Commuter towns, anyone any ideas? Not so great budget...

[airyfairyland]

Soooo. Me and my husband have form for very last minute plans in life. We have gained and lost from this attitude but overall it keeps life interesting...

The current life plan is to sell our house asap and move to London along with dd who will be going into year 1 in September.
We are currently in a commuter town in Essex and have grown tired of its TOWIE ways and the fact we fit in so well.

The problem we’ve found is our budget isn’t very good for London. £700k tops and the most difficult thing that we’re finding is finding a school that doesn’t look like dd should still be an egg before we apply.

We aren’t too fussed about a fancy property on the basis we are hoping to end up living somewhere way more interesting than where we currently do ( currently a completely non diverse area that everyone’s lived here forever kind of thing).
Can anyone suggest the lovely areas they live in /dream of. We could potentially afford more if I worked but I am still trying to figure a way of working and the need to support my even more disorganised h who often forgets to mention he’s in say New York tomorrow for a week (I don’t really mind that overall as his travel is normally booked 24 hours in advance anyway)
We need to be within an hour tops of London (he’s in the city now but anywhere in London is good as can always move jobs) more ideally 45 mins or less with some kind of good school nearby. Dd is in private school at the moment, wouldn’t say no to state but think it’s easier to move private at this stage rather than worry about catchment areas.
Phew long post, apologies.
Help my rather scatty family move please! Or maybe mention we should probably plan this better...

Leytonstone?

Higher Green def worth a look too

Beckenham is nice. Although prices kept rising as people “discovered” it.

Have a look at Forest Gate, zone 3, you could get a great house for that budget. It's definitely up and coming, lots of young families in the area.

Highams Park or Chingford, less than 30 mins to Liverpool Street and well within budget. Good schools too, independent and state.

Wow thank you for more responses this is really helping... sat on sofa listing all the places on this thread right now

This;

[http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64589266.html]
Is in Herne Hill; within your budget, excellent primary and secondary schools for both state and private options. Walking distance to parks; local stations giving excellent transport links to all parts of London. Can’t recommend highly enough.

Thank you! An auction property might not stay in budget though but thank you.
After working through the list last night my h has said he doubts he’ll keep this job in next 5 years so is happy to look at any train line. Ideally we also don’t want to spend more than £5k a year on season tickets as would rather put the money in the house if that makes sense:
Am going to weed out definite no’s today and then will update!
Thanks to everyone is got me even more excited

Thank you! An auction property might not stay in budget though but thank you.
After working through the list last night my h has said he doubts he’ll keep this job in next 5 years so is happy to look at any train line. Ideally we also don’t want to spend more than £5k a year on season tickets as would rather put the money in the house if that makes sense:
Am going to weed out definite no’s today and then will update!
Thanks to everyone is got me even more excited

Oops

You need to think beyond a house and school. What else in life is important to you? Shopping - do you prefer a town centre shopping mall where you can buy everything under one roof or a high street full of 'hipster' independents (which look lovely but you still need a decent supermarket to do a proper shop). What about leisure places - parks, swimming pools, cinema etc. Are those important? (with a child - yes). Library - very important! Social groups and activities? What happens in the area. Not just for the child but grown ups too. What are your (and husband's) interests? How is public transport? Does the area have big community events like carnivals or art festivals etc? Beyond a house and a school - what do you want out of life?

I would take Hemel Hempstead off your list. It doesn't compare to most of the other areas mentioned

As above, definitely take Hemel Hempstead off your list- property is cheaper than the other suggested places but it's really not what you're looking for. Very generic commuter town, full of ex council houses and people who have lived there for all their lives.

Had missed the auction element to that property apologies. Houses along that specific street should come in no more than 700k. It’s ptobably the only affordable street in the area for a house though.

Radley may be worth a look.

*Radlett

@bookmum08 I love your nice optimistic post. Me and h are actually so so dull together these days. Our dd is still only 4 and we have no childcare and h away all the time.
Dd school is pretty full on and all week we generally spend doing her hw (!) and then watching tv due to no childcare or play dates. We did used to have a nanny since dd was born but she was terrible at keeping up with the school stuff ( and I mean wouldn’t even open her school bag until teacher rang me moaning terrible) so she went amicably and I gave up work. Silly me

i do like walking everywhere where possible not always great with dd but I’d happily walk miles mainly because I’m super shit at parking and don’t mind trains but buses here are totally unreliable and I don’t ever recall catching one. I think that perhaps if we ever did get a social life back we would be happy to travel for it. My single, sensible, childless friends live in London but unfortunately not areas I wish to look at. Lower crime is very important as I’m alone a lot at night with dd. I’m hoping I can just build friends through school and clubs etc. I make friends easily so going that continues wherever I go.

Thanks for the Hempstead tip btw! Trying to get dd to stay in bed at moment and I shall return with our short list for your kind scrutiny where possible!

West Norwood / Tulse Hill / Herne Hill. Good prep private schools - E.g Oakfield / Rosemead which may have spaces. Large good state schools with possible movement. 7+ to Dulwich schools if you want to do that or 11/13 entry. Diverse. Good transport. You can afford a 3 bed in parts of Herne Hill but more choice in West Norwood.

Se London definately whether Hither Green or Beckenham type place. Good commute know and have friends who've made friends easily. The wider borough of bromley has some nice pockets but gets more rural as you get further out.

We’re a pretty impulsive family too and on a whim last year came from SE London (where we had owned a five bed) to look at a house in Folkestone (50 minutes to London on high speed). We were won over by the area instantly, bought it and can honestly say it’s the best thing we ever did. DH commutes in and we have the feeling of living somewhere Dulwich-y / Crouch End-y (both areas we had previously lived in) but with a seaside / holiday feel. The community for young families is great here and the schools are fab too. Best of all you can pick up a huge property here with a bit of land for an absolute snip. What’s not to love!

I never thought I’d see Folkestone come up on this post! My h wouldn’t move that far away from London but great suggestion. Having now looked at Folkestone rightmove houses I can only dream of are coming up!
I would like to return to work at some point sooner rather than later so commute cost could also be a factor moving somewhere fairly far out.

Anyone know Purley? That looks affordable.

We are really struggling to cross places off the list in all of our excitement. We are going to drive around various SE postcodes this Saturday then some of herts on Sunday and thennnnn next weekend head SW oooo.
West is farrrr farrr away for us so we’ll be sure to take a picnic

Purley is affordable for a reason

It is the absolute arse end of south London

Stay well clear!

Appreciate it's a bit chicken and egg as you can't get a state school place until you've got a permanent address but have you considered what it might do for your budget if you put some/all your school fees into a mortgage instead?

Richmond borough has pockets (Twickenham Green; Hampton Hill?; Fulwell side of Teddington) where you could get a 3-bed for your budget. Schools in the borough are generally excellent but catchments can be tight so double check. The new school on Twickenham Green is usually undersubscribed but I think that's mainly because it's an unknown/unproven quantity so not necessarily a reflection on quality. St Paul's is an ok (longish) walk from Waterloo and you are near Heathrow for the NY trips (but also plane noise...)

My mind is boggled by the 3 bed terrace for 700K.
I have randomly selected Bedford as somewhere less than an hour from London and set a price of 650-700K. Here's a list (I'm not a Bedfordian so can't comment on areas but it's just an example of what your money will buy a little further away).
How any one can justify 700K for a 3 bed terrace I do not know.
Bedford

I have randomly selected Bedford as somewhere less than an hour from London and set a price of 650-700K.

@ILookedintheWater not bedford. State school situation is not good due to the large number of private schools creaming off a disproportionate amount of people. Also... its bedford. Not as bad as Luton but still quite bad!