SW London / Surrey - where to move.

chewmylegoff

Will probably be looking to buy somewhere around about this time next year, maybe a bit sooner. Budget will be up to about £600,000 (although ideally closer to £500,000) and would prefer 4 bedrooms, a garden and a commute of <1 hour to Canary Wharf for that. OH works in Waterloo so mainline train into Waterloo is our preference (also makes it easier to see friends). Station within walking distance would be important.

Currently we live in Richmond and are renting a flat there. Clearly, staying in Richmond is not going viable with the above budget and criteria. Since we're going to have to move, it would be nice to get away from the aircraft noise...

Before I buy in a new area, I would rather rent somewhere in the interim to see what the area is like and whether I like it - so was just looking for ideas on suitable areas to have a look at which would be within the buying budget and which aren't horrid.

Any input appreciated.

Fire_Fox

Define walking distance?

Andrew_Cottrell

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Will probably be looking to buy somewhere around about this time next year, maybe a bit sooner. Budget will be up to about £600,000 (although ideally closer to £500,000) and would prefer 4 bedrooms, a garden and a commute of <1 hour to Canary Wharf for that. OH works in Waterloo so mainline train into Waterloo is our preference (also makes it easier to see friends). Station within walking distance would be important.

The Chessington area is quite reasonably priced for London. I'm currently in the process of buying a two bed semi there. There are two train stations with trains direct to Waterloo. They are in zone 6 and accept Oyster card (season and pay-as-you-go). Good road links as well.

martinsurrey

Esher,
30 mins to waterloo, a lovely place

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38388284.html
4 bed detached £550k about 600m from the train station.

its an expensive place, but after here for a fast commute you need to goto somewhere like Woking, which is a different beast entirely!

wongjoebon

£500k to £600k should get you a decent size 4 bedrooms in North Kingston (although garden might not be as big)- which as you probably know its pretty close to Richmond so you kind of still be familiarise with the locality.

JimmyTheWig

Andrew_Cottrell wrote: »

The Chessington area is quite reasonably priced for London. I'm currently in the process of buying a two bed semi there. There are two train stations with trains direct to Waterloo. They are in zone 6 and accept Oyster card (season and pay-as-you-go). Good road links as well.

I'd second this. You mention SW London / Surrey, and Chessington is right on the border. Chessington South to Canary Wharf is exactly an hour according to www.tfl.gov.uk. Chessington North is 2 minutes shorter than this.

Only downside is that trains are only every half an hour. Which means coming home will take more than an hour if you factor in a 15 minute wait. Is often quicker to get the train to Surbiton then the bus to Chessington.

Nice enough place, though.

chewmylegoff

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Define walking distance?

within approx 1 mile.

chewmylegoff

wongjoebon wrote: »

£500k to £600k should get you a decent size 4 bedrooms in North Kingston (although garden might not be as big)- which as you probably know its pretty close to Richmond so you kind of still be familiarise with the locality.

yeah, aware that we could move a bit within the area - could go out to whitton as well, but it's a bit rubbish, and i don't think either would get us out from under the planes.

chewmylegoff

martinsurrey wrote: »

Esher,
30 mins to waterloo, a lovely place

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38388284.html
4 bed detached £550k about 600m from the train station.

its an expensive place, but after here for a fast commute you need to goto somewhere like Woking, which is a different beast entirely!

thanks for input - i had been having a browse on rightmove in that sort of area - claygate / oxshott as well as they seem to just about be within the boundary of the commute. perhaps should just have a drive around there at the w/e. edit: and chessington.

princeofpounds

You have a lot of choices.

How do you feel about suburbs vs semi-rural? There is a difference in SW London between towns with trees and towns amongst the trees, if you follow me.

A similar question, how to you feel about SW London 'extension' into Surrey vs Surrey-proper? i.e. where zone 6, london buses etc all start to run out and you are more dependent on your car, but in a more green environment.

With your budget, you can afford quite a lot of places, but not the good locations in the high-end villages and towns. Here are some thoughts on some of the towns that are a bit less suburban (i.e. generally surrounded by at least some greenbelt)

Chessington, as people have suggested, is one of the best value areas for sure. But it is not a particularly attractive town, if that is important to you. There are probably some great properties where Chessington meets the countryside, but I don't know if it would be to everyone's taste to spend time in Chessington itself.

Esher, as also suggested, is a genuinely nice small high-end town. Really the only problem with it is that it is more expensive than most, and the station is not in the town centre. But there are cheaper properties with good access to the station because of this, but you won't want to walk into the high street.

Further out on the Esher line are Hersham and Walton, which have more connection with the river and are nice places but move back into a more suburban feel.

The Hampton Court offshoot of the Esher line is an interesting area, as there are some very pretty little nooks and crannies around there near to the river.


On the parallel line further SW to Esher, Cobham is similar to Esher. Smart town, high-end, station not in the centre. There is less nightlife, but the tone is less blingy than Esher.

For a more villagey feel on the same line as Cobham, look at Claygate or Oxshott (at the high end of budget). When you get into Hinchley Wood it's more like the Surbiton/Kingston suburbs starting.

Looking at the map or google, any of these catch your eye?

Edit: cross posted, see you partially answered that!

Riccal

princeofpounds wrote: »

You have a lot of choices.

How do you feel about suburbs vs semi-rural? There is a difference in SW London between towns with trees and towns amongst the trees, if you follow me.

A similar question, how to you feel about SW London 'extension' into Surrey vs Surrey-proper? i.e. where zone 6, london buses etc all start to run out and you are more dependent on your car, but in a more green environment.

With your budget, you can afford quite a lot of places, but not the good locations in the high-end villages and towns. Here are some thoughts on some of the towns that are a bit less suburban (i.e. generally surrounded by at least some greenbelt)

Chessington, as people have suggested, is one of the best value areas for sure. But it is not a particularly attractive town, if that is important to you. There are probably some great properties where Chessington meets the countryside, but I don't know if it would be to everyone's taste to spend time in Chessington itself.


Fully agree with the comments about Chessington. 300k here will get you a nice semi but the area is not all that great though very close to countryside for doggie walking and such. No good pubs and few good restaurants about - need to head to Epsom or Surbiton way to find a nice night out.
However, head out a little further in the same direction to Ewell and prices not much more than Chessington but a very nice area.

Claygate lovely but 5-600k there not going to buy much.

Riccal