To ask for advice about where to move?

[bobthetomato]

Posting here for traffic, because we need quick responses, please!

We're renting, and our landlord has recently sold the property to somebody who wants to live here themselves.

We, therefore, need to move quite soon.

We currently live in Surrey. I'm a SAHM and husband works in Richmond. There's no way we could afford to live there, but need to find a 3-bed place to rent within reasonable commuting distance--ideally not more than 40 miles away. We can't afford much more than £900 pcm, if the commute is 30-40 miles.

So presumably Berkshire or northeastern Hampshire or southwestern Hertfordshire would be on the list...?

We have three young children, but schools aren't an issue because we home educate.

Help!

Pangbourne in Berkshire is lovely

Thanks, Bee! Will do a zoopla search.

How will he commute? Will he be driving or using public transport?

Sorry pressed post too soon

What do you want
Town, village or rural?
Do you need good transport links?
What local amenities do you need / want?

Pangbourne is lovely but unlikely you'd get a 3 bed property for £900 a month there. I would do a rightmove search with a 30 mile radius putting in your maximum rent and then ask for views on the areas that come up.

move to stevenage! cheaper houses, great commuter links and an excellent home ed community! :D

Bee do you live in Pangbourne? I agree it is lovely. You won't get a 3 bed for £900 though I'm afraid. You might in Tilehurst, there is a train station there too.

I used to but not any more.

If you want a quicker commute to Richmond, somewhere along the M3 would work. Cheaper areas would be Farnborough, Camberley, Bracknell, etc.

It does look as though Pangbourne is out of our reach, sadly.

Mummypig and Luggage, thanks for the tips about Tilehurst and Stevenage. We'll run a search on those places, too. It would be a huge bonus to have a thriving home ed community, since we'll likely be leaving behind the wonderful group we have here.

Excellent advice about places along the M3, Sianilaa

Good questions, Chaz.

In response, we're very open. He can either use public transport or drive--whichever option works out as more cost-effective. We're not fussy about whether it's rural or in a town. The only absolute must is high-speed broadband, since I'm dependent on the Internet for my little side-income project.

Bracknell is also on the train line to Richmond as well as having good access to the M3, so could be a good option. I'm fairly local to that area, certainly lots to do.

North Hampshire is lovely and, from memory, not too expensive. What about West Sussex? Not sure of the connections to Richmond, but around the Crawley/Burgess Hill/Hayward's Heath area there are some nice places.

Thanks for your comments, zeezeek. We're familiar with Crawley and Hayward's Heath, with friends living close to both areas, and they are nice. But we think that both our accommodation and transport costs would shoot up if we moved there!

Have you looked at prices in Ham?

Any chance that your dh could get a job elsewhere in the UK? 900 pcm is loads in some areas.

Supersoft, we've been looking at that, too. If he's offered work elsewhere in the UK, we would move in a flash. We hate spending so much on renting! But nothing has come up yet.

AntiHop, I assumed that Ham would be as pricey as Isleworth, Twickenham, etc? We'll run a search on that, too, though. Thanks!

Parts of Caversham in reading are really nice. Xh used to commute to Richmond from there on a daily basis.

What about fleet in Hampshire? Lots of friends live there, I think it's slightly less astronomical than the surrounding areas.