House buying advise

00ec25

camptownraces wrote: »

PS to previous post.

I would stay away from that part of Dorking, where you found the Zoopla references. There's a reason why they're cheap: the potential for the neighbourhood to be highly populated with problem families.

agreed, the problem is however that with a 200k budget the OP is inevitably limited to that sort of area in this part of Surrey.

abankerbutnotafatcat

I agree with the comment that you should rent first to get a better idea of the area. I did this when I moved to Surrey from overseas 2 years ago. However, when I saw that you will only be in the UK for three years and given moving costs and potential maintenance costs and potential depreciation of the property value over such a short term I wonder now if you shouldn't just rent the whole time.

BTW is the three years your own gameplan or the limit of your visa because if it's the latter will that affect your ability to get a mortgage?

Edit: just realised you may have meant that you've been in the country for three years in which case I would just suggest you rent first.

boo2410

I used to live in Cobham and the flat you have seen is in Tartar Road, a nice enough road that is mostly private with Housing Association properties at the end and a low rise block of flats. The area is mostly quiet and you have an excellent junior school within a stones throw and some good nurseries. It'll take you about 10 minutes by car to get to Leatherhead with no traffic but Cobham is always busy in the morning (although you will be going against the traffic) so allow about 30 mins. The station is a 5 minute drive away (or a half hour walk) as it is in Stoke D'Abernon. Shops are a bit upmarket now as it is getting very footballers wives but you've got Guildford and Kingston close by for normal shopping. Oh and it has a big Sainsburys.

varghesejim

00ec25 wrote: »

Chertsey is at the absolute limit of your 40 minute travel time.

Thank you very much. That information really helped. Seems like there is no way to get a decent two bed flat in a less risky, accessible area in our budget. Now I can see why people are attracted to the scams(practically) like first time buyer schemes from the government and shared ownership homes.

I will keep looking for sometime more. Maybe we will get lucky!

varghesejim

boo2410 wrote: »

I used to live in Cobham and the flat you have seen is in Tartar Road

Thank you. I will go and see that property. I have seen the large council estate near to the end of the road in Google maps. But if it is not causing any issues we would not mind. The property itself is an afterthought(conversion), but seems like it is reflected in the asking price.

varghesejim

camptownraces wrote: »

OP could get quite a nice two bed flat in a pleasant part of Sutton, in his price range, close to the station. Direct train line to Leatherhead.

Some factors you mentioned looks like mutually exclusive:-). If Sutton is affordable, there is a reason, isn't it?

varghesejim

00ec25 wrote: »

you may a) find it difficult to integrate with the people there as your backgrounds would appear to be vastly different and b) people down here are not as friendly as those in other parts of the UK so who you live next to really matters. You could be really lucky and have great neighbours but equally you may have a problem.

That is a big problem. What are your thoughts about staying very near to the town centre? I could hope those in town are more open.

This property in dorking that you mentioned before is right at the heart of city
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/18601228?search_identifier=c6290ae1284b51e9ea9a0cfb0fe7224b

This property is one mile from the high street.

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/27376696?search_identifier=c6290ae1284b51e9ea9a0cfb0fe7224b

00ec25

varghesejim wrote: »

This property in dorking that you mentioned before is right at the heart of city
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/18601228?search_identifier=c6290ae1284b51e9ea9a0cfb0fe7224b[/url

I don't know what Dorking town centre is like to live in. That block is just off the high street and has the main shoppers car park behind it (also where the Friday market takes place) so may be difficult to park your car - there is no mention of tenant parking in the details...

easy access by passageway to the high street but not right by a pub so that section is relatively quite at night. The White Horse pub just down the high street is excellent!

varghesejim wrote: »

This property is one mile from the high street.
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/27376696?search_identifier=c6290ae1284b51e9ea9a0cfb0fe7224b

I know Pixham. Has a real community feel to it, partly helped by geography as the boundaries are clearly delineated by the 2 roads (A24 A25) and the river. Good mix of owner occupied properties - leslie Lane obviously being the old working class cottages with the more upmarket stuff on Pixham lane itself. One advantage of not being on Pixham lane though is that is a popular cut through route in the rush hour for those going to Reigate seeking to avoid the Deepdene roundabout, so can be busy, especially when the insurance company offices at the Denbies end turn out at night

Don't personally know that actual block of flats - they look 1970's so although obviously not a conversion they may not be up to modern standards of sound proofing. (Don't know if they were always private if they were originally council flats). Parking looks OK and obviously the location itself is lovely with easy access to Box Hill. the fields on the other side of the river are still actively farmed so Pixham offers a real feel of town and country

Its a top floor flat so although that bit of the road is potentially liable to flooding it would not affect you. You may very very occasionally get a bit of a wiff from the sewage works the other side of the railway line if the wind is blowing the right way. The railway line is the cross country Deepdene line rather than the London line so is not that noisy. These factors, coupled with the room sizes, may explain why the flat is not that expensive given its location on that side of town (one of the better sides!) and its easy access to the main railway station which has good services to London and is a busy commuter station. I'd happily live there... send me a private message if you want, I'm in Dorking tomorrow

In the main Dorking has good schools - if you stay there long enough for that to become relevant!

Getting to Leatherhead from Pixham is trivial (10 minutes) and you'll probably spend another 5 - 10 minutes getting round the Leatherhead one way system if you work on the Logica/ Unilever side of Leatherhead rather than the Exon/Shell side

varghesejim

Just an update on our property search. Though the pixham property ticked in most of the areas, it is in second floor without a lift. As we have a 5 month old son, it would be very difficult for my wife to manage it. So unfortunately we cannot go for it.

buglawton

Ground floor flats are the least popular due to security concerns. You cannot even have windows casually open in the summer and chance of burglary increases. That leaves 1st floor flats only for a slightly shorter journey to the ground. Which cuts out 90% of the suggestions made on this thread!

Would have been good to mention this requirement at the opening post.
Somehow people do manage to bring up families above ground level.