Safe family friendly commuter town within 30 min train from London (first time buyers, £450K budget)

[Marghe87]

Not in the process of buying yet but hopefully close enough and we are starting to consider a few options. We have a relatively limited budget of £450K (hoping that prices will also decrease in the upcoming months) and we’d be looking for either a decent sized 2 bed or a 3 bed house. We live in zone 5 in a lovely place and are aware of the fact that we’d have to compromise on location but there are a few main things we need to consider:

• we both work in London so need somewhere with an easy commute and fast enough (we don’t have family supporting with drop off, pick up etc so we need to be able to be in and out fast); I am in central London, DH in West London
• Have a DD who is a toddler and we want to settle somehwere safe and with good state schools, both primary and secondary

In our list of options there are a few places, each with their pros and cons and honestly, feeling a bit stuck as we either go live in a decent area but in a shoebox house or in a nicer house but in a less nice area or somewhere more remote, none of these ideal (when I say less nice I also mean potentially less safe).
Do you have recommendations based on where you live?
So far we have:
Weybridge/Walton on T (fav choice but too expensive, can barely afford a 2 bed house)
Guildford (would need to be very close to the station as commute would take longer and issues with schools pick ups etc… properties also quite pricey and not sure it’s worth the longer and more expensive commute for what we’d get)
Woking (was keen but I keep reading how there is some crime in the town at night, with armes police etc and a few dodgy areas. I want my DD to grow in a safe place, especially in the teenage years and I am a bit concerned with what I read - never been though so will check it out)
Tonbridge/Sevenoaks (good train links, for me especially, but am a bit put off by the grammar schools system and I don’t want our house buying decision to penalise DD in years to come)
Maidenhead (expensive, especially properties near the station)

Where else to look?…

Guildfords trains are pretty rubbish to London
I went with redhill 30min to London Bridge 45 to Waterloo nice area lots of surrounding country

@MotherOfHouseplants I have a fairly flexible job that allows me to WFH a couple of times a week; I can leave at 4pm when in the office, DH starts later in the day so can usually cover all the drop offs.
We are currently paying incredibly high fees for full time nursery so of course we will be able to pay for wrap around care once DD is in schools, in fact it's the only way to do it, either with am and pm schools clubs or a childminder - it will be a fraction of our current childcare bill.
I have a 1 hr commute right now and manage very easily so I don't see how a slightly longer commute (like 1 hour and 15 min for example) would be impossible for us to manage?
The only thing we definitely don't have is family help as they don't live here but I doubt that's the only way you can manage full time jobs and school pick ups - most of the people I know in and round London don't have family help.
I never said it'd be a walk in the park, but I don't even think is THAT unrealistic tbh.

My house in West Byfleet is 80sqm, it's small for the area but fine for a family of 4.

I definitely recommend looking here or New Haw. West Byfleet school has wrap around care and I work a similar pattern to you (leaving at 4pm when in office and WFH a couple of days a week-also no family help) so I do the majority of the school runs. School is 5 mins walk from train station and has a holiday club.

Trains are frequent plus its close enough to Woking that if there are ever any issues (or you want a night out in London) you can catch the Woking train home and get a taxi home in 10 mins. Also easy to get to Guildford if you want a better shopping experience (Woking shopping centre is pretty basic unfortunately).

(just going to slightly defend Sheerwater. I rented there for years and would happily have bought there if anything had come up in my budget. It is deprived compared to some parts of Woking but it isn't a ghetto).

@Marghe87 All I’m suggesting is that you drill down a little into the arrangements that the people you know have in place, especially if they are mostly male. People don’t generally talk about their ‘scaffolding’ in everyday conversation.

@Marghe87 if you can wfh, share drop offs & pay for childcare you will be fine. ime most parents do a combo of that

Would you know if the schools are good in that area?

Main high street isn't brilliant. It's vastly improved from years ago though- couple of nice cafes, gift shop, 3 good family pubs etc. it's lacking shops that aren't corner shops/ barbers/ cafes or off-licences/ food places but I think that's par for the course most places. Lots of new flats being built which are locally quite divisive but which will bring more people into the area.
Schools all very good.

Basingstoke?

45 mins to Waterloo. 450K would buy you a large detached 4 bed in a nice area with good schools and nursery.
Focus on areas such as Chineham & Hatch Warren.

I don't think 30 min train is realistic. You're already in zone 5 so if you go further out the train will be longer or house prices come in higher than your budget

Thanks all. I think we will have a look at Woking, Sutton and Epsom, all with more decent house prices, good schools and good trains. Open to tips on those areas if you have any🙏🏼

Have a look at

Cheam & Worcester Park - some excellent school options eg primary, grammar & non grammar.

A friend is very happy with a school in Epsom but I cannot remember the name. Think she lives in Stoneleigh?

Another friend is in Carshalton Beeches, she had issues with secondaries as didn't want grammar so went with catholic in the end but loves the area.

A school mum friend is looking at moving to New Malden but I think that is Kingston so you may need to increase budget.

If I was you I would move, get the school place & then buy. You will be less confined by having to be so close to schools & personally I don't think we've seen the true impact of higher interest rates on house prices. The only caveat to that being you are in a bracket that is very competitive. Lots of families can sell a flat more central & even if they haven't got much equity they can buy a house in the outer zones for the same price as their flat. I think outer zones have seen bigger growth recently because you get more space for less money.

We are thinking of moving a bit further out in the next yr or so for that reason.

As a rail commuter, this thread has made me wish I'd moved to Woking 😂.

Good luck OP.

I’d say sorry if this has been mentioned but basically grab a train timetable look at your two stations you need to get into and then look what takes 30mins? I imagine you’ve done that and that’s why Woking etc has come up. The great thing about Woking is the sea!

Is your 450k budget based on maximum borrowing, or what you think you can afford?
Because if you are able to borrow a bit more, it would cost a lot less in commuting if you could buy within the TfL area.
In fact you would be able to find places for 450k even within this area

I agree with @safeplanet and suggest that if you possibly can, rent for a few months before buying. We would have made a very expensive mistake if we had bought straightaway when we relocated. We rented for a year in the end but it meant that the house we eventually bought was pretty much perfect.

Sea of what?

Where's the sea in Woking? Or am I thinking of somewhere else!

@FrenchandSaunders are you thinking of Worthing??!

@LostCountAnotherName there’s definitely no sea in Woking….

Does anyone know Redhill? I am reading primary schools are very good but would be interested in secondary too... anyone in the area?

@Destiny123 how are you finding the commute?
I am seeing primaries are all fairly good but there seems to be limited choice of state secondary?

I'm nearby. Main secondary with v good reputation is St Bede's but church school so needs church attendance. The non-church one is The Warwick School, now called Carrington School which had a pretty poor reputation but seems to have been revamped and renamed so could be on the up, but I dont know. There's also Reigate School which seems to have a good repuation but you'd need to check catchment into Redhill. Also Royal Albert and Alexandria which is a state boarding school with mixed reviews. Lots of good private options in the area. And Reigate COllege for state sixth form is v popular.

As an area it has a lot going for it - not as chichi as neighbouring Reigate but improving town centre and great train links to London and no real safety issues. Reigate is pretty much next door for bars, restaurants, independent shops and the shopping centre in Redhill has MandS, H&M etc. Worth a look I'd say for your budget as prices kept relatively lower due to v close proximity of places like Reigate which are much more expensive - but it is pretty much 2 halves of the same town these days.

Surely reading area is great for W London now with the Elizabeth Line?

Look at Coulsdon as well if looking at Redhill - no great difference imo, nearby but Coulsodon South is zone 6 still for the trains and I think Redhill is not?

@SmartHome thank you! Is reigate is out of catchment, does it mean it‘s impossible to get in?
DD is only 2 so secondary schools are not an urgent need but equally if we settle somewhere I want to ensure we also g we that right

Someone mentioned Knaphill, that's a possibility and you could get the train from Brookwood. A lot of trains from there only stop at Woking before Waterloo.