Home search begins
This morning we met with Steven; our home search guide. Steven has some 20 years experience; 12 as an agent and a further 7 as a relocation guide. So he understands the market well and able to provide us valuable input on the areas we are searching for a home.
During coffee we discussed our requirements. Essentially an apartment that is close to the town centre and in an area that offers us some unique English character. Of course there is no suprise that such areas command premium rent.
Having spent several days on our own researching towns we decided to review areas to the East and South East of Windsor. The expectation is that such areas afford better access to London but the tradeoff is a higher rent.
We started out looking at Egham. It is located accoss the Thames just to the west of Staines. Its a rather small town with a basic High Street. On balance it didn't offer much for us.
So we drove through Staines (my work has a large office there) and on to Kingston-Upon-Thames. It has a major retail centre that feeds most of Surrey. So there's plenty on offer in terms of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. Its also been modernised and the High Street features pedestrian centric malls and walks. We wandered along the Thames and looked at a number of apartment complexes. It seems that 3 bedroom apartments are scarce. Most are either 1 or 2 bedroom.
Another attraction with Kingston is that Hampton Court Palace and the associated Hampton Court and Bushy Parks are across the Thames. Whilst we didn't stop to visit they occupy large tracts of land and are sure to be fun to explore.
We then moved on to Woking. Again nothing really special. Its pretty much suburbia so I don't think this is a priority.
Our final desination was west to Camberley. Again, a smaller town but it turns out that a fully furshied 4 bedroom house is coming on the market. Not knowing the house number we toured the tree lined street that is on the high side of a hill above the town centre and its train station. Its quite an attractive area and we will likely tour this property to give us a point of comparison between the apartments and a house in a smaller town.
Arriving home Merrilyn and James visited the Windsor library. Ostensibly to collect some childcare information. As is happened Merrilyn came home with an armful of books (of course some of them Diana and some for James). James was carrying his own book bag that he proudly called out to me from the ground floor as he arrived. In his bag were a number of brand new books for him to keep. Just a reminder of the quality of the services that are available here in Windsor.
So it seems we are still keen on Windsor as a priority, possibly followed by Henley and Kinsgton. On Wednesday we start inspections.
During coffee we discussed our requirements. Essentially an apartment that is close to the town centre and in an area that offers us some unique English character. Of course there is no suprise that such areas command premium rent.
Having spent several days on our own researching towns we decided to review areas to the East and South East of Windsor. The expectation is that such areas afford better access to London but the tradeoff is a higher rent.
We started out looking at Egham. It is located accoss the Thames just to the west of Staines. Its a rather small town with a basic High Street. On balance it didn't offer much for us.
So we drove through Staines (my work has a large office there) and on to Kingston-Upon-Thames. It has a major retail centre that feeds most of Surrey. So there's plenty on offer in terms of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. Its also been modernised and the High Street features pedestrian centric malls and walks. We wandered along the Thames and looked at a number of apartment complexes. It seems that 3 bedroom apartments are scarce. Most are either 1 or 2 bedroom.
Another attraction with Kingston is that Hampton Court Palace and the associated Hampton Court and Bushy Parks are across the Thames. Whilst we didn't stop to visit they occupy large tracts of land and are sure to be fun to explore.
We then moved on to Woking. Again nothing really special. Its pretty much suburbia so I don't think this is a priority.
Our final desination was west to Camberley. Again, a smaller town but it turns out that a fully furshied 4 bedroom house is coming on the market. Not knowing the house number we toured the tree lined street that is on the high side of a hill above the town centre and its train station. Its quite an attractive area and we will likely tour this property to give us a point of comparison between the apartments and a house in a smaller town.
Arriving home Merrilyn and James visited the Windsor library. Ostensibly to collect some childcare information. As is happened Merrilyn came home with an armful of books (of course some of them Diana and some for James). James was carrying his own book bag that he proudly called out to me from the ground floor as he arrived. In his bag were a number of brand new books for him to keep. Just a reminder of the quality of the services that are available here in Windsor.
So it seems we are still keen on Windsor as a priority, possibly followed by Henley and Kinsgton. On Wednesday we start inspections.
posted by Marty at
Monday, May 15, 2006
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home