Help needed. Prices out of London, where next?

[Babycino81]

Hello wonderful mumsnetters. I'm not going to bore you with mine and DH's circumstances involving recent gazzumping etc but I've come to the painful conclusion that as a Londoner, I am totally priced out of London.

Can you wonderful people suggest somewhere for me and DH to live? We are looking for 3 bed with a garden and budget is 3 to 375k.

DH doesn't mind rural and isn't particular about type of property but he (his words not mine) doesn't want anything that looks like dated ex LA. I want to be near some form of town/city centre and need to be accessible to London via road and train.

Other than that, all our requirements can be amended if we find the right house. Any ideas wise ones?

Are you going to be working in London still? Which mainline station is near east to your work?

Nearest, not near east.

St Mary's Island in Chatham is very popular with commuters. The area is lovely (the island, not chatham itself), the houses newly built, school, gp surgery, shops, restaurants, cinema within 5-15 min walk, lots of playgrounds and riverside walks. Victoria and st pancras are 40-45 min by train and Bluewater is only 20 min by car.

Thanks for the suggestion l will have a look. Not sure where in London I'll be working, if at all for a while hut just want to keep my options open

New Eltham in Greenwich

Baldock? Hitchin? Both North Herts, go into KX

Plumstead, SE London. Easily get what you want here, though prices are going up and will go up more when Crossrail opens.

You will get a nice house in;
Sidcup
Bexleyheath
Eltham

I'm completing on a 3 bed with garden in Plumstead in two weeks time, for £287k. Your budget would get you a lovely period house there.

I would recommend Didcot. Fast 45minute direct non-stop train to London Paddington. 3bed Semi newbuilds from £330K about 1400sq with garage. It's an up and coming area with 3 major supermarkets, cinema, and science&business parks nearby. Didcot power station is already been demolished (3 towers were blown up last month). Houses prices are steadily moving North (my house went up by 20,000 in 3months and it wasn't even built yet as I bought off-plan) because people are beginning to realise that this is one of the last bargain areas to be had in Oxfordshire with a fast line into London.

They also have fast trains but with one stop in Reading. Trains every 10mins especially during rush hour. Thought I should mention that.

Could you give us some idea whether you want to be north, south, east or west of London and how far out, i.e. inside/outside the M25?

To be honest, I'd love to be as commute able to north l

Sorry posted too early. As commute able to north London (crouch end, tottenham) as possible and at the moment that's my only requirement but even that is something that I have to compromise on if necessary for the right place. I don't want to end up living somewhere and become totally isolated so somewhere that has good network of playgroups etc where I can meet other mums (how sad do I sound now?!) and things to do with DD. Thanks everyone so far, you've given us loads of food for thought

Bedford? 37 mins to St Pancras! Reasonable housing... Check out this website I blog on with other Bedford friends www.bedfordblogandboard.co.uk for a bit more info on areas and what's on...

Was going to suggest Hassocks just 10 mins by train from Brighton and an hour into London Bridge/Victoria and also on Thameslink. However sounds like you need better access to N London

Ticks all you other boxes though.

You could try holding out a little longer... Things are stabilising in London now with price reductions rather than gazumping. I was 'ghost gazumped' back in March and then when the greedy sellers put it back on the market in June they took two months to go under offer and that included them having to do a price reduction. Lots of transactions falling through. So could you wait 6 months or so to see if you get priced back in?

If you want north London I'd look at Herts - Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock etc. For £350k in Hitchin you'll get a nice three bed with a garden; Letchworth and Baldock you might stretch to a 4 bed.