Which area in Wokingham/reading for schools and property lets

[Ultihapper]

Hi fellow mums

I would really appreciate your insights here, pls help…

We are looking to buy a house either in reading area or Wokingham and our budget max is 500, ideally looking for a 3 or 4 bed semi detached or detached property with space in a good school area which should have both excellent to good primary and secondary.

Also in future we intend to let out the property as we may have to travel abroad for couple years, with that in mind which of these areas are best for us to look at? We really need a popular area where rentals can be snapped quickly as we can’t afford to pay mortgage from pockets.

I looked at earley( houses seems very old), not finding any decent one in 500K due to this years inflation? Should I wait?

Howz shinfield new builds? Wil it b easy to let out properties there?

Howz winnerish or woodley? Or even surrounding villages which is popular to let a property?

Is there any to reading west or Wokingham.

Sorry for lots of question we are new to area

I think you're asking a lot for a budget of £500k in that area. A 3 bed near us went for £500k recently, that was a link detached that needed work.
Earley, Winnersh, Wokingham, Woodley are all nice areas and command a premium as a result.

Sounds like you might like woosehill?

I'd look at Tilehurst which is a large village to the west of Reading but with good connections to Reading. If you're not needing to pay a premium to commute east to london, your money will go further by being West. Eg this www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/119357279

There’s lots of new builds around Wokingham, you should find a 3bed for your budget. Woosehill is an older estate, you’ll get more for your money there. Woodley is probably the best value for money, the high street is a bit 60s, but has a Waitrose and Lidl and a some good shops. Good schools.
You won’t have any difficulty renting out a property here; there’s always demand for them.

Thanks Ohhgreat, I do see house prices are inflated from last year, when I checked last summer a 3 bed detached was well with in my budget!

@ it’srainingatlast
Appreciate your advice, woodley I checked, seems nice but can u suggest if there are any good schools around?
Is woodley area also easy to rent? And how about schools? We want around Wokingham embroil area yesterday, found it expensive but how is the area in general?

Also any idea of shinfield? Is it any good investment?

Folks pls keep it coming

@Ultihapper
Which schools are good in woosehill for primary and secondary? Any area to avoid there?

@MrsJamin
Time hurst seem to be more reasonable, is it a village? As of now no travelling to London but if I change my job then yes, can you advise if station is decent enough and which schools can be considered there?

Also pls let me know if rental market is good ?

Near Woosehill - Walter Infant and St Paul's primary both good. Secondary - Holt is good for girls. Emmbrook is nearby, not so sure what that is like.

Ah you ask about the trains to London. This is the thing that I find quite annoying. There is a direct train to Waterloo but it is quite slow (just over 1 hour). You can go via Reading to Paddington - quicker but more expensive.

Tilehurst isn't a village, it's a suburb of the town of Reading. Used to be a village a long time ago, some people still strangely think they live in a village within a town

Tilehurst has lots of good primary schools, two secondary. Little Heath better than Denefield. Also easy to get to both grammars in the centre of town.

Rental market is good, easy links to London and the buses to central Reading are good. Tilehurst station is small but does the job.

I world avoid the area near Dee Road. If your budget can stretch to Purely I'd take a look.

Good luck!

I live in Wokingham and prices have absolutely sky rocketed! I also don't know if you'll have much choice if you want a semi with 4 beds. You could definitely get a 3 bed terrace for that sort of budget though I think.

Wokingham is lovely. I don't love Earley or Reading as much, but Shinfield is quite nice. There's also places like Ascot, Bracknell, Maidenhead, Windsor maybe?

Trains to London from wokingham are not the best as a pp says. You'd be better trying Reading, (Caversham maybe?), or somewhere else with with fast line to Paddington, like Maidenhead or Twyford

Counting down the days til we can leave Wokingham. Its fine for a certain caliber of people but not us. And the expense is so prohibitive.

However if you want something here, the new Keephatch Gardens or Montague Park are good and there's an excellent infants and primary on Montague Park. St Crispins co-ed is walking distance. Town is walking distance. The buses are every 15 or 20 minutes at least.

I would much prefer to live in Reading. They're really gentrifying Wokingham - it was the posher place to reside as I grew up here, but now at 40 having returned for reasons, whilst the remodelling of the centre is smart, the shops are twee and expensive.

I've always preferred a more down to earth area like Reading, with a better mix of classes and a bit more to do.

Twyford is smaller and quieter and the station is on the Reading - Paddington line. Never been fond of Maidenhead. Slough might have a reputation but there's some nice parts and the station is on the same line but is miles bigger and I think some of the faster trains still stop there.

I'd actually look at Finchampstead or Crowthorne. Finchampstead is just trees everywhere. It's lush. I enjoy driving by there because of how beautiful it is compared to here.

I actually hated Wokingham when we moved here, for all the reasons stated^^. It took me about 6 years to grow to like it. I now really do though! And we are seeing a lot more normal families moving in now with a range of backgrounds. When I first moved here with my foreign accent I did feel it was very 'vanilla', but I do think that has changed for the better lately.

However, if you need a fast route to London, I don't think you want Wokingham

Finchampstead is lovely, but it's part of Wokingham, officially and property there is often ££££££. It's a little village with good schools nearby and lots of trees. I love it there too.

There is also no train station near Finchampstead. You'd need to drive to Wokingham station or maybe Bracknell