Demystifying “Location, location, location …”

ACCA

Thanks to those who took the time to read and share views. I think we can now close the thread.

If there is anyone who's willing to contribute with more detailed answers (other than 'you're complicating things' etc), I am happy to pay for your time. DM with your experience and offer. 

newsgroupmonkey_

Leighton Buzzard - no grammar schools in the region?

Well there are - Aylesbury has 2 of the best in the Country. But you won't find any in Leighton, because it has a lower-middle-upper School system.

And as such, again, your spreadsheet is very wrong. Leighton has 8 rated "Good" lower schools (only 2 require improvement) and 4 outstanding. All 5 middle schools are "good". Both Upper schools are "Good". None of those 2 are poor or require improvement.

https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/search?location=LU73XQ&level_1_types=1&status[0]=1&start=0&rows=10&sort=az&order=asc

Linslade side would be better for a number of reasons;

1. Better houses

2. Lower crime

3. Better schools

4. That's where the station is

Sadly, all the new housing is on Leighton side and further from station.

robatwork

Didn't read whole thread but know most of these areas very well. Happy to help if you direct message with a "yea/nay" type questions. One thing I'd point out is that sometimes a bit further out can be much quicker to C London. For example St Albans has trains to London in 16-20 mins. Albeit you don't get a seat. Whereas Uxbridge would be a rattler for an hour.  But that's one of the reasons St A is one of the most sought after areas and therefore expensive.

Stevenage has fantastic train links. However for your budget I would avoid - it has more rough bits than nice. Villages nearby can be lovely though.

jimbog

ACCA said:

______

I know a couple of those towns very well and the data you have collected is clearly incorrect. It would be unwise to make any decisions based solely on it.

Might I suggest an extra column with a mark 'out of 10' of how much you liked it on your visit?

ACCA

jimbog said:

I know a couple of those towns very well and the data you have collected is clearly incorrect. It would be unwise to make any decisions based solely on it.

Might I suggest an extra column with a mark 'out of 10' of how much you liked it on your visit?

What is exactly 'clearly incorrect'?

dander

I find your approach a bit strange, but you are asking for advice, so I hope you won't be offended if I tell you what I find strange. The places on your list are all so incredibly different, including the houses you'll get for your money are completely different.

Seems odd to me to be basing a decision like this purely on commute - what about where your family and friends are? Surely you can at least narrow it down to whether you want to be North or South of London and just cross out half those towns. Start with the big picture before you deal with the detail.

Then if you do want to base it on the commute to Bank then there's a lot more to it than the time a train takes and the price per KM or Min seems a fairly useless figure - I can't see how that would really make a difference if you know what the price per year is. The thing you really need to think about is the door-to-door commute. You can technically be on a really fast train line but if your house is too far to walk to the station, what then? Car and parking charges? Does that station even have a car park? Bus? Is there a bus stop near the house? How regular are the buses? With trains you also need to know how regular those trains are - if you just miss a train on the way home, how long are you sat at the station waiting for the next one - and is the next one a slow one or a fast one? It's very easy for a "40 minute train time" to turn into a 2 hour commute. 

Secondly, things like crime figures are so vague - anyone of these towns will have better and worse areas. Which bit of the town are you likely to be looking at with your budget?

I think you need to have some clearer deal-breakers. If you have a rule like "I want to be 15 minutes walk from the station" then you can quickly rule out the places where that's only flats, or where the station is really isolated. Might be other things apart from stations - Do you use a gym or regularly go to the cinema, do you want to be in a place with a John Lewis - even if it sounds silly if it is something that matters to you, you'll be able to quickly eliminate places that simply don't have what matters to you.

Sorry, long post, hope it's been helpful rather than annoying!

ACCA

dander said:

Sorry, long post, hope it's been helpful rather than annoying!

Many thanks for taking the time and thanks for your feedback, all fair points. Train frequence is a good point, although I wouldn't call this vital as we've been commuting via train for years on a line that has got 3 trains per hour - wasn't great in the first place, but manageable.

I've have a thought about what's important and shortlisted the criteria on my original post, I reckon the top ones are quality of neighbourhood, safety, schools, parks/ green spaces and commute. I don't have family in London, friends are scattered all around, so no really attachment to certain side (north vs south).

If I were to ask you for view: how would you segregate say north to south or east to west of London by distinctive feature? What is the overarching feeling about these? eg east hasn't got decent grammar schools (just a random statement). Thanks in advance.