3 bed house somewhere NICE to live within 45 mins journey of paddington for 350k?

[Spuddybean]

DP has been offered a job in Paddington for 75k. We currently live between MK and Northampton, so the commute would be too much (DP already commutes to London but the extra journey to Paddington and one day per week to Uxbridge would be a commute to far we feel).

We have a small baby and i don't earn enough to cover childcare so no wage from me.

We thought that on that money (which we consider rock'n'roll wages) we could find somewhere nice (i grew up in chiswick and my friends and family are still there - so as i am now home with the baby - it would be lovely to be near people i know who could support me, rather than isolated in the middle of nowhere like i am now). But the banks will only offer a 300k mortgage with a 50k deposit (which would mean using every penny we have put by and our pensions). Sadly even with that i can't find anything remotely suitable.

DP is not keen on urban living so we would need somewhere more leafy. He is not from London and wont contemplate rough areas (he considers clapham/battersea rough). We wanted chiswick/richmond/wimbledon areas.

I just can't believe that on 75k we are struggling to find somewhere nice to live, which would mean dp didn't spend more than 2 hours travelling.

Oh, and it couldn't be outside London as we couldn't afford fares on top of the mortgage. (mortgage would be £1600 per month)

If anyone has any ideas i would really appreciate it. Ta. :)

I had missed the bit about not outside London because of train fares, sorry, but you can get 3 or 4 bed houses for well under your maximum in these places. And they are nice and leafy. That would mean you had less mortgage (but would need to balance that with the rail costs so would probably come out about the same overall).

3-bedder in Henley £325k - walking distance to station and well under your budget (so should leave budget for season ticket £3200/yr).

4-bed detached in Thatcham for £329k - walking distance to station and again well under budget. 3-beds are less again so plenty of budget for £3,800 season ticket/yr. Tis 53 mins on the fast train, though.

4-bed detached in Theale for £330k - not as nice as Thatcham and season ticket is the same price, but train is under 45 mins to Paddington.

We have just moved last week to Banstead in Surrey, husband drives a couple of miles to Sutton to get the train train which takes 30 minutes (Banstead station has no parking and takes about 45 mins) it has a lovely high street, independent shops etc. What about Sutton?

Ham in Richmond is lovely. 15 min Bus or cycle to Richmond station then 20 mins on tube to Hammersmith www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-23865063.html

aaww nancerama that's sweet. the wedding is at westminster registry office. i am trying to organise everything virtually as am housebound with the baby. so i am searching bars and restaurants in the area. all we want is a nice but simple meal/buffet and a fun disco for about 40-60 people.

i would have a 2 bed in chiswick/richmond (i miss it so much) but dp just cant see the value in tiny property, even if the location is great. we used to live in a tiny flat in mudchute and walked to greenwich for lovely breakfasts/dinners/cinema but we swapped that for arse end of nowhere without anywhere walking distance and i can't drive and the buses are limited.

i will discuss other areas with dp. the other issue is using every penny of our savings/pension as a deposit then using every penny earned so we couldn't have hols or put any away. i know he just wont agree to that - and i know he's right really.

firsttimemama - i read on the website no travelcard or oyster. am i mistaken then?

thanks all i will look thru the links now. :)

i cant find a 2 bed in chiswick or richmond for our budget.

Try the Square Meal website to search for suitable reception venues. When making enquiries, tell them it's for a party - don't use the W word until much later in the negotiation proceedings!

What about something on the water? Might there be a suitable boat for charter? Could be fun! I'm without broadband since I moved and until BT pull their finger out, but if I stumble upon anything on my phone, I'll let you know.

Hi
We are in Ham, Richmond. It's not on the tube but is wiick to get to Richmond for tube and rail. Really green village feel and great schools plus nice community especially for young families. You can get a 3 bed house for 350k it will be 60's or ex- council, that's the compromise. Otherwise there are large 2/3 bed flats available.
Definitely the cheapest nicest place that's not a massive commute that we've found.

I think you would be very hard pressed to find even a house or 3 bed in Chiswick or Richmond for your budget, unless it is a wreck and you have further funds to do it up over time. I think you need to get a bit sensible here and have a very frank talk with your DP - he needs to get a grip and realise that he can't have leafy/big house/nice area/ any other demand he is making. You seem to be doing a lot of the worrying here while he does a lot of griping - the fact that quite frankly he thinks that a flat in Battersea would be 40k shows that he isn't in touch with the real world of London at all. OR the fact that he thinks it is a shit area! It's pretty much the same as Chiswick in my opinion - apart from Chiswick has a few more chain restuarants! If you can't afford Ealing, you definitely cannot afford Chiswick and mega ££ Richmond.

Your budget means that you need to look at the peripheral areas to the naice areas: I currently live in Acton and if you look around the Churchfield Road part it is very nice and excellent location for transport - PLUS you will make a fortune on the property once crossrail is in. Granted the high street isn't great, nor the Horn Lane area, but you 20 min walk/ 10 min bus ride/7 min car journey from Chiswick and less to Ealing. There are large terraced properties around here for around the price that you are thinking.

Other than that - all of the areas mentioned above, and Hanwell is actually absolutely fine - you could look out for an area called Pitshanger where a few properties come up which need a bit of work but is generally very £££ but is all of that leafy etc stuff that your DP wants.

In short, for leafy areas, spacious properties with outside space and good schools and amenities locally you can only expect to pay the big bucks - and really, £75k a year isn't that high a wage here any longer I'm afraid.

Best of luck in your search though - i have now lived in North, East, South West and West London so if you want to run an area by me do!

What about isleworth/twickenham/whitton? Near to your family and much cheaper than chia wick or richmond. It is urban but with richmond and bushy and old deer parks near by there is lots of green too.

Oh and re your reception venue - we are getting married next May and have 'hired' a pub/hotel.. a bit more informal but it will only be our guests and the venue only charge £600 for hire. We did find that many nice gastro pubs will do a wedding and not charge for anything other than food and drink but yet you get the entire venue for the day and evening. Some have restrictions about when but i really urge you to speak to a few nice restuarants or pubs that you like and you will be surprised how many will be so willing to help!

i agree totally fantastic. i know the areas of which you speak very well. i grew up on acton borders of chiswick, sister lived off horn lane, mum works in hammersmith, parents live near kew bridge, i have friends in pitshanger lane.

i used to live near crystal palace with my ex, which i liked. i also loved mudchute.

Dp just doesn't really like london so only finds the reeaally nice places tolerable. one look at acton high street and he would refuse to even consider it. the way he judges what he thinks places will cost is whether he likes it or not, hence 40k for battersea. the moment he sees tower blocks he thinks the whole area must be rough.

i have spoken to him about compromise and he wont. he saw the sweet little cottage in ealing upthread and said 'oh my god, that's awful, who would pay that for that?' i said i would! i know london is crazy but it costs what it costs. he'd rather turn the job down than compromise.

cheers all for the tips :)

thanks nancerama, i'll have a look.

oh and he absolutely hates the tube, so the commute would need to have only one change really. he wouldn't do a bus to the station or 3 different tube lines.

I fear that he may well be so choosy that he will have to turn the job down, what a shame. In Acton we rarely use the high street so have no need to go there to be honest (although i should point out it doesn't bother me in the slightest), we go to Churchfield Rd for the bakery and butchers, and get on the overground to be connected to pretty much the whole of London - but especially areas like Kew etc.

Can I ask - are you pushing the move here more? I just get the impression from your posts that it all appears to be a bit of an uphill battle when it doesn't have to be. He isn't earning enough to live in the 'nice' areas, it's simple. So if he won't live on the affordable peripheries, he isn't going to take the job by the sounds of it. Out of interest, where do YOU come in all of this?

Spuddy i think you are hitting your head against a dead end wall here.. sorry

I agree about having a frank conversation.

It seems to me that you want to live in London and he doesn't. With a job in Paddington you can do either on your budget, but you're never going to agree if he won't consider the London areas you can afford and you won't consider the places outside London but less than 45 mins from Paddington.

I didn't mention Didcot but it fits all your criteria though is ordinary & mostly modern estate.

Unfortunately unless you have a LOT of money and can live in walking distance from work then London doesn't sound like the place for your husband. 90% of Londoners do some type of commute to work and most people I know think an hour commute into work is normal.

Even though 300k would get you an amazing house in some parts of the country, in London it's not going far unless you love slight further out.

i will consider outside london but he wont. we already live a commutable distance away, so we would be moving to save 30 mins. he thought this money would mean we could live nearer. i just dont think you could live further out and be in in 45 min so don't see the point of getting a bigger mortgage for just as long a commute. also i doubt we could afford the fares as well as the mortgage.

and yes i am a londoner and i love london so i want to live there more than him. but i'm not the one struggling in on the trains everyday. i would hate that.

i am home and he is the one working so the majority of the say is his really.

i agree bling when i lived in london my commute was 1hr 20mins and that was normal. where i work here people moan if it takes them 20 mins!

Try www.commutefrom.com/.

The main lines into Paddington are fast, so it can be that it's actually quicker to live further out. For example, Reading is 25 mins from Paddington; Henley is closer to London but takes 45 mins at least.

You could move as far as Swindon and be in work in Paddington in just over an hour. Property much cheaper the further out you go so you could get a smaller mortgage.

oh thats interesting bilbo. ta

Spuddy for me trains are so much nicer as even if the journey is longer you might get a seat instead of being squished on the tube.

This is Willesden Green On the Jubilee Line - Cricklewood is up the road - lovely residential roads around there - might be worth investigating?