Surrey house move

[Confusedhousehunt3r]

Hello looking for some advice/insider knowledge on our preferred areas of Surrey. Am looking to move somewhere with a nice high street, shops, cafes etc (although not necessarily a ton of amenities), access to green spaces and walks and good state schools Inc secondaries. Budget is £1.15m. Know area fairly well as grew up in outskirts of SW london/surrey borders.

Think we've narrowed it down to weybridge, walton or thames ditton. Also like twickenham but it seems too pricey these days with Surrey slightly cheaper (not that it could ever in a million years be called cheap). We are also keen on esher and cobham but I'm a bit confused about schools there - what are the state secondaries like in those areas and is there limited catchment? Same with walton - not sure what the schools are like there?

Schools aren't main priority just what is confusing me most! But any recommendations or advice on what these areas are like to actually live in would be very welcome 😊

Epsom has good state secondaries, as I belive is the case with Walton, and both have a similar mix of local theatre, cinemas etc.

How important is commuting to London for you as that can be a big issue?

I’d recommend dorking.

Where will you be working/where do you need to travel to?

Thank you. I don't know Epsom at all. What is it like as an area? Commuting to London needs to be possible but a short train not necessary as only in a few days a week. Obviously jobs could change though so yes it needs to be do-able.

Should have said also thinking about East molesey/hampton court but again not sure on schools..

Currently the city. Main limit on area is actually wanting to be near family in teddington so don't really want to go beyond 30 min drive from there (childcare assistance from parents!)

That sounds callous - also just would like to stay near family generally!

Claygate might work - gets you Hinchley Wood school. Cobham gives you Cobham Free. E Molesey, T Ditton, Walton gives you Esher high - which is a bit meh compared to the other two.

Cheam, Banstead and Carshalton Beeches are also worth a look

Which station do you need to arrive into - is it Waterloo?

All the areas you have mentioned are nice. I can only really talk about Epsom and Surbiton.

Epsom is that tiny bit further away from London and is closer to lots of green space. But it does have trains into Waterloo, Victoria and London Bridge.
For state secondary schools you have Rosebery which is single sex, girls , Glyn which is boys only to 6th form and Blenheim which is mixed. They are all highly Ofsted rated.
There are also many very good private schools.
As an area, it's a Surrey town with the usual mix. I live there and I like the closeness to London while still being it's own place.

We have been house hunting in Surrey for over a year (one failed purchase) and have looked at a few areas.

What kind of property do you want? £1.15m is fine if you want a 3 bed, less so if you want a detached 4 bed (with room to swing a cat - often 4 beds around that price seem very poky!).

There is very little on the market unfortunately and so there is a lot of competition. Large family homes are going 10-15% over asking price in popular parts of Surrey. Before Christmas an agent told me he had a property which had a guide price of £1.5m go for £1.75m. that was in Esher. I mention this so you are realistic about budget; I wouldn't bother looking at places at (or even a bit below) your max budget. Also if you like a place make sure you can view it very soon - larger houses don't hang around for more than a weekend or two in my experience.

We were very keen on Walton on Thames but gave up, the competition was crazy and we didn't feel like we were getting value for money there. Currently trying to buy a place in West Byfleet which is a bit further out but we actually think suits us better, and we get a lot more for our money there (5 bed detached house, double garage etc).

Re schools - do you have kids / planning them? I actually became quite picky when we started looking at schools. We aren't religious and I realized that I really couldn't do with a religious school, so that massively affected where we could move to. Also, a lot of places we looked at had the school in one direction and the train station in another, it would have been a practical nightmare. So unless you have loads of spare time / a non-demanding and flexible job / you don't mind driving to school every day, I would take schools into account. You don't want to be moving again when you do have kids (like us) assuming that you are currently looking for a larger home.

Thanks so much for all the helpful responses. Yes we go into walton. @TheLette thank you for the detailed reply - a lot of what you say really resonates with me. We have an 18 month old so schools are really at the forefront of my mind as we as having things close to eachother. I recently had to turn down a new job as dcs nursery a 20 min drive from home which makes everything a pain. So ideally somewhere with everything on doorstep would be good!

We are looking for a 3 or 4 bed, probably semi detached so hoping we would be able to get somewhere in these areas but I know they are all expensive!

@TheLette what did you like about West Byfleet?

Have you considered Kingston? £1.1-£1.2m would get you a nice 4 bed semi with amazing schools and the park/river on your doorstep. Plus all the amenities you could ever need. Look at KT2 over KT1.

Teddington a quick hop or even a bike ride across the river.

I love Thames Ditton and would actually like to live there, but schools are tricky - you need to be in catchment for both one of the primaries but also close enough to Hinchley Wood high - which is amazing, but has a tiny catchment.

I would then go for Weybridge over Walton.

Reigate is lovely, better than Dorking. Esher pretty but not much to the high street other than kitchen shops!

We liked the west Byfleet place we are buying because our nearest school is en route to the train station and the station is only 12 min walk away. There are some useful shops and amenities in the "village" (e.g. brand new leisure centre just outside the village, GP, restaurants etc). Village centre is getting redeveloped so hopefully will be even nicer in a few years time, with more shops. It's just under 15 min drive to Wisley which we love. Also get a lot more for your money space wise. But downsides are motorway noise and less quick and frequent trains. Also doesn't seem to be loads of good nursery options but we will manage somehow.

We ruled out weybridge by the way as schools / station not close by to each other and we aren't wanting to drive daily. Shame as Weybridge is lovely. But also very expensive! For £1.2m we saw a lovely 4 bed but 4 bed was very poky (barely a single) and it was so close to the trainline that the windows shook. So we concluded that we wouldn't get what we wanted for a budget of approx £1.2m in Weybridge.

Wondering why you’re not looking at Teddington itself, especially if you have family there? It seems to tick all the boxes for your budget?

@Thecazelets def considering teddington especially fulwell end but it still seems by far the most expensive out of all the options.

@indiesearcher again Kingston seems pretty expensive now and going slightly further out in Surrey seems more value for money. But I will have another look - as there is so little on the market at the moment it's quite hard to tell! Which bit of Kingston is KT2?

What about further out like Farnham?

Beautiful market town with a castle, close to South Downs, on mainline to Waterloo.

You'd get a LOT more for your money than the areas you're looking at.

@Thecazelets - I was thinking the same

KT2 is north Kingston. You want to be around the canbury/Tudor areas for best school catchments (three outstanding/good primaries and the outstanding secondary). So roads like Kings Rd and surrounds. It's perfectly positioned between park and river - in my opinion a far nicer stretch of accessible river with park/gardens than anywhere else in London. I'll send a few links - Feb/March time will go bananas as it always does but if you are ready to buy you'll get something in budget.

Personally if you're coming from more central London I'd choose Kingston or Teddington in a heartbeat over Walton and Esher.

Staunton Road, Kingston Upon Thames
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/119225975

This is a beautiful road. Fairly priced I think, I've seen similar go for more (likewise one that needed more work or hadn't had extensions might be nearer £850/900K).

For a detached with drive you're talking eater £1.2/1.3m - but street parking is generally fine (annual permit) and the semis are mostly halls adjoining and offer better loft extensions.

Thanks @indiesearcher I hadn't appreciated how close that part of Kingston was to the river and Richmond Park actually. That house is lovely.

Epsom is a really nice area. Unfortunately there is very little on the market so competition is fairly high right now. The schools are very excellent quality. If you keep a list of houses, it will be definitely easier on you. Also do your research and prepare notes on the properties you visit as well.