Advice on Bucks area

omariqy

Hi all


I've posted on here a few times but never quite been in the situation to buy. I believe I am now with a £40k deposit which should be saved up by October this year (we can borrow and pay back until then if we find something before). My wife is in the final stages of completing her course and will start her dentist training year next September (2016) in either High Wycombe or Windsor. We are also expecting (due date Sep!). We are currently living with her parents whilst we look to buy a place.


Ideally we want a 2 bed house for max £350k that is located within 20 minute drive of her work (either HW or Windsor) and is easy enough for me to commute to London for work. We've looked at Windsor but it its pricey and we would be quite lucky to get what we want in the area. I was wondering if anyone had some good advice on what areas may be good to look at given our requirements.


The alternative idea I had was to maybe purchase an investment property in East London (where we currently are) or maybe 2 one bed flats in the HW area close to the station. Both locations would mean we could easily oversee the properties should any issues crop up. We would only do this if we end up in Windsor and can't afford to buy.


Thanks for your help in advance.

Omar

Lokolo

I live in Wycombe and commute into London. (I also live in a flat next to the station!)

It depends where in Wycombe you want to live, as you get everywhere there are nicer places than others. This does show in the house prices.

And if you ask most people what they think of it, they will say its a s***hole, but if you ask them why they haven't left, they won't be able to answer. I quite like it.

Areas in Wycombe - Amersham Hill (Road on maps) has very nice houses but bit out of your price range, close to Royal Grammar School.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33516462.html

That sort of property would be good.

omariqy

Thanks! Amersham Hill is actually very close to where she might be working. I've seen a one bed property there which I would consider to be a good investment rather than somewhere for us to live.

MandM90

I'm currently looking for something in the £320k range, near the station. Good areas (Lucas Rd, Amersham Rd/Hill, Green Hill, Totteridge Ave surprisingly lovely) can be right next door to not so good areas (Bowerdean Rd, Roberts Road).

Are you currently living in HW? Do you know the area well? If you can find something affordable I'd consider a village around High Wycombe (slightly nicer than HW itself and often very good schools). Schooling might seem far away now but, unless you go private, I'd think about where you want to send little one and where catchment areas are.

omariqy

My family are from Leamington Spa but I have plenty of friends in the area. My good friend lives in Bourne End. I want to be near a station if possible. I don't want to add too much time to commuting.

pickles13

I live in High Wycombe. I moved here about 6 years ago from London, as its an easy commute into central London (strangely, its quicker to get into Central London than when I lived in Greenwich, SE London) and am in the middle of buying a house now, as we have decided that we are really happy here so we will stay! The house we have found is within walking distance to the station, close to a really beautiful park (The Rye) and easy to get into town. We have a 1 year old so location was very important to us.

When looking for somewhere to buy, rather than have certain areas that we would only consider, we had areas that we definitely didn't want (Castlefield, Micklefield being the main ones) and worked around that.

HW is much cheaper than Windsor...I regularly go to Windsor to see friends and would not want to live there (even if I could afford the house I would want). I find it so busy, traffic everywhere at all times of the day, parking is a nightmare, and I just generally find it a nicer place to visit than live.

One thing that was really annoying during our house search was the amount of gardens that were just totally unusable due to their hill location. A garden was really important to us and we said no to so many houses due to the garden so bear that in mind!

omariqy

Do you think my budget is realistic? What areas would you reccommend within a 15 minute walk to the station?

pickles13

I think you have a very healthy budget! Our budget was £320 for a 3 bed semi and we ended up paying £278k! If you really wanted to go to the top of your budget then this house is a ten minute walk from the station...I used to live in a flat on this development and it is very convenient for town/station/park....

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49500301.html?premiumA=true

Edit; that was just a very quick search with your criteria. I am sure there are lots more suitable areas!

omariqy

I've read lots of articles about HW and how poor of an area it is with lots of gangs of kids running around in postcode wars? Is that really an accurate representation?

System

On the South Bucks side you should be able to get something in Taplow or Burnham or surrounding villages up to Maidenhead. That would cover you for the Windsor commute but not sure on the commute to HW.

pickles13

omariqy wrote: »

I've read lots of articles about HW and how poor of an area it is with lots of gangs of kids running around in postcode wars? Is that really an accurate representation?

I assume that is a joke... You probably need to spend some time visiting the area before deciding if it is for you. If you type in any town in the UK, you will get nonsense reviews on it.