Potentially moving to Essex NEED HELP!

[Sam3571]

Hello my husband and I are currently living in Medway but are looking to move to the Essex area. Dh works on the Underground and I’m looking to get a job in London too so we would like to live a little closer, specially as we both get free travel on all TFL services.

Looking at houses around £350k - £375k for 3 beds, parking, nice garden and closer travel links to London by train and motorway links back to Medway for visiting family.

Schools wouldn’t be a huge issue atm as we don’t have any children yet.

We have been looking on Rightmove in the Hornchurch, Gidea Park, Brentwood, Harold Wood and Billericay areas but we don’t know much about these areas. Also are happy to consider elsewhere if suitable. DH was told by his colleagues at work to avoid Dagenham, barking, Romford, rainham, grays and Basildon.

Any recommendations?

Really, j suppose the further north you go, the nicer the areas. South Essex isn't good. Grays, south Ockendon, Basildon - not nice. I live in North Essex. Brentwood is very nice but house prices reflect this. Shenfield likewise. Bishops Stortford nice but a bit further out

Yeah zippy that last one I’ve seen before on Rightmove and loved it! But DH didn’t like the lack of curb appeal

And yes awkward we would deffo need to take that into consideration, OH reckons money we would be saving on rail fares would be huge and would quickly add up to help with renovations.. Oh yes that is a good point I’ve just been looking at the “crow” distances but yes 1 mile is probably actually like 1.3-1.4!

It’s starting to look promising, we might actually be able to afford something nice in a lovely area! I I hope I start to get a few job interviews soon so we can get the ball rolling.

My OH just showed me one that truly melted my heart though, ever so slightly above budget but would sell my limbs to own this! Further away than I’d of hoped but would happily drive everywhere if this is what it meant.

Mountnessing - DETACHED

That Mountnessing one is lovely!

If you look at the hornchurch project, make sure you get the heating and electrics inspected if you plan on living in it while doing works.
Ours is a project, although not as much of one - but finding the money to replace our boiler when it packed up last January was not fun! We had to replace the roof straight away as it was leaking (but we knew about that from the survey). We're saving for windows at the moment.

Yeah that’s true, just to make sure it’s safe etc...
Oh no! That does not sound like fun tbh!!
It’s one of them things that always breaks unexpectedly too!
Ughhh windows, they are so expensive to replace, though the transformation I bet will be amazing!

At least with doing a project you know when something has been replaced it’s not gonna break in a long time. That’s what I like about it.

Mountnessing is lovely. And that house is lovely! That would get my vote. Check out where you’d park for the station/how you’d get there. Probably Shenfield- maybe Ingatestone. Most roads have parking restrictions but there are roads a mile back or so that should be ok with parking on if you’re ok with the walk.

And with a project be aware of how much it really costs to do. It’s alwaya more than you think! Our house was a project. Even though I was ruthless at bargaining and got great deals it still really adds up. But then you get the home you want at the end! It does take time and is stressful too though!

Just looked at your mountnessing one again! I love it! You have to go see that. It’s a lovely area. The road it’s on is a main one but it’s not particularly heavy with traffic.

Hornchurch RM11 and Gidea park are very good. There is a david lloyd in Gidea park with swimming pools, tennis etc, so it would suit you. They are also in zone 6 which is covered by tfl and so you won't need a season ticket or pay expensive fares.

Another area that has been suggested to me is an area called Debden, anyone with nay knowledge of this are?

Please avoid anywhere with the Greater Anglia trainline, trust me it's horrific.

Hornchurch is your best bet as its links are great and c2c is best trainline in UK (it's also pretty cheap)

Debden is near Loughton on the Central line. Loughton is nicer.
For your budget you'd be looking at small 2 bed cottages or 3 bed ex-council in Debden, and unlikely to get off-street parking.
What sort of property do you want, and what sort of area? Terraced, semi, detached? Period, new build, ex-LA? A high street with chain shops, or a more "village-y" high street?

Ideally we would want off road parking or potential to create it

We both hate new builds and hate LA houses quite a lot.

We took a trip to the Hornchurch area and had a walk around, we were really impressed with how quiet and nice it seemed.
Obviously being in a safe and friendly area is imperative.

Were more than happy to take on a “project” house as long as the potential is there for everything that we need like parking bedrooms kitchen/diner downstairs loo etc.

I've lived in Romford for over 30 years , it has changed dramatically .

I still love Romford, but there has been a huge increase in crime , traffic has increased , parking more difficult.

If you're looking at the Roneo Corner end of Hornchurch there will be a load more traffic as there's plans for new housing near Queens Hospital and the Industrial Park behind it , so getting from Hornchurch to Romford will be a 'mare.

The A13 is a standstill most mornings.
The A12 is busy
The A127 section from the A12 to Squirrels Heath is busy ( CrossRail )

Though: shops are ok, close to the M25 for travel, Lakeside and Bluewater (if you like that sort of thing )

Schools are worth investigating in advance , School Run Traffic aargh

Ofsted reports change

I would try popping some of these areas in to Rightmove, filtering by minimum 2 bedrooms, houses only, your maximum budget (do you have an agreement in principle yet?), "must have parking" and excluding retirement and shared ownership. Have a look at what comes up, and try using the streetview option to look at the roads themselves and get an idea of the location.
People can recommend areas but its not much help if they aren't in your price range for the type of home you want.
We looked at quite a few areas but ultimately if we had moved to Brentwood or Billericay we were looking at compromising more than we wanted to on space (and our budget would have been less the further out we looked, as we would have needed to factor in additional fares).
If you are willing to do a project, that's great - but remember to factor in the cost of works, and consider whether you really could live in it. Some places we looked at had huge potential but needed completely gutting, and we needed to be able to live in it, so we couldn't get anything too major - but we will be spending about £40k once we've done everything (new roof, boiler, rewire, windows, kitchen and two bathrooms), and that's with doing quite a lot of the work ourselves.
Good luck!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67412566.html

Anybody know anything about this area? Heath Park has not really been mentioned in any threads I’ve seen.

In between Romford gidea Park and Hornchurch.

Heath Park doesn’t really exist, it’s estate agent rhetoric for a bit of Romford that’s not quite Gidea Park. Nice though and I grew up round there. I will say however that for £400k we brought a new build in Harold Wood a couple of years ago with far more space and mod cons than that house at the same price point. Harold Wood worth looking at in my opinion. And schools/travel is good.

Hello- Born and bred in Billericay! It's a lovely town- good community spirit, great schools- but agree that Greater Anglia service here is not good and we have had virtually no weekend service for months ( replacement bus service to Newbury Park... ) and due to carry on for at least another year. The season tickets on this line are also way higher than on the C2C line.

Basildon is to be avoided at all costs but nearby Langdon Hills is nice although no real town centre( closest station there is Laindon which is on the C2C line.)

Someone mentioned Wickford- hmmm really not sure- very run down scruffy little town that could do with a bit of funding for rejuvenation. However, Rayleigh, the next town along the line is a nice place. Great range of shops and some good schools. But there again that's on the same train line...

Nice place on the C2C line is Leigh on Sea but quite an expensive place to live and lots of properties only have on street parking.

Hornchurch has some nice parts but closer to London so likely to be more expensive.

We live in the Hornchurch/Upminster area and really like it. The schools are very good, it's leafy and I've made lots of friends since living here.

I can get into fenchurch street in 30 mins and the c2c line is fantastic.

I've never felt unsafe here and often walk hone late at night after meeting friends for drinks.

Romford has got a bad reputation but it's a good shopping centre and I've never had any problems there.

I hope you find a house you like OP.

I live in Hornchurch, it's nice you won't get prime roads for your budget but maybe around the airfield estate which has a huge country park and a good primary school. There is also a new development being built on the old hospital site.

DH commutes to Liverpool Street in 50 minutes and I work locally.

Look at Cranham and Upminster Bridge too. I would avoid Romford if possible.

There are good schools here although better ones in Upminster, the C2C is also a good option for travel.

I really like Billericay. Has a nice feel about.

Chelmsford is not bad although I doubt you would get one of the houses on the better roads for your budget. The traffic can be horrendous too.

I would really recommend Cranham or Upminster. Really good schools. Very safe. Cranham is on bus route to station only a very short journey. 30 mins to fenchurch st and the start of the district line. Nice shops and restaurants. It has a waitrose!!

Do not live in Laindon, it is part of Basildon. Lived there for a while, don't do it.

Billericay is however, lovely !

I concur with those who recommend Upminster/Upminster Bridge/Cranham & Hornchurch. I live in central Upminster, which is expensive but you can get some nice, slightly cheaper properties on the outer fringes of the town. All in Zone 6, with District Line and C2C transport links into town. Good schools plus very good links to M25 and access to Dartford Tunnel to get back to Kent.

Yes staying on the tfl map is imperative, as mentioned before both me and DH get free travel on all TFL services so this would save us a LOT if we didn’t have any commute costs!

We’ve had a couple of scouting trips and found the parts of cranham we could afford aren’t very attractive. There are massive Pylons scattered around and it comes across a bit council estatey.

However, on our trips to hornchurch we have loved it everywhere. I think the airfield estate that you speak of is to the south east of the town centre right? Like Plumpton Avenue? Anyway we visited this area and loved it. We’ve visited towards the east of hornchurch town towards Upminster Bridge and likewise is very nice.

We’ve also noticed properties are a little cheaper to the west of hornchurch town centre, only thing I can think of why is because it is a little bit further away from train stations. So we thought we’d give it a scout and to our surprise it was similarly really really lovely. We visited a lovely park called “Hyland Park” previously had visited the huge country park near the airfield estate so green spaces are a massive tick!

We found a property on Rightmove in beautiful condition with off road parking, 3 bedrooms, 1 mile walk to “Romford station, Emerson park station, and Elm Park station” 15 minute walk to hornchurch high street. For £400,000.
Anyone know why properties to the west are cheaper?
When we visited, seemed a lovely area, nice houses, local shops, plethora of schools etc.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56659575.html

It's mostly the distance to the station (that house is more than a mile on foot), you're nearer the Roneo Corner area which is a bit industrial, there's a YMCA but also a new block of flats. The shops along the Hornchurch Road got quite scruffy but there's some newer small businesses opening up.

What is your budget?