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

I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: www.rightmove.co.uk/property/84892162
This one in Molesey borders too. Lovely quiet street.
Both properties could have loft conversions. Lots of other home owners on Spring Gardens have done loft conversions.

I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: www.rightmove.co.uk/property/104272292

This one is definitely East Molesey in a very popular development just near Pavilion Sports Club off Hurst Rd. Surprisingly spacious and also great for schools.
All 3 houses would probably get you into Orchard Infant School in E.Molesey.
I've just seen another house on Weston Avenue with lots of potential...long garden backing onto the reservoir and opportunity to extend. West Molesey, desirable road but would be a project.

Lower Sunbury is nice. You could have something like this
www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/58111836/

Once you have kids you won't give a shit whether there are niche coffee shops near you, because you won't be using them. They won't let you in with your breast milk covered dirty t-shirt. And you won't remember what your name is, let alone where your purse is, so you won't be going out anywhere.

Thanks so much everyone - I've taken all your tips and advice on board :) @Hexagon2 would you believe it, we have actually already viewed all three of those houses! We tried very hard to buy the one next door on Glebelands but the timing didn't work out with the sale of our flat and we lost it. We loved lots of things about the Kings Chase house but it felt very small and claustrophobic upstairs and there is no scope for extending so it would be tricky longer term. We spent a while wondering if it was worth it for the location, but decided in the end that it wasn't.
There's definitely been some confusion somewhere along the line, that no doubt I have caused - we don't need OSP and a garage. OSP is on our (now very short) list of requirements (and sadly selling the car is not an option), and I fully appreciate how much this narrows our options, but we are not looking for a garage too thank goodness!
@Oblomov21 definitely appreciate your point above about kids - we are not planning to have a baby for several years yet though. Also, as a very social person I have really struggled with working from home in a fairly solitary role over the past year and before the pandemic too, and I find it helps my mental health enormously to be able to walk out to a cafe for a takeaway coffee and a friendly chat, and also to have friends close enough to meet for a walk at lunchtime or before work. It's really helped keep me sane, and that was also the case before Covid.
I know somebody asked why we don't just relocate further out now instead of waiting 10 years - part of the reason is that point above about not wanting to be isolated from friends, but also that when I say move out I mean completely out, to Kent or Devon probably, and that would mean total career upheaval which we are not in the financial position to be able to do right now.
We viewed the house in Walton last night and really liked it. It's not perfect - the garden is tiny and faces north for example, but as we have established, we can't be picky about little things like that! We are planning to put in an offer but they have already have several and we can't afford to go over asking price so there is basically zero chance of us getting it, sadly.

@TheAuthorityofJackieWeaver

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.

Ahhh we keep hearing this about West Byfleet and we drove out last weekend to take a look. And we came away feeling like we must have missed something - we didn't find any of the nice places you mention, bar Waitrose! Maybe we need to go back... We are currently midway between Surbiton and Berrylands I guess, nr Ewell rd. Berrylands is so lovely :-)

As an aside- this thread is a bit like looking back in time for me I used to live in Surbiton, then moved to East Molesey (Kings Chase, to be exact! I'd say definitely more for families there) and from there to Weybridge.

The next move will be far, far out, to the country, hopefully. Maybe Herefordshire...

Anyway. I do hope your house search comes up trumps soon @PRBSurrey1.

I would trade the OSP (rent a garage or drive elsewhere) for location and not having a north facing garden. What is the premium for the OSP in your area (probably more than the cost of the car) - and this is restricting your choices.

North facing garden means poor dark light in your back rooms which assume are kitchen diner and where you will spend most time. Also if the garden is small the fact that it’s north facing is even worse for the garden and the light in your home.

That's a good point @Sssloou. Technically though the garden is north-west, and the kitchen diner has huge windows, so I think it would get a bit of evening sun, just not in the morning. I'm planning to drive over later this afternoon actually, before we make an offer, to assess the sun situation. It's end of terrace with a side path, so I think I'll be able to see how much sunlight is hitting the garden from the road.
Personally, I think that a large, south-facing garden commands as much of a premium around here as OSP does, especially considering the cost of renting a garage in the area. Of the two, OSP is higher up the wishlist for us.

The bit opposite Waitrose down towards Woking? Or no? I’ve only been down there with friends rather than with an eye to living there tbf.

Also, look at Chobham, and even Egham/Engle field green..... both have that upmarket/cafe feel but both still feel reasonably local to me, I have friends in both that feel like localish friends. Also, you’ll make new friends in your new location and you have quite a few friend-making points of your life coming up! So don’t worry too much about that.

Could your other half ditch the motorbike commute? It seems a bit shortsighted to base your house move around that tbh. If you have children and have to share pick-up and drop-offs a motorbike won’t be a very practical thing for commutes long-term anyway.

Update - we have had our offer accepted on the house in Walton!

Actually slightly in shock, after our despair at the start of this week about the house hunt. We'll definitely be popping some champagne and celebrating this evening, although we've been stung by fall-throughs before so we're not getting toooo excited just yet.

I've spent the past 24 hours google mapping Walton like crazy and worked out that we will be within walking distance of some really nice looking pubs and cafes - not quite the amount of choice we are used to here in Surbiton, but that's fine! I also LOVE the fact that we'll be so close to the river - we love walking down to the riverside here, but it is a good 20-25 mins from us, so to be 10 mins walk away will be glorious.
Thanks so much to everyone for your input - it's been super valuable. I'm now re-reading all the comments about Walton and starting to get excited :-)

It is this one, if anyone is interested :) www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/105308354#/

That is so exciting! Welcome :-)
There are some amazing coffee shops/restaurants! Check out The Surrey Coffee Company and The 1955 Club (food at SCC amazing, coffee at 1955 amazing), and Buenesado for steak and Cappadocia for Turkish mezze. There is also a cute cafe at the marina for coffee and cake on your riverside walks. You can even walk to Weybridge quite easily along the towpath, it's a lovely walk

Congrats! Good choice. The river is lovely there, and so nice to be able to stroll to the shops.

So delighted for you - it’s absolutely immaculate - congratulations. On the video you can see from the front and rear windows that there are no houses nearby over looking or blocking light. Well done!

Congratulations @PRBSurrey1 (or should I say future near-neighbour!) So happy for you.

I would add to @PickledWilly’s post La Terraza, tapas restaurant at the Halfway (shops halfway between Walton and Hersham). They have a lovely outdoor area with heaters.

The nicest pubs in Walton are also near your house (on the river), the Swan and the Anglers.

Congrats @PRBSurrey1! Fingers crossed it all goes through safely.

Definitely second La Terraza- had some lovely boozy evenings there and Capadocia.

The Minnow at Weybridge (not far from the river walk from Walton) or The Crown are good pubs to build up energy for the return walk too.

It looks a great house and in great condition. Kitchen and bathroom look good and nice summer house in the garden. It’s a very good trade up from a one bedroom flat.

Realistically this is what most people have to do in expensive areas. Trade up property by moving to a slightly cheaper area. In the end the slightly cheaper areas all become more expensive and desirable themselves anyway. It may take a while to get used to your new area but if you have nice places within walking distance, and an easy ride back to friends, it will all merge into one as they will now come and visit in your new area etc.

Thanks so much all! We’re just back from a lovely sunny morning spent in Walton, having coffee at the Surrey Coffee Company and a stroll up the river, and definitely thinking we will grow to love it 😍

Just revisiting this thread to see how the move went? Are you enjoying your new surroundings in Walton? It's always hard settling into a new area and leaving one that you have loved. Hope it is working out OK for you.

Honestly, if you’re considering moving a bit further in 10 years I would seriously consider different areas. I don’t think you’re going to get what you want in those areas now, as especially post working from home the price difference has risen. I think you’re either going to have to compromise on the area or on what you want in a house. If you’re thinking about kids then do consider carefully moving really close to a road like the A3, it’s a personal choice but I would definitely get a smaller place or further out than live that close to a busy road with kids.

Sorry, just seen you’ve moved already! Hope you like Walton!

@friendlycat

Just revisiting this thread to see how the move went? Are you enjoying your new surroundings in Walton? It's always hard settling into a new area and leaving one that you have loved. Hope it is working out OK for you.

Ah that's so kind of you. We are frustratingly still waiting to move - we thought we'd definitely be in by now, but two dates we had set for exchange have now passed by and we are having a few issues with our buyers (which could fill another thread but I won't bore everyone with those details!). We're getting pretty nervous as of course the SD holiday ends in a couple of weeks. All we want now is to be in our lovely Walton house, so keeping our fingers crossed we can straighten out the last few kinks in the process and get moving soon!

Gosh, sorry to hear that you haven't moved yet. The whole process is so very trying and stressful. Hoping it's all nearly there for you and that you get your exchange date very soon. Keep us posted.