Commuting to London

kingkelly

I'm currently looking to buy my first home. I see alot of comments on the forums about commuting into London as you can obviously get a cheaper home outside of London. However my main concern is that once you add on the monthly travel costs of getting into london you would probably be no better off.

For example if we were to move to Tunbridge Wells the monthly travel cost is £220 each, so an additional £440 a month (theres two of us), which in comparison to a zone 2 monthly travel card (£80 each, so £160 a month) doesnt really leave you better off? thats an additional £280 i could add to my mortgage?

My question is this:

Which area outside of London offers the cheapest travel in to town yet has a good value properties?

Any advice would be fantastic.

Cheers
sk

mystic_trev

kingkelly wrote:

I'm currently looking to buy my first home. I see alot of comments on the forums about commuting into London as you can obviously get a cheaper home outside of London. However my main concern is that once you add on the monthly travel costs of getting into london you would probably be no better off.

For example if we were to move to Tunbridge Wells the monthly travel cost is £220 each, so an additional £440 a month (theres two of us), which in comparison to a zone 2 monthly travel card (£80 each, so £160 a month) doesnt really leave you better off? thats an additional £280 i could add to my mortgage?

My question is this:

Which area outside of London offers the cheapest travel in to town yet has a good value properties?

Any advice would be fantastic.

Cheers
sk

Why not Tonbridge - Better rail service (both Hastings and Ashford lines- so lots more trains) and the House prices are a bit cheaper.

silvercar

If you look at the tube/rail map and look for areas that are in the outer most travel zone - zone 6, you will find that travel cards are significantly cheaper from there than from the next station out, whereas house prices will show little change.

Round here our station (elstree & borehamwood) in zone 6 on thameslink is so much cheaper than Radlett (outside the zones) that people who live in Radlett drive (3 miles) into Borehamwood, park at the overpriced train station and get a season ticket from here to save money against the cost of a season ticket from Radlett. I'm sure this must be repeated all round the zone boundary. Also savings for children, under 16s get free bus and reduced tube travel inside the zones; outside the zones it is half price!

Debt_Free_Chick

You might want to consider whether Council Tax is cheaper outside London. I guess in some parts of the SE it will be.

Also, think about "quality of life". To some people that means being in and around London. To others it means being as far away as possible (apart from working). What's important to you?

Eating out and drinks in pubs can be cheaper outside of London ... but once you get to the smarter places in TW only marginally so.

Tradesmen are probably cheaper too.

None of these things are "huge savings" on their own, but add them all up and you may find "life" costs less outside of London.

Also - the journey itself. You will definitely get a seat if you get on at TW or High Brooms (note that the commuter trains to Hastings do not stop at Tonbridge, which is a station for "off-peak" only). Also, the trains are "fast" from High Brooms straight into Charing X (Waterloo East is a stop) or Cannon Street (and occasionally London Bridge). It's a very efficient and comfortable journey - and there's a coffee trolley

I used to commute on the tube from Wembley Park. I could never get a seat on the Jubilee Line - and went all the way to Canary Wharf - although I could scramble for one at Baker Street or Bond Street.

All in all, I found the tube to be a complete nightmare ... but it's a personal thing and others don't find it such a bind.

I've done both (currently living down the Hastings line ... commute once a week from Battle, Robertsbridge or Etchingham) but for me it was a lifestyle choice.

moneysavingobsessive

It also depends how you travel - I was getting the train and tube everyday which was very expensive (around £240 for the overground and £80 for tube per month). Now however, I get the coach which actually takes about the same time, is air conditioned and has guaranteed seats. The season ticket works out at £131pcm.

By the time you take into account the travel card cost & the higher living expenses of London, I reckon that I am better off commuting.

Debt_Free_Chick

For the tube, I think it's also worth looking at an Oyster Card rather than a season ticket. If you live outside London, you don't need a season ticket to cover you for (non-existent) journeys at weekends.

The bus in London is also very pleasant (courtesy of Mr Livingstone's bus lanes and biased traffic lights!!!) and worth considering.

sarah_elton

What kind of budget are you looking at house wise?

I live in Witham, Essex, 45 minutes on the mainline into Liverpool Street. Closer there's Chelmsford, 30 minutes from the City.

As others have said, some people consider quality of life, i.e. surroundings. I own a spacious 2 bed flat on a quiet street with views of fields behind. That cost me £115k, and I doubt I'd get that anywhere near London. Even if I could, others have said look at zones further out, but would you rather spend equal amounts of time on the mainline or a tube?

Was working locally but start in the City in a couple of weeks. My commute from out here is £3k for an annual, about £280 for a monthly. Whether Essex, Kent, whichever way you go, I think you'll find they're all much of a muchness in terms of commute costs.

babydino

The cheapest council tax in London is in Wandsworth. You could try looking around that area. Depending on where in Wandsworth, you are looking at Zone 2 - 3.

Beside looking at the house price, you should also consider commute time.
I have done the commute from Tunbridge to London for a while and found it tiring.

wigginsmum

Walthamstow is 15 minutes into Liverpool Street. An annual Zones 1-3 Travelcard is just over £1000. A 3-bed Victorian terrace will cost around £210k.

sportbeth

From my experience when we were looking around in Kent, Orpington, Bromley etc tends to be quite pricey on property prices, but Dunton Green (just down the road from leafy sevenoaks) is a bit of an up and coming area with a large development planned for 2008. Could be a good chance to get in now before the rush.

Property prices there are slightly cheaper than Sevenoaks, and a season ticket costs around £138 a month. There is a slow service to Chelsfield (10 mins) then you can jump on a fast train to Waterloo or Charing Cross from there.

Might be worth considering and Sevenoaks is lovely with the benefits of being a short drive to T Wells at weekends

loobs40

Remember to take account of where a commuter station is in London (e.g. Euston) compared to your office location. Don't understimate the extra journey on the tube/bus. I used to commute into Euston from Hertfordshire and the journey on the tube to my office in the City was another 30 minutes.

ideally you should commute to a mainline station from where you can walk to your office thus avoiding any tube delays and you get the benefit of some exercise !