Where to buy house for under 300K?

Jude57

theartfullodger said:

I sold three houses in the past 5 years in the highlands of scotland for between £105k & £120k. And paid CGT on all.  Views of sea lochs & munros. 

I'm not sure how helpful that is to the OP who is looking for properties an hour or so from Victoria Station in London...

EssexHebridean

Remember that Victoria is on the tube as well - therefore anything on the railway lines that go through Seven Sisters or Tottenham Hale would work, along with locations on the District line. 

Mnoee

Euston is only 10 minutes away on the Victoria line, King's Cross a few minutes more - so worth checking out places an hour or so from those. Milton Keynes and Luton spring to mind. I'm not overly familiar with either town, just visited friends there occasionally - but they were always easy to get to/from and rightmove suggests there's options in budget. 

jimbo6977

Albermarle said:

jbrassy said:

There is a train which starts in Gravesend and terminates at Victoria which takes just over an hour. You can probably find something along that route which will fit your budget.

Probably the first three stops in North West Kent, then after that prices will start to go out of range.

Gillingham/Chatham/Rochester to Victoria is also possible.  

Murphybear

gwynlas said:

There are quite a few properties in Hants that fit your criteria

Hampshire is generally very expensive.  

One thing you need to consider before buying is the length of the commute and the cost and possible problems.  

When I was working in Central London one of our secretaries commuted from Folkestone every day.  She couldn’t afford to live in London as she needed a 2nd bedroom for her elderly mother.  She travelled by coach as it was much cheaper than the train.  It was quite a long commute as you can imagine.  

It was a nightmare when the train drivers went on strike.  Many people took their cars instead of trying to get a bus and the traffic jams were horrendous.  The secretary tried getting in for 2 days but she didn’t  manage to get in before noon, which was 4 hours for the journey.  She was lucky in that our boss told her to wait until the strike was over.  (We were a mental health charity and they really looked after us).  

I’m sorry if this is a bit negative but after commuting for a number of years I know  how difficult it can be.  

Fortunately the strike didn’t last that long.  

On another occasion it had snowed heavily overnight.  More than half the staff couldn’t get it.  Fortunately that doesn’t happen very often these days. 

ThisIsWeird

I must be missing something, but for quality of life, why not Cambridge? Seemingly possible to buy even a semi for £300k - cycle to station, just over an hour to London. 

bouicca21

I had a lot of colleagues who commuted from Cambridge. Don’t think any of them ever got a seat.  So it’s not just the journey time that matters. Standing all the way on a packed train is no fun.

Mnoee

ThisIsWeird said:

I must be missing something, but for quality of life, why not Cambridge? Seemingly possible to buy even a semi for £300k - cycle to station, just over an hour to London. 

I think you're missing that they're shared ownership at that price. You can get 35-50% of a semi... 

LightFlare

Jude57 said:

theartfullodger said:

I sold three houses in the past 5 years in the highlands of scotland for between £105k & £120k. And paid CGT on all.  Views of sea lochs & munros. 

I'm not sure how helpful that is to the OP who is looking for properties an hour or so from Victoria Station in London...

No - but often the solution to a problem isn’t necessarily what you want, more of what you can achieve.
Does the OP have any overwhelming reason that they can’t relocate ?

As a kid (before 11) I lived in 3 very different counties due to my dad relocating for job opportunities 

Maahes

Mnoee said:

Euston is only 10 minutes away on the Victoria line, King's Cross a few minutes more

Plus 15 minutes getting on the platform and a train. It's a horrible journey in the mornings. Not so bad in the evenings.