Surrey. Where? How? Help!

[sooperswooper]

Moving into the area from down South and quite apart from the heart attacks suffered realising what we can now afford (up to about 300k if you're selling a lovely character 2/3 bed property, ideally with a mahoosive garden out in the fringes of the countryside but within striking distance of a train station & commutable by car to woking ) wanted some advice if poss. RightMove/Zoopla are my BFFs now but I could of with a bit of real experience and input.

So if anyone happens to be browsing from surrey, where might you recommend area wise based on the above? Have one 13mo ds. Got a day of viewings of sat (with said ds. Ooooo twill be fun) - farnborough, farnham, guildford, godalming areas. Woking doesn't really inspire (or what does is out of our price range) and north east of woking seems again beautiful (weybridge) but out of price range.

Also, anyone any ideas about any storage facilities as I don't think we'll find somewhere before our house completes as its hoping to in the next few weeks so we're going to have to shift everything from a four bed, 3 storey house into a storage facility for a while. Luckily we're already staying in oxfordshire (got to love friends who are lending the house to us) so luckily we don't need to worry about renting- just need to find somewhere to buy. Obviously because we don't really know the area in which we'll be living, bit difficult for storage, but I suppose if we go relatively central to store everything (i.e. Guildford/Woking) then that'd be easier when we do buy.

Just to settle a dispute between me and my dh; properties that are worth their salt DO get snapped up within the first viewing, usually at asking price up here don't they? Dh is convinced that being totally chain free will enable us to get at least 10% off the asking price and "take out time" in making an offer. Utter bollocks, I say.

[ShoeWhore]

A friend lives in Rowledge (nr Farnham) and it sounds fantastic - proper community and good local school. They have preschool/primary age children and love it there.

I quite liked the look of Godalming but the primary schools seemed a bit hit and miss if you're not practising CofE. I really liked the look of Milford (on the edge of Godalming) but it is very very noisy from the A3 was horrendous

We're thinking of relocating too and watching the property market like a hawk and yes you're right - anything decent (esp within the catchment of a good school) will go almost immediately. We went to view an absolute wreck of a house that needed ££££ spending on it (I think the roof was the only thing worth keeping - dodgy cracks in the walls, needed new kitchen/bathrooms/wiring) - open house on Saturday and on Monday the owners accepted an offer. Your dh is deluded

[sooperswooper]

Excellent. I shall relay that information with glee. Shame that in order for him to actually process it, we'll probably lose out on a load first. Just tried to arrange another viewing on one that came on 2 days ago and it has already has FIVE over asking price offers. I'm actually thinking of pimping dh out to the EAs in order to get us a house. How can you get 'in' so to speak, to save dh embarrassing himself with indiscriminate flirting, with estate agents though so that they let you know when they accept a new instruction?

Will check out Rowledge but my RM/Zoop searches should be returning anything within a 30 mile radius of Woking in the last 24 hours (god, WHAT i've turned into) so I guess things would come up. Thanks for the tip about Milford. Will report back after saturday too about areas!

[ShoeWhore]

Yes I'd be interested to know what you think of the places you go to. We need a decent secondary school and to get dh into London every day - I think if you don't need either of those right now then your budget should go further.

[Bloob]

We're in Woking. I love it, I can't recommend it enough. However I am quite pleased you don't like it as we're trying to buy somewhere at the moment and the prices are currently in the middle of going stratospheric :o

Honestly? I think you'll struggle to get anywhere in the areas you've listed on that budget. UNLESS you don't need good schools. We moved to Woking partly because its so much cheaper.

Avoid farnborough. If you don't like Woking you'll hate farnborough. It's a bit... Seedy. Not much of a town centre to speak of. Not even slightly comparable to the other areas listed.

I highly doubt being chain free will get you 10% off. Properties around here sell for asking or above. We are chain free. The house we've just been accepted on we got 20,000 off (350 asking) and it had been on for 6months. (It's a bit of a weird house that needed some work in not a terrible area but not the most desirable either)

Way to get in with an estate agent? Show you're serious. When they call you about a new house, go and see it straight away, that afternoon if poss. Then they'll start to call you just before it comes on, as they know you'll go and are serious buyers.

[AliceInSandwichLand]

I am in Woking and very fond of it - there's an old joke that one of the best things about Woking is how easy it is to get away from - but it's true that it has excellent communications, Horsell Common, a theatre, a town centre currently being massively renovated, etc. It's generally slightly cheaper than Weybridge or Guildford - would agree that Farnborough is generally a bit seedy (though it does have the new Costco!)
There are a whole selection of storage facilities at Slyfield industrial park on the A320 between Guildford and Woking. I had some things in store at the Big Yellow there while moving house a few years ago and found them excellent (and dreamed of moving into the Big Yellow instead because it was so minimalist and peaceful ; ))

[AliceInSandwichLand]

Ps have relatives in Rowledge and would not choose the Rowledge to Woking commute personally if it could be avoided - lots of bottlenecks at rush hour.

[FlightofFancy]

We're in Godalming and love it, I'd recommend that general area - particularly for being on the edge of the countryside. As ShoeWhore says, you need to be careful which bit you're in school-wise, and I think you'll struggle with budget to be near the station and get something of a decent size, so you might want to look at areas around (we paid £325k for 2 and a bit bedrooms with a decent garden, longish walk to station).

On a practical note, for storage, there are loads of storage companies all together in the same area of Guildford (Access, Big Yellow etc) so you can play them off against each other for a discount.

I'll agree that good houses go pretty much immediately - we bought earlier this year and viewed the day after it appeared on RightMove then offered full asking price the day after.

[Bloob]

Sssh Alice we don't want everyone moving here and pushing up the prices even more :o

No no op it's horrible :o

I wouldn't move to farnborough - even for Costco!

[purplewithred]

I'm in Godalming too. Could you consider train to Woking instead of driving? Rush hour traffic can be horrendous but lots of trains run through Woking which might widen your opportunities

10% off! ha ha ha!

[bequiasweet]

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/28670239?search_identifier=996c25af0d242ddbf5c2edcadf9c5fe6

Parts of Milford, Witley and Chiddingfold are gorgeous and rural, and will fit your remit and price range, and the area is very commutable to Woking - A3 and main Portsmouth to Waterloo line stops at Woking. And there's a v good secondary (Rodborough) looking ahead 10 years!

[purplewithred]

I really should stop this and do some work

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41781250.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-43054184.html?premiumA=true

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-28601109.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37210192.html?premiumA=true

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-43973846.html

[Sam100]

The villages just south of Woking between Woking and the a3 can be quite pretty. Pyrford is nice, I don't know about schools though. You can get on the London trains at brookwood too - more likely to get a seat there. Some people in the area go to brookwood instead of Woking to commute up to London as easier to park and less congestion. Pirbright is another village near to Woking that I have heard good things about.

[AngryFeet]

I live in Warlingham which is in Surrey. It is expensive here too but close to london, good schools and about 30 mins to woking. I managed to find this which is on the outskirts so a bit away from the village green but nearer train stations. www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41663812.html

[Bloob]

Pyrford has an outstanding primary. It's a lovely little village.

It's super expensive though.

[sooperswooper]

This is pure gold!

Am looking at pretty much all of those houses (not the bungalow, though. Don't know why, but they just don't do it for me. Unless it's 150 with AT LEAST 10% off- more because it's so cheap, obvs- and in a good catchment area, with excellent transport links etc etc on Saturday. Bar the one with the open day on the 30th. They can't squeeze us in. I desperately want the one in Lower Eashing but the EAs aren't able to give a date for viewings yet. Apparently there are more than THIRTY people wanting to view. Not sure that Costco is a massive selling point at the moment.. I know the areas around there are a bit seedy - my dh spent a year there back in the day and apparently hasn't changed too much. Though he's been told that farnborough is getting an airport (??!) so that might mean it is "regenerating". Ahem.

Thanks for the advice about the traffic/bottle necks/storage and suchlike. I'm happy to train but dh won't even consider it. Car hog.

Other ones (this will totally give myself away, and PLEASE DON'T STEAL THEM AND PUT IN ABOVE ASKING PRICE OFFERS!! but no matter) seeing are:
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41734432.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41708584.html?premiumA=true
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-28517436.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41283199.html?premiumA=true
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-28556298.html

Please feel free to tell me not to touch them with a barge pole. I'm a bit dubious about some.. On another note too, apparently the houses with bathrooms downstairs will never get above 250k cause of stamp duty. So dh won't look at them as there isn't usually any scope to change around the layout. Can I concede him that?

In terms of schools- that's not too limiting at the moment, purely because it looks like we might be abroad in a few years - fingers crossed

[TeaandHobnobs]

Farnborough has an airport! In fact I am almost certain it would have been there when your DH spent a year there

[Nobloomingideapgornot]

Hello

We are in New Haw, 10 mins from Woking. Perfect for the commute, quite pretty in places.
Also consider West Byleet, Rowtown, Chertsey, Pirbright is a fab village but pricey.
Our house is ex council, solid as you like. We brought for £250k five years ago, done kitchen and bathroom, expect it to sell for around £325k.
Has a fab 80/90 ft garden, off road parking for two cars, literally at 2 mins from a fab school, m25 about 7/8 mins away, m3 about 15/20 mins.
Choice of two train stations direct to London in five min drive.

Anyways, good luck!!

[sooperswooper]

He referenced it be[coming] an "international one". I knew it had one, but I always thought it was a military one, to be honest, which is why it having an airport didn't really compute to an area being regenerated!

[FlightofFancy]

Of your list, I'd be a bit cautious about the Guildford one - Bellfields has a bit of a reputation as slightly rougher area.

We've just moved out of somewhere with a down stairs bathroom and did get caught on stamp duty threshold. However there are quite a lot where an upstairs extension has solved it. Or, people convert the roof and then move bathroom up to one of bedrooms iyswim.

[homebythesea]

If he insists on driving to Woking I would REALLY think again about looking south of Guildford. The A3 becomes a bottleneck through Guildford at rush hour (both ends of the day) in a life shortening way

[CherryEmma]

Hello, could be worth adding this to Local Talk board too:

local.mumsnet.com/Talk/surrey/local-active

Local Editor

[Herhonesty]

Have you looked at fleet, just over the border in Hampshire? Very commutable to Woking (train and car) good schools, lots of housing stock.

[PersilOrAriel]

Herhonesty makes a good suggestion! The schools there are excellent and it has great transport links.

[artiface]

Petersfield and Alton!!

[Bloob]

I know you've said Woking doesn't appeal - but from what you've said here it does seem like a fairly sensible option to at least consider?

Any myths we can help dispel?