Moving outside London

[EagerStork]

Hello,
Please can you recommend some areas outside North London as we're looking at buying a house. We are a young professional couple and we have a baby. We need to commute daily to central London. Ideally we need a safe area with good nurseries/schools.

Many thanks

Budget? How many bedrooms? Whereabouts in London specifically will you be commuting into?

dartford?
tonbridge?
harlow?
harrow

What’s your AIBU?

Crikey , do not move to Harlow! Some more info @EagerStork on office location and budget would be helpful

Try in the Property/DIY board. AIBU can be full of vipers.

What kind of length of commute are you prepared to deal with?

Need your budget and requirements, OP. ‘Outside of London’ is a big place.

If you both work from the office five days a week there’s no way I’d move out. Just buy a flat and get a pot plant and a tumble drier.

Why not Harlow? I don't see why people write off whole areas, without even giving one reason. Daft.

watford

Depends on budget. I’d look at the Chiltern line towns, Princes Risborough,
Thame etc I mean that commute is quite expensive but if you want nice country towns it’s a good option. I moved out to Oxfordshire from West London. Absolutely love it.

@EagerStork You keep starting these threads, as we can see from Advanced Search, but never coming back to them!

Could you come back and answer some of the questions you’ve been asked, or respond to the points made - this way you’ll get much better information and suggestions as a result.

Thank you very much everyone.
My budget is £350K for 2-3 bedroom house.
My husband commutes daily to Oxford Circus and I commute to Liverpool Street for a couple of days a week. Ideally, I need any area close to North London so I can be close to family.
In Harlow and Hatfield there are a lot of houses within this budget but I am receiving a lot of negative feedback.
Let me know your thoughts.

North London is a very big place - where specifically do you need to be close to?

I would look for somewhere on the Herts/Essex line to Liverpool Street for an easy commute. Especially if your child will be going to school locally, you’ll want to be as close and as quick as possible for pick ups. Cheshunt?

I saw those threads - you hadn’t stated your budget so people were telling you about much nicer places in those counties which we now know are definitely out of your budget. Plenty of people live pleasant lives in Hatfield and Harlow - and if that’s what you can afford, that’s what you have to work with.

You could probably afford somewhere in Chesham or Tring. Both a civilized commute.

Are you aware that commuting from e.g. Hatfield into London every day will cost you about £5000 each a year (and likely to go up 15-20% every year)? Have you factored that into your budget?

Taking the cost of commuting into account as well as housing costs, it can be cheaper to live in the outskirts of London (e.g. Bromley) than just outside.

Would you be able to drive to the train? If so Walkern is a short distance from Stevenage which is a quick train. Roydon has a station that goes into Liverpool St. Sawbridgeworth?

i suggested harlow because my friend lived there and commuted, so i know it is doable.
it is a town like any other, a new town

Harlow does make sense for you in terms of budget and location for work (train into Liverpool Street and DH getting off at Tottenham Hale for Oxford Circus). But there’s a reason it’s more affordable than many other areas. Do you like the look of the houses in your budget there?

And previous posters pointing out the cost of commuting are right to do so. Personally I think you can get a nicer two bed flat in London for your budget and with a better lifestyle than what Harlow offers you.

Milton Keynes. Brilliant range of houses in your price range. Excellent schools. Excellent train service. Excellent town centre shops. Lots of parks, lakes etc as a new town. Don't listen to the naysayers about it being soulless, it's a wonderful place to live for families as everything is closed to hand. We relocated from Leeds and found MK so easy to get about, one commuted into London and one worked locally, our 4 teenagers loved it. Visit and see.

and IKEA, Bletchley Park, Aldi, …