Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 70 total)
  • Talk to me about Bromley (London Borough of)
  • nathb
    Free Member

    The missus and I are looking to purchase a house in London. Our budget is £450k (help to buy cap). We can get a 450k mortgage on our own plus the deposit (+15%) but it’s pointless, may as well use the help to buy and do some immediate home improvements. Currently living in Ealing but with our budget we’re only looking at flats which isn’t what we want.

    We were going to look at moving out of London all together in a couple of years, however we’ve stumbled across Bromley in our searches. We can get a 2-4 bedroom house within a mile of one of the many stations in the borough, which means she can get to her office in Victoria within 20 mins on the train. I work in Chelsea but cycle so doesn’t really make a difference to me.

    What’s the catch? Any areas we should concentrate our search on / avoid all together?

    Thanks in advance!

    clodhopper
    Free Member

    “Any areas we should … avoid all together?”

    Bromley.

    It’s cheaper for a reason, the main one being it’s crap to get to and from central London. Or indeed anywhere nice. It is leafier and you’ll get more for your money. A bit ‘UKIP’.

    Seems like you’re looking at getting on the ladder, in order to make something on it and be in a financially better position to move on in a few years. Like so many others. If that’s the case, then a flat somewhere more central/accessible, would be a better option. You’d get a better return.

    “she can get to her office in Victoria within 20 mins on the train.”

    Unless of course there’s one of the many, many delays that affect such services, not to mention the insane crush if you do actually get on a train. Every single week day. Fun fun fun.

    I wouldn’t live in Bromley if you paid me.

    simon_g
    Full Member

    We moved here just over a year ago after living in North London then a year in Epsom – wife didn’t want to be too far out, my parents are just down in Kent, and better value for money meant we could get a roomy extended 30s semi with a decent garden for our budget.

    No catches really, it’s all quite suburban but you have a decent size town on your doorstep with plenty of shops, restaurants, theatre, etc. We have a young daughter and she goes to a great nursery and there’s plenty of other groups and activities going on. Yes, trains can be busy at peak times but I can live with standing for 20 mins.

    We’re north of the town (towards Grove Park station, frequent trains to Cannon St / Charing Cross) but for Victoria the southern side probably works better for Bromley South or Shortlands stations. We looked at a few houses down that way, either side of Norman Park – quite a few to choose from within a mile of Bromley South.

    Haven’t done a huge amount of riding since the baby but there’s pleasant lanes for quiet road riding within 10 mins or so of town. Haven’t joined the local club but they do two MTB night rides a week plus some day rides on weekends as well as a big road program.

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    freeagent
    Free Member

    I wouldn’t live in Bromley if you paid me.

    Interesting.

    I live in Bromley (well, Bromley Borough – Farnborough Village)
    We like it. a lot.
    Neither of us commute into London, however we have lots of friends/neighbours who do.
    Our nearest station geographically is Orpington, however it is at the different end of the same bus route as Bromley South, so not much in it.

    Chislehurst, Bromley Common, Petts wood, Farnborough, Keston are the nicer parts of the Borough, New Addington/Biggin Hill not so much.

    Not sure if it is of interest but there are a lot of good schools in Bromley.

    Pretty good for cycling – many of the S/SE London roadie clubs head out through Farnborough/Keston/Downe on their Saturday morning runs, and there is plenty of MTB riding on the North Downs.

    Have you been looking at any houses in Particular?

    zippykona
    Full Member

    450 should get you something in the epsom area. Not sure of your priorities but there’s more biking this way.
    Not all of Croydon is a shit hole. It has superb transport and doable biking. I used to cycle to Battersea in 35 -40 minutes on my mtb.

    scaled
    Free Member

    If you’re looking that far out there are loads of places inside the M25 that are doable and have cracking transport links

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40428264.html

    The one above is convenient for the train at least 😀

    I’m a Caterham/South croydon native, although croydon itself is a dump further out is a lot nicer.

    nathb
    Free Member

    Thanks guys!

    @clodhopper Where do you commute from? Is it any worse than the Piccadilly line? 😆

    @simon_g Thank you, will check those areas out. I’m enticed by all the greenery just south of Bromley, the coast is only 50 odd miles away too! 8)

    @freeagent Thanks, again will check those areas out too. Need to start looking at schools too (see below). Not looked at anything in particular just yet, it was only last night Bromley caught our eye. Did come across this quirky looking place though: http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/40923508#z3ZqHE4vSGstzbL1.97

    We’ve got a cat (garden essential), car and are probably going to start a family soon within the next 2-3 years (we’re 27). So yeah being close to a decent nursery/primary school would be highly beneficial, but may also be looking to move again in that time frame if circumstances change. Also her parents are moving to Hastings soon – which would only be just over an hour in the car, perfect for when the time comes for their help haha!

    @zippykona Epsom is a little too rich for us I think, will have a look though cheers!

    @scaled A little too close to transport links that one 😆

    clodhopper
    Free Member

    “@clodhopper Where do you commute from?”

    I don’t have to. 8)

    Piccadilly line is ok anyway. It’s the Northern line that’s horrible.

    I would say, that just because you can get a mortgage ‘up to’ £450k, doesn’t necessarily mean you should Why not lower your sights a bit, because if you are going to get into debt, then surely less is better. Don’t know what jobs you do, but I’m increasingly hearing about young people who work in London, facing redundancy as their employers downsize/shift operations overseas. I think the canny thing to do at the moment, is to take on as little debt as possible, and be prepared to be flexible as to the future and where you might be living.

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    Quite.

    I live in Enfield – not quite as “green” as Bromley but still 10 mins bike ride from Essex/Herts green lanes, and have a 3 bed semi, outbuildings & gardens and double garage 5 mins walk from a direct line to Liverpool St station valued about £100k less than you’ve got.

    Its also one of the “last” boroughs to come around the anti-clockwise development upgrade scheme of things after the Olympics, which means house prices are relatively low, subject to growth and the area is recieving quite a bit of investment / improvement.

    nathb
    Free Member

    @clodhopper.

    Fair enough 😆

    £450k + our deposit money is the back of the cigarette packet calc that the banks would lend us.

    But with the help to buy our cap is 450k, we provide 5% deposit (22.5k), the gov gives us a 5 year interest free loan for 20% and we get a 75% mortgage. This will enable us to invest in the property with some of the deposit money we have freed up, and bank the rest for a rainy day/kid. Plus with a lower mortgage we’d be able to save more money, with the potential of buying the gov out or look at selling within the 5 years (the gov takes their 20% back from the sale).

    wilburt
    Free Member

    I worked in Bromley for a couple of years, seemed ok and I don’t really like London towns.

    Traffic was bad but perhaps not relative to similar ares.

    I thought the cap in London was 600k?

    nicks
    Free Member

    Agree with Freeagent

    “Chislehurst, Bromley Common, Petts wood, Farnborough, Keston are the nicer parts of the Borough, New Addington/Biggin Hill not so much “

    Locks bottom is also a good spot as is Crofton.

    I grew up round Farnborough village way .. very nice and easy access to Orpington station with quick links into London.

    From a riding perspective you have heaps of great road routes out into Kent and Surrey but MTB is slightly limited depending on your stance about riding on footpaths (still better than most London boroughs IMO)

    nathb
    Free Member

    @wilburt it is for over-inflated new builds only unfortunately. But I’m quite glad we’ve got a cap to be honest.

    @nicks Thank you, I’ve only got road bikes so all good for me.

    geetee1972
    Free Member

    I live in Horsham. It’s an hour by train into Victoria (or 2 hours by push bike :D). Eight years ago £450k got us a four bedroomed detached house with garage and a garden 15m by 15m.

    freeagent
    Free Member

    OP – the place you lniked to in Beckenham looks nice – Beckenham is a good start – my folks live there and like it.

    2-Bed cottage in Farnborough
    ^Not perfect but it is in a nice part of the borough, under budget and easy to get to either Bromley South or Orpington Stations.

    cchris2lou
    Full Member

    I live in Hextable, small village near Swanley.
    Same train line as Bromley South.
    Swanley station is 15 minutes walk.
    450k will get a 3/4 semi detached.

    Riding of road is good, and very easy to get to good spots.

    poolman
    Free Member

    Be aware the London and se market is massively over inflated and due for a correction. I have always bought around kingston and the good areas withstand any correction better. Houses in Kingston are not selling, I know they have to drop a lot to 450 but a nice 4 bed terraced is on at 600. I reckon in a year or so depending on th3 vendors situation that may be 450.

    As others have said you don’t have to go far back to see 450 buying a nicertain house in say Teddington. C 3 years if I am honest.

    I looked at Bromley before my last purchase, Bromley common and Beckley, I liked it. A mates sister knows the area far better than me and she said it was…well not very nice. So I saved a bit more and bought in my comfort zone.

    After Ealing you would really notice the difference living in a cheaper area.

    geetee1972
    Free Member

    Be aware the London and se the vast majority of the UK market is massively over inflated and due for a correction

    Housing, specifically the lack of affordable stock, is the single biggest problem in society. When you do a rough root cause analysis on the issues of social mobility, injustice, inequlity etc, you don’t have to go down too many branches before you end back at housing.

    suburbanreuben
    Free Member

    A bit ‘UKIP’.

    putting it mildly….

    poolman
    Free Member

    Loving a bit ukip as a description…

    Also, look where we are on the interest rate cycle, in 2 or 3 years there’s no way when you come off a fix you will be getting these rates again and on c 500k you would have to be sure you were buying in a prime area.

    I would hold out and try cheeky bids in better areas

    benp1
    Full Member

    If you pick a good area within easy commute of London (i.e. near a good station), whatever happens with the housing market, you’ll have chosen well

    Aim to find a house where you can convert the loft at a later point, gives you a way of upsizing without moving

    I live in North London and the area I’m in as shot up in value in the last few years, mostly through supply/demand.

    There’s a big difference between living in Bromley town, and the London Borough of Bromley. For a little stint I worked near Bromley South station, and commuted from North London. The line to Victoria is brilliant, and I very rarely had a problem with trains

    I’d say stretch yourself as much as you’re comfortable, don’t worry about furnishing the house – you can do that later. You can move as often as you want, but it gets expensive once you start factoring in stamp duty

    nathb
    Free Member

    Mixed views so far then! 😛

    Armed with a list of the above I think I need to do some cycling around these areas, google maps can only show so much..

    But yes, comparing it to Ealing isn’t going to be easy, it’s the only bit of London I’ve ever lived in. But I don’t want to be paying someone else’s mortgage for the rest of my time in this city.

    Thank you all for the comments so far!

    binners
    Full Member

    This might help

    And failing that, this

    You’re welcome… 😆

    mrl
    Full Member

    Not a place I would live. Live further out. Horsham, reigate. Even Redhill.

    benp1
    Full Member

    I have a little hobby about asking people why they live in the area they do. And for those that move to London, why they picked a certain area

    I’m not critiquing their choice, just trying to understand their rationale

    You need a list of priorities, what you want and their order of importance

    e.g
    1 hour from London
    Travelcard, not season ticket
    Cycling distance from X
    Near school
    Affordable within budget etc

    Otherwise your options are potentially endless

    Kryton57
    Full Member

    Is it just me that thought one of Binners links would be a Greggs orientated version of the Tube Map?

    nathb
    Free Member

    @benp1

    I think our list would be:

    Under 25 mins (train time) to Victoria (her travel is paid for by the company as she’s classed as a homeworker)
    Near a decent primary school
    Sub 90 mins to Hastings

    My place of work is due to change, but I think within 25 mins on the train to Victoria will equate to sub 60 mins cycle to work?

    poolman
    Free Member

    I spent most of my working life in Sw London – Teddington kingston Surbiton and loved it. The few occasions I ventured out of my comfort zone I was in Sutton and tooting, gosh I hated it.

    So think carefully about leaving the leafy enclave of Ealing, you have everything close by, good links via tube and overground, 24hr bus service. Life’s stressful enough without adding to it, there’s nothing worse than looking back and comparing life now with what it was.

    Good areas are expensive for a reason, I am always looking at new areas as kingston is just silly money now, but then I go and have a walk round, say Croydon, yikes, back to kingston…I see you are renting so eager to get on the ladder.

    Sorry if I offended anyone in above areas btw, it’s just I am the biggest property snob out there.

    redgrandslam
    Free Member

    I live in Beckenham and would recommend this area if you’re intent on staying around London. There are 3 different train lines all within 10 mins walk for me: to Victoria; to London Bridge/Cannon St/Charing Cross and the Thameslink routes that go Elephant&Castle/Blackfriars/City/St Pancras. Add in the 10 min ride to East Croydon and ability to jump on the train to go for a nice ride outside of London (or get back from a ride) and it’s ideal.

    Even without jumping on the train, you can be in country lanes in 20mins and there are loads of parks around.

    Yes 75% voted Tory or UKIP in the election but you can’t have everything!

    binners
    Full Member

    Sorry if I offended anyone in above areas btw, it’s just I am the biggest property snob out there.

    House prices in London would suggest you’re far from alone.

    poolman
    Free Member

    Ha ha, funny thing is if you look at surrounding not so nice areas the prices are only say 10% lower. Again not offending anyone which I am sure I will but say new Malden v kingston, neighbouring areas but chalk and cheese. New Malden is only a bit cheaper than kingston, suppose if you can afford the better area go for it.

    Sorry btw new Malden residents it’s really nice..

    joolsburger
    Free Member

    Not a massive fan of Central Bromley but Hayes/Keston are OK and nearby. I think I’d look there, 450k is likely to get a 3 bed ex authority house which might not be the prettiest. As said before Epsom, Cheam, Ewell and maybe some of Sutton is worth a look too.

    steve-g
    Free Member

    We had similar criteria and have ended up in Eltham, We need to travel to Canary Wharf rather than Victoria, so being a bit further east works for us but I think Victoria is about 30 minutes from Eltham on the train. Its very green here with plenty of parks, the schools are good, and its on both the A2 and the A20 which is good for us as our families are mostly to the south.

    There are good bits and bad bits, but it’s worth a look round and hits your budget

    Edit: Having checked a map it appears I don’t know where Bromley is in relation to Eltham, Eltham is only a tiny bit East and a bit further North of Bromley.

    nathb
    Free Member

    Cheers guys!

    The list is:
    Chislehurst,
    Bromley Common,
    Petts wood,
    Farnborough,
    Keston,
    Hayes,
    Eltham,

    Other potentials:
    Crystal Palace,
    Kingston,
    Epsom,
    Cheam,
    Ewell.

    I’m not keen on Sutton (sometimes have to work there).

    freeagent
    Free Member

    The list is:
    Chislehurst,
    Bromley Common,
    Petts wood,
    Farnborough,
    Keston,
    Hayes,
    Eltham,

    Personally I find Chislehurst a bit overpriced. The high st (especially the top end) is lovely – definitely try to stay toward the ‘Petts wood’ end rather than straying near Mottingham.

    Bromley Common – good choice for transport (loads of busses go straight to Bromley South) but some roads a bit rough.

    Petts Wood – nice – but a lot of the houses are huge – I’d be interested to see what £450k buys you.

    Farnborough – I love it, but the nearest Station is a decent walk/bus journey away.
    Good road links (straight down A21 onto M25) and a good safe bet if you want an investment.

    Keston – really nice, but not very close to a station.

    Hayes – Good transport links – nice high street

    Eltham – personally I don’t like it – but a good place for travel etc.

    zippykona
    Full Member

    Cheam has some of the best restaurants in the land. Direct link to Victoria and an amazing gift shop.

    nathb
    Free Member

    zippykona
    Cheam has some of the best restaurants in the land. Direct link to Victoria and an amazing gift shop.

    Sold! 😆

    freeagent
    Personally I find Chislehurst a bit overpriced. The high st (especially the top end) is lovely – definitely try to stay toward the ‘Petts wood’ end rather than straying near Mottingham.

    Bromley Common – good choice for transport (loads of busses go straight to Bromley South) but some roads a bit rough.

    Petts Wood – nice – but a lot of the houses are huge – I’d be interested to see what £450k buys you.

    Farnborough – I love it, but the nearest Station is a decent walk/bus journey away.
    Good road links (straight down A21 onto M25) and a good safe bet if you want an investment.

    Keston – really nice, but not very close to a station.

    Hayes – Good transport links – nice high street

    Eltham – personally I don’t like it – but a good place for travel etc.

    Thank you, really helpful!

    A lot of the houses in petts wood in our budget are terraces like this: http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/39058191#KYyKgzI0ZXSYZfmG.97

    Doesn’t seem too bad.

    benp1
    Full Member

    @nathb – good list

    I’m not much help as I’m north of the river so have no idea where everything is, but sounds like many here do!

    brooess
    Free Member

    1. Don’t touch any property being sold by Curran & Pinner… seriously…
    2. If you’re a Bowie geek then there’s all kinds of random trivia around Beckenham and Bromley round there e.g. he got married to Angie in the Registry Office and Ziggy was created in a salon in Beckenham High St 🙂
    3. Drivers get noticeable nastier once you’re out of Crystal Palace – I nearly died in Bromley once stopping at a red light and the driver behind me tried to run it – he then spent the next minute giving me abuse…
    4. Nigel Farage lives in Downe village… although it has a great coffee shop
    5. Don’t even think about putting an offer in around asking price around Crystal Palace – prices are 70% higher than they were in 2013. I know of at least 4 properties at the top end of Crystal Palace Park Road which have been on the market for around a year and they’ve not sold – sales have fallen through. I used to live there – and one of those flats belongs to a friend of mine and he’s finally accepting he’ll have to drop his price – he was saying something very different this time last year… CP is also carbon monoxide heaven, although the park is very nice and the cake in Cadence is top notch…

    nathb
    Free Member

    @benp1 I’m a “northerner” too! 😆

    @brooess Yeah CP is at the very top of our budget – hope you’re right about the prices. Pollution doesn’t seem to be too bad?!

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