moving out of london - new area options questions!

wallofbeans

ps. i do think places like guildford, walton-on-thames, st albans etc. would cover the things im after too!

wallofbeans

anyone got any surbiton tips? we're starting to look at properties behind the station and heading towards tolworth... not sure where's nice and where to avoid... advice would be great!

scooter_chick

I've just exchanged (YAY!) on a house in Ware, Hertfordshire. Nice old market town, with independent shops, restaurants, pubs etc. A canal through the middle, it's really pretty & you're on the edge of the Lea Valley park. 45 mins into Liverpool Street, and Ware station is the 2nd on the line, so should get a seat. Hertford close by if you need more shops etc.

I used a book called 'The Sunday Telegraph Guide to Commuterland', which I found really useful. It goes through each mainline station at a time & lists the towns along the way, with train times, costs, frequencies and then a few paragraphs about each town - property prices, schools, amenities etc. Was great when I just didn't know where to start - much more logical way to look at it than staring at a road atlas. I had the 2005 edition, so property prices were off, but that's no big deal. See if you can get a 2nd hand copy of that.

Sphynx

I really love Winchester. It is a beautiful place with lots of easily reachable green bits and generally very nice people. Even the bad bits are nice compared with most places (I lived in one of the dodgier bits mentioned by a pp).
If I could afford to live there I so would. River is really clean and I used to stick my feet in (along with the brown trout). Nice places to eat. Very civillised overall. Mind you I lived there as a student and there are quite alot of students in the area. No nightclubs to speak of though.
If I won the lottery I would move to Winchester.

Thundercat_2

wallofbeans wrote: »

anyone got any surbiton tips? we're starting to look at properties behind the station and heading towards tolworth... not sure where's nice and where to avoid... advice would be great!

Okay then, we've just moved from Surbiton to Walton-on-Thames so can probably tell you a fair bit about both areas.

To be honest, a lot depends on what you want. For £600k ish in Surbiton you'll be looking at a 3-4 bed semi-detached in a decent(ish) road. Avoid heading too far towards Tolworth as that's a pretty grotty area. The area directly behind the station is pretty expensive (because of the station) and you won't get that much for your money. You also want to avoid the River roads as you'll get nothing for your money there! Southborough is gorgeous but unfortunately will be waaaay out of your price range (think 1.2mill up over for that area!!) There are some unattractive 70's style houses just outside Southborough that will just about be in your price range (if you get a fairly grotty one) but if you're looking for character and period features then nothing doing there...

Ditton Road, Worthington Road and the roads in close proximity to those are good, but they'll be noisy of you're anywhere near Ewell Road as that's a very busy road. Berrylands is a good area but be careful of being too far down towards Berrylands station as in the Summer there's a large sewage works and if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction you'll have the smell of raw seage wafting through your windows!!

On to Walton - despite being further out on the train line you won't actually get any more for your money, but you will have more choice of houses. Most have decent sized gardens too. There's a cinema, bars, restaurants and some decent shopping (think LK Bennett, Monsoon, Boden, Hobbs etc) all in Walton centre. We absolutely LOVE being here (have only moved 5 weeks ago) and it's a million times better than Surbiton and really feels like a "place". Surbiton only has the station going for it and just feels like nowhere, whereas Walton has a proper community feel and some lovely neighbourhoods. For your money you will probably still get a 3-4 bed semi but there are some nice roads close to the south side of the station that you might find something on. You're unlikely to find anything nice on the north side of the station as most of the houses around there go for at least £800k up over (as far as the £multi-million homes in Ashley Park!!)

I hope this helps you to decide which is a good area for you to look - my advice would be to look at both areas as you'll probably find 3-4 times as many properties to look at in Walton as in Surbiton, but it's a good idea to see what you get in both areas as a comparison.

Best of luck!

Meant to add that if there's any roads in particular you'd like an opinion on (in either area) then just let me know...

wallofbeans

wow - thanks for that, really helpful as Surbiton and Walton are very much on the list and some of the easier places for us to check out as we're currently in Battersea...

We're going to try and not go as high as 600k, that is an absolute maximum somewhere between 400-500 would make our lives a little easier!

you're right about surbiton, there just dont seem to be that many for sale.. seen a couple today in Beaconsfield road... any thoughts on that?

we're not looked in walton as much yet but saw one we liked and was well within budget on Queens Road.. its officially in Hersham but as close to Walton station... thoughts on that road and is Hersham the Tolworth of Walton??

thanks again!

Thundercat wrote: »

Okay then, we've just moved from Surbiton to Walton-on-Thames so can probably tell you a fair bit about both areas.

To be honest, a lot depends on what you want. For £600k ish in Surbiton you'll be looking at a 3-4 bed semi-detached in a decent(ish) road. Avoid heading too far towards Tolworth as that's a pretty grotty area. The area directly behind the station is pretty expensive (because of the station) and you won't get that much for your money. You also want to avoid the River roads as you'll get nothing for your money there! Southborough is gorgeous but unfortunately will be waaaay out of your price range (think 1.2mill up over for that area!!) There are some unattractive 70's style houses just outside Southborough that will just about be in your price range (if you get a fairly grotty one) but if you're looking for character and period features then nothing doing there...

Ditton Road, Worthington Road and the roads in close proximity to those are good, but they'll be noisy of you're anywhere near Ewell Road as that's a very busy road. Berrylands is a good area but be careful of being too far down towards Berrylands station as in the Summer there's a large sewage works and if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction you'll have the smell of raw seage wafting through your windows!!

On to Walton - despite being further out on the train line you won't actually get any more for your money, but you will have more choice of houses. Most have decent sized gardens too. There's a cinema, bars, restaurants and some decent shopping (think LK Bennett, Monsoon, Boden, Hobbs etc) all in Walton centre. We absolutely LOVE being here (have only moved 5 weeks ago) and it's a million times better than Surbiton and really feels like a "place". Surbiton only has the station going for it and just feels like nowhere, whereas Walton has a proper community feel and some lovely neighbourhoods. For your money you will probably still get a 3-4 bed semi but there are some nice roads close to the south side of the station that you might find something on. You're unlikely to find anything nice on the north side of the station as most of the houses around there go for at least £800k up over (as far as the £multi-million homes in Ashley Park!!)

I hope this helps you to decide which is a good area for you to look - my advice would be to look at both areas as you'll probably find 3-4 times as many properties to look at in Walton as in Surbiton, but it's a good idea to see what you get in both areas as a comparison.

Best of luck!

Meant to add that if there's any roads in particular you'd like an opinion on (in either area) then just let me know...

Thundercat_2

Hi there!

Totally understand your thinking on the maximum you want to pay, but it will significantly limit what you will get in both areas as the competition for properties at that level is really high (i.e. keeping below the £500k stamp duty threshold)!! We struggled with up to £900k to spend as Surrey is an extremely cash rich area and the better properties at each level seem to get snapped up incredibly quickly, so just be ready to move like lightning when you find something you like!

Beaconsfield Road would be a pretty good location - but it would be preferable to be at the King Charles Road end, rather than the Ewell Road end purely from a road noise perspective, so if the property you're looking at is somewhere between the middle and the King Charles end then definitely worth a look.

In terms of Walton then Hersham is a slightly less expensive area, but Queens Road would be a pretty good location! There are parts of Hersham (close to Hersham station, not Walton station) that are nearly as bad as Tolworth, but the part you're looking at is definitely not that bad. You would be as close to the multi million pound houses as you are to the social housing!

http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&pid=6970329 this one is in a really good location, VERY close to Walton station and I've known four bedroom ones on this road (i.e. with loft conversion) to sell for over £600k

http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&pid=6896745 this is a good location in Surbiton

http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&pid=6896745 as is this

http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&pid=6805997 and this

Hope this helps!

wallofbeans

amazingly helpful - thanks!

interesting to see those Surbiton ones are all below Ditton Road as I thought that if you went much past there then it wasnt as nice... will definitely check out though!

morg_monster

Hehe we live in the "tolworth" part of Hersham! Very near the station, which is great for us as its only a 50 minute commute to work in Euston/Whitehall. We moved her in December, and were looking at surbiton too - we loved it - but our budget (<250k) got us only a 2 bed flat in surbiton but we bought a 3 bed semi in Hersham with a big garden, 4 mins from the train station (a walk to the station every morning rather than needing the car was our "must have"). It's great being a bit more rural too, it is really the first bit of green you get coming out of london that way - in fact when you take the exit for esher off the A3 suddenly you go from packed housing to fields and the River Mole and you feel you're right out of the city!

But if we had more £ I would very much move to Walton or down to Hersham "proper". Our house is on a long road of 30s ex council houses - so really well built and plenty of room inside but not the most attractive! Hersham village has much more attractive houses and even on our road going down towards the village the houses turn from 30s semis to quite attractive older detached houses (they are narrow though - not sure what era?!). Someone who lives there would know what road I live on but I'm not going to say it here!
TBH, around Hersham station are isn't that bad at all - it is just all residential, no cafes, shops etc, just a couple of newsagents. We are 1.5 miles from walton town centre so it is a drive to go to the shops or cinema (or a pleasant bike ride / quite longish walk) but its easy enough and at the moment its a great compromise for us. There's no social problems around here that I've observed or heard of - the social housing I guess thundercat is referring to is in the middle of the residential area between Hersham and Walton stations, the rodney road area, but again its not that bad at all - you have to remember this is an estate in leafy surrey - we moved from Balham and you guys coming from Battersea will be the same way - its not a patch on the estates round there, I promise! We know our neighbours here, there's a nice feeling of community. We love it here and I really hope we can stay around this area longterm but I have a feeling we won't be able to afford to move up the ladder here and will have to move further out of London yet again for our forever home.

Good luck and I echo thundercat's offer of local info, etc.

Thundercat_2

wallofbeans wrote: »

amazingly helpful - thanks!

interesting to see those Surbiton ones are all below Ditton Road as I thought that if you went much past there then it wasnt as nice... will definitely check out though!

No worries - I know what it's like to move out of London and be in complete no man's land because you have no idea about different areas - there are so many places to choose from where on earth do you start!?

I'm afraid the reason they're all below Ditton Road is because that's pretty much your limit in terms of price. It's not a terrible area and there will be lots of young 30-something families around there - it's affordable without being extortionate. Anything closer to the station or Surbiton centre is going to cost you more - even the top end of Berrylands is going to cost you well over £500k, but if you can find a 3/4 bed semi at the Ditton Road end of Berrylands in Kings Drive, Queens Drive or the King Charles Road end of Alexandra Drive then you're onto more of a winner, especially if it's got potential to do up and make some money and you'll be at MUCH less risk of the sewage smells.

IMHO I'd still lean towards Walton, though it depends what you're after in terms of lifestyle etc. Surbiton has, without doubt, the best commuter links into London in the whole of Surrey - quick trains, lots of them and straight into Waterloo and there are a few bars and restaurants there. Walton has a better lifestyle with a wealth of bars and restaurants, but the journey will be slightly longer (another 15 mins on the train) and the trains are less frequent. It's horses for courses really!