Where on Earth to start...? :)

[ticklemyboobsofsteel]

Hello all,

DH, 18-month DS and I are currently living with my dad while we save for a house deposit and we are nearing our target. Over the next few months, we want to start narrowing down areas that we can (a) afford and (b) that are nice for families with good schools. I guess our budget is around £150,000 and we need at least two bedrooms and a garden. I work from home all except for one day a week, when I commute to London.

Here's where the fun starts. My mum (who is the only grandparent that is physically/mentally capable of looking after DS for any amount of time) recently moved to Selsey and we'd like to be nearer her if possible to take advantage of a little bit of DS-free time - but I also don't want to move too far away from my dad, in Romford, whose health isn't the best. I suppose I'm looking for a middle ground, but I'm feeling completely overwhelmed!

Does anyone have any tips on where to make a start? Or any suggestions of possible areas? Many thanks in advance!

I don't know the areas, but as general advice I would get an A-Z that covers both areas.

Highlight things like nurserys/schools you could send your ds to, bus/train stations you would need and any other big factors. Use red dots for schools, blue for transport, green for supermarket and so on.

Then see which areas between the two towns are throwing up good results for your needs.

Have a scoot around right move and see which of these areas have houses you can afford, and you should have narrowed down you initial search area.

Then you can look further into things, but it will narrow down a random search into a more focused one.

Thank you so much for your reply Oreo :) That really helped bring 'order' to my thoughts - much appreciated!