Nice places to live within an hour commute of London

[Jadey16]

Hi everyone

My dh Has been offered a job in Central London, we currently live in the south west and own a 4 bed semi detached house with lots of off road parking, in London a similar house is worth 500k if not more. I’ve looked on rightmove at so many areas and they are all so expensive. Personally I don’t think we can afford to do it, is there anywhere within an hour commute of London that has houses around 280k or less in a nice area? Happy to downsize to a 3 bed with off road parking, safe and decent schools.The new job isn’t paid that well for the first couple of years, but after that he will earn well and it comes with great future prospects so we really want to go for it, but I can’t see how it would be possible. Any one want to prove me wrong?

Thanks

You would get a small 3 bed in Leighton Buzzard for that money I think and the commute time is less than an hour for most parts of central London.

Decent schools too.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-81191627.html
3 bed but big/ extendable.. pretty ok area near mainline station . just over an hour to waterloo

also extendable decent area couple of miles to Havant station

Look around the Reading area. When cross rail starts next year, commuting into central London from there will be easier.

Tring.

I was going to say Reading.

Will your DH be staying over at work for those four nights he's on shift regardless?

If so, I wouldn't move, or I would do what you said and move a bit further down the line so it's not a 5 hour commute for him, but not all the way to within 1 hour.

You will find a lot of people who work in London don't live there or nearby, they stay for a few nights a week and then travel home. If your DH isn't doing it daily then I wouldn't worry about moving here. It's so expensive and you will never get anything as nice as you already have.

Incidentally, I live in Ashford (Middlesex), you could get something within your budget here and it's a 35 min train in to Waterloo.

I live just outside Reading, and I doubt OP will find a 3 bed in a nice area for 280k, especially not one near the station.

The few I have seen (only one had off road parking) on Rightmove were in areas I wouldn't live.

I live in Thames Valley. You won’t get a 3 bed semi for 280k in this area, with nice schools, with a door to door commute of 60 mins. 2 bed ex local authority flats in Maidenhead go for 350k.

I’ve just moved to Fleet. Very pleasant and 39 mins to Waterloo. You won’t get a 3 bed for 280 but you might just about in Farnborough although it’s not as naice.

Yes I'd avoid Ashford (not nice and also traffic is awful so it could easily take you an hour to get to the station from 3 miles away).
I'd also avoid Medway as it's just really not very nice.

I commute from near Aylesbury and it takes me 1 3/4 hours door to door. You also wouldn't get what you want within your budget.

If you don't mind the grammar system, could consider High Wycombe, which has some cheaper areas and decent state primaries (also some very expensive surrounding villages however!)

Not Leighton Buzzard itself as it's a bit rough but one of the many villages around it, as long as you have a car. LB to Euston is 28 mins. If you choose a village to the north you'll be in Buckinghamshire grammar catchment. Great schools, and Milton Keynes and Aylesbury nearby: plenty of libraries, leisure centres, gyms, parks, theatres, shopping etc

Unfortunately, since it was published in a national paper that we're only 30 mins from Marylebone, prices in Wycombe have gone up. You'd be lucky to get a decent-ish 2 bedroom house for less than 300k.

Given that your H’s job is “residential” I would look at places 2 hours or so out of London that would be good for schools, older DC and you, within a reasonable commute of a range of job prospects. And DH sleep away.

Just get him to stay at work for his four days on, then home for four days. You can review once he gets paid more and you have a more realistic budget. What you want doesn't exist. I'm in zone 6 and my two bed flat was £400k.

Do a Rightmove search for Bedford - within 15 miles, 3 bed+, max £280k - I've just done it and there are 1,525 results.

How about Essex or Suffolk? I live in Ipswich and lots of people commute from here. Also Bury St Edmunds is a possibility

Can't believe there aren't more of us advocating for Bedford area @bamboocat ! It's full of commuters, including my hubby

After your last post I'd say stay where you are, let him commute for two years and buy something closer when he's got the hike in wages, if you even stay there then (unless it's London based) as once qualifies (or whatever he's working towards) thinks may be very different and there's no point t in paying stamp duty twice, disruption etc twice and two years isn't long

Failing that how about rental instead and rent your own house out ?

That budget is quite low for an hours commute into London. You’ll have to downsize quite drastically, and probably compromise on how nice the area is

@HeyMicky why do you think Leighton Buzzard is rough? I really don't think it is!

I live in Leighton Buzzard and it's not rough, aside from a few pockets which all towns have. It's not posh like, say, Berkhamsted, but its perfectly nice. Linslade side of town is not even remotely rough.

I've just moved from London to Bristol, my DH commutes to London once a week and it's fine. It doesn't sound like he'll be commuting that much if he's sleeping at work for 4 days? Bristol is amazing!!!!!

@sunshinesandwaves perhaps that's because we don't want the property prices to rise too much?!

@bamboocat eeeek! That's true!!