Working in Guildford, Surrey. Where should I look for a house?

I have an offer to work in Guildford (Surrey) but have heard that housing (i.e. buying a house) in that area is quite expensive. What are some less expensive neighboring towns (10 mile radius of Guildford....is that a decent commute by car?) with more affordable housing? Just from glancing at the map, there are Godalming, Aldershot, Farnham, Farnborough, Basingstoke, and Wokingham, but I know nothing about how clean/safe these are and where the good schools are located? Thanks for any insights.

Godalming is pretty expensive as well, but a gorgeous area. Aldershot will be cheaper but it is a military town so comes with its own set of problems. Farnborough is a lovely town (I lived there for 4 years) and real estate is still fairly reasonable. Farnham is a bit further afield but again, a lovely little community nestled between F'boro and Aldershot. I've heard mixed reviews of Basingstoke, going from hating it to loving it (guess you have to be there). Basingstoke would be a painful commute to Guildford- the other towns are easy to commute out of, although you will encounter rush hour traffic on the Hogsback (A30). There are others who can give you a better prospective of some of the other towns...hopefully they will pipe in shortly

Sorry, I just saw this.  Let me ask my husband about the safe places that might not be as much.  (Guildford is just ridiculous now, which is why we were thinking of moving and making some ££££  from selling our house)

Just got this from Rich:

Like all of these things, the nicer/safer/better areas tend to be the
more expensive ones, but I'd suggest he/she looks at Woking & Farncombe
- they're both fine and less expensive than Guildford.  Godalming and
Farnham are very nice but just as (if not more) expensive.  Basingstoke
wouldn't be the easiest commute (maybe an 45 mins to an hour).


Might want to take a look at:

http://www.findaproperty.co.uk/coun0002.html

That has lots about property prices and some local info and opinions on
places.

I recently interviewed for a job in Old Woking and thought it was a very pleasant area. Not a ton of information, but thought I'd add it to the discussion anyway. 

Thanks for your advice.

What are views on traffic approaches (congested areas etc) to Guildford at commute time? Looking at a map, I can see the A3 is the main artery going through town. But also there is the A323 and A322 coming in from the northwest. Any experiences of best way to commute at the usual commute times (830am and 530pm), and therefore recommended places to live? Is a radius of 10 miles too large?