Re: moving to England
I missed this thread before. I live in Surrey and now people who live in all those areas except Marlow and Leicester (which seems a bit random). For the schools and so as not to be too far from London and his office, I’d say the best options are Surrey, Kent (these two are counties so close to the M25 would be the best locations within these and because one is considering such a large area there are good and bad pockets within both), or St. Albans and the surrounding area.
I’d say for a family of 4, you are looking at a pre tax income of 50K and above, this is a monthly income of £3000 after tax. To rent a 3-bed place, you are looking at about £1500/month or more (in those areas) depending on if they want something fancy (i.e. flat in a concierged new apartment building) rather than just comfortable. One must also consider that there will be council tax, gas+electric, water, phone+net bills. For a 3 bed place, I’d say you’d be looking at £300-£350 a month for that stuff. So that leaves just over £1000/month for car expenses, petrol, food, clothes, etc. Seems like enough but I think they’d have to watch their spending.