Best areas to buy in Essex

es94

Hi,

My boyfriend and I are planning to buy a house over the coming months in Essex. We have been thinking about Basildon/Billericay and might look at Chelmsford too as we need to be able to commute to London easily. What are these areas like to live? It’s so hard to know for sure from online research. Any other suggestions around these areas are welcome. 

Thanks!

Owleyes00

Hello, I live and work in Essex!

It is a huge county and varies wildly from extremely deprived, built up areas to extremely affluent and leafy ones.

My question would be what are you looking for in the move and what is the draw of Essex? Do you have any family that means you are interested in a specific part or are you flexible?

Owleyes00

Oh and what’s your budget and what sort of house are you looking for? Because house prices vary massively also

GoogleMeNow

Can you give a little more information?  Billericay and Chelmsford are considerably more expensive than Basildon.  What's your budget?  How many bedrooms do you need?  Size of garden?  Schools?

LordDC

Hello, another Essex resident here.

If commuting into London is high on your requirement list, there are 2 lines into London from the locations you mention. Basildon goes into Fenchurch street, where as Billericay and Chelmsford go into Liverpool Street. The cost of a ticket whether daily or a season ticket on the Liverpool Street line is considerably higher than the cost of the Fenchurch Street line.

Property in Billericay is also much more expensive than property in Basildon.

What sort of budget do you have? What type of property are you after? How many bedrooms?

A few other places in and around that you could take a look at: Benfleet, Laindon, Rayleigh, Wickford & Hockley - to name a few...

Gavin83

Basildon's a dump, it's probably the last place I'd choose to live in Essex. Billericay is much nicer but as others have pointed out you'll pay more for property. You could even consider somewhere a little closer to London on that line, maybe Brentwood or somewhere like Hornchurch.

Plenty of other people have asked the sensible questions so I won't repeat.

As a general rule the more north you get in Essex the nicer it becomes. However your commute to London will increase and the very northern outskirts of Essex you'll be looking at nearly 2 hours each way.

Like basically any county though it varies from really horrible places to idyllic towns/villages. The nicer an area becomes the more desirable it is and therefore the higher house prices become. You'll need to balance out the kind of house you can buy against how good the area is.

dinkylink

Billericay and Chelmsford are quite nice. Basildon you couldn't pay me to live there!

dinkylink

Gavin83 said:

Basildon's a dump, it's probably the last place I'd choose to live in Essex. Billericay is much nicer but as others have pointed out you'll pay more for property. You could even consider somewhere a little closer to London on that line, maybe Brentwood or somewhere like Hornchurch.

Plenty of other people have asked the sensible questions so I won't repeat.

As a general rule the more north you get in Essex the nicer it becomes. However your commute to London will increase and the very northern outskirts of Essex you'll be looking at nearly 2 hours each way.

Like basically any county though it varies from really horrible places to idyllic towns/villages. The nicer an area becomes the more desirable it is and therefore the higher house prices become. You'll need to balance out the kind of house you can buy against how good the area is.

Agree with the general rule of the further north the better. There are some nicer parts of southern Essex like Billericay and Brentwood, though even these tend to be rather 'TOWIE', and rather expensive too.

hazyjo

Loving Leigh-on-Sea, there's lots to do here. C2C is reliable and is prob still cheaper than trains from Billericay (certainly used to be the case).

Wasn't keen on Brentwood, and I personally find Chelmsford a bit big.

More info please - budget, requirements, work locations, etc.

Owleyes00

Gavin83 said:

Basildon's a dump, it's probably the last place I'd choose to live in Essex. Billericay is much nicer but as others have pointed out you'll pay more for property. You could even consider somewhere a little closer to London on that line, maybe Brentwood or somewhere like Hornchurch.

Plenty of other people have asked the sensible questions so I won't repeat.

As a general rule the more north you get in Essex the nicer it becomes. However your commute to London will increase and the very northern outskirts of Essex you'll be looking at nearly 2 hours each way.

Like basically any county though it varies from really horrible places to idyllic towns/villages. The nicer an area becomes the more desirable it is and therefore the higher house prices become. You'll need to balance out the kind of house you can buy against how good the area is.

You can do Colchester to Liverpool Street in 45 minutes. Appreciate would depend where the OP needs to get to in London however.

On the flip side there are some affordable houses in Colchester relative to other parts of the county and country.

Gavin83

dinkylink said:

Gavin83 said:

Basildon's a dump, it's probably the last place I'd choose to live in Essex. Billericay is much nicer but as others have pointed out you'll pay more for property. You could even consider somewhere a little closer to London on that line, maybe Brentwood or somewhere like Hornchurch.

Plenty of other people have asked the sensible questions so I won't repeat.

As a general rule the more north you get in Essex the nicer it becomes. However your commute to London will increase and the very northern outskirts of Essex you'll be looking at nearly 2 hours each way.

Like basically any county though it varies from really horrible places to idyllic towns/villages. The nicer an area becomes the more desirable it is and therefore the higher house prices become. You'll need to balance out the kind of house you can buy against how good the area is.

Agree with the general rule of the further north the better. There are some nicer parts of southern Essex like Billericay and Brentwood, though even these tend to be rather 'TOWIE', and rather expensive too.

So I used to live in Loughton, which is south west Essex. It was a nice place to live, good selection of shop/amenities and felt safe. It's also quick into London being on the central line and close to the M25 for driving, but not too close. Only downsides are it's very TOWIE (if this bothers you) to the point you'd see some of the cast in the area and it's not exactly affordable.

I also spent some time living in Saffron Walden, which is very north west Essex. Pretty but personally I found it boring and the commute wouldn't suit the OP at all. Plus that's not at all cheap either, especially for a town with no train station.

I live in Cambridgeshire now, having moved recently but I've spent most of my life living in Essex and know the area well, especially the more London based bits. Happy to help where I can.