Waitrose taste/Aldi budget in Surrey

[PRBSurrey1]

Hi all,
First-time, frustrated poster here. My fiance and I currently live in Surbiton and we absolutely love it and never want to leave. However, it looks impossible to size up here.
It took a long time to sell our one-bed flat, and although we have finally accepted an offer it's much less than had we sold pre-covid. Our budget is therefore much lower than we initially thought, meanwhile house prices have skyrocketed and the number of properties coming up for sale has plummeted even since about mid March it seems. We have offered asking price on two houses, but each has gone to sealed bids and we've been outbid.
Our buyers are in a huge hurry and I'm terrified we will end up homeless. We are massively widening our search area but can't find anywhere we can afford where we feel we will be genuinely happy.
We're 30, pre-kids though expect to have a baby in this house so primary schools are a consideration but not secondary as we will likely relocate further out in 10yrs. We love life in Surbiton with lots of nice pubs, independent restaurants, coffee shops within walking distance, and don't expect this to change any time soon. We also have a dog so love having green space and the river on the doorstep.
I work from home, but my OH commutes by motorbike to Isleworth. He is very keen to keep his commute below 45 mins and with minimal motorway. Sadly, this rules out places we love like Guildford, Farnham, Reigate, Dorking, although all our friends are in SW London/Surbiton anyway so would prefer to stay closer. We're not ready for village life.
All the semi-affordable areas that are commutable for my OH we don't love (eg Isleworth, hounslow, New Malden, Chessington), while the places we like, we now can't afford at all/there's nothing for sale - Surbiton, Teddington, East/central Molesey, Esher, Claygate, Kingston, Thames Ditton, Weybridge. It's infuriating that on Rightmove I have 8 pages of saved properties (all in budget) in these places from the past six months while we were trying to sell (and obvs all now sold).
We're now looking at Hersham, Walton, far west Molesey, Epsom, Ewell, West Byfleet, Addlestone but we're not very taken with any of them having spent various weekends visiting, especially as we'd still be maxing out our budget (and paying SD).
Our requirements are: three bedrooms, or two doubles with potential to extend, garden and off street parking. And here's the clincher - our absolute max budget is now only 485k.
Is there anywhere I haven't thought of where we can tick our boxes for this, while not totally losing everything we love about Surbiton?? I'm starting to think not, but worth an ask! TIA

Why don’t you see if you can rent a separate garage for the classic car?

Oops, sorry already suggested!

I lived in isleworth and I loved it . Wish I stayed there tbh

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/78209256

Sorry that doesn’t have off street parking though

Sorry guys, I definitely wasn't clear above - we don't need a garage, it's just a nice to have. We do need off street parking though as we can't put the classic car on the road.
Banstead definitely under consideration - pricey though. I have always thought of Shepperton, Staines etc as being a bit too far out, away from friends etc. But perhaps if it was a really good house we should consider it. I don't know much about either area admittedly.
@bertieb7 I think we will have to look at renting - I just hate the idea of having to commit to a long contract, plus having the dog means it will be very hard to find somewhere. I did a search of rental properties with the 'pets allowed' filter (and parking) and it returned just one result within a 10 mile radius! But we may not have a choice in the end...

@PRBSurrey1 Shepperton is just across Walton Bridge, and would be quicker to Isleworth even than Addlestone or Weybridge. I used to go to Isleworth a lot from Weybridge, across the bridge to Sunbury Cross and then up the A316 (I think that's its number), made it easily in 30 minutes by car. Shepperton itself seems to be a nice little town.

Worth a look anyway.

You could still get rid of the OSP hurdle with a garage (or rent a secure parking space) for the classic car to open up wider options. What have you calculated the premium for OSP/garage is in Surbiton - I suspect it is many tens of thousands - it’s an area in London for me which is the most congested parking I have seen (residential roads off the main high street) - this might allow you to stay where you want - rent a space / garage in Hounslow / Leatherhead for the car ... you don’t need to live there next to it!!

You are listing a lot of wish list items for your budget TBH ! The off road parking is also considerably limiting your options. As an ex SW Londoner with many current and former friends in and around that area, not one person had a garage and I was the only one with off road parking. And I'm talking much higher budgets that you have.

Sadly something really has got to give as the market is moving away from you and perhaps renting a secure lock up is more practical for this car. When I last sold in SW London the premium for me being end of terrace with OSP added circa £45 - 55k (together with garden facing SW rather than north.)

Yes I understand why you really like Surbiton but if you want to try and stay there or in the surrounding area you are limiting your options so much with this outside space. When I read your initial list of kitchen diner, downstairs loo, garden shed, OSP, 3 beds etc I just laughed and I don't mean that unkindly at all.

Ah I didn't consider the dog. The only reason why I suggested it is that I have friends who have just sold their house and plan to move to Surrey but don't yet have a place to move into. They decided it was a good time to sell as there is so much demand but also didn't want to be rushed into finding a house and area. They also have a dog so I will be sure to warn them about the fact that it may be a bit trickier to find somewhere- thanks for the heads up!

@friendlycat just to clarify - we also quickly realised that we were expecting too much and that what we could afford has now significantly changed even since February this year. This list (garden shed etc) is what we started out hoping for back in July 2020 when we first put our flat on the market - we are now simply looking for two/three bedrooms, some sort of garden and some sort of parking. I don't think that's too much to at least aim for - I know 480k is a very small budget for the area, but to us it's a lot of money and we want to make sure we are spending it on a place we will enjoy living, and can feasibly stay for long enough to make paying SD a little more worthwhile :)
We have accepted we can't get what we want in Surbiton, so we are just trying to work out which of the more affordable areas might be able to offer us some of things we like about living in Surbiton - we appreciate we won't get everything! It's especially hard in lockdown I think, as we haven't been able to go and visit pubs/cafes/shops or even get a true feeling of a town. Possibly this is why we have underestimated Walton and Hersham! Anyone with good knowledge of those areas, please tell me what I might have missed/why they're nice :-)

OP, I feel for you. The market is off the scale right now. When stamp duty holiday ends, I think prices may drop again. Can you rent for six months? It's a risk, I know but houses have gone up massively in the last few months and there isn't a lot of choice

However, off road parking for two cars and a bike in any area is a tall order. But london commuter zone with that budget. You're dreaming. You need either , a mansion, a new build, a flat with underground parking

@orangegina you're so right, and it does sound as though renting might be our only option, as long as we can find somewhere that will take the dog. If the houses we are viewing this week don't work out we will put it firmly on the table.

Definitely don't need parking for two cars and a bike! We have that now but my god, I would never expect to find it again. We are only aiming for OSP for the one car (which I accept is a lot to ask in Surrey).

Farnborough would give you what you need

I would rethink chessington- the area is improving hugely- schools are good and transport links to surbiton are great.

I think so many families in a similar position to you moved away from Kingston/ Surbiton to Chessington.

OP the Willowhayne Drive house looks perfect, I hope you like it and that you get it if so :) It does seem expensive for the road, but I think that's just the market at the moment. I don't know the road as it isn't one you would drive or walk down randomly, but it looks nice on street view and there is a garage. It's quite close to the town centre too. Town centre is not as nice as Weybridge or Esher, there are some empty shops now, but there's a few pubs/restaurants, a nice coffee shop, an M&S Food, a large Sainsburys and an Aldi, and you'd have loads and loads of choices for takeaways (very important!).

What I should probably not tell you is that we had a brand new motorbike (DH's friend's, not DH's luckily for us) stolen from our locked garage during the daytime a few years ago. So I would recommend a good amount of security on the garage (we have 2 padlocks and an anchor).

Good luck and I'd be interested in updates! :)

You can have everything you want but not the coffee shops/restaurants etc or you can have the chi chi but not the house and parking - which is more important?

Get rid of the classic car? More money for house and loses the requirement for parking

Can't help you with the area, but are you on some estate agent's contact lists - as in get sent properties before they go onto rightmove? If not, I'd call up a few and strike up a friendly conversation, for some a couple of houses we viewed, we went as the EA was taking the pictures for the advert.

When you say you've 'sent a viewing request', do you mean the rightmove online form? If so, I'd call the estate agent rather than do this. It may take them a while to sift through emails and by this time others will have called and booked a slot.

Good luck, it is so stressful!

To echo others, we've been there done that in the area you're looking in and couldn't get what you want in terms of OSP AND a garage along with everything else with almost double your budget. If you find what you're looking for in this area then there has got to be something catastrophic wrong with it. I like the idea of renting a garage elsewhere, that's clever. Likewise, you mentioned this would be your home until you move further out - have you considered doing that now? You'd likely find your money would stretch further (providing you stayed away from the likes of Guildford, Weybridge etc) then you could just get the train to go and visit your friends. Or alternatively, rent somewhere that you'd consider buying in first to get a feel for whether you'd like it there. That's what we did when we originally moved to Kingston in 2013, we quickly decided that we did and bought the following year. That was when we were mid 20s though so pre kids - if you're thinking about kids imminently then you also need a livable for now place rather than somewhere you need to spend time doing up first.

Walton is really nice, the train station is not really in the main town though so factor that in if that's important to you. Likewise, Shepperton is lovely (as is Sunbury) but I wouldn't want to live there as it's on a slow train line but you pay through the nose for it as it's not in zone 6. I think it is also prone to flooding.

OP Walton is really lovely. We bought here last March (very, very close to the house on Willowhayne Drive you are viewing) and we absolutely love it. Walking distance to train station, less than 5 mins walk to indie coffee shops/ the Everyman cinema/ NEXT / boots/ M&S. very safe, friendly area. That house is in the catchment for Ashley Primary which is very popular. 10 mins walk to The Anglers pub and The Swan both on the riverside. Gorgeous towpath walks. I work further than isleworth and find commuting fine. I say go for it!

Another factor is that Walton and Hersham are only a few stops away on the same train line as Surbiton and Wimbledon (for nights out when you don’t want to drive, or for your friends to come to you). But like @brainstories568 said, the station in Walton is not in town, so you’d likely be nearer the town or the station. And Hersham station is nearer a lot of Walton than it is to Hersham centre.

(The town or the station rather than both, I mean!)

"We love life in Surbiton with lots of nice pubs, independent restaurants, coffee shops within walking distance, and don't expect this to change any time soon. "

Maybe you could give us more info OP re what kind of person you are, what life you lead, what you want.

I only ask because I always Surbiton very cosmopolitan, cafes, niche. More like Twickenham or even Wimbledon (which would be beyond your budget).
I fear, post covid, you just can't afford the house you want in this area anymore.

Most of yet places mentioned are perfectly pleasant. But I just can't see that they are what you want.

I was in Walton yesterday, food shopping in M&S for a treat! It's not cosmopolitan. Suits me, old codger that I am with teen dc, but surely not you?

Hi OP, been there.... loved Surbiton, and met my NCT group when we were all in flats with little babies. We looked everywhere to find the same sort of vibe, ended up in Berrylands which we love. However friends of ours went to West byfleet/Pyrford and I really like it. Lovely countryside feel but west byfleet high street seems to have some lovely coffee shops/restaurants, there’s a Waitrose, an amazing primary school, next to Wisley which is perfect with children. And we see them all the time, they are 20 minutes in the car and easy on the train. Seems to be plenty of properties to look at in your budget too.

I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: www.rightmove.co.uk/property/95756066
Just round the corner from me, Molesey borders but really more East than West Molesey. Lovely, friendly neighbourhood. Walking distance to Molesey high street. Excellent primary schools, St Alban's at the end of the road rated very highly recently, something like 6th best in country. Lovely, long garden.