Renting a place for a new job?

How different is renting a student house during your time at uni to just renting a regular house out as a graduate? Does being a student grant you extra protection?

I have an exciting new job which is roughly 2 hours away by train (it's based in Hook, Hampshire and I live in Ilford,Essex) and I'm considering whether to rent out a house over there or commute. There's a bunch of factors I'm not quite sure how to weigh up when deciding.

Pros of getting a house
-I save 4 hours of my life (train to and from and hence money)
-I'm a sheltered guy. Combined with living out when I was at uni, this would be great experience
-probably cheaper gym fees
-opportunity to make friends and see what living in a small town is like



Cons of getting a house
-I won't save up as much. Quick check on Google shows that some of the houses are around £150 a week so I'll lose 8 grand a year
-probably more expensive gym fees
-my current gym (the gym group) likes hiking the prices up, if I return home, I'll probably have to pay that. Already paying £19 a month.
-few gyms over there, don't know what they're like/how much they charge



Posted from TSR Mobile

Are you seriously considering spending 4 hours of your day every day travelling (not including inevitable failures on one of the UK's most congested rail linea). You'd be mad to not move. A season ticket will cost you about £5k off the bat for travel.

Hook is apparently quite nice.

What would you say is the most you'd consider spending travelling per day?

What would you say is the most you'd consider spending travelling per day?

With my current job I'm commuting to London which takes anywhere from 45minutes to 1.5 hours on bad days (just one journey from my house to work).
Haven't checked out my average, but I think it's between 45minutes and an hour. I usually leave around 6.30am where it won't be as packed (although I'll be lucky to find a free seat). Didn't seem like much of a stretch to stay on the train for an extra hour to and from, then again I haven't tried commuting that long before.

Does it seem weird not to commute? Seasonal ticket may cost 5k but rent is around 7k without utilities. Although I will have saved the four hours every day


Posted from TSR Mobile

I think you'd be nuts to do that commute. Realistically, you're looking at more like 5 hours a day. Personally I have a 35 minute door to door commute and I sometimes grumble at it. It's not like you just sit on the train for longer to get to Hook, you have a tube change at Stratford and then another National Rail connection at Waterloo. There's a considerable exposure to delay risk there. You genuinely have to place a value on your time. Is the £2k saving worth the early starts, the late finishes, the sheer boredom and the frustration?

An hour each way.

It's a no brainer for me; I'd move and rent. Hook is relativly expensive but Basingstoke is much cheaper. Have a look there.

I've been told about moving somewhere else and just commuting there too.

Out of curiosity, do you know of any good gyms in Basingstoke (weight lifting)?


Posted from TSR Mobile

I used to have a manager in America who would commute 2 1/2 hours each way. I once asked him why he did such a long commute, he told me that it was 'so his children could have a better style of living out in the countryside'... I couldnt help but think that perhaps his (young) children would have a better style of living if they saw their father for 5 hours more a day. He wasn't getting home until 8:30 each day by which time they'd already gone to bed.

what was america like employment wise?