Househunter - help!

[MiffyMouse]

Hi all.

We're thinking of buying a place in Milton Keynes or Luton. Any recommendations/suggestions, e.g. areas to focus on, websites to visit etc will be warmly appreciated.


Background....

We want to move to a suitable neighbourhood for young kids. Can afford up to £160k. A 2 bed place will do us fine. I work in West End, so I'll need to get to a train station daily. I'm happy to spend up to 90mins (oneway) travelling time door to door.

Luton & MK are just some towns that came to mind. Am happy to hear suggestions for other areas. We dont know where to start looking!! I'd prfer N of London than S of London, as NW London is where my roots are. wouls stay in London if we could - but prices way too high for us!

I've lived in NW London all my life, and now need to move out of parents home and get a place of my own for my family (little ones are 3 & 4).

ps We are first time posters to Mumsnet - great site !! Discovered it a fews months ago and is now a firm favourite of ours!

Mr & Mrs MiffyMouse

[Gwenick]

Have you considered Wellingborough?? You'll get a LOT of house for your money, easily a decent sized 3 bedroom., and there's intercity (whatever they're called now LOL) trains to London on a daily basis - have 3 friends who's DH's all work in London and I (think) it's only about 50 minutes into London (St. Pancras - don't know what it's like to get to the West End from that station).

Good schools and lots of friendly people (like me

Actually just looking on rightmove you could get a 3 bedroom detached!!! - near to one of the best Primary (and Junior) schools in town.

[Gwenick]

Do you prefer old or new houses??

If you like houses with a bit of character I certainly wouldn't advise MK - (love shopping there but hate the 'place')

[MiffyMouse]

hi Gwenick

many thanks for the reply. Thats exactly waht I was hoping for - some areas for me to consider. I've had a quick look and there do seem to be some very nice properties in Wellingborough, and a 50min train journey sounds OK (as long as I can get from home to the station in under 15mins).

How big is Wellingborough (to be honest - I've never heard of it before!!)- are there any ares to 'avoid' in it?

I dont have prefence for old or new house. I'm no good at DIY, so place needs to be in decent shape. But the neighborhood is most important issue. I guess I want some sense of community - where people actually talk to each other !

[Gwenick]

No problem getting from home to the station in under 15 minutes - 2 of my friends live on the Gleneagles estate, one on the Kingsway estate - literraly opposite side of town from the station and it's only a 10 minute (in traffic!) drive!

It's not a 'huge' town, you could probably walk 'across' from one edge to the other in about 1hr. Not a 'vast' array of shops (got a Woolies, Boots, Wilkinson, Matalan etc etc oh and Saisnbury, Tesco, Morrison and Iceland - with a Safeway 15 minutes away in Rushden), but Northampton (20 minutes drive away) and Kettering (also 20 minutes away) have all the usualy shops, and MK isn't too far either if you want a 'really' good shop.(thank goodness)

places to avoid are Hemmingwell (definite avoid area), Queensway ('some' areas are okish) and Kingsway. Over near the train station there are some nice little areas, but there's also quite a few streets which are bit rough and ready, also where most of the muslims live (not meaning that in a horrible way - just the mosque is over that side of town) the biggest 'problem' makers over there are youngesters (of all colours and creeds LOL).

Everywhere else is nice. We were on the Queensway estate until 6 months ago, lived there for 2yrs, but now are more central. Got friends that live in all part (literally LOL) of the town and they all say their areas are friendly. The street we live on, just to the west of the town centre, has just about everybody living on it, the youngest 'resident' is 2 weeks old, and as far as I know the oldest is 92yrs old!! bUt they're all really friendly.

[Tabs]

Hi MM

I'm in North Herts, about 15 mins south of Luton. Personally I wouldn't live in Luton itself if you paid me, though I believe that some parts of it are better than others.

I also agree with Gwenick about MK - if you don't mind living in a place which is basically a giant housing estate then you'll love it, and there are some nice and reasonably priced properties there, but sorely lacking in character.

Hope I don't sound too negative here! If you want to be a little nearer to London then you might want to consider places like Hitchin and some of the surrounding villages. Here's link to a brilliant property website - covers loads of agents - you can pick by price bracket for the counties that you're interested in, and then narrow down to specific towns within those.

Vebra

[Gwenick]

Personally I wouldn't live in Luton itself if you paid me, though I believe that some parts of it are better than others.



Wanted to say the same thing - but didn't want to offend anyone .

[Tabs]

Guess I thought I'd throw all caution to the wind

[Gwenick]

interestingly was talking to DH about this thread and said that Luton had been mentioned, he's only lived in the UK for 5yrs, and only in Bedford and wellingborough and he said straight away

"oh no, not Luton" LOL

[spacecadet]

i live in cambs and can assure you that weregard luton to be..whispers...undesirable, hope i havent offended any one who lives in luton.

[MiffyMouse]

thanks heaps all for the replies.

I'm starting to favour MK over Luton ! I've looked at areas in MK, and a couple (Great Holm and Oldbrook) seem to have schools around my kids' age group, and these two place seem not too far from the station also.

All further comments on MK are welcome!