Scouting locations to buy in

WolfSong2000

lildoonbuggy wrote: »

Thank you all for the insight (especially z1a - made me chuckle). I'm in Charing Cross whereas husband is still to narrow down on a London job. Commuting will come into that though. Ideal budget is £320 - £350k for a 2 bed house with some sort of yard, mainly because I feel it's insanity to pay more. However I'm conscious that's not something I can control. I would ideally spend less than 2 hours commuting a day. Jojo we tried the midlands previously but found ourselves a bit bored and restless. We like being near bustle and the airports and travel as often as we can. Toucan, completely identify - right down to the sailing though its not a requirement (yet!). I'd love to find a place that has soul and sort of adopts us into its culture. Not having family around does leave a big gap, so maybe that's also influencing this feeling of wanting to set roots. A few places have been mentioned here for me to right move, so thank you again for fuelling my madness!

Faversham is a lovely, lovely town with loads of events held throughout the year and a very welcoming and inclusive local community but commuting to London can be a bit of a pain (does have options for fast trains to St. Pancras though).

Medway I am not a massive fan of. Has good bits and bad bits as do all places, but wouldn't be my first choice to live there.

Tonbridge may suit your needs. Small town, but *amazing* transport links to London. Decent range of shops and plenty of green space. Prices are getting crazy expensive, though.

ReadingTim

At the risk of sounding obvious, there are 3 elements of the commute from outside London: the journey from home to the station; the train into one of the mainline London terminals; and, the journey from the mainline teminus to your office. Should any one of those be a pain, it, and knock on impact it will have on the other elements will combine to make your commute an absolute misery, no matter how lovely it is where you live.

Furthermore, don't just consider the commute at normal times - consider the logistics later in the evening, for example if you work late or go out to the pub or for dinner after work - I find that I have to be leaving central London by about 9.30/10pm, which really isn't that late, otherwise my trip back home to Reading becomes an absolute mission, and I'm not in bed until after midnight, which is late - and that's only with a 15 min walk across the town centre from the station to my house.

hazyjo

Totally with ReadingTim. My journey is around 45 mins - but with a 10 min walk one end and 20 mins the other.


When I've been out in town at night, it's fine if one tube, but one night I was itching to get the bill at 10.30pm which ended up being 11pm by the time it arrived and we'd collected coats from cloakroom. What with two tubes before my train, it was 12.45am when I got home.


I don't mind being the other end of London for a night out (usually around Baker Street as one friend also lives in Reading and has the same probs as ReadingTim!) as it means I can stay on one tube to Tower Hill. It's that change that's a killer!


I would only consider a long train commute if I could walk at both ends. I'd rule anything out which needed a tube journey too, let alone more than one!

Slinky

Toucan_toucan wrote: »

We've tried to broadly list criteria that we need, and have found it's quite amazing how many places don't have the basics (and I don't even think we're being too fussy!). So, for us, it's as follows: decent public transport (OH doesn't drive), which has to include a railway station, a big supermarket within 15 minutes on the bus at most (and that bus can't be once a week!), at least one of each of a Chinese, Indian, fish & chip shop and pub, again within walking distance, somewhere close by for walks (we'd love a dog & like walking in general), ideally near some water for sailing, a gym and/or pool within a short bus ride or drive. We've done a bit of google mapping to try to get an overall list, and are starting to visit potential places with a view to seeing what might work.

I've PM'd you.

mrsjanebanbury2009

Stay in London for the sake of your future children. Fantastic schools, entertainment, culture, green spaces, food, sporting opportunities, transport...(All of TFL is free for kids until they are 16.) They will grow up living in one of the world's most vibrant multicultural cities, it's an amazing playground for kids and teenagers; not only is the transport free but so are the museums and a whole heap of other stuff. Head to somewhere in the outer suburbs and your'e still only 30-40 mins from the centre of town and you should be able to get a two-bed for your budget. They will thank you for it (well mine do, literally).

Red-Squirrel_2

Can your jobs only be done in London or are they transferable to any reasonably big city? Without family connections or roots in London I wouldn't stay unless I absolutely had to, I'd be looking at Manchester or York or Glasgow for a better quality of life.

csgohan4

Ashford, Kent area, 40 mins to St Pancras. nice city and quiet enough to enjoy it and close enough to London too.

AndyTails

WolfSong2000 wrote: »

Faversham is a lovely, lovely town

You sure? I grew up in/near Faversham.I called it Chaversham, cos it was full of chavs. I'm prepared to believe that it might be slightly different after 15 years, and my parents still live there happily, but I'm much happier living in Surrey (where crime hasn't been invented yet).

AndyBSG

Moving out of London just before my wife and I started our family was the best thing i've done.

Much lower crime rates, much more property for our money, friendlier neighbours and more open spaces/less pollution for them to grow up in.

As others have said, deciding where really boils down to criteria and i'd say the main points to consider are the following

- Desired property size

- Maximum budget

- Commuting time and cost

- Do you still want to be within underground zones or happy for mainline links in?

- Type of Location. Do you want somewhere rural, somewhere still quite lively?

For Charing Cross i'd say you'd ideally be looking to the South of the capital for mainline travel. Moving North or East would see you spending extra time and money on tube travel.

Not too familiar with commuting locations and property prices South of London as most of my research when buying was based in the North and East commuter belt.

ReadingTim

AndyBSG wrote: »

Moving out of London just before my wife and I started our family was the best thing i've done.

Much lower crime rates, much more property for our money, friendlier neighbours and more open spaces/less pollution for them to grow up in.

And once they grow up past the age of about 10-12 they'll hate you for moving out into "the middle of nowhere" where "nothing happens" 'cos it's all "boring". You in turn will resent having to be their personal taxi service until they're old enough to drive as public transport can be hit and miss outside major urban areas and everything is so much further away than in the capital.

Finally, they'll move back at the first chance they get. Best thing you've ever done? Don't kid yourself...