Crawley and around

injectionday

Hi - We're planning to move in the next couple of months and have been thinking of buying somewhere in Crawley.

Thanks

JodyBPM

I'm from around that general area, and I must say I'm not a fan of Crawley. I wouldn't choose to live there personally.

What are you looking to buy for £230K? A 1-2 bed flat or a 2 or 3 bed house? Depending on what you want for your budget, there are other, nicer areas that would fit your commuting requirements. I would suggest that you consider, Horley, Redhill, Earlswood, or at a push, if you would be happy with a flat, Reigate. Much, much nicer areas to live (Redhill can get unfavourably compared its wealthier neighbour Reigate, but it is *far* nicer than Crawley, and the cost and time for the commute to London Victoria will be less).

To be honest, I'd rather live in Croydon than in Crawley, and that's saying something...

Angelicdevil

I have recently moved to Crawley (Maidenbower) from Brighton and I'm so much happier here! The quality (and price) of housing is so much better, Maidenbower has a real community feel about it - I know my neighbours on a first name basis and we all look out for each other!

I'm in the process of buying my first property in Worth, which is another lovely area of Crawley.

There are areas you should avoid, but everywhere has those and to be honest, I'd chose here over Croydon any day.

Whilst it's close to London, it doesn't feel like a London suburb and there's plenty of stunning country side all around.

As the PP has said, Reigate is lovely but you will pay a premium for living there. Horley and Redhill aren't really much to write home about, IMHO.

I originate from a quite well-to-do area in Hertfordshire but I am choosing to settle here because it really isn't as bad as people say it is (and yes, I was one of those people)! But seriously, the only areas I would say the previous statement covers are Maidenbower, Worth, Three Bridges and Poundhill (but the side nearest to Worth and Maidenbower).

Strapped

I've lived in most neighbourhoods in Crawley. I'd say you are looking at the "right" parts. It's not a great town, but not as bad as some people make out either, to be fair. I certainly don't think it's as bad as Croydon - not even comparable. But there is a reason why you get more for your money in Crawley than the surrounding area. It's a pretty hideous new town full of chavs. Having said that, if you live out in Maidenbower, you need never go into the town centre

Personally, I wouldn't recommend Horley unless you can sleep with earplugs.

Heading out of Crawley down the Balcombe Road though things get a bit nicer, parts of Horsham and Haywards Heath are nice too, but more expensive and harder on the commute.

Do you have school-aged kids?

WolfSong2000

I'm also not a massive fan of crawley...very poor town planning, plus it is full of chavs. Shops aren't bad, but there's much nicer places to live...Horsham *used* to be lovely and very affordable. It's still a fairly nice place, but house prices have shot up. Still, there are direct trains to London Victoria. Dorking is gorgeous, and again, direct train, but my God you pay for that gorgeousness! Still, dpeending on what you're after and how much rennovation work you'd be prepared to consider, it may be doable (I saw a complete wreck of a house going for about 200k a while back). But yeah...once you start getting into the home counties, prices shoot up.

Strapped

I think the towns/villages down the Uckfield line are probably the nicest? But also pricey, so it depends what the OP needs for £230k, a family-sized house or something smaller.

JodyBPM

Strapped wrote: »

Personally, I wouldn't recommend Horley unless you can sleep with earplugs.

Suprisingly, most of Horley doesn't suffer from excessive airport noise, the flight path heads off over Charlwood, Rusper, Ifield and Smallfield. Having said that, its a very good point that anywhere in the broader area you do have to actually stand in the garden and listen for noise, between the M25, M23 and Gatwick, there is lots of potential for noise pollution.

I would say for ease of commuting, Redhill is a far better bet than Crawley, and TBH in my opinion much nicer, with lower crime and ASB. There's better and worse parts of Redhill, but £230K should buy a victorian 2up 2down in an acceptable area, the commute to LVic is about 30 mins direct and around £2.5K per year in fares.

I really dislike Crawley myself, but as with anywhere I'm sure there are better areas.

propertyman

What you get in facilities you trade off in some of the people.
The trick is to park up in the neighbourhood on an evening and drive around it to see if the neighbours are likely to be a bother.


Oh BTW if you go to Worth and say "you're part of Crawley" you might not get out in one piece....:eek:

abankerbutnotafatcat

To start with: Crawley vs Croydon (and I live in between them)!! Crawley is very chavvy (as is Redhill but to a much lesser extent as Redhill benefits from basically being one connurbation with posh neighbour, Reigate) but it doesn't have the 'edge' Croydon has. Croydon does have more amenities though i.e. shopping, fantastic transport and there must be some enclaves of non-edge if you know where to look (which I don't).

Back to the OP's question. What is it about Crawley that attracts you specifically? That will help. But if it's affordability, transport to Victoria and low (compared to London) crime/asb etc then I think Redhill would be a better bet. As already said, £230k would buy you a Victorian terrace or modern 2 bed in Earlswood or similar 'nice' part of Redhill. Horley, also nice [with a Waitrose no less ;-) ] and not as bad for aircraft noise as has been suggested.

abankerbutnotafatcat

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propertyman

But living in Redhill you spend most of your life on a hill, or having to go via a hill or sloping road, with little or no street parking- which makes for great fun on snow days or carrying shopping.

Horley town does have a Waitrose but on an autumn or winter day you do feel that Zombies are lurking around the next corner.... especially in the cut through by the Halifax...