***BUMP*** time to progress this as will be looking to move in the next six months.
Original post criteria below are broadly intact with the exception of the following:
-No longer need links to Southampton as my wife will be changing jobs to work in Basingstoke area instead
-Headline budget increased to £550k to offset some inflation, but remains flexible
-Would like reasonable road links to Fareham area, but not that critical
I've subsequently visited various places considered including Fleet, Hook, Basingstoke, Farnborough, Farnham and Godalming to have a bit of a poke around and see what the towns area like. Currently I am drawn towards Fleet because of its peerless reputation (voted best place to live in UK past 5 years in a row) and decent range of family houses near the station; however, my head says that Basingstoke is a more practical option due to the better rail links (more frequent/direct trains to London/Reading/Southampton/Salisbury/Portsmouth), being slightly closer to family around Salisbury and also being a bit cheaper.
Having done my online research over a 2 year period (must have viewed over a thousand properties on Rightmove) the market has definitely moved on a bit, with prices around 15% higher I would guess compared to when I started looking
*** Original post below ***
Bit of a weird thread but here goes.
tl;dr version: Need family home in central southern England <1hr to London without breaking the bank
Proper version:
I am at a stage in my career where I may need to consider taking a job in the city to make decent strides forward and thus am loosely toying with the idea of moving to a commuter town sometime in the next couple of years (depending on what happens work wise). When I say commuter 'town' realistically this will likely translate as specific areas rather than whole towns, due to the below criteria
Things I want:
+Must be walking distance from a mainline railway station (<1hr to Central London). This is the #1 criteria and is the starting point for the search - I don't care if I could get a 6 bed mansion 15min drive from the station for less money, I still wouldn't live there.
+Good road links to Southampton (probably translates as quick access to the M3/A31/A34)
+Ideally reasonable transport links to Salisbury although not as important as the above
+Reasonably priced housing; under £500k for a 4 (or large 3) bed house)
+Catchment area for good primary school
+Safe / fairly quiet area (not expecting rural due to proximity to station, but e.g. surburban cul-de-sacs and the like or at least some nice streets)
+Ideally walking distance to a shopping district
Things I am not bothered about (i.e. criteria others might typically have but I am happy to compromise on):
-Style of housing / (so new build estates just as welcome as traditional streets of character properties)
-Nightlife / 'things to do' (I currently live in a sleepy town and it suits us fine)
-Outside space; not massively bothered about cramped estates with small gardens etc if it is a good safe community
So far the best I can come up with is Basingstoke which is about 45mins from all the towns I mentioned above and seems to run at around £350-400k for a reasonable 4bed semi. Not knowing the town outside of the leisure park however I do have concerns about whether it is actually that good a place to live / could be a bit 'chavvy' near the station / centre?
I also considered Winchester which has a better reputation but have provisionally discounted it on the basis that it is right on the limits of both travel time and potential budget (i.e. more expensive and further from London).
Farnborough looks an interesting prospect - 4 trains an hour to London ~40mins, house prices not too bad, big town centre redevelopment project, reasonable local jobs market etc.
Woking/Guildford maybe...?
Original post criteria below are broadly intact with the exception of the following:
-No longer need links to Southampton as my wife will be changing jobs to work in Basingstoke area instead
-Headline budget increased to £550k to offset some inflation, but remains flexible
-Would like reasonable road links to Fareham area, but not that critical
I've subsequently visited various places considered including Fleet, Hook, Basingstoke, Farnborough, Farnham and Godalming to have a bit of a poke around and see what the towns area like. Currently I am drawn towards Fleet because of its peerless reputation (voted best place to live in UK past 5 years in a row) and decent range of family houses near the station; however, my head says that Basingstoke is a more practical option due to the better rail links (more frequent/direct trains to London/Reading/Southampton/Salisbury/Portsmouth), being slightly closer to family around Salisbury and also being a bit cheaper.
Having done my online research over a 2 year period (must have viewed over a thousand properties on Rightmove) the market has definitely moved on a bit, with prices around 15% higher I would guess compared to when I started looking
*** Original post below ***
Bit of a weird thread but here goes.
tl;dr version: Need family home in central southern England <1hr to London without breaking the bank
Proper version:
I am at a stage in my career where I may need to consider taking a job in the city to make decent strides forward and thus am loosely toying with the idea of moving to a commuter town sometime in the next couple of years (depending on what happens work wise). When I say commuter 'town' realistically this will likely translate as specific areas rather than whole towns, due to the below criteria
Things I want:
+Must be walking distance from a mainline railway station (<1hr to Central London). This is the #1 criteria and is the starting point for the search - I don't care if I could get a 6 bed mansion 15min drive from the station for less money, I still wouldn't live there.
+Good road links to Southampton (probably translates as quick access to the M3/A31/A34)
+Ideally reasonable transport links to Salisbury although not as important as the above
+Reasonably priced housing; under £500k for a 4 (or large 3) bed house)
+Catchment area for good primary school
+Safe / fairly quiet area (not expecting rural due to proximity to station, but e.g. surburban cul-de-sacs and the like or at least some nice streets)
+Ideally walking distance to a shopping district
Things I am not bothered about (i.e. criteria others might typically have but I am happy to compromise on):
-Style of housing / (so new build estates just as welcome as traditional streets of character properties)
-Nightlife / 'things to do' (I currently live in a sleepy town and it suits us fine)
-Outside space; not massively bothered about cramped estates with small gardens etc if it is a good safe community
So far the best I can come up with is Basingstoke which is about 45mins from all the towns I mentioned above and seems to run at around £350-400k for a reasonable 4bed semi. Not knowing the town outside of the leisure park however I do have concerns about whether it is actually that good a place to live / could be a bit 'chavvy' near the station / centre?
I also considered Winchester which has a better reputation but have provisionally discounted it on the basis that it is right on the limits of both travel time and potential budget (i.e. more expensive and further from London).
Farnborough looks an interesting prospect - 4 trains an hour to London ~40mins, house prices not too bad, big town centre redevelopment project, reasonable local jobs market etc.
Woking/Guildford maybe...?
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. Alton is, well, I won't say it in case I offend someone.