Home buying - London SW

Gowardo

Thanks again so far for all of the suggestions guys. Really, really helpful!

Worcester Park - Is it fairly quick and frequent into Waterloo at any time of the day? The issue with any line we go on is that my wife works in Holborn (Admittedly very close to Waterloo) so we need to make sure that the train journey isn't really ever more than 20 minutes and that it's fairly frequent in the evenings.

Croydon - Potential area to look at as well I suppose, although I don't want to open another huge can of worms and move further east - but in theory what areas would you guys look at that fit that criteria if you were looking in the Croydon?

Thanks thanks thanks!

Cornucopia

20 mins is tricky - not sure it is possible with the other criteria you have.

LondonDreamer

Sorry, but you won't get SW London meeting your requirements with under 20 mins to Waterloo for 400k. If it existed, I'd be living there.

Worcester Park is around 25 minutes and does have a frequent service as both the Dorking and Guildford slow lines run through there. From memory, it's every 15 minutes through to late evening (10pm or so) where it drops down to half hourly. Last train just before midnight. Similar service level at the weekends as well.

Croydon area trains are run by Southern Rail and only go to Victoria (so your wife would need to change at Clapham for Waterloo) or London Bridge. I was considering around the Purley, Coulsdon or Whyteleafe areas which should all be within budget. I'm not familiar with them as we decided to look elsewhere but I know the crime rate was quite low and trains were frequent. But again, you're looking more at 25-30 minutes into London Bridge (more if she changes for Waterloo) and not 20.

ETA: If 20 minutes is an absolute requirement and since your wife works in Holborn, can you consider trains going into the other stations nearby? Plenty to choose from - Waterloo East, Charing Cross, London Bridge, Blackfriars, Moorgate, maybe even Fenchurch or Liverpool Street? This could open up more areas within budget.

Gowardo

That's a good point, but it's not an absolute requirement actually - I think 25 is decent as long as trains are fairly frequent. If they come in every 10/15 minutes that sounds reasonable.

Right now I'm just trying to understand how trains compare from where we are now (Walton) to Surbiton, New Malden and Worcester Park. All into Waterloo obviously...

We may look at Croydon later on, and those are our considered areas as well, but it's more in the future I think...

Again, thanks so much for your response

LondonDreamer

princeofpounds wrote: »

I'd counted this out as too 'Surrey' in its transport time. It's not much different to where the OP lives now.

As you can see, it's pretty tight on the budget as soon as you start to try to do that.

Yes, I definitely consider Epsom to be Surrey. But with the budget the OP has, the desired transport time isn't realistic (sorry OP!) so there is going to have to be compromise somewhere.

OP - It might help to know why you're not considering staying in the Walton/Hersham area? As it should meet your requirements apart from the journey time. Hersham in particular is lovely for families, if a little too quiet.

Gowardo

LondonDreamer wrote: »

Yes, I definitely consider Epsom to be Surrey. But with the budget the OP has, the desired transport time isn't realistic (sorry OP!) so there is going to have to be compromise somewhere.

OP - It might help to know why you're not considering staying in the Walton/Hersham area? As it should meet your requirements apart from the journey time. Hersham in particular is lovely for families, if a little too quiet.

Good question!

My wife hates it :P Hersham is definitely too quiet for me as well, but Walton, while it seems quite nice to me, is really not ideal for her because the town centre is too far away from the station and her commute actually turns out to be something like an hour and a half which is not ideal.

LondonDreamer

Gowardo wrote: »

Good question!

My wife hates it :P Hersham is definitely too quiet for me as well, but Walton, while it seems quite nice to me, is really not ideal for her because the town centre is too far away from the station and her commute actually turns out to be something like an hour and a half which is not ideal.

:rotfl: Hersham was top of our list until we walked from the station to the town on a Sunday afternoon without seeing another person. Agree with the station placement for either as well, hated it.

Here's some train time comparisons for you. Some vary by a few minutes depending on the service level (fast vs semi-fast) so I've used an average time.

Walton - 30 mins, 5 tph in peak (8-9am)
Surbiton - 18 minutes, 7 tph (will be lucky to get something in budget though)
New Malden - 26 minutes, 9 tph
Worcester Park - 28 mins, 6 tph (it's faster on the return)

And just to show closer isn't always faster and more frequent...
Woking - 29 mins, 12 tph (most of these will be non-stop to Waterloo)

I really wish I liked Woking more. As a commuter, it's a brilliant station.

JimmyTheWig

Walton does have a cracking Chinese buffet restaurant, though!

Gowardo

LondonDreamer wrote: »

:rotfl: Hersham was top of our list until we walked from the station to the town on a Sunday afternoon without seeing another person. Agree with the station placement for either as well, hated it.

Here's some train time comparisons for you. Some vary by a few minutes depending on the service level (fast vs semi-fast) so I've used an average time.

Walton - 30 mins, 5 tph in peak (8-9am)
Surbiton - 18 minutes, 7 tph (will be lucky to get something in budget though)
New Malden - 26 minutes, 9 tph
Worcester Park - 28 mins, 6 tph (it's faster on the return)

And just to show closer isn't always faster and more frequent...
Woking - 29 mins, 12 tph (most of these will be non-stop to Waterloo)

I really wish I liked Woking more. As a commuter, it's a brilliant station.

Great feedback thanks very much! I'll need to chat to my wife and see whether any of this works for her too really, but to be honest I think those will need to be the main areas we can look at.

I have a feeling we may end up in NM or WP. Who knows, maybe Woking is also worth a look, so many areas... !

Thanks

BitterAndTwisted

Gowardo wrote: »

Croydon - Potential area to look at as well I suppose, although I don't want to open another huge can of worms and move further east - but in theory what areas would you guys look at that fit that criteria if you were looking in the Croydon area?

Addiscombe. I know two couples who live about 100 yards away from each other, and they love it there. Proper high street with useful and friendly shops who know their customers by name. A nice little park on Bingham Road within a stone's throw of the High Street. A five minute tram-ride away from East Croydon station, and a fast and frequent service taking fifteen minutes or so into town.