My partner and I are looking for a new home. We both work in london ,but it is impossible for us to afford a place here. We decided to look further out, but here comes the dilemma, where to???
We are looking for a nice place to live 45 minutes away from london and within easy reach on the train.
Does anyone knows any nice towns where the house prices are still affordable to normal people with normal salaries?? And still be easy to commute?
We have been in th house hunting for months now and when we agree in some place,someone else will put us off for one reason or another.
Can anyone out there help us to decide?
Will be much appreciated.

i know a couple of people that commute to london every day, 1 from northampton, think its about 1hr away, not to sure, and the other lives in luton

What's your budget? Many parts of East London/Essex are still affordable and much less than 45 mins commute to the City. Of course, whether you'd want to live there or not is another story...

thanks for your replies... Our budget is 150,000. So you can see our dilemna, we'd like to live somewhere we are not in fear of our lives! We would move a maximum of an hour away....
thanks

You can probably cross Cambridge off the list, if that helps - lovely place, fits most criteria but you won't get much for £150,000.

how about milton keynes, i live in mk and its a really nice place, loads of housing and things to do, various train stations to london which takes around 45 mins to get to euston.
i have lots of friends whos husbands commute to london each day, have a look on rightmove for house prices.
hope this helps
jo x

Well my partner and I got a 2 bed flat in Hackney with balcony for under 150K and we're not in fear of our lives...ten minutes from a park, ten minutes from a thriving farmers' market, 25 minutes leisurely cycle into town
However, although our estate isn't dangerous, neither is it beautiful

Thanks all!

Dear Brook,

my wife and I were in the same situation in 2002. We moved from Balham to Bedford. My commute from Bedford to Oxford Circus took about 1hr 10 mins (50 mins train, 20 tube.)Season ticket costs about £3,800.

Bedford is a nice market town - £150,000 would easily buy you a three bedroomed terraced house with front and back gardens.

Hope this helps.

The further you move out from London the more bricks you will usually be able to get for your money brook2005, but equally the higher the cost of commuting becomes which has to be taken into account within your overall budget. I live in North Chingford which is right on the edge of lovely Epping Forest but only 25 mins out of Liverpool St station. Less pricey is South Chingford where you may even be able to get a house for 150k rather than a flat (no station there but good bus routes). The advantage is that it is still officially London (E4), the transport links are great (M11, M25, North Circ) but the commuting costs in both monetary and financial terms are relatively low. Have a look on Rightmove and Findaproperty.

Reigate, Redhill, Haywards Heath plenty of places within a hour.

You can get a 2 bedder in Brighton or Hove for 150k (will probably be a 70s purpose built) both have some fast trains which take about 50 minutes, downside is £320 a month in train fares.

R

My sis in law lives in Bishops Stortford and is currently trying to sell! Her 2 bed cottage is up for just over £160,000. We have visited a few times and it seems to have a decent enough shopping centre with the usual suspect supermarkets around the centre. Just 30 minutes to Liverpool Street on Stansted Express.

We live in Bedfordshire & there are plenty of affordable houses in the area. Bedford is furthest from London, but the Thameslink service goes direct to Kings X/ St Pancras in about 45 minutes & because it's the first station on the line, you can always get a seat on the train! As one of the posts above said, there's loads for sale for under £150k (including my house!) in reasonable areas.

Further south, Flitwick & Harlington are both on the Thameslink line & very close to the M1 (junction 12) they're both small towns & nothing special, but some of the surrounding villages are stunning. Again, there would be plenty of choice for £150k ish

I wouldn't recommend Luton as a place to live, but Harpenden & St Albans (closer to London) are both beautiful. They are much more expensive though & there's not much around for under £200k.

Hope this helps

quote:

Originally posted by Lovecat:
What's your budget? Many parts of East London/Essex are still affordable and much less than 45 mins commute to the City. Of course, whether you'd want to live there or not is another story...

We live in a small village in Essex (between Rayleigh and Southend) and it's quite alright. Fifty mins to Liverpool Street, trains every 10 mins in the rush hour, every 20 mins off-peak. Not what I'd call cheap though. Average 4 bed detached in our village is about £325k.