Tell me where to live (please)

[crackersforcrackers]

To cut a long story short, I have been gifted £20k that is to be explicitly used for a house deposit, so max house price must be £200k.

I'm currently in the South West and have always been bored living here so would like to move eastwards. I've always dreamed of living in London but I worry this would be a shock after living my whole life in the countryside. Reading is also an option as I've visited there and I liked it, plus there's a benefit of easily getting in to London.

Any ideas of where to live would be gratefully received, ideally no more West than Basingstoke and no more North than Oxford.

And just to throw in a cheeky poll
YABU= Don't live in London
YANBU= Live in London yolo!

@daimbarsatemydogsbone Mainly because wherever I am I want to be in easy reach of London (but also because I've never been more North than Coventry and I've probably read too much mumsnet that there's a big North/South culture divide )

If you are on £25k, your max borrowing would probably be around £110-120k (4.5-4.75 x your income), so your budget would be £140k maximum.

I live on the very edge of London (Zone 6, Essex border) and you would struggle to get a studio flat for £200k now, unless it was cash buyers only.

@BulletTrain Sorry that was my sausage fingers typing fast! I'm on a bit more than £30k and with my Lifetime ISA and other savings I hope to put down more than £20k on the deposit when I come to it. I have talked to a solicitor who agreed taking a mortgage on a £200k place is definitely doable.

Just to clarify, I've lived in South East London for the majority of my adult life so not knocking it! I think SE London is wonderful.

How about somewhere nearish Bath (which has a lot going on) and near to strong train transport links into West London. For example, Westbury, Trowbridge, Chippenham, Corsham etc.

@SprigofSage

Just a tip, Catford is about to go through a huge regeneration (they have been saying this for years) however at the moment there's a lot of empty shops and roadworks and it's just a bit grim. You could buy somewhere there and play the long game in the hope that ONE DAY the regeneration will be completed and you'll have made some cash or you can avoid it completely because it won't be very much fun to live there for a fair few years.

I'm sure someone will be along to correct me soon!

I enjoyed living in Catford. You wouldn't lose money buying there either.

@AmbushedByCake As a dyed in the wool SE Londoner I feel I have betrayed Catford 😂😂😂 there's nothing wrong with Catford, it's just going through a bit of an awkward phase!

I really don’t recommend Reading!

OK truthfully the first time I went to Catford a group of youths wanted me to give them money to 'look after my car' but I lived there as a young free person for several years and have very fond memories.

@AmbushedByCake

OK truthfully the first time I went to Catford a group of youths wanted me to give them money to 'look after my car' but I lived there as a young free person for several years and have very fond memories.

Ayyyee that's the Catford we know and love 😂

How about this, OP?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/116739725#/?channel=RES_BUY

Though I don't suppose you'll get a mortgage on it, now I think of it.

Cardiff? Lovely city, nice buzz. And look at this!

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/72479341#/?channel=RES_BUY

Do you want to live by the sea?
Train access to London on the doorstep.
Live in the middle of a shopping/entertainment complex
Buzzy atmosphere

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/105838058#/?channel=RES_BUY

Tooting. I've seen the occasional small one-bed available for just over £200k.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/119866703#/?channel=RES_BUY Hitchin is gorgeous, a great investment, lovely town centre with cool vibe and very easy access to london

Decent London commute time with rail network to some south east towns.

Tunbridge Wells has some one bed flats in your budget.

Uckfield has couple of options

Eastbourne has 2 bed flats

Worthing has 1-2 bed flats

Haywards Heath has one bed flats

East Grinstead has a couple of options.

Oxford is great, I live in a market town 20 mins from it. Then you are only a short train into London too.

First step would be to speak to a broker (London and Country are pretty good, & free) to get an AIP so you have a definite budget.

Some good advice here, start by looking at bank websites to see how much you can borrow. Realistically, you are looking at your 30k salary x 4.5 which gives you 135k plus deposit so a total of 155k or thereabouts.

Lots of towns outside London with great transport links where you can find something in budget

If you want to live somewhere even remotely nice in London then £200k isn't going to be enough. £300k, yes, but £200k isn't enough.

Confirm your budget with a broker. But if you can afford something in London and have your heart set on living there and experiencing a London lifestyle, then buy there. You'll get less property than you could elsewhere, even within a reasonable train journey of London, but this is the trade-off. You'll also spend less on council tax and transport (but be wary of service charges).

An advantage of living in London is that with night tubes, night buses and Ubers, you can stay out late and still get home, something that'll be difficult or expensive if you live in commuter land (although you could party late locally).

Couple of flats available in Deptford in budget. Some great pubs/bars/places to eat... Would happily live there if I was a bit younger

I don't think you'll get anything in London for that except maybe shared ownership.

As others have said, Catford is getting huge money poured into it with regeneration. There are v fast train links into the city. I lived just down the road in Sydenham for years and met friends in Catford on tuesday night. It’s a bit urban for me now but you will make money by investing there.

@heyitsthistle

If you want to live somewhere even remotely nice in London then £200k isn't going to be enough. £300k, yes, but £200k isn't enough.

It is more than enough for shared ownership Saw some advertised in Pimlico and Bankside recently - both resales They tend to go quickly and you need to earn less than about £60k