what can 600k buy in a commuter town from London?

[Steth]

Finally realised i'm fooling myself and that we will not be able to afford the house we want in the area we want soooooo I desperately need your advice on where we can live that is still commutable to London? We've looked at Harpenden - way too expensive. Had a quick look at Guildford and Godalming. We love period properties. We'd like 3/4 bed, ideally detached and with a decent garden. We can travel about an 1 - 1hr30mins to get to London.

Am I still being ridiculous with our budget?
Thank you all!

Omg, just read further and see he needs to be at London Bridge for work.

Why on earth can't you persuade him to move south of the river - that's got to be better, surely, than quietly snoozing away in commuter land?

Train from my neck of the woods to London Bridge is 11 minutes and £2.00.

You can't go wrong!?!?

St Albans definitely. You would definitely get a 3 or 4 bed period property near the station for £600k (although watch out that you want St Albans mainline station, which is the one which goes direct to London, not St Albans Abbey, which just goes to Watford).

Edwardian? and walking distance to station

Bit pricey but great location - walking distance to town, the station, the park, everything

bit cheaper but great location again.

Gotta watch out for the schools in St Albans - huge pressure on primary places at the mo (would you need primary or secondary?). New free school is about to open from this Sept in the town centre. But some excellent state primaries. Some very good state secondaries. Also some private options at both primary and secondary.

this is a really interesting chat. On the property websites can you search generally for limited areas - quite a good way of seeing what's around at that price. Also two really good websites I've spotted which might be useful to you www.commutefrom.com/ and also a new website called www.lifeafterlondon.com

LadyMuck My Tunbridge Wells shopping comment was a little bit tongue in cheek , it's a bit to naice for me. I prefer to rough it in Honor Oak.

If I'm totally honest with myself I would love to stay in the area where we currently live/rent in north london where all our friends and family are and the reason we are looking at moving out is so that we can have a better life for our kids - bigger house to run around in and a proper garden to play in. So its a bit of a sacrafice for DH and myself as we will leave everyone and everything we know, its all very scary.

Likely scenario is that we'll move further north or west so that we are not too far of a drive away from F&F at weekends. Thank you all for the fab links and advice its certainly given me food for thought x

Likely scenario is that we'll move further north or west so that we are not too far of a drive away from F&F at weekends

then you will not make new friends in your new home area which will leave you in no mans land

change is always scary

No votes for Didcot then

milton keynes - for less than £600K you can get a decent 5 bed house near the station, nice garden, park opposite.

commuting in takes between 30-70 mins depending on fast or slow trains, lots take about 45 mins and then you end up in euston so straight down on the northern line to london bridge.

Easy access onto the M1 for driving into London - used to take us about 1 hour 15 to get back down to the City - (albeit not at peak times!) so if you stop off in north london then you can do it in an hour or less.

some fab schools locally if you are living near the station - worth it as saves hassle and expense of driving to the station and parking.

shopping very easy - choice of massive tesco/sainsburys/waitrose/asda/lidl/aldi/morrisons etc as well as local shops around. Plus a big shopping centre with things like john lewis, m&s, debenhams, next, tkmaxx, all the usual stuff. And there's an ikea which can be handy. They're building a big new m&S 'out of town' store at the moment which isn't out of town so much as away from the centre - but next to asda, ikea, the MKDons football stadium and will also be next to the new first out of town primark that is also being built.

I know people deride the roundabouts - but actually driving around is incredibly easy (especially if you are used to london driving) and so much easier than somewhere like oxford. also has the advantage that all the 'through' traffic is kept out of the housing areas and there are lots of nice dual carriageways to whizz you around the city.

I've just looked on rightmove - these houses are all in the £550-575K price range and all take less than 5 mins to walk to the station (across a park) or 5 mins to drive to the shopping centre or most of the supermarkets. Catchment area for ofsted outstanding infant/junior schools (haven't got as far as needing secondary schools yet, but we when we moved here the local ones were supposed to be the best in MK) or lots of people go to the grammar schools in Buckingham or Aylesbury

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37574300.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34226467.html?premiumA=true
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33686824.html

or a cheaper £500k 4 bed house
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31500028.html?premiumA=true

If your DH is working at London Bridge I'd focus on South East London rather than north. Have a look at the train map and search near stations etc. As well as Forest Hill / Honor Oak try Bromley, Sevenoaks etc.

You know what OP, unless the schools are really awful where you are and the area is violent and nasty I'd stay put and look for a terrace in North London near your friends and family with a decent commute for DH and the possibility of a well paying job later on for you. Are the bedroom/detachedness/garden really worth the sacrifices you'd be making?
The "Commuter's Fallacy" has an actual name - people undervalue the financial and emotional cost of an extra hour spent on trains every single working day.

Am writing this from zone 2 terrace with teeny back yard so of course I would say that - but the DCs do not seem massively deprived.

Having moved out (but far out, I don't commute), I agree with boringschool. The reason we moved was so that I didn't have to work full time.

Yes, we have a bigger house (but smaller garden ironically). Plenty of children grow up in flats. And I sold my 2 bedroom flat with 70ft garden for a lot less than 600 so I'm sure you could find something that ticks some of your boxes where you live :)

Aargh - I missed out the really important bit which is that I wouldn't move just to get a bigger house and garden. You have to want to go too - don't make the move just for your kids

Leamington Spa/Warwick. You can get a large victorian town house and garden a short distance from the rail station

Some Awesome Propeties - large gardens and town centre in very safe and pleasant town!

dude! One of those has a self-contained lower flat! £££ and University Flat for kids! :) (Leamington is also student/academic town for University of Warwick)

I know people who commute from Doncaster to London - direct line to LKX in an hour and a half or so. You'd get a mansion for your money in and around there. Lovely old villages around Burghwallis, Fishlake, Wentbridge.

Fancy a paddock and self-contained flat? get a foldy bike - warwick parkway 0.7 miles... :)

Wow, I can't believe people are suggesting a commute from somewhere like Warwick/Leamington... my DH wouldn't have listened to that for a minute. You're looking at what, 10 min walk to the station (if you're lucky), a 1h30 train journey into Marylebone and then 2 tube trains to London Bridge. You wouldn't have change out of 2 hours door to door. I lived in L.Spa as a student and it is indeed lovely but...

Cornish - hadn't quite clocked your sarcasm there...

Brighton mainline. We're an hour to Victoria, frequent service. Even more trains to London Bridge as well so lots of London accessible. Haywards Heath has more and faster trains. 600k would get you something big and lovely. Schools are excellent in the villages around me, plus lots of private schools to choose from if that is important.

one hour 18 mins for 2-3 trains in am - some properties less than 10 mins from station..

Streatham Hill - buses not tube but can get big gardens there as a result..

Yes, all sort of do-able but not when your final destination is the other side of London from where the train gets in, surely The stress would do me in!

Which would your DCs rather have - a garden or a bedtime story from their Dad?

No. I lived in T Wells - a great town and 40/45 min fast service to Cannon Street in mornings so well within yr limits. I don't think it's too bad re. parking comment but you'd prob struggle to find detached period house for that price near the station. 'Village area' is often put on ads and means the house is in the 'nice' part (personally though, I think there are lots!!). You could consider St James area and commute from either TW or High Brooms? Frant (village just outside) you'd probably get a detached house easier but would be quieter for you. Tonbridge is cheaper house-wise and town centre is getting better, but it is, as Viz would call it, a bit 'Lidled'. TW has great shops, eateries and parks.

I have also lived Honor Oak & Crystal Palace and can highly recommend there. Also Bromley? I first lived in Islington... although fabby I don't get the N/S thing. South is coolarama. The North Bank of the river just doesn't have the same vibe. Although generally slated you can get great houses & communities (and pubs; you can tell a lot about a place from the pubs) in places like Peckham, Camberwell, Denmark Hill. Dulwich is lovely but costlier.

Problem I found when looking Emma was that for a detached house with garden, you needed to be near a train line where you in all likelihood wouldn't get a seat in the morning. There's no way my husband would sign up for that. We looked at lovely period properties within walking distance of TW station but they had tiny gardens and I felt more hemmed in there than we do in our house in Peckham.

OP - our neighbours were in Stoke Newington and upped sticks leaving friends/family to move south when their daughter was 18 months. They haven't looked back - got a bigger place with big garden in a good area. Hey, we might not have tubes here but we do have 0207 phone codes!