moving out of london - new area options questions!

00ec25

wallofbeans wrote: »

St Albans
Guildford
Weybridge
Surbiton
Canterbury

My boss lives in St Albans, I echo comments about prices but the town is full of the "right" sort of people in the evenings as per your requirements

Guildford - I'm biased, I live near there and second the comment about Abinger Hammer, though that's not much use to you for commuting. Personally I prefer the outlying villages but from what you say you are not ready for that yet and are not too happy with Guildford prices themselves? Do not go north of the A3 (council territory - avoid Park Barn!) Avoid the immediate vicinity of the University (student congestion). Consider anything off the Shalford Rd and/or the Epsom Rd - but they are pricey!
Alternatives would be Dorking - but getting to the station is a drive or Cobham (if you can afford it), but both possibly too "country" for you at this time. You mention Reigate (avoid Redhill ) but to me thatdoes not seem to meet your requirements for a bit of "life" in the place

Weybridge - if you can't afford St Georges Hill then there's nothing particularly special about anywhere in Weybridge, you get what you pay for. It feels like Surbiton to me!. The station is relatively remote in relation to housing, most people I know who commute from it drive to it and live elsewhere in a "proper" Surrey village.

Surbiton - it does nothing for me, I often work in Kingston and that whole area is just row after row of characterless housing with just the river and the shopping to make up for it

Canterbury - I work here too occasionally. Overpriced, full of students, most people I work with here (who can afford your price range) live elsewhere, eg. on the coast. I would second Whitstable as a "happening" place if that sort of thing appeals to you (ie the better sort of Londoner lives there :cool:). Pace of life noticeably slower though

kst101

We used to live in Henlow and although I did like it there it was probably more the people I met rather than there being anything very exciting to do there - Bedfordshire is, it has to be said not the most interesting place in the world to be:rotfl:

House prices much better though - could get lovely houses for about £400k or so and our three bedroom house which was perfectly fine sold for just over £200k.

AppleCore

wallofbeans wrote: »

im still very interested in st albans and that area coz of the great train line and cheaper prices than places like guildford and reigate..

Are you sure about this? I was under the impression that St Albans was one of the most expensive places in the country.

martindow

FTBFun wrote: »

If you get a Network Railcard for £25 for the year, this will get you 1/3 discount on off peak rail fares, making it £19 a pop instead. You'll pay it off in a couple of weeks.

Trains from Waterloo at rush hour are not affected by peak restrictions - its only ones going in in the morning that are.

South West trains have two levels of off peak with the cheapest (super off peak) being for very limited hours. If you want to get to Waterloo before midday you will probably be on the intermediate off peak fare.

nollag2006

AppleCore wrote: »

Are you sure about this? I was under the impression that St Albans was one of the most expensive places in the country.

It's also rising very rapidly, according to the BBC website.
St Albans

Average house price
£390,540
House typeAverage priceDetached£628,977Semi-detached£378,243Terrace£316,516Flat£213,121
Annual change in house price
+10.3%
Quarterly change
+1.1%



Have to confess that I prefer Harpenden though - it's just a smidgen posher

:rotfl:

jonewer

AppleCore wrote: »

Are you sure about this? I was under the impression that St Albans was one of the most expensive places in the country.

Indeed, in my experience St Albans is FAAAAAAAAR more expensive than Guildford or Reigate.

carolt

nollag2006 wrote: »

It's also rising very rapidly, according to the BBC website.
St Albans

Average house price
£390,540
House typeAverage priceDetached£628,977Semi-detached£378,243Terrace£316,516Flat£213,121
Annual change in house price
+10.3%
Quarterly change
+1.1%

Totally out-of-date. Recent prices in St Albans crashing down. A year ago, you'd have been hard pushed to find anything there for less than 300K. Now, you'd find loads of 3 bed family houses in the 250-275 mark. I signed up to something years ago when we contemplated moving there, and I'm getting loads of cheap houses in my inbox every day now.

No idea why, really, other than the fact it didn't come down as much as other surrounding areas in 2007 - maybe it's just a late reaction? Don't know - do know that most recent figures will show prices there falling a lot within the last few weeks.

Harpenden is nice, but the train fare is astronomical, and it's more of a big village than a town. Depends which you prefer. St Albans is more cosmpolitan; always loads going on there.

nollag2006

carolt wrote: »

Totally out-of-date. Recent prices in St Albans crashing down.

As so often carol, the facts don't back up your assertions.

According to the Natiowide survey published afew days ago:

Amongst England’s major towns and cities, St. Albans was the top performer for the second consecutive quarter, with prices up 28% year-on-year

:eek:

If you are looking for up to date figures on house price movements in St.Albans, have a look at the table on page 6:
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/historical/Q2_2010.pdf

:T

wallofbeans

what about Walton on Thames?

OR if we're going even more london-ish then Kingston upon Thames - good bits? horrible bits!?

nollag2006

The train links to Kingston are really poor - goes all around the houses to get to Waterloo and limited late night service. Walton is lovely, but very pricy. Not much in terms of pubs and shops. Trains are infrequent though