Where to buy house for under 300K?

ReadySteadyPop

Albermarle said:

If you are focused on direct trains to Victoria, then are you are mainly looking at South of London, or Kent.

The former means mainly expensive areas in Surrey. The north part of Kent could be a possibility as plenty of cheaper housing  in Gravesend, Gillingham etc . Many 2 beds for around £300K, although probably not the most desirable of areas.

This shows the state of the UK market bubble, a 2 bed in a rough area for nearly a third of a million pounds, laughable really, this won`t last though, I think interest rates could be moving up again next year and flats in undesirable areas will go back to the 100-150k price range that they belong in, if you have 300k save it for a bargain in my opinion.

ReadySteadyPop

ThisIsWeird said:

Mnoee said:

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... 

Ah, I thought it was £350k when I searched https://www.onthemarket.com/details/16128233/
But there's a few terraced and flats for less. Not very desirable examples, admittedly, but, a lovely place to live.

Dreadful looking house, probably you can hear every sound from neighbours, heartbreaking that people would contemplate that price for such poor quality of life, I suspect it won`t sell for that though, or if it did the buyer would be looking at a sizeable loss in future.

ReadySteadyPop

MysteryMe said:

A monthly Grantham to London zone 1-6 season ticket is just under £900 a month

This is a handy tool to calculate potential travel costs

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-and-offers/ticket-types/season-ticket-calculator/

Terrifying, no wonder people want to WFH, I hear younger people are deserting London in droves, no wonder, what a horrific life standing on a train 4 hours a day to get into work for an 8 or 9 hour day just to pay a big mortgage and paying 900 pm for the privilege!

lincroft1710

ReadySteadyPop said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Mnoee said:

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... 

Ah, I thought it was £350k when I searched https://www.onthemarket.com/details/16128233/
But there's a few terraced and flats for less. Not very desirable examples, admittedly, but, a lovely place to live.

Dreadful looking house, probably you can hear every sound from neighbours, heartbreaking that people would contemplate that price for such poor quality of life, I suspect it won`t sell for that though, or if it did the buyer would be looking at a sizeable loss in future.

Not the most attractive house, but hardly "dreadful" (I've seen a lot worse in my time). Being Cambridge, that price does not surprise me.

snooksnj1

gwynlas said:

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

Overton, Whitchurch, Andover, Gratley,  But it goes into Waterloo. 
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/151891829#/?channel=RES_BUY
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/147427265#/?channel=RES_BUY

mark_cycling00

I know this isn't necessarily helpful but £200k gets you....

A grade 2 listed
2 bed house
Build by isambard kingdom Brunel
Sandstone terrace with front garden 
Centre of town, nice historic area 
just 45mins from paddington, trains every 10mins

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/153109784#/?channel=RES_BUY

It's Swindon!!

I only found out about the "railway village" today. It's really very pretty. 

mabbit

ReadySteadyPop said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Mnoee said:

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... 

Ah, I thought it was £350k when I searched https://www.onthemarket.com/details/16128233/
But there's a few terraced and flats for less. Not very desirable examples, admittedly, but, a lovely place to live.

Dreadful looking house, probably you can hear every sound from neighbours, heartbreaking that people would contemplate that price for such poor quality of life, I suspect it won`t sell for that though, or if it did the buyer would be looking at a sizeable loss in future.

The conservatory is shocking - the boundary side window faces into next door's conservatory with a gap of about 20cm...they have fitted frosted glass windows but its a ridiculous setup.

Murphybear

mark_cycling00 said:

I know this isn't necessarily helpful but £200k gets you....

A grade 2 listed
2 bed house
Build by isambard kingdom Brunel
Sandstone terrace with front garden 
Centre of town, nice historic area 
just 45mins from paddington, trains every 10mins

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/153109784#/?channel=RES_BUY

It's Swindon!!

I only found out about the "railway village" today. It's really very pretty. 

The house is lovely and the rooms a reasonable size.  But you know what they say,   “location, location, location”.  

MysteryMe

lincroft1710 said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Mnoee said:

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... 

Ah, I thought it was £350k when I searched https://www.onthemarket.com/details/16128233/
But there's a few terraced and flats for less. Not very desirable examples, admittedly, but, a lovely place to live.

Dreadful looking house, probably you can hear every sound from neighbours, heartbreaking that people would contemplate that price for such poor quality of life, I suspect it won`t sell for that though, or if it did the buyer would be looking at a sizeable loss in future.

Not the most attractive house, but hardly "dreadful" (I've seen a lot worse in my time). Being Cambridge, that price does not surprise me.

Yep Cambridge is not the cheapest place to buy. It's not a show home but certainly not dreadful. 

It's also close to two hospitals so has that going for it as well. 

Albermarle

ReadySteadyPop said:

MysteryMe said:

A monthly Grantham to London zone 1-6 season ticket is just under £900 a month

This is a handy tool to calculate potential travel costs

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tickets-railcards-and-offers/ticket-types/season-ticket-calculator/

Terrifying, no wonder people want to WFH, I hear younger people are deserting London in droves, no wonder, what a horrific life standing on a train 4 hours a day to get into work for an 8 or 9 hour day just to pay a big mortgage and paying 900 pm for the privilege!

Many people only commute to the office two or three times a week nowadays. For sure you do not have to stand on a train on Fridays as they are semi empty.
For younger people this is better than WFH all the time, which can get boring.