Relocating from Yorkshire to Surrey

Peggy_Pog

Hello, We are moving to Surrey from Yorkshire, and need a little help with establishing what areas we should be looking at.

My office will be in Purley, so we need somewhere within a reasonable commute to there, but this may be by train or car, so I guess there's plenty to look at. So far, we're considering Reigate, Horsham, Guildford, even Sevenoaks, and also areas like Ewell inside the M25.

The main issue is we need somewhere quickly, in order to take advantage of porting a mortgage deal, which means we are restricted in time to look and explore areas. I see we have two options.....buy anything reasonably cheap, just to get a base to then explore the area, or strike it lucky and find the perfect house quickly.

Even though some Yorkshire houses are pricey, they don't compare to the South! Any particular areas to avoid?

Any help appreciated!

princeofpounds

I was going to say rent before buying, but I get your point on the mortgage deal.

It would be a massive help if you could give a little guidance on your budgets/needs. Otherwise we are just talking blind.

i have no idea why you would look at guildford. It's almost the other end of the county

Peggy_Pog

Thanks for the reply.

We're looking up to £550K maybe a little more for the right house. The property must have a garden of some description (for our dog) and parking (for us, not the dog) We'd prefer a house with character, semi rural, but with decent facilities nearby.

We'd much prefer to rent to start with, but the mortgage deal is just too good to let go of. If we had to start with a fresh one, we simply couldn't afford it.

Not an easy task, I know!

00ec25

you have a workable budget for Surrey, it really depends on what sort of commute you want and what you mean by facilities
you will certainly get a house with garden for 550k in nearly all parts of Surrey, the question is do you want to be within walking distance of facilities or have to drive and pay to park

the places you mention are vastly contrasting and your criteria are not very helpful:

Guildford will give you the best facilities but if you live outside the town (OK city to be pedantic) itself then you may as well live anywhere outside because there are no facilities unless you go into town
here is an example picked at random from Rightmove - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38974058.html it is "only" £550k becuase it is close enough to the A3 to suffer from noise pollution compared to much smaller properties in "better" areas
Also will be a long commute because there is no direct car route which is not free of London bound traffic, unless you go via the "country" lanes route (Headley , Epsom Downs and Banstead) for 1 hour+ (but watch out for horse riders!)

Ewell is a quite suburban "village" but not at all semi rural. Epsom and Sutton are the nearest facilities but neither town is great

Reigate has improved but remains one of the cheaper towns for a reason ...

Horsham is certainly semi rural which takes you back to what do you mean by facilities?

as for commuting by rail then it rather depends on how long you add on for getting to the station from your house and to the office from Purley or Waddon stations. Also how much you are prepared to pay in station car parking or in compromising on the cost of a house within walking distance of the station

dominoman

Why not live in Purley itself. It's a lovely little town. East side of Purley isn't so nice, but the West is beautiful. For 550k you could easily get a 4 bedroom house with garden and parking.

makeyourdaddyproud

What about Farnham or Esher? They are quite nice towns

donfanatico

Peggy_Pog wrote: »

Hello, We are moving to Surrey from Yorkshire, and need a little help with establishing what areas we should be looking at.

My office will be in Purley, so we need somewhere within a reasonable commute to there, but this may be by train or car, so I guess there's plenty to look at. So far, we're considering Reigate, Horsham, Guildford, even Sevenoaks, and also areas like Ewell inside the M25.

The main issue is we need somewhere quickly, in order to take advantage of porting a mortgage deal, which means we are restricted in time to look and explore areas. I see we have two options.....buy anything reasonably cheap, just to get a base to then explore the area, or strike it lucky and find the perfect house quickly.

Even though some Yorkshire houses are pricey, they don't compare to the South! Any particular areas to avoid?

Any help appreciated!

out of those I would go for Sevenoaks (Kent) but I have not researched communting/transport to Purley from there

princeofpounds

What about Farnham

Again, why are people considering areas right at the other end of the county? Farnham - Purley is almost the furthest distance you can travel in Surrey. There are parts of Hampshire that are closer to London than Farnham. It's probably over an hour's drive in rush hour.

You have the luxury of choice if you aren't tied to one particular town or village, and the truth is that many commuter belt towns and villages in Surrey are similar to others of similar socio-economic levels.

You just have to find one that gives you the right value for transport links, schooling etc. I would be very surprised if you can't find something suitable within a 20-30 minute drive of Purley. It's just not necessary to go much further unless you are particularly drawn for some reason.

I'd start with considering an area roughly bound by Purley-Chessington-Dorking-Horley-Edenbridge.

If you don't need/want rail access, then you will do better to get off the rail routes as these often carry a London commuter premium. But you may wish to have London rail access occasionally so that's up to you.

It is worth looking both sides of the M25 if you want semi-rural. The green belt means that as the suburbs run out you get a much more rural character on one side of the towns.

ukcarper

I'd agree Guildford is very nice but the commute to Purley is not ideal I think an hour would be optimistic in the rush hour and you could add another 20 mins for Farnham.

abankerbutnotafatcat

00ec25 wrote: »

you have a workable budget for Surrey, it really depends on what sort of commute you want and what you mean by facilities
you will certainly get a house with garden for 550k in nearly all parts of Surrey, the question is do you want to be within walking distance of facilities or have to drive and pay to park

the places you mention are vastly contrasting and your criteria are not very helpful:

Guildford will give you the best facilities but if you live outside the town (OK city to be pedantic) itself then you may as well live anywhere outside because there are no facilities unless you go into town
here is an example picked at random from Rightmove - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38974058.html it is "only" £550k becuase it is close enough to the A3 to suffer from noise pollution compared to much smaller properties in "better" areas
Also will be a long commute because there is no direct car route which is not free of London bound traffic, unless you go via the "country" lanes route (Headley , Epsom Downs and Banstead) for 1 hour+ (but watch out for horse riders!)

Ewell is a quite suburban "village" but not at all semi rural. Epsom and Sutton are the nearest facilities but neither town is great

Reigate has improved but remains one of the cheaper towns for a reason ...

Horsham is certainly semi rural which takes you back to what do you mean by facilities?

as for commuting by rail then it rather depends on how long you add on for getting to the station from your house and to the office from Purley or Waddon stations. Also how much you are prepared to pay in station car parking or in compromising on the cost of a house within walking distance of the station

Guildford is a town. Surrey has no cities. Re Reigate, do you mean neighbouring Redhill?

OP Purley itself is nice, although perhaps too surburban. You have an embarrassment of riches South of Purley as there are so many lovely areas especially if you aren't restricted to being near the railway line as so many of us are.

The area / boundaries outlined by a previous poster is quite a good one. Oxted hasn't been mentioned I don't think? I'd probably suggest starting around Oxted, Reigate and Dorking.

lolavix

What about Coulsdon?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45684530.html

Prob around 20 mins drive in rush hour or less than 5 mins on train