Commuting to London

lowis

wigginsmum
it's amazing what a difference a few miles can make...1 bed flat in clerkenwell EX-COUNCIL for £235k
http://www.findaproperty.com/agent.aspx?agentid=4872&opt=prop&pid=148859&photo=5#photo

i quite fancy some of the lovely old victorian or georgian houses in tottenham / bruce castle area. the other half isn't keen though.

Hillfly

A longer term bet might be to consider deepest darkest Kent - Ashford down to Folkestone.
House prices are a lot cheaper in this end of Kent but they wont be for long as the high speed rail link will be opening in 2009 and what is currently an 1hour 25 minute commute to the city will become 36 minutes from Ashford.
There is alot of house building going on inAshford and prices are relatively cheap.

If you could stand the commute for a few years you would undoubtedly benefit in the long run and hopefully the gains would outweigh your commute costs.
I buy a train only pass to london (no tube) as it's cheaper. You can get overland services to Charing Cross, London Bridge, Blackfriars, Victoria & Cannon Street and these are within walking distance of most big city firms (though not Docklands admitedly).

Lions21

Tonbridge is a long way out so the cost of travel is high. Sevenoaks is also pricey property wise.

Orpington has fast trains into London Bridge (About 17 Mins) + slow to Victoria & Blackfriars.
Ticket for trains only is just under £100 a month. (Last train out of London Bridge stops at Orpington which is handy if you like a drink or two).

Two bed house in Orpington or Petts Wood probably about £210,000.

Mirtos

We looked out in Gillingham (about an hour into centre of town by train), and for 140k could get a beautiful five bed victorian semi, 5mins walk from station. In london this wouldn't even get us a two bed flat in a dodgy area. We're still in London though, as couldn't face the commute every day (esp as I often work late into the evening).

lowis

going north of london you could try tring, berkhampstead, leighton buzzard - serviced by euston

or st albans, harpenden, caddington, luton (there are some nice villages near by!) - serviced by kings cross/st pancras

clairehi

St Albans is the second most expensive area in England for house prices outside London!

Where in London do you need to commute to? This may rule out some areas because of transport links. eg anywhere to the West, trains go into Paddington, which is not v handy for most people.

You could look at places along the Cambridge- Kings Cross route as KX has excellent tube links. We live in North Herts, and the combined cost of the mortgage + DH season ticket has bought us a lovely house in walking distance of a mainline station, in a much better area than we could have afforded in London.

marksmith99

Mirtos wrote:

We looked out in Gillingham (about an hour into centre of town by train), and for 140k could get a beautiful five bed victorian semi, 5mins walk from station. In london this wouldn't even get us a two bed flat in a dodgy area. We're still in London though, as couldn't face the commute every day (esp as I often work late into the evening).

Did you actually look around Gillingham though - there are reasons why its so cheap.

Dead_Eye_Jones

Hello, I live in Zone 6 in Croydon borough. I moved from Zone 6 Kingston borough. I bought a 3 bed semi for a tad over 200k, 3 dbl bedrooms and a garden, the equivalent in Kingston would have been about £400,000!

I am 5mins away from valleys and large open spaces, Brighton in reach too if I fancy the seaside. Nice area tbh, local pubs, places to eat, good local shops, seems kinda friendly too. You wouldnt know you were anywhere near London. The anti-Londoners who come to visit me often leave with a disheartened look, they didnt like to be proved wrong - you can have it all, do your homework and you can have an affordable home with convenient links to the centre and feel like you are in the country. All in one place, I dont know why anyone would live anywhere else !

My commute is 20 or so mins depending on where the train stops. Can reach Victoria, Charing Cross, Waterloo (East) and London Bridge. And as anyone on the Victoria -> East Croydon line knows, the trains run 24hrs through the night, which is handy for those late nights out on the town ! I often get home quicker than my friends jumping on a night bus to their more central pokey studio flat.

All good tbh, all good.

lynzpower

likewise Bexleys nice. Im not sure on the commute Ive never done it, but Old bexley is lovely. A mate of mine from work lives there she says the commute is fine

ms_london

Although I am only renting at the moment, it is cheaper for me to live in London than to live where I come from (Herts) and commute.

When I do buy a place it will probably be close to my parents, but whether I will rent it out or actually live there to start with I am not sure.

You do have to take this all into consideration of course.

It depends if you have an area in mind or not & the reason you want to move outside of London.

Unfortunately though as soon as you get used to earning the better wage its hard to leave London I find.! :rolleyes: