Good commuter towns north of London

[anonymous-user]

Church Langley is not really a place, it's the name of (a very large) late 90's housing estate in Harlow - and as such it's not somewhere I'd recommend - it's pretty soulless, and it's very firmly in Harlow. Old Harlow is a fair bit nicer, but it's still Harlow.

Per the poster above take a look at some of the 'less fashionable'villages - sure you'd find something in budget in a much nicer area!

Let me know if you want me to send another copy of the local property supplement?

[putonghua73]

had ham said:

Church Langley is not really a place, it's the name of (a very large) late 90's housing estate in Harlow - and as such it's not somewhere I'd recommend - it's pretty soulless, and it's very firmly in Harlow. Old Harlow is a fair bit nicer, but it's still Harlow.

Apologies for the lateness of the response - PH has been very flaky these past few days.

Appreciate the head's up on Church Langley. Old Harlow it is, if we decide on Harlow. I have extend the radius to include parts of Buckinghamshire & Essex to incorporate into my spreadsheet inc. distance by road/train, and costs (fuel/season ticket). Saffron Walden has popped up on my list because the train is an hour into Liverpool Street.

We now have our Mortgage in Principle agreed. Once Chinese New Year is out of the way, we'll spend a few weekends visiting to get a feel for these places, which will provide my fiancée with a dose of realism (no chance of finding 2 bedroom house within 30 miles of London for £250k in a reasonable area).

[Zippee]

As stated earlier in the thread but St Neots is a nice market town in Cambs and is 40 minutes into Kings Cross on the fast trains.

[Don1]

I commute out of Welwyn North. 17 minutes for the fast train, 30 for the slow. I cycle to and from the station, there are good pubs in the area.... Bliss!

[magooagain]

Saffron Walden has no station. So it's a drive to Newport or Audley end stations both about 4 miles away from Walden.
Nice town is Walden I lived about eight miles from there for about 20 years.
Imperial war museum not far away. Good connection to M11 or north to A14. Suffolk or Norfolk for a day trip or weekend all within about an hour and a half.
Stansted just half an hour.

[Spindoctor]

putonghua73 said:

Resurrecting and updating an old, but extremely useful, thread. My fiancee and I are now in a position to buy [2 bed house] in the next couple of months with a budget of £250-260k, 10% deposit, looking at 2.99% fixed for 5 years in and around Hertfordshire.

A number of pertinent facts to note:
1. In the last 2 years, London's house-pricing bubble continues unabated (no houses under £300k) - net result, house prices in London commuter towns have spiralled
2. £250k-£260k (or thereabouts) gets you: Harlow (inc. Old Harlow), Stevenage, Luton, Arlesey, Biggleswade and Royston (mixture of Essex, Herts and Bedfordshire)
3. Commuting time, Price, Area - pick two

For around 250k you can probably still just about get a nice 2-bed place in a fairly nice part of Letchworth, or surrounding places like Stotfold and Langford. Fast trains from Letch to Kings X are 25 mins.

[putonghua73]

Thank you for the advice folks! However, it would appear that there is considerable distance between my fiancee and I on what we are looking for. As soon as I returned home last night, my fiancee mentioned that we were attending the viewing on Saturday for a property in Hatfield - until I 'reminded' her that we were cooking for guests for Chinese New Year and then she got the hump

Allow me to present the evidence for your edification:

Mrs Putonghua73 (to be):
Hatfield Property

Putonghua73:
Royston Property

Here are the Illustreets comparisons:
Hatfield Property
Royston Property

She is thinking of the commute, as admittedly, the area is ok. I'm thinking of the potential damp and mould, plus kitchen and bathroom refurbishment. It would also be easier for my mother and her boyfriend to visit / babysit. Just looks quite a bit of work for the money, when compared to Royston.

Think we need Phil and Kirsty on the case ...

[anonymous-user]

Hatfield is not a pleasant place at all - I'd rank Harlow above it quite comfortably (unless you're talking about the Uni, which is actually going places). Royston on the other hand is much more pleasant. It's further out, but you get much more for your money - as the adverts you posted attest.

I wouldn't touch Mrs P's house/area without body armour/lifetime guarantee against damp/a car you won't mind getting nicked/vandalised. The houses were thrown up back in the day, and the area is cheap for a reason. Apologies to any Hatfield residents - absolutely no offence intended.

OP, your choice is far, far better. But then marriage is of course a partnership, and you both need to be happy.

[Zippee]

had ham said:

Hatfield is not a pleasant place at all - I'd rank Harlow above it quite comfortably (unless you're talking about the Uni, which is actually going places). Royston on the other hand is much more pleasant. It's further out, but you get much more for your money - as the adverts you posted attest.

I wouldn't touch Mrs P's house/area without body armour/lifetime guarantee against damp/a car you won't mind getting nicked/vandalised. The houses were thrown up back in the day, and the area is cheap for a reason. Apologies to any Hatfield residents - absolutely no offence intended.

OP, your choice is far, far better. But then marriage is of course a partnership, and you both need to be happy.

Plus 1!
Avoid Hatfield like the plague. Same would go for stevenage.

Eta - I know st neots isn't on your list but just for comparison - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/54569654

Edited by Zippee on Thursday 4th February 20:45

[putonghua73]

had ham said:

Hatfield is not a pleasant place at all - I'd rank Harlow above it quite comfortably

Christ! Hatfield must be a hole on a different order for Harlow to be ranked above it! I've just spoken to her [fiancee] and she only wanted to look at the structure of the house [Hatfield]. She agrees that she wouldn't pay anything near £260k to live in a place that required so much work. She wanted to illustrate a point that better to pay more initially [price] with much less work. Her other Hatfield Property. Trip to Hatfield is no longer needed!

I'm baulking at £275k because £265-270k would be absolute max. Fortunately, it seems if I catch her on her non-hormonal pregnant woman days, she is the level-headed woman I originally met. That said, £270k territory provides much better options. I suspect that the 'commute' element is bigger deal for her than it is for me [area].

Thanks once again, Had Had, for your advice on various areas. Much, much appreciated.

[anonymous-user]

That's a no-brainer Zippee.. St Neotts is a good shout - more travel but an infinitly better enviroment

[anonymous-user]

putonghua73 said:

Christ! Hatfield must be a hole on a different order for Harlow to be ranked above it! I've just spoken to her [fiancee] and she only wanted to look at the structure of the house [Hatfield]. She agrees that she wouldn't pay anything near £260k to live in a place that required so much work. She wanted to illustrate a point that better to pay more initially [price] with much less work. Her other Hatfield Property. Trip to Hatfield is no longer needed!

I'm baulking at £275k because £265-270k would be absolute max. Fortunately, it seems if I catch her on her non-hormonal pregnant woman days, she is the level-headed woman I originally met. That said, £270k territory provides much better options. I suspect that the 'commute' element is bigger deal for her than it is for me [area].

Thanks once again, Had Had, for your advice on various areas. Much, much appreciated.

Moving to a £270K budget makes a big difference - that's just over the threshold for 2 bed houses in the villages around Stortford/Ware/Hertford - but you will need to move fast.

And women - who would have them? I went to Moscow/St Pete on a business trip and came back to find she'd bought this house (which I didn't like when I'd viewed it) by forging my signature.

[putonghua73]

Christ! Hatfield must be a hole on a different order for Harlow to be ranked above it! I've just spoken to her [fiancee] and she only wanted to look at the structure of the house [Hatfield]. She agrees that she wouldn't pay anything near £260k to live in a place that required so much work. She wanted to illustrate a point that better to pay more initially [price] with much less work. Her other Hatfield Property. Trip to Hatfield is no longer needed!

I'm baulking at £275k because £265-270k would be absolute max. Fortunately, it seems if I catch her on her non-hormonal pregnant woman days, she is the level-headed woman I originally met. That said, £270k territory provides much better options. I suspect that the 'commute' element is bigger deal for her than it is for me [area].

Thanks once again, Had Had, for your advice on various areas. Much, much appreciated.

Update: fiancee has scrapped Hatfield. Good work, fellas! We are now looking at areas around Hitchin e.g. Baldock, Arlesey. I'll run the rule over St Neots as well [Zippee]. Just checked: Ste Neots falls foul of the commute time.

Edited by putonghua73 on Thursday 4th February 21:17

[blank]

Have you ruled out Milton Keynes?

£250k will get you waaaaay more than those linked to in Hatfield and Royston, and the fast trains are ~30mins in to Euston.

[putonghua73]

blank said:

Have you ruled out Milton Keynes?

£250k will get you waaaaay more than those linked to in Hatfield and Royston, and the fast trains are ~30mins in to Euston.

Haven't considered it, in all honesty. Train fares a little too pricey (nearly £5k season ticket), and not looking too good on illustreets. Will keep an open mind. I feel more comfortable with £265k rather than £270k - given all the fees that we will need to pay.

[anonymous-user]

Baldock = nice, station, good shops/pubs/restaurants, Arlesey = station, not much else, rough pubs, loads of crime, rough. Did I mention rough? In a former life I lived in Shefford, just down the A507, got out as soon as I could afford it. Biggleswade = station, retail park, OK, very cheap, OK, soulless, OK. cheap.

Milton Keynes is not a bad shout at all - it has all the facilities you could ever wish for, and is not nearly as bad as it's made out to be, and very easy access to London. If you're looking for convenience, it works, if you're looking for character, it fails badly.

[putonghua73]

Once again, thank you Had Ham for running the rule over my suggestions. It seems that Baldock falls within £265k territory, and appears good compromise on commute and area. I'll take a look at Milton Keynes but suspect the almost £5k season ticket may rule it out. That said, trade off is cheaper property.

We'll take a look at Milton Keynes as well [thanks Blank]. Also, considering Bletchley Leighton Buzzard. Mumsnet is quite positive on Leighton Buzzard.

I'm going to have to use sketch-an-area to avoid all the Luton properties polluting my RightMove searches!

Edited by putonghua73 on Thursday 4th February 22:34

[Chris Type R]

Spindoctor said:

For around 250k you can probably still just about get a nice 2-bed place in a fairly nice part of Letchworth, or surrounding places like Stotfold and Langford. Fast trains from Letch to Kings X are 25 mins.

You get more for your money in Stotfold vs Letchworth - the trade-offs are the amenities & distance from stations. Having said that, we're happy that we moved to the former from the latter.

[squicky]

Hi from Royston! I've been here for 10 years now, it's a relatively small town that to be honest has got yet another dying town centre due to the modern way of life.

However, it's quite pleasant here, the heath is nice and big and the train station is on the main line and easy to get to (unlike some of the other Herts towns). You can get to Kings Cross in about 40 mins on the faster trains in the morning - quite a few london commuters are based here. Some good schools here too.

Mill road isn't a place I'd be tempted to pick here - just solely because of restricted parking. However around that road there's a bunch of better properties.

Finally, going from your forum name; there's a group of Chinese families here that are fairly social (my wife's chinese - if you'd like a chinese opinion I can pass on a contact / wechat).

[putonghua73]

squicky said:

Hi from Royston! I've been here for 10 years now, it's a relatively small town that to be honest has got yet another dying town centre due to the modern way of life.

However, it's quite pleasant here, the heath is nice and big and the train station is on the main line and easy to get to (unlike some of the other Herts towns). You can get to Kings Cross in about 40 mins on the faster trains in the morning - quite a few london commuters are based here. Some good schools here too.

Mill road isn't a place I'd be tempted to pick here - just solely because of restricted parking. However around that road there's a bunch of better properties.

Finally, going from your forum name; there's a group of Chinese families here that are fairly social (my wife's chinese - if you'd like a chinese opinion I can pass on a contact / wechat).

Fantastic Squicky! More options are always welcome. By all means, check with your wife and feel free to PM me WeChat details. I'll do the same with my fiancee tomorrow evening [She is Chinese, I'm mixed British]. We need to visit a few places after Chinese New Year to get a feel for areas. From feedback in this thread, and from RightMove searches, the area is narrowing down to Royston-Baldock/Letchworth to potentially Leighton Buzzard / MK.

Cheers!