Honest feedback on Balham for a family? Post Reply

[keepingitreal12]

have you looked at Wim Chase area? Tends to be cheaper than Wim & close to good schools.

[Mrsmac35]

Hi, we had the same dilemma five years ago.... looking for a house in an area that would meet the needs of our whole family! Dog included! We hunted most of south west London and I can honestly say we have not regretted our house purchase at all!
We bought on Magdalen Road, SW18... the area is called the Magdalen Estate.
Close to Wandsworth Common, trains into Victoria are great. Walking distance to Earlsfield station too if you need to get to Clapham..Close to Bellevue Road which is really pretty...
20 minute walk to Northcote Road (there is a brilliant ice cream parlour here) and loads of shops and restaurants..
Lovely Community feel, most of our neighbours have lived here for years.. great playgrounds within walking distance..
We bought our house from Carter jonas on Bellevue road and they were great.
https://www.carterjonas.co.uk/estate-ag ... rth-common
Bigger gardens than most in the area and parking too...
Good luck!

[SouthLondonDaddy]

I haven’t really looked at Wimbledon chase until now; transport options seem more limited, but I’ll look into it.

The house I saw on Cavendish road is this one: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for ... 66404.html It is now with a 3rd agency! It used to be at 850k, I viewed it about a month ago when it was 750k, and now it’s on with another agency. It is very, very close to a Catholic state school, and Henry Cavendish and Alderbrook are not too far, either. The floorplan says 84 sqm, but I have learnt not to rely on those measurements as they can be off big time. The 3-bed house I saw for 750k near East Dulwich had a slightly smaller 3rd bedroom but a much bigger garden (it was end of terrace).
Not sure about Balham, but 4-5 years ago, when we bought in East Dulwich, both 2 and 3-bed properties would sell very, very quickly. It’s a slightly different world now!

Do you ever find yourselves going from Balham to Streatham? I don’t know, for the high street, for any shopping, anything to do? I have driven through Streatham a few times but don’t really know the area; the high street seems big but somewhat shabby.

[Jen66]

You are right on top of the school there - so there's going to be a lot of noise from there. Plus Cavendish Road is a very busy road. I also think there might be some trade warehouses behind - so again, potential lorry noise. Its prob why the house hasn't sold and has got to come down in price.

On the plus side you're very close to Abbeville Road area which is lovely for shops, cafes and restaurants

[firsttimerSW11]

Cavendish Road is basically the South Circular, it has heavy traffic all day long, avoid like the plague.
Balham is a nice place to live. Very child friendly Have a look at some of the houses in the Nightingale Triangle (around Chestnut Grove) for some nice Victorian Terraces.
The high street is getting better all the time and you're within a short walk of Northcote Road. Transport is great (I lived in Balham a few years back) and always found it very handy to have both the tube and the train to mitigate against issues on one or the other.
I don't know Dulwich at all so can't compare but don't like living in areas with no tube. (IMHO Balham is definitely a better option than Earlsfield). Garrett Lane isn't great.

[SouthLondonDaddy]

Thank you, all. I hadn’t thought about traffic noise. We viewed the house on a Saturday around 4pm in July, and Cavendish road seemed like a quiet back road then.

Jen66, have you been following house prices in Balham at all? Do you think a similar property close to one of the non-religious state schools (Henry Cavendish, Alderbrooke, Ravenstone) would sell for much more? I’m not too keen on that specific house – just trying to get a sense of the area.

[Nev123]

I think the prices and desirability of places in the Hyde Farm area certainly went up due the schools there. I don't think the same is true for either Ravenstone or Alderbrook. Ravenstone had a wobble a couple of years go after getting a 'requires improvement' rating and whilst I think it's recovered from that pretty well I don't think it's done anything to prices. Likewise anecdotally I think Alderbrook is on the up but not yet a sought after school in the same way Henry Cavendish or Telferscot are. A good gauge of desirability (which I am not saying necessarily tells you how good the school is) is offer distance. Alderbrook and Ravenstone still have biggish catchments. Bigger than HC or Telferscot. Actually Rutherford House's is much smaller, only about 400m.

I agree about not wanting to live on Cavendish Road - busy and semi industrial in places.

[keepingitreal12]

I think that house is a little overpriced hence the reduction. I wouldn't live on a main road personally but noise doesn't bother everyone. Plus you did visit during the school holidays which might have made a difference. You say the E.Dulwich house had a larger garden so I presume there is potential space to extend?

Here is a house currently for sale near Henry Cavendish https://m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details ... b652722055

You could probably save 100k if you found one that hadn't been done up. Or you could look at flats/maisonettes which would probably be 650k + depending upon bedrooms.

[Jen66]

SLD - I'm in the Hyde Farm area - so a 3 bed place on the roads near Henry Cavendish (Haverhill, Scholars, Pentney, Hydethorpe) are all nudging or in excess of £1million.

Don't forget Telferscot School. Houses around the Telford Park area are lovely and tend to be a big cheaper

[SouthLondonDaddy]

If floorplans are to be trusted (or, well, if they have both exaggerated the real numbers by the same %), the house in Haverhill rd is 43% bigger ( 120 sqm vs 84), so the price by sqm difference is not insane. The asking price is higher ( 750 x 1.43 = 1,071 , not 1,200), but they’re just asking prices, plus it’s not unreasonable for nicer properties to fetch more by sqm.

Basically I’m hoping that £ 750 – 850k would buy a decent 3-bed property of 80 to 90 square metres, not too far from one of the non-religious state schools. Time will tell if this expectation / hope is unrealistic!

[parsleysong]

How about you rent for 6 months in the area and see if you like it and take the time to suss out your target roads. I can't see prices changing much in that time and although you will be paying rent you will get a feel for whether you like Balham and avoid making an expensive mistake if you hate it.

Ice-cream wise - see my previous post

[sw1234]

Good idea actually to rent for a bit if you can. You will get a better feel of where in balham to live. We moved from balham to Earlsfield. I only use overground so E was better with trains every 3 mins to Waterloo plus if you make sure you live In catchment for BP you are guaranteed a place which made it a safer bet. That together with the drives, bigger gardens etc it was a no brainer and we have never looked back!

[SouthLondonDaddy]

Mmm, renting for a bit would be a logistical nightmare. A big question is if we can find and afford to buy a property we like; renting in the area makes weekend viewings easier, but doesn’t really give us greater chances of finding something within our budget. In other words, if we rent, like the area, but then fail to buy… we’ll be in a much worse position because by then our little tsunami will have started school, and the last thing we want is to move her around from school to school.

@sw1234, were you referring to Beatrix Potter? What do you mean about being guaranteed a place? My understanding was that priority is given to those living in the two “priority areas” but, even then, there are no guarantees, just like you are not guaranteed a place even if you live 150 metres from a school , because theoretically there could be lots of siblings ahead of your child.

[sw1234]

There's no sibling priority at Beatrix Potter unless you live in the catchment area so you are pretty much guaranteed a place as long as you live in either the primary or secondary catchment. There haven't been any cases of people living in either catchment not getting a place! You wouldn't be able to afford a house in catchment though (I don't think ) unless you weee closer up towards the prison perhaps but you could afford a 3 bed maisonettes with garden and some have drives.

[SouthLondonDaddy]

Is Balham particularly popular with expats, especially European expats, or is it mostly a British neighbourhood? I understand there are some French schools around Battersea, but that’s a few miles north. I ask because I wonder about the impact of Brexit. Of course no one has a crystal ball, just thinking the impact might potentially be greater in areas more popular with EU expats.