milton Keynes, Northampton & Basingstoke are all on my list as relatively good value options, and are all better than Essex / Kent if you like outdoorsy stuff, and all offer serious alternatives for places to work too with Reading, Oxford, Bristol commutable.

What do you count as outdoorsey stuff? Both Kent and Essex have long coastlines with great beaches, plenty of country parks and ancient woodlands.  It's not helpful to the OP to be offering advice that is so poorly researched.

Crashy_Time

lisyloo said:

I’m not one of those people who believes “well move then” is a good response for 10 million commuters, but in this situation and as already mentioned it is worth considering if there is a better life outside of London. Sometimes the answer is no (prices are correlated with the availability of jobs and salary levels) but it’s worth asking that question.

Prices are correlated with the availability/price of credit and sentiment, sentiment at the banks and also with the public, and at the moment all these factors are being tested. Best bet for anyone thinking of buying just now is to sit back and see what happens, what have they got to lose?