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?…

I didn't say you could not get anything in Surrey for that budget; I said be careful where you choose because I know houses for that budget in crime infested places, just because it has the Surrey postcode.

Surrey is so overrated, I moved there thinking how much safer it would be for teens etc. Nope! Violence, drugs, loads of crime and that's the young teens from so called naice families.

A big group of boys starting banging on my car to intimidate me one night, as I was picking up my DS from his girlfriend's house. I would never let him walk at night. He said he thinks it was boys that go to his school.
My DS girlfriend just today complained to me today about being constantly cat called on the walk to school in her uniform by older men.
Notices on neighbourhood apps about cats being slaughtered and women getting men cat calling whilst exercising.
Violent robberies, frequent burglaries. Young girls in the village being flashed.

I wish I had have stayed in London!

@ganggangrosey my gosh! Can I ask you where you live?
sorry about this - there is no real way of knowing how it will really be I guess

If you're thinking of making an offer, then maybe make a new post with Bromley in the title as there are people on Mumsnet who know the area well and can give specific advice on roads etc.

@ganggangrosey where is that!? Or say where it’s near if you don’t want to be too precise.

In a very expensive village in North West Surrey.

Heard a shocking story today about what some seemingly normal kids did today. It's actually frightening.

Fine for the commute into central London but not so much to continue west unless you’re around Victoria. Where in west London does DH work?

I’ve just had a look at rightmove after reading your post - haven’t read many responses so apologies if I’m repeating others. There are over 12000 houses within 30 miles of London for up to 450k - for that price and location it is possible for sure, but you’ll find that most will need renovations thus the significant discount. It’s all about finding what area works for you and your family. There are plenty of choices out there.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E87490&maxPrice=450000&radius=30.0&propertyTypes=detached%2Csemi-detached%2Cterraced&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

You will struggle with primary and sec school catchments around Bromley South. Check distances with council education dept. Don't trust Rightmove on that. BS does have a taxi rank though which helps with pickup emergencies.

This house in Redhill ticks everything you are asking for - £450k, in catchment for great primaries and Reigate School for secondary, walking distance to Earlswood station (one stop south of Redhill) slightly longer walk to/from Redhill if any issue or easy taxi (there is a rank at the station). Right by Earlswood Lakes which is a beautiful green space and walkable/easy drive to Reigate itself www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/124619021#/?channel=RES_BUY

There is also a really nice one in Reigate itself in all the right catchments and easy walk to town and the huge park but you would have to either cycle or drive to Redhill station to make that work I would say www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/130386320#/?channel=RES_BUY

@Phineyj which area of Bromley is best for schools? I don’t need to be right next to the station as long as it’s a doable walk (given train links are so good there)

@TerryWoganFanGirl thank you! Is commute from Earlswood as good? Need to investigate but yes, that seems like a good option

@Marghe87 Earlswood has Thameslink trains and is pretty reliable (so long as no strikes!) Redhill has more trains. It will get all the Thameslink trains plus ones going to Victoria. Redhill station also has trains on the Reading and Tonbridge line. Both have contactless/oyster due to being on the line to Gatwick (Reigate doesn’t have this). Due to not being in tfl area it can be cheaper at times to have a paper ticket. But if you are going to set off early and come home earlier you can touch in and get off peak fares with contactless when it would be peak on a paper ticket. I think you have to tap in before 6.30am and then on the way home from London before 4.30pm and you get the off peak fare. I have friends who do this to tie in with childcare pick up and it saves them a lot of money.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/130740854#/?channel=RES_BUY

In catchment for Valley primary and Shortlands primary (I should think). Secondaries would be one of the Harrises in Beckenham or the grammars in Orpington.

Short walk to Shortlands Station. Longer walk to Bromley South.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/130740854

Sorry! Can't make link work. 2 bed in Pump House Gardens in Bromley.

I think one of the apps, maybe Zoopla does a travel time option - say time from your office and price and it might bring up some options. What’s Shenfield like now it has Crossrail? Does that go near your offices?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/130740854#/?channel=RES_BUY

3rd time lucky. I hope!

Just to add to @Phineyj's comment about Bromley catchments: please remember that Bromley, like all London boroughs, does not use fixed geographical catchments. What some people refer to as 'catchments' are maps of straight-line admissions in previous years, which can be helpful to give an idea of your chances but do not confer any specific priority in future years.

Someone upthread mentioned that OP will benefit from the falling birth rate, and this is true, but there is a caveat. When the 2008-2012 birth rate spike came up to Reception many schools took bulge classes, which has an impact on future admissions distances as those children's siblings came through. The birth rate started to fall in 2013 and has continued to do so. I don't anticipate that we will see many school closures any time soon but schools cannot afford to operate with empty spaces and many schools are already consulting to reduce their PAN, meaning that they will take fewer children in coming years.

The combined effect of the last bulge class siblings coming through, combined with reduced PAN, means that primary school admissions in areas without fixed catchments are going to be the wild west for the next few years, and now more than ever you must not trust estate agents' assertions about school admissions!

@ThanksItHasPockets thank you - so, if I understand well, you are saying that in Bromley for example, school catchments don't quite exist so we should just focus on looking for areas we like with a few schools within proximity and hope to get in?

Essentially, yes.

If you settle on an area without fixed geographical catchments my advice is to identify your preferred schools and find out if they a) took bulge classes and / or b) are reducing their PAN, as these are the two factors which will have the biggest impact on previous admissions areas. If neither applies then previous admissions info will probably still be helpful. Keep an eye on straight-line distance from the property to the school (making sure you know where the measuring point is taken, as a few hundred metres can make all the difference) and don't pay a massive premium for a house which would have got you in to a school in 2018 as the parameters will likely have changed by then.

@ThanksItHasPockets thank you! I guess when we are ready to start searching it might be good to just phone all the good schools in the area and see what they say and then take it from there!

We had this problem and the education department at London Borough of Bromley on enquiry gave us the official straight line distances from our postcode to the 5 nearest primaries.

Unfortunately it turned out we weren't close enough to get into any of them, at least on paper...

@Phineyj oh no! What happened then? Where did you end up?

Private school!

@Marghe87 you say you wouldn't qualify for tax free childcare as you earn over £100!K, but then you say your combined salary is £100K. If it's combined (ie you both individually earn less than 100K) you should still qualify.