Affordable commuter towns near London

[Bodakyellow]

We are looking to buy our first family home. We need a minimum of 3 bedrooms in a town with transport links into SE London or SW London - East Croydon, Clapham Junction, Wandsworth Town etc. We have a tiny budget of £380k. We are really getting disheartened as it does not seem achievable with our budget. I’ve come to mumsnet for suggestions of affordable commuter towns.

There was an article somewhere yesterday (Metro maybe) about the cheapest (and most expensive) places to buy and Bromley came up on the 'cheaper' list. Might be worth a look though know little about the area.

How long is an acceptable commute?

How are you searching? I put London + 20 miles + £400,000 into Rightmove and I'm finding loads of houses.

Here are some examples. I don't know much about the areas though, maybe other mumsnetters do.

Luton www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115668068#/?channel=RES_BUY

Hatfield
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118499072#/?channel=RES_BUY

Iver - only 30 minutes to Paddington
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118499072#/?channel=RES_BUY

Morden www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/117323498#/?channel=RES_BUY

Hemel Hempstead
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115819394#/?channel=RES_BUY

Oh sugar, I missed you said SE or SW!

Luton and Hatfield are out then!

Basingstoke? About 40 mins from Clapham Junction and you'd get something in your budget.

Leighton Buzzard, nice little town with good schools. There is a direct train to Clapham or it’s 28mins to Euston.

Basingstoke. About a 50min train into Waterloo (some only stop at Woking and Clapham). Not the most exciting or pretty of towns, but I don’t think a lot of commuter towns are. Has everything you’d need - shopping, some restaurants. There’s also some lovely countryside right on the doorstep.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118948847

Thanks @katscamel. Bromley is at the top of our list but 3 beds within our budget are very few and far between. I’ll have a look for that article - sounds really useful

@WhatsWrongWithMyUsername
Ideally 45 Minutes

Here you go

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118066658#/?channel=RES_BUY

It's a few miles from E Croydon station, but there's an excellent tram service, takes about 20 mins, I believe.

Mitcham? Tram connection to Wimbledon and then change for CJ.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118955222#/?channel=RES_BUY

South Norwood, close to the station (Norwood Junction)

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/117008636#/?channel=RES_BUY

Burgess Hill?

Ashford in Kent could work...30 mins into St Pancras. Decent properties in your budget

Thanks all for the really great suggestions.

Burgess Hill and Crawley look doable. Does anyone know if the secondary schools in these areas are any good?

I think I may just have to get used to fact I will be much further out of London than I would like to be.
But we are desperate to get on the housing ladder so I guess that is the sacrifice we have to make.