Moving area - what things should I be checking out?

[LondonLancashireRose]

We currently live in South London but are looking to move North or west of the capital to cut the time it takes to reach family. We need to live somewhere commutable to central London with trains that run very late as I work shifts.

We are going to a party this weekend at friends who live in Leighton Buzzard and on paper (alright the internet!) it seems nice and affordable. What kind of things should we look at while we're in the area? At the moment I'm going to be seeing if I have a gut feeling about the place and that's all!

If anyone has other suggestions of places to check out they would be gratefully received. Budget will be about £300k and we really would like 4 bedrooms - this is restricting our choice considerably!

We are in the same position and given your name I think our families may be in the same area! We have just sold our house in SE London and are looking to move.

We are looking west of London as PIL are based there and cuts time off getting oop north. Depends where in London you need to be able to get to but we need Canary Wharf so are looking at the Basingstoke line into Waterloo which offers reasonably priced housing and good schools.

We are also looking at the villages surrounding the Reading line into Paddington as even though the commute is a bit horrendous, you get much more value for money. Hopefully cross rail should have a positive benefit on the house prices in these areas in the future too.

I think I'd be looking at the train times, the season ticket fares, the cost of parking at the station, the length of the walk to the station and which houses are within walking distance (or driving distance).

I'd also look at how near the shops are, or the park, or the doctors surgery, or open countryside, or the leisure centre, or church, or cinema, or whatever amenity that is particularly important to you.

And I would be checking out schools. Big time.

Much of this you can do online, but seeing it for real is invaluable. Walk around some of the likely roads where the houses are in your budget. See if you like the area.

If you end up deciding that you're serious about moving there, I'd go to the local council website and have a look at their local plan. This will tell you if they're planning an incincerator or a sewage works or building 500 new homes on the local park.

I am i a similar position. My house in South London just went under offer and i am looking to move outside London. My criterias were: reasonable commute price (rules out lots of otherwise nice commuter towns!), affordable housing stock, walkable to train station, walkable to a town centre, good schools, a sports centre nearby (I have two boys), I also admit that I have checked out the distance to the nearest Cafe Nero for myself and KFC for DH :)

The place I found ticked all the boxes on paper; when we visited I loved it and so put my house for sale. It will be hard when it will actually come to leaving all my social network in South London; but I am sure it will be worth it.

Where are you heading to littlecrystal?