Where would you choose to live out of these places?

[groovygreenwichgirl]

We need to move to buy a bigger place (just had baby and current flat and area is unsuitable).

We both work in London. DH works at Westminster and I am potentially going to be able to give up current job and work from home. We love London but would like to live somewhere family friendly with a good community feel. We also want to not move again for a while after in order to make this home for our ds and potential other dc.

DH doesn't want a commute longer than an hour door to door. We have also recently found out he could transfer to the same job (with same pay minus London weighting) in Sheffield.

Our budget is 475,000 and we are looking at 3 bed houses.

So our shortlist at the moment is:
Epping/Loughton/Buckhurst Hill
St Albans
Watford
Sheffield

I have never been to Sheffield. I know it would be cheaper but Is it a nice place to live?

Not typically seen as such a 'daughter after area' tho that side.

Daughter? Sought

I'm very near you vickibee . Was in Tesco and the market this morning.

If you go into Rightmove and put in £450k 3 bed house London + 5 miles you get an idea of the range of areas that are within a one hour commute.

Look at this! A 4 bed in Byfleet, Surrey on the edge of a park! OK it's a modern house but it's in a cul-de-sac so safe for kids, spitting distance from a massive park and lovely walks along the River Wey. And Surrey is safe and friendly - low crime rate, high employment (great for setting up any small business of your own as there's lots of disposable income.) I'd look wide and see what the nicest area is that you can get for the money if you want to stay working in London.

Though Sheffield... Sheffield is so gorgeous.

Or this in Sutton. Much more urban area but loads of original features to the house, within quick reach of lovely countryside and the added benefit of brilliant grammar schools on your doorstep.

Thanks guys, you've given me a lot to think about.

Thanks for the warning LadyLapsang, it's something I had thought of too.

Thanks for the links to places in St Albans. I must admit if houses weren't so pricey this would probably be my first choice, it's so beautiful. Crazy that what I consider a reasonable budget can't buy very much in communter towns, I feel like we are almost being priced out of working in London as well as living there.

Does anyone have any other suggestions with a 1 hr commute to London? We want to stay North really to be closer to family.

Definitely going to consider Sheffield as well. Need to visit and see if I could imagine living there.

£475k won't get you anything special In Loughton.

That said, I think you will make more money on a property in Loughton than you would in Sheffield. As other posters have said, once you move out of London you won't be able to afford to move back.

Sheffield prices may go up with hs2 coming to Sheffield.

bibbity unfortunately our family are all over the place. By moving we would be moving closer to some and further away from others. I have moved quite a bit in the last few years so would like to settle somewhere and make a home somewhere, something I don't feel I have ever really done before anywhere.

With that budget you could pick anywhere in Sheffield and the surrounding area and get a great house. I'm generally of the opinion that unless you earn mega amounts (or are already set up in a house etc) then London isn't worth it.

There is more choice for £475,000 in St Albans at the moment than in Watford.
Having lived in both places I would go for St Albans every time.

Shizzy - not at all - just wanted to give the OP some factually accurate information - yes, you can get a 3 bed for her budget in St Albans, yes, you can commute to Westminster in an hour door to door. I know this because I did that exact commute five days a week for six years when I lived in St Albans, after having bought a house there and weighed up all the factors re St Albans vs cheaper areas, as the OP also seems to be doing. Which is why I am commenting on this thread.

Re other places within an hour commute of Westminster, and north of London, you need this website: www.commutefrom.com

Other possibilities might be Radlett or Harpenden - but both are pricey or
Hitchin - but I don't think you'd get to Westminster in an hour.

The problem is that every woman and her dog is looking for the holy grail of a nice town within an hour of London with decent property prices - but since everyone has already clocked places like St Albans and Harpenden, there is huge huge demand and so the prices are sky high.

This magical place that is affordable, lovely and close to London just doesn't exist. So you have to compromise on at least one of those factors:

E.g. Watford - bit more affordable, close to London, not that lovely. Same with Luton.

Hitchin - lovely, bit more affordable than St Albans, not so close to London

St Albans - lovely, close to London, expensive property prices

Sorry there are more affordable places in Garston, Oxhey etc. Ignore my previous post.
Luton is worse than Watford.

Sheffield!!!! I love Sheffield, lived there for a few years, and now not really that far away. Sheffield has the distinction (?) of having some of the lleast and worst socially deprived areas in Europe with a few miles of each other.

The nice bits of Sheffield are really nice, lots of parks, family stuff, on the edge of the Peak District, theatres, museums, good schools etc

Really helpful Widgeon thank you.

Location is more important to us than house. We have lived in some pretty grim places in London and wouldn't mind doing somewhere up a bit, also don't mind if it's small just would like 3 bedrooms in case we have another dc.

Bikerunski - I didn't know that about Sheffield, really interesting!

This has got me thinking how much I would love to move to Sheffield!

I'd move to Sheffield tomorrow if a job came up. EveryOne in our Sheffield office seems to be fit and/or young and spend the weekends fell running. You can SEE hills from the city centre and it still has a john lewis. I'm sure it doesn't have the Time Out factor of London culture but there is a buzz. You've got to remember that a huge area from Nottingham to leeds is close enough for a day or night out.

I work in Sheffield and we have a wide range of ages, fit people, fat people, skinny people, people from other parts of the world etc.

RaisingSteam is not painting a realistic picture of Sheffield folk .

They are the ones I have the lifestyle envy of though!
I live I the Midlands so may be idealising it true. But on average there is definitely a different vibe.

Sheffield is very much a university town so you might see a slightly distorted picture.

Am off out in Sheffield tonight.

I think there are "Boden and Bugaboo" pockets of Sheffield where Raising'S version of Sheffield does exist, S7,8,10,11. But there is also a lot of Sheffield where ther very opposite is true and every increment in between.

I loved living in Sheffield. Not a student there. I love visiting. It's my go-to city, even though Leeds is probably marginally closer.

Must admit the people I see and know in Sheffield live in climbing pants and down jackets and have climbing ropes coiled up in their hallway. I do spend a lot of time in hathersage though and hang out with a lot of outdoorsy types.

I have lived all over.

Watford is goodish INTU Watford is an ok shopping centre. It has a John Lewis and a Primark.
St Albans although a really nice place with some great places to live I really don't like it. A bit too yummy mummy for my tastes or that might be just be the people I have met.

Wouldn't move to Sheffield especially with children. My dc love all the free stuff you can do in London. Plus as they got older I felt far safer sending dc on the tube than I do sending them on public transport outside of London.

I really wanted to move to around the Epping area last time I moved. Love it around there but was in a hurry and the house we are in now came up.

Next move will be South East London/Surrey borders. East of Croydon is where we are targeting