Can anyone help me figure out what to do? First time buyer (solo)

[Pixysmoke]

Hi all,

Feeling quite sad and alone with this and I've spent the last 4 hours on Rightmove, so I could really use some help.

I'm 36 (F) have spent my life renting or living with partners. Now that I'm single I'd like to buy my own place so that I have some kind of security and don't end up relying on relationships to put a roof over my head.
I earn around £33,000 pa before tax, and my work is very attached to London (I will need to go into the capital around twice a week and work from home the rest of the time). I think I can borrow around £150k, and I can scrape together a £30k deposit. That gives me around £180k to buy a place. Obviously I can't afford anywhere in London, so I'm looking at places like Reading, High Wycombe, Luton etc as they're close to London so I could commute in a couple of days of week. The monthly repayments would be around £580 which is very affordable as my monthly income is over £2,000. But I can't seem to find anything vaguely decent for £180k?? Just looking for a 1 bed flat that feels okay to live in for 5 years. I'd like it to feel safe as I'm a single woman, and to be not too far from a train station.
I've looked at shared ownership but I'm a bit put off by how complicated it seems to re-sell and the thought of expensive service charges. I would consider buying 'up north' but I don't know anyone there and the type of work I do can't easily be found outside of London. Can anyone provide any advice or ideas for what to do?
Feeling very down in the dumps!

You’re looking at houses when prices are higher than they’ve been for probably... 20 years? Don’t get too disheartened.
I’d start by making sure you have a list of what you want, then decide which are non negotiable and which are ‘nice to have’. Maybe widen your search area a little on rightmove to see how much of a difference it makes to what you can afford. For me, I had one area I preferred but going a mile out meant I could afford a much nicer place!

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/101667329#/ hildenborough is a suburb of Tonbridge really, but quite nice village feel. You’re not far from the station & about 35 minutes into Charing Cross.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/103297064#/

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/87164470#/ (Although I’m not sure how I’d feel about tonbridge high street on a Saturday night)

Thanks dizzy, I'm literally looking at anywhere within 40 miles of London. Not sure I can widen it anymore than that.. Maybe I should be looking further up north but still vaguely commutable..

Fireweeds, thank you for the links. Tonbridge is definitely on my list of possibilities. It's the opposite side of London from my mum and sisters (they're north of Oxford) which has been one of the things that has made me less keen on Kent etc, but I know there are some bargains to be had down there so I will keep it on my search radar.

If you aren't needing to go into London every day you can manage with a slightly longer distance. Royston is an example of the kind of place worth looking at but similar towns in other directions will also fit the bill, looking for places that are just a little too far from London for a convenient daily commute without being close enough to the next city (in this case Cambridge) to make it convenient for there either so that you are in a nomansland of being not massively convenient for anywhere. There are a few 1bed flats in Royston in your price bracket.

Have you looked a bit further out along the main train lines? If you're not commuting every day, a longer journey might be more tolerable. As an example, you'd get a flat or house in (one of the nicer parts of ) Peterborough for well within your budget. Likewise, the smaller towns with stations on that line e.g. Sandy, Biggleswade, St. Neots, Huntingdon.

There’s over 400 places within 40 miles of London on rightmove in the last seven days, I think I’d struggle having to go through all of them! I don’t know the areas so can’t comment on what they may or may not be like.
The only other thing I could suggest is considering looking at things slightly above 180k. The amount I could borrow varied between lenders by about 10k, and as a first time buyer, you’ll be in a good position to offer a little under an asking price.

This is in Flitwick, direct trains to St Pancras and sounds like it's not too far from your family

The Meadows, Flitwick, MK45
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-91136419.html

Strood in Kent There's some nice areas and some not so nice. It's about 40 mins to London on train and you can also pick up the high speed .

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/79832541#/

Budget of 180k

Houghton Regis (Luton) is about a 15 min drive to Leagrave station. They're building lots of new houses, many offering shared ownership. Or Sundon Park is a 5 min drive to Leagrave station. Other nearby areas Limbury, Barton le Clay, Hockwell Ring

Sorry, just re read you're not interested in shared ownership, lots of normal ownerships too. Good luck!

Thanks so much everyone. I feel some renewed hope seeing some of these properties and I will be checking out all of those areas. That's a good call for searching £180k and then seeing if any can come down on the asking price. In the meantime I will just try and save like mad!

Meant to say *searching ABOVE £180k...!

Can I throw a wildcard option your way @pixysmoke ? I moved from London to Portsmouth just before the pandemic and would recommend it if you can do the long commute a few times a week. Good restaurant scene, beach on the doorstep and for 180k you could get a nice 2 bed flat!

I understand how difficult it is! But the good news is there are properties in your price range within 40 miles of London. I know that you’re considering moving further out but the problem is that the cost of travelling becomes prohibitive. PPs have made some good suggestions though. Have you looked at Hertfordshire or Essex?

High Wycombe is only 25 mins at its fastest from Marylebone. As your family are out toward Oxford, you could comfortably move a couple of stops further out, which should be slightly cheaper and also way nicer than Wycombe which is not the most pleasant place in the world.

Where in London is your work?

Banbury decent flat, £180k www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/78810096#/

Thank you @Mumblechum0 , Banbury is out I'm afraid. Too close to the family!! Need a bit of distance.
My work is in South London and East London (zones 2/3) which doesn't help. But I'm not too concerned about travelling in as the days and frequency can all be negotiated. The main thing is that I'm close enough to London to find other work if my existing jobs come to an end for whatever reason. If I was right out in the sticks then I would worry about paying the mortgage. Good idea to look a bit further out than High Wycombe. I'm scared of ending up somewhere that I don't enjoy living & feel unsafe and that's my fear with being in the middle of Wycombe or Reading.. or living too far from the station that I can't easily walk home at night.

@fairydustandsparkle
I will have to factor in travel costs for sure. However I should have more disposable income once I buy as my current rent is almost double what I'd be paying in mortgage repayments!

Understood. Frankly I wouldn’t live in Wycombe if you paid me, it is pretty rough.

@Hijabihouse

Can I throw a wildcard option your way *@pixysmoke* ? I moved from London to Portsmouth just before the pandemic and would recommend it if you can do the long commute a few times a week. Good restaurant scene, beach on the doorstep and for 180k you could get a nice 2 bed flat!

Love a wildcard, thank you. South coast did cross my mind and I'll certainly investigate! If I can negotiate only going in one day a week then it might be possible. If I can get a 2 bed then I would consider getting a lodger/housemate which would help significantly with the worry about losing my job /not being able the find work etc. Worst comes to worst I could get a shop job or admin job to plug the gap if I knew the repayments were low and I could let a room out. I would love to be completely free of London one day so this is something to work towards!

If you only have to be in two days a week would you consider staying overnight in London one night a week? This would halve your train fares and then you could move really far out and buy something really much cheaper and also with a lifestyle element to it as PP suggested eg coastal. If you were just doing one journey in one day and one journey back another - you could probably do 2hr each way? Or drive a large part of it and park at a station nearer to London.

How about Market Harborough? Feels quite safe there High St is pleasant if not 'exciting' (has a bit of character architecturally so not like some dull suburbs, 50min on the train to Euston, there are flats right by the station though not sure what the prices are (used to be affoprdable couple of years ago at any rate).

Maybe Bishops Stortford, train to Liverpool Street, safe, nice shops, green spaces, cafes.

I would suggest the colchester area. Nice park and close to the coast.

Good luck op. Just to check, you know you can filter your Rightmove searches to exclude shared ownership? I found a few, and loads of retirement flats before I filtered them.

@Pixysmoke if you're happy with a wild card also Eastleigh is in your price range and commutable to London. Also dependent on where you need to be, Peterborough is 50 minutes on the train too (I know opposite direction).