property advice from mums in / around home counties

[strangerthanfiction]

HI, dp has just landed a job (hurray!) near Trent Park in London and we're hoping to move from our depressing council flat in SE London to somewhere in the North. We don't know the area at all and I've been googling like crazy to get some ideas but thought I'd see if anyone who lives around the home counties / Hertfordshire might be able to help. We don't have much money and will have to rent. We need at least 2 bedrooms but our top limit will be £700 a month. So far I've seen the odd place in Potters Bar or St. Albans (the latter is a bit further out than we'd ideally like). Are we dreaming to think we'll find somewhere decent within that budget? Any areas which are ok to live in with a little toddler and not too expensive?

All advice gratefully received.

bumping myself up cheekily

... and again ...

oh dear, no-one?

tbh, probably. we rented a ok 3 bed house ibn stevenage (further out than u want) which was £650 a month. avoid hatfield (i live there, so enogh said). st albans is ok, nice town, loads to do, potters bar is smaller, but ok. welwyn garden city is very green, but a bit dull on the nightlife/entertainment front, but is a good place to raise kids imo.

um
we are in Fleet Hants, not as close as you want to be, we have just sold our flat but if it was rented it would be 750 pcm, around here you can get really nice but small 2-3 bed houses for 600-800 pcm
it is 45 mins by train to London though... not wuite the area you were looking, Peterborough is commutable by about same time limits, but much cheaper...

You could be lucky we have just left Palmers Green (about 3 miles further in) and the flat above us (2 v large bedrooms) was askng for rent of 800pcm and had huge difficulty finding tennants. I think there are a lot of flats in the area bought as buy-to-lets and the market is now saturated. I also know that there was difficulty getting estate agents taking the flat on their books as they couldn't rent out the ones they already had.

Good Luck

Thanks for this. We're going to scout around the area tomorrow so I'll check out Welwyn Garden City as well as Potters Bar. I like the thought of St. Albans but dp is a bit worried about the travelling time / cost. Why avoid Hatfield?

Where's Trent Park? I'm in S Bucks if that's any use - would happily look at a local paper for rental properties to give you an idea if that would help.

SN, that would be fantastic. We're looking round Hertfordshire in general, Trent Park is way too expensive. Or if you could let me know the name of a local property paper that would be brilliant too.

I'm on the case

Hmm, just been and looked at the map and I think we're a bit far away, unless your dp doesn't mind a spin round the M25?

Help me out here stf, where's Trent Park? Lived in London 16 years but never heard of it! Now live in Herts, can thoroughly recommend St Albans but you say too far out for you... very fast trains though.

If it's the Trent Park I've found, it's near Enfield.

Oh, sorry, I'm too far away to be much use then. Doesn't look as though TP is too far from St Albans on the map, although imagine traffic can be a pig.
Radlett is closer to TP; don't know much about it but my boss lives there and she's very happy with it.

Thanks again everyone.

We went for a scout around today and saw Potters Bar (too expensive) Welwyn Garden City (rather a weird place we couldn't get our heads round where anyone actually lives ...) and Welham Green. They were all brilliantly accessible but pretty pricey.

I think we might try St. Albans after all as the trains are quite quick, it just depends where they come into London.

Does anyone know Welwyn Garden at all? Is it possible to live within walking distance of the shopping centre / BR? Neither dp nor I drive.

misdee, if you pick up this one again, what's wrong with Hatfield?

STF, St Albans trains go into King's Cross Thameslink, takes less than 20 minutes on a fast train (also goes to other Thameslink stations through London). Google Thameslink and it will show you the route. Or look on Upmystreet.com for info about areas.
Good luck!

hatfield doesnt have a very good shopping centre imo, and i think its a bit boring round that way (no offence to anyone that lives there )

And what does St. Albans have that's better than anywhere else in surrounding area? Just wondering as a few people have recommended it. We probably won't be able to afford it anyway, but just in case!

And Welwyn City Gardens anyone?!

History?

at albans has a really good shopping town, a really nice park and seems a really nice place to live in imo. and theyve got all those roman ruins there (although that probably doesnt make it any better place to live in lol). the only problem i can think of with it is that part of the high street is on a really steep hill, which is a nightmare with the pram, but luckily all the main/good shops are on the level side

Thanks tammybear. So you live near there? Sorry, my knowledge of this area is pretty minimal. Do you know Welwyn City Gardens at all?

hi

everywhere in welwyn is around a 30min walk from the town centre. Its easily accessable and has good bus routes. as you have probably seen its pretty green. the panshanger area is a little community it itself, with well equipped local shops, a good choice of primary schools (springmead is best from what i remember). The town, tho not large, does have good shopping facilities. There isnt much in the way of nightlife except for the pubs in the town and the herts coutry club. but the local pubs are nice (check out the beehive). The hospital is located there which is always a bonus. I am hoping to move back to welwyn garden city soon, as i was bought up there and its where all my immediate family live. (mieow lives by the hospital). Trains into kings x take between 15-45mins and i think about 4 an hour go into kings x. theres also some that go to moorgate.

hatfield. well i live there amd i hate it. the town centre is a ghost town, and it does have a bit of a drug problem. also because of the university, u do get a lot of students, which has caused problems with parking, litter etc.

hth

you also have old welwyn, on the outskirts a bit, has it own train station, but is a small village type setting. but very nice (and very pricey!!)

Thanks misdee, that's really helpful. Gosh a 30 min. walk in sounds a bit of a drag but it makes sense as we couldn't see anywhere anyone might live as we mooched round the town centre. We really liked the look and feel of the parts we saw and took dd for her first stroll in a wood. She kept looking for a Gruffalo. Just shows how much Central London has rubbed off on her, she thinks large groups of trees only exist in books! Are there many things around for kids to do like playgrounds / playgroups etc.?