Where to move to on our budget?

[TakeMeToTheFresh]

Absolute most we could pull out of the bag would be £240K mortgage. Wanting a house, no flats.

Needs to be within easy(ish) reach to both South Essex and Luton, Bedfordshire.

3 bed.

Greenery around us.

DH works in property (London), but would be prepared to Up sticks if the jobs were good enough.

I work in a hospital.

I was keen to move to Shropshire area but DH is adamant it's too far from family. It's a shame - Quality of life would've been so much better. £240K bought us a 3 bedroom country cottage near Bridgnorth. Huge gardens and stables on the door step.

Alas, husband won't leave to anywhere too far away.

if you go to Shrewsbury or nearby you are near the M54 and under 3 hours from Luton - no M25 needed of course. Unfortunately the train would take longer as no direct route.

specials I did think this but we would be visiting family quite frequently so over 6 hours in the car in one day doesn't sound too great to DH (who would be visiting Luton twice monthly)

And I think it can be over 3 hours if you're unlucky and hit delays etc!

Do your research into local pay or commuting costs. If you stay in the commuter belt and dh keeps his job in London then you’ll need to factor in a few hundred in commuting. If you move away, check how much you’ll earn. Some friends had your sort of max budget and wanted to move away from London for a better quality of life. Turned out that their jobs there paid half the London rates so they would be able to afford very little. They chose to get a garden flat in outer London instead.

definitely not a day trip, and yes the traffic can be bad if unlucky. Regret Shropshire is out, sorry.

DH's salary is incredibly similar out of London, surprisingly

Mine is a bit lower, but I'm not the main earner by any means

That's ideal for you then. How about Suffolk or Norfolk sort of way? Very pretty counties and if you stick to the eastern side of them, you should be able to get to Luton easily enough.

Leicestershire, fast trains to Luton and London. Excellent motorway connections and beautiful countryside. Your budget would get you a 3 bed semi, depending which village or town.

Bicester in Oxfordshire. Trains to London and pretty easy to get to Luton. Lots of job opportunities in Oxford.

Bicester, really? I thought that would be really expensive (thinking of the Bicester village, of which we frequent)

I'm surprised by Bicester too. Having looked on Right Move, it would be a one bed or small 2 bed house. What about Northampton area? Suffolk would probably work too.