First time buyers, moving out of London for about £270-280k max

[Yadiya]

Hello

This has been mentioned a lot before, but can't seem to find anything recent.

We have a budget of around 270-280k max, ideally lower than that to find a 2 bedroom house reasonably close to London

We are looking at Basildon and Laindon as it seems like it fits our budget, trains run often and I found a ranking online that says that they are quite reliable as well. Monthly rail card is round £250, so not that bad either as DH would be travelling to London daily, while i wait for DC 2

www.ontimetrains.co.uk/blog/london-commuter-station-rankings-2018-19

We have been told that ss15 and ss16 are the nice postcodes. My DS would start Reception next year, so an outstanding Primary is preferable.

A lot of people say the area is not great and I get that. But is it ok for a while? We know we cannot afford dream house+location right now, so just want to invest and stay for a few years.

I've also been told that it has changed a lot in recent years with investment and shops opening.

So ALL that said, any comments anyone?
Any ideas, areas/schools to avoid?
Anything else?

Do you actually want to be out of London? Not sure if you can get a house anywhere decent in London for the budget, but you could get a 2-bed flat. Commuting would be cheaper and it’d be easier to save up for what you really want.

Personally I would avoid basildon, chelmsford you might get a bargain in that budget, witham too

@JoJoSM2 We don't really want to be out of London, but we cannot afford anything in. The thing is, we would not be saving anything for a while for lots of reasons..so we would have the same deposit and kind of the same income in 1-2 years time

@Inferiorbeing You say you would avoid, why? What is it you don't like?
I have read some lovely reviews for Chelmsford, but have not been to either of these yet. Planning to do a few weekends in the area and see what it's like, but I as different people have different views, hence my question what is it you don't like..

I don’t know Essex. However, looking on police.uk, Basildon seems to have high crime rates (on par with some of the worse London Boroughs) which could be a bit off-putting. Chelmsford looks safer.

Basildon, in my experience, is very rough and almost "chavy", it's not somewhere I would consider to raise a family if there was other options. I am saying this as an outsider as I have only ever worked in or visited basildon! I think for your budget though you have better options in essex

Where does your dh need to travel to in London? Dartford and Erith still have cheap houses for that budget and decent train links to London Bridge. Both are in line for an extension to Crossrail (whenever it opens!) so may also increase/hold their value. Both areas are convenient for the very good Grammar schools but I don't know about primary schools. Easy to reach the countryside and coasts and Bluewater/Dartford for shopping.

Basildon and Laindon are both pretty grim. Billericay is nicer and 34 mins into Liverpool Street.

We moved to Basildon from London 4 years ago. Like anywhere you need to be careful where you move to as there's a big discrepancy in the areas.
SS15 is probably more in your budget, although you could prob get a 3 bed here, there's an outstanding primary in both SS15 and SS16 though.
Both SS15 and SS16 are walking distance to the station.

Have you looked at Rayleigh or benfleet- both on Liverpool Street Line. A quick search has 2 bed flats in your budget. Rayleigh is nicer than benfleet and has a proper town centre.,

Just to add too, if you want a real idea of Basildon go to the shopping centre at the weekend.. that's always fun! We live in braintree now which would definitely be in your budget, but trains to london aren't great as they are only once an hour. You could look at southend and the C2C line?

OP, I don't know where you need to commute to but if you were open to a flat in London, then I can share a good one in my neck of the woods:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-72557875.html

It's a large two-bed in a private block with a garage and share of freehold (not in the description but I'm familiar with the block). The trains from Sutton go to Victoria, London Bridge & City Thameslink and beyond. Top schools, very safe, loads of amenities.

@Lightsabre That's the thing, he moves location. In the last year, he has worked in Brentwood, Bromley and currently at King's Cross. Always different..

@TwigTheWonderKid Thanks, but Billericay is not in our budget. Nothing decent there at the moment

@thecherryontop Thank you. These are the post codes we were told about as well

@Mummyshark2018 We looked at Rayleigh. It is a bit too far...

Aylesbury would have loads of 2 bed properties in that price range. It was in the Sunday Times as being one of the growth areas that is attracting buyers. There are guides quite near Stoke Mandeville station too. Not a great commute to the areas you mention but the schools are good and your DH could drive to work when he’s not in central London.

Aylesbury is a bit grim and lifeless.

Is Sutton as nice as you say JoJo? I see you recommend it a lot!

TheDragonFromDreams, I probably recommend Sutton a lot as it's great for schools, amenities, greenery, low crime, affordable housing, good commuter links etc so things that posters often ask about. Why?

@Yadiya
I agree it's further out by 10 minutes or so on the train but it's so much nicer than Basildon. Btw I don't live in Essex but have family in lots of Essex and in order i would live in Chelmsford, saffron Walden, Rayleigh, Brentwood, billericay, Leigh on sea..... Basildon would be bottom of the list- if I had a choice.

Thank you everyone. There are just no houses in all the places mentioned within our budget.
Most searches have just a few results (between 3-10 houses) in these areas (apart from Basildon) and most are either not move in ready or too far from a station
This is kinda why we were looking in ss15 and ss16 in the first place

It would be luck if something comes up in a better area, i guess. As we want to move as soon as possible, we need luck right now

We did exactly this and found Rayleigh nicer than Basildon. All local schools are rated good or above, and it's a bit leafier and friendlier than Basildon / Southend. DH has a 45 minute train journey into Liverpool Street which is fine (although he works in the City - I appreciate that commutes get longer as soon as you're tubing anywhere). You'd definitely get more for your money in Basildon though. I agree the town centre at the weekend isn't ideal, but realistically if you've got young kids you're not going to be out there much.

@FinnBalorsAbs Thank you for this
I was getting a bit desperate as we just want to buy, but obviously don't want to end up somewhere horrible and don't want to stretch our budget too much
DH is a bit picky with travelling times and I kinda rather not be in the best place (but at least a nice street) that having to put up with him every day after he is angry because of his journey home

Ideally we would move completely away from London in a few years, but want to be able to rent out our potential house, rent somewhere we would buy again.. That's kinda the plan now, at least

I used to live in Forest Gate of all places round 8 years ago and got back home at 23:30 by myself after work at the hotel. But I was young, single and had no kids..

After leaving my job as a Revenue manager to look after my son, I never imagined I would be looking for a house in Basildon of all places, but I am realistic as to what we can get. Plus we were not ready to buy then, even though our budget would have been way higher.
If I could choose I would live in Hamstead or Barnet with Outstanding schools and a 3 bed detached house! , but haven't won the lottery yet.

@Yadiya We actually moves here from Forest Gate. It's not my dream area by any stretch but like you I'm realistic with what we could afford. There are nice areas (as mentioned earlier) and there are lots of places I would never want to live here in a million years.

We won't live here forever and my DH needed to be close to a station to get to London. It's genuinely not as bad as people say, I definitely wouldn't listen to the stereotypes. Basildon is a place of extremes however I think a lot of places these days are similar. We saw it as a way to get what we could afford at the time, the house prices here havent decreased yet, my DC goes to an outstanding school and we are happy for now.

@thecherryontop
Brilliant!
I just felt like someone really understood what I was trying to say
And you said the right things I needed to hear right now!
Thank you

@yadiya No worries at all. If you have any questions or would like more of an insight to any area or aspect feel free to pm me -I'm not a Basildon expert but will try my best to help.

The area is changing drastically and there's definitely more cultures as more and more people move out from London. You aren't alone!

I know Essex well, lived there on and off for about 5 years. Yes Basildon does have its undesirable parts however I admire that you are being realistic with your budget.

Some parts of Basildon are slightly nicer for example Langdon Hills (it's town centre is going through a redevelopment at the moment). There are a few Ofsted good rated schools there too.

How about Grays, it's not fantastic but has a short commute into London Fenchurch Street. 35 - 40 mins.
Alternatively slightly further in you have South Ockendon? Not far from Lakeside for shopping and entertainment. Also about 35 minutes on the train too London.

Wickford is not far from Billericay, Wickford has its own mainline train station that goes into Liverpool Street (approx 40 mins). There's a lot to do for young children various parks,
Softplay, petting farms etc are less than 20 min drive away so not bad for young families.

@isitfridayyet1

We did look at that area round Lakeside, but somehow most properties we checked online are tiny and as far as I understand it is not that much different than Laindon/Basildon

I just discovered some lovely houses in Stanford-le-hope
Can anyone recommend it?