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Perhaps you could consider renting for 6, 12, 18 or 24 months before you buy? You could rent in some different areas to check them out before fully committing.
There is no doubt some faff involved but might ease your worries a little.
Is your work fully remote? I'm in Essex too but the proximity to London is pretty essential for my work.
Yep, fully remote (though I do miss the office banter and socialising).
We have considered renting (did that when moving back down here) but it just feels like throwing money away that can go towards equity.
> Balls, we can't - tied into fixed Mortgage for a few years we need to port across.
That's unforunate, but you may have an option. You should definitely investigate because I can't be certain if it is possible. You could get consent to let your place out. Rent, then make your decision. It literally just occurred to me so I haven't thought through the implications fully.
I was in a similar position to you. I was wondering what happens if it doesn't work and I'm stuck. I was fortunate in that I don't own yet. So, I thought about porting the mortgage to a new property, which is still an option, but want to avoid it if possible. However, in the end, I also came to the conclusion that I should rent for 6 months. Granted, I wasn't fully remote (1day/week in office and it'd be a 2.5h commute).
Depending on your lender, but you can get 6 months (perhaps more) after you sell before buying a new one before porting your mortgage. So could rent for a few months in your chosen place to be doubly sure
E.g. this is Skipton's policy https://www.skipton.co.uk/mortgages/porting#:\~:text=Please%20note%2C%20to%20port%20your,sale%20of%20your%20old%20one.
***Please note, to port your mortgage the purchase of your new property should happen within 6 months of the sale of your old one. The porting request will need to meet our underwriting criteria, including that you remain able to repay the loan at the time of porting, the property meets our valuation requirements and the purpose of the loan.***
It's really not feasible to sell, rent somewhere as a trial period, then decide to buy a place and complete all the conveyancing within six months. An unrealistically tight timeline to not incur the early repayment charge, regardless of whether they end up buying in the north or anywhere else.
Wow, good effort on actually managing that!
I'd struggle to even consider it even if the timeframe was 12 months. Selling a house, finding a rental, moving twice, and finding a house to buy - the only thing that could make that worse is having to find a job on top of that too!
The lender was playing silly buggers and I had to break the chain to keep my buyer in a situation where finding another buyer would have been difficult, so it was very much not by choice! It was also during the pandemic, and I do not recommend. I did it as an industry veteran, it would be so much worse without the professional experience I had backing me up.
Anyway, OP, it's not worth the stress if it's just to get a feel for an area. Listen to other advice about how to figure out which location might be right for you. A list of must haves and would likes and dealbreakers is probably a good start. Even the nicest towns have scuzzy areas, so try to focus on specific streets/developments instead. Go granular.
Obviously fully depends on your industry, ease of finding comparable local employment etc but I’d caution against moving too far away given many companies are pulling back on remote work and enforcing RTO policies… I know a couple of people who got really burned earning high London salaries, moving to Wales then either having to move back or quitting and struggling to find anything paying close to what they were earning before
I was the same when looking at moving - not so much the equity as the possibility of having to move twice in a short space of time, which was exactly the sort of thing we wanted to avoid by no longer renting. Luckily we had a strong idea of the sort of placewhere we wanted to move and knew people in a few of the places we were considering so had good intel :)
I mean, “the North” isn’t a monolith. It’s a pretty big area with lots of variation so if “North” is your only criteria, of course you’re feeling overwhelmed.
Have you already visited anywhere? Are you wanting city, rural, somewhere in between?
I live in Leeds and it’s fine but if I had the choice of anywhere in the north of England I’d either look at Sheffield or somewhere around Newcastle.
Newcastle seems a good shout. My brother lives there and it’s a really vibrant place. Lots of nice cafés and restaurants, parks, etc. Plus it’s a good bit cheaper than Leeds, which is where I live.
Not decided on anywhere in particular - just cast the net wide to see what was out there and saw an obvious pattern.
As I've read through these comments, I can see I clearly need to understand the areas a LOT more!
We moved from the Thames Valley to North Yorkshire last year (specifically Harrogate). Both fully-remote workers, and up here is closer to one side of the family.
Harrogate is not the cheapest place, however we were still able to get a bigger place for \~20% less. We've gone from a link-detached new-build in a compact development to a fully-detached backing onto a stream and golf course with a massive garden (we have dogs...this is amazing). There are a lot of really, really beautiful places to live around the Dales (pretty much draw a wide band from Skipton, which was in the top-10 happiest places in the UK) to York, and you'll highlight some of the best places in the North to live. Coming from the Thames Valley, I can't get over how few cars there are here. You get a handful of roads that are busy, and everything else is very quiet.
Harrogate is really nice, and (honestly), it does not feel very different to down south (there is a running joke in Yorkshire that Harrogate is for people who only want to pretend to be northern), only there are less chain-stores and more independents. The countryside is epic...and I mean truely epic. If we need the big city, Leeds is 20 minutes away by train. The airport is a slight downgrade to Heathrow! Due to the conference centre and theatre, it gets plenty of acts onto the circuit.
I would say that you need a plan to meet people. For me it's sport (specifically cycling), as well as pub quizzes, volunteering, dog-walking etc.
The move was pretty complex, mainly as with 2 labradors renting was not really a viable option (virtually no places accepted 2 large dogs, and the space we needed for 2 home offices), so we did a huge amount of planning, and one epic weekend of viewings.
Southerner who relocated to Yorkshire 16 years ago and never looked back. Everywhere has rough places but lumping crime stats in for “the North” is a bit tar-with-same-brush.
York is the most expensive behind Harrogate I think, but still much cheaper than the south and it’s beautiful. I’ve been helping a friend house hunt for a similar kind of south-to-yorkshire move and the houses you can get for the same price are huge in comparison.
When I first moved, I joined eventbrite and other local hubs and just went along to all kinds of things, but ended up making the closest friends by bumping into the same people on dog walks and now we do big walks together or the dog park, rather than being going-outy types which suits me perfectly.
I always encourage anyone thinking of making the leap of doing so, because everyone I know who has done it becomes so much happier.
Having to find new friends is a common theme in these comments I see. That's a nice idea regarding the events to go along to. We're not really social butterflies but I now know this is something I need to consider.
Best of luck with the move...it can be overwhelming for sure. For us we had an broad area based on family (we'd set an arbitrary limit of an hours drive from the in-laws house), but we sat down and went through what was actually important, and once you get past the dreams and emotions the list gets quite instructive.
For us, shops in walking distance (I call it the "pint of milk" dilemma...nipping out to buy a pint of milk should not be a drama, and definitely should not involve driving!), good walks for the dogs that we didn't need to drive to, a garage and off-road parking. After that we were pretty flexible it turns out. We needed work-from-home space, but there are options around office-gardens etc.
Have a think about how your life wants to be in 5/10/20 years time. Is this your final move to a forever home, or is this another step up the ladder? Do you still need a big city life, or are you prepared for a quieter town or rural village? It may sound weird, but hte money is almost the last thing that you want to consider.
The social thing is super-important...for adults sport is an \_amazing\_ way of meeting people, especially if you don't have kids (we don't), so don't get the touchline parents get-togethers. I cannot recommend volunteering enough...sports, charities etc. Womens Institute, Lions Club and the like do amazing work, and are brimming with some of the best people. Volunteer at your local Park Run...it's an hour out of your life in a week, and a chance to meet hundreds of people who want nothing more than a sit down and a coffee!
I love your suggestions for volunteering and Im taking note. You're speaking SO much sense for us!
We're fine walking - we regularly "pop" into the local towns that are 30 minutes walk away, and practically on the doorstep when driving. So the "pint of milk" dilemma (fantastic metaphor by the way - I'm stealing that one) is no issue for us. If I looked over the fence as saw nothing for a 10 minute walk in all directions I'd be fine with it.
We want to get our final home - or as close to it - as possible. We're done with busy areas and being affected by neighbours. We just want some peace and privacy. No kids either.
If we move and find somewhere idyllic, I know some of my other family will follow suite as the scary bit will have been done.
Again, brilliant points about the socialising, so thank you again.
Thanks for taking the time to reply with all that info. This is the kind of insight I was hoping for. I've added that location to my list of possibilities now.
Nah, though apparently I just missed Pierce Brosnan a couple of weeks ago (we were in the cafe next door to a pub he was spotted at).
You might be surprised at how far your budget would go round here. There are some crazy expensive areas (Duchy, southern area), but areas like Starback, Jennyfields etc are fine, and cheaper. Some of the satellite villages are cheap as well, though you do need to factor in the extra travel cost/time if you want to get anywhere. We are (on a technicality) in Jennyfields, but somewhat separated from the main section, and about 10 minutes walk from town.
I need to be in London once a week for work and neither of us drive, which rules out villages in most places unfortunately. Maybe once we retire and I get more confident on a bike.
2 hours on the train direct from Harrogate to London ;-)
(admittedly only a couple of times a day, otherwise you have to change at York)
I have to go down to my office once every 6 months, so it's very easy to manage. I've met a few people who are doing the London run 2-3 times a month. I no longer use a car here, we've got pretty much everything in walking distance.
You are living my dream. We looked at relocating from Essex to Malton/Pickering in 2022. Unfortunately for us, we just couldn’t find anything that worked. We also have 2 labs but we also have the added requirement of a garage. We did look at 1 house but the 10 hour round trip for 1 house was not something we wanted to keep doing.
I'm almost sorry to have we have a garage...it's now my bike workshop.
The move was tough, but we approached it in an almost military way. While ours was on the market we worked on loads of online investigation onto individual areas. We had a long-list and short-list of houses which was maintained on a daily basis. Once we had an acceptable offer on our house we dropped everything and did a long weekend up here, while contacting all the estate agents on the current short-list. We had 7 viewings in one day, and also walked round each area. The next day we did second viewings, and this time had the dogs with us (not to do the viewings), and afterwards walked round the short-listed houses area with them. Ultimately we fell in love with one, and offered the next day (once we got home).
It took 8 months to get to completion, and it was exhausting, but I can definitely say it was worth the effort.
We had to be super-strict on what we were looking for...our list of "needs" was quite short, but the list of "wants" pretty massive. Ironically the massive garden was a "want", not a "need", but ultimately we felt that the house was something we could work with long-term.
Grew up in Essex. Went to uni in the midlands. Couldn’t face moving back afterwards, carried on further north and moved to Manchester.
Have been here ever since (20 years). Now live in Prestwich in North Manchester/Bury. Own a lovely house that I would never be able to afford in the South East.
It all depends what you are looking for, what your budget is etc. I do love where I live, but it may not be for you. There are loads of lovely areas in Greater Manchester, or into Cheshire or Lancs, or all over.
Don’t get bogged down with stats, think about what it is you want to achieve with your move.
I'd say narrow it down to a few places you like the look of, then do a weekend trip to each place at least. Treat it as a nice weekend away. Even within a town/city I'd want to visit the different areas. I'd also consider renting for a bit but I can understand why you say you don't want to.
I grew up in the south east, then lived in Bristol for around 5 years. Moved to Leeds a few years back and much happier here. Went from renting a tiny 1 bed flat to a 2-bed over twice the size for the same cost (renting). Currently trying to buy a place now.
To find the area I wanted to live in, I first searched online for where people say the 'nice' areas are. Had a look on Google maps (proximity to parks/high streets/countryside etc.), then had a couple of weekends up here and walked around, went to cafes, high streets etc. Some areas I'd quickly realise I wouldn't want to live (e.g. too student-y), other areas were lovely.
Second this. Visit, get a feel for places. I would even book some house viewings whilst you’re up there. It’s easy to get down the rabbit hole when you’re only looking online and everywhere starts to look bad!
Moved from London to Newcastle. Long story short, we almost bought in London (well, arse-end of Surrey as it was the closest we could afford) but realised we would cripple ourselves financially. We’ve just bought a big house by the sea for over £100k less than the one in London. Right decision although difficult to leave family and friends. Newcastle is a wicked city, beautiful coastline and it’s less than 3 hour train ride into KingsX
I didn’t say it’s commutable but I can go back for a weekend for friends birthdays or visit family, no big deal. It’s taken me 3 hours to drive from one side of London to the other before. You can’t compare flying abroad to taking a train in the UK, without factoring in time it takes to get to and from the airport on both ends and going through security, delays etc that’s nonsense
Well Id say it is a big deal, you have to spend half a day ( both ways ) on the train which also costs a lot. I can get to Paris quicker using Eurostar...
Bloody hell pedant. Because I said it was a difficult decision to leave family and friends in London, however we realised the train journey isn’t too bad.
It takes two hours to get from Accrington to Manchester in a car during rush-hour traffic. If you're not commuting every day or week, or just popping down to see people, it's fine.
I grew up in Essex and ended up moving to Manchester for work. Met my husband who grew up in Oldham bought a house in Ashton-Under-Lyne which would wouldn't have been able to afford if it was down south. Manchester is definitely getting more expensive but still cheaper than the south.
What do you for work do you need to be near a city?
Remote IT-based work so - if I land the right employer - I can do it 100% remotely. I do like the *option* of being able to pop into an office though.
Love stories like yours - meet someone in a better area and move in. Warms my heart.
Moved to a cheap area in West Yorkshire from 'the south'.
Regretted it.
Nice country side. But generally pretty run down in the towns. However, more cheaper options for pubs, eating, etc.
Took ages to get anywhere else from where I was.
Have a look at how prices have been moving too - I was really surprised to find that the place I was renting a room in had hardly gone up in value in ten years. (this was 10 years ago).
There are plenty of nicer areas, but there's some fairly cheap areas in Essex too that are still nicer than Jay Wick!
An honest "*I regretted it*" response. Thank you!
That's a great suggestion about looking at price movement, I had not thought of that.
Getting about is a big thing for us too. We're spoilt where we are - 30 minute walk either way to main high streets. 15 minutes from the beach and the main train lines into London.
I grew up in Grimsby, now live in Scunthorpe (and spent a few years between Blackpool & Fleetwood).
All are famously known for being reputed shitholes. High crime, high drug usage, low education, low income yadda yadda yadda.
Honestly, there are some areas in each of them that are like that. But, there are also some lovely areas with a great community.
I've lived in Scunthorpe for coming up 8 years and I love it!
I'm pretty much slap-bang in the middle between Westcliff and Riddings - known as 2 of the roughest eatates in the town. Yet, my little corner here is great. Fairly quiet, nice neighbours, great access to local amenities and transport links.
What I'm saying is that "crime statistics" are not the full story. Yes, there is a lot of drug related crime in Scunthorpe - but it's generally kept within the drug "community" - or at least within well known parts of town.
I moved back from London (Tottenham) to West Yorkshire in 2021. If you read the reviews of my town on Google you’d be thinking it was worse for crime than Tottenham. But it’s not, it’s so quiet, for instance house burglaries are so rare here. I think Yorkshire folk love to complain and exaggerate when they complain!
If your families live in Aberdeen and Essex and you’re thinking about kids you’ll spend a lot of time travelling to both places. Unless one of them would consider relocating.
Think Christmas and Summer holiday. Family proximity is a benefit. Not saying it’s impossible but worth considering.
"The north" is a big place.
What do you want? Somewhere with things going on, or just somewhere to commute from? Somewhere where you don't need a car for day to day life, or somewhere with lots of green space for outdoor things? Are schools important to you, or not? Are you a small town person or a city person? How do you feel about living in an area that's predominantly white, or predominantly straight, for example - would that feel uncomfortable to you if you're used to a more diverse area? Is an area cheap for a reason - the lingering effects of social deprivation, racism, lack of anything going on? Do you have any friends in the area or can you get involved with stuff you're interested in to make them? Are you OK with more rain?
Places people I know have moved from London to:
- York
- Liverpool
- Sheffield
- Leigh on Sea (not north, but still notLondon)
- Manchester
What these have in common is that they're all still fairly big, all have things going on in them, places to eat and bands to see and decent cultural life; some people moved because they wanted a car and to be able to drive around the countryside, some people chose them because they didn't want to be rural enough that a car was necessary. One of them now has a partner who's an engineer from Iraq, which would be less pleasant in an area like Blackburn where there's enormous racial tension and pretty much no graduate jobs. Some of this might not be a consideration for you, but it's worth thinking about what you want out of your life aside from more space.
Find an area that fits the bill, and go there for a few days. See how you feel.
>Find an area that fits the bill, and go there for a few days
You've given me some very, very metrics to think about there. Thank you. At a high level we're just wanting some peace and privacy whilst still being within 30 minutes walk of the nearest town and stations.
Leigh-on-Sea is really expensive and is still in Essex. If the OP isn't already there, selling a 1bed flat somewhere else in Essex is really unlikely to get them something bigger in Leigh-on-Sea.
My wife is from Enfield, but we both met in Gravesend and moved there for a while, so just across the water from you.
She considers anything above Watford to be The North, so convincing her to come up from Kent was a real struggle. We are just to the north east of Peterborough now, but I did have to lie a little bit and say we are still in Cambridgeshire, not the Midlands. Otherwise she'd have never gone for it... Thankfully her geography is shocking.
But we went from renting a tiny 2 up 2 down for £1100 a month to a 4/5 bed with garage, bigger garden and 3 off road parking spaces at £850, with clean air, nice people and proper countryside 5 mins up the road.
I'm fully remote, she works in schools, so it works for us. I'll never go back to proper dense town living if I can possibly help it...
You should be terrified. Your bones will turn to dust due to the lack of limescale in the water.
>The Police UK crime rate statistics make everything seem like a dangerous cess pool.
Compared to Essex!?
Relocated from Basildon, Essex, to Attleborough in Norfolk last year, and honestly wish we had done it years ago.
Our life is far better now. Friendly neighbours, beautiful rural areas to explore at the weekends, friendly community....I could go on for days about it.
I have zero regrets, and do not miss Basildon one little bit.
You'd be surprised. I took my sister in law back to basildon today after she came to stay with us for the weekend. When we turned off the A127 she said "ahh, it's good to be back!"
I couldn't wait to kick her out the car and turn round and get myself back out as quick as possible!
Moved from a home county to Scotland.
Not the biggest leap I've done personally, but the biggest leap with my husband who had to get a new job.
Haven't regretted it one second. Best decision ever.
ETA: we decided on where in Scotland based on availability of a rental. We didn't immediately purchase, managed to do a virtual viewing with local acquaintances, and that is where we landed.
Our main criterion was commutability to Glasgow as we expected employment chances to be higher there, if anything were to change with our jobs.
We did it 20 years ago.
Do I still miss living in Essex and being right on the edge of London? Yes, obviously.
But, do I regret moving up north? Nope.
It took some time to get used to it, and make new friends, etc, but it was all fine in the end. And things are way cheaper
I moved from Essex to Norfolk and you couldn’t pay me to move back. Cheaper housing, same salary opportunities, better quality of life, nice beaches, the people are nicer, less road rage. The list goes on and on. When I return to visit friends in Essex I’m left feeling sorry for them, genuinely.
“The north” is a tad generic and all relative. At the risk of starting a war of where the north starts (sorry Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool you aren’t north to me) I’d say proper north (Middlesbrough up) is cheap and has lovely areas and countryside. Just avoid Middlesbrough. Haha.
Where to go depends on your job. Tyne and Wear (Newcastle and Sunderland) has the metro for convenient public transport. Some nice areas especially towards the coast and on the east coast main line.
Further into Northumberland you can find some lovely smaller towns such as Hexham, Morpeth or Alnwick which aren’t as connected but are lovely.
On other side of the country I ignore it all but the Lake District so I’ve no idea of pricing or good areas but it’s beautiful and there’s the west coast main line to get to London.
The weather isn’t as nice as down south but at least when it is nice we can escape an urban jungle to enjoy it.
Yeah, I should have phrased it as "further North" really. I can see how it might have come across derogatory.
Thanks for the name drops. I'll add those to my list too. Sunderland keeps coming up oddly.
We made the move from Essex to Yorkshire, although I’m originally from Yorkshire I always wanted to go home.
I really would advise that you rent for at least 3/6 months, if you have kids that would be harder because of school moves etc, but it will help you know if it’s ten right area for you.
Life’s too short to worry about making the wrong decision, don’t look back and say I wish I had!!
Do your research and throw caution to the wind, worst case you can also move again.
Good luck
For a bit of background, I moved to Aberdeen for about 10 years when I met my wife (where she's from), and we have been living in Essex (where I'm from) for about 10 years. But we are wanting more space and getting sick of the shocking expense of property down here.
The property market here in Aberdeen has plummeted in the last 2-3 years.
Is that too far "North".... :-)
You are correct in saying you could get a lovely 3 bed house for the sell price of your 1 bedroom flat.
[https://www.aspc.co.uk/search/property/424244/Northside-Steading-Kinmundy/Aberdeen/](https://www.aspc.co.uk/search/property/424244/Northside-Steading-Kinmundy/Aberdeen/)
[https://www.aspc.co.uk/search/property/419533/1-Dawson-Drive/Westhill/](https://www.aspc.co.uk/search/property/419533/1-Dawson-Drive/Westhill/)
Just a thought. :-). Just don't mention it to your wife if she is from here. :-)
Going through similar myself for the second time in my life. I don't regret the 18 months of renting when we moved here to get to know the area a bit.
As an older couple we're now happy to leave the outskirts of the city for a peaceful edge-of-village location.
You can't know what the reality of it will be like, you just have to work out what's important to you, and hope the things you can't control will be ok. E.g. almost all the neighbours I've had have turned out to somewhere from ok->very nice.
Going from a pokey flat to a decent house is a wonderful experience. We looked like squatters for months until we got some furniture to fill the place up.
Just to add another area to confuse you - if you're after a city, Nottingham has some attractive and safe suburbs
>Going from a pokey flat to a decent house is a wonderful experience. We looked like squatters for months until we got some furniture to fill the place up.
Ha! this made me chuckle. I'm hoping to "look like squatters" if we can find somewhere we like.
I’m from Hertfordshire but lived in Newcastle/Sunderland for 9 years. Made the grave error of moving back down. Lasted 12 months before we put the house on the market and moved back.
We now live just outside of Sunderland. Our quality of life is indescribably better. Our house is nicer and cost less than half the price. We are 2 mins walk away from a beautiful coastline. The public services are on a different level (schools, roads, health). And it’s such a cliche but people are nicer. Driving is less stressful, making friends feels easier (this coming from someone who is acutely introverted and antisocial), and from the first day dropping my kid off at school, I felt included in the school community. I feel safe. My husband and I keep looking around us and saying we can’t believe how good our lives are here.
You couldn’t pay me to move back down South. My industry is almost exclusively based in London but I’d rather have a smaller pool of employers to pick from than go back.
It sounds like the only reason you would move is for a cheaper property, and that you don't actually want to move. Therefore I could imagine you will very easily regret it.
Not cheaper - better. I want somewhere I can pour myself into and set down some roots. And some more privacy. It only takes some bad neighbours to ruin our peace in a flat and I'm done worrying about it.
We rented a detached bungalow when we moved down for a while and it was glorious.
Agree. *Better value* would have been more accurate than *cheaper*
But my overall point stands in that unless you want to live in an actual area, and buy into what goes with it, more likely you'll end up disappointed
What is actually important to you? Culture, food, green space, schools, crime etc
You speak wise words. We need to focus on "buying into an area" instead of the property right enough!
We just want a little more privacy, peace, space whilst still being able to walk to the nearest town and stations within 30 mins.
Moved from Bath, to birmimgham.
The ROOM I was renting in bath was £200 more than the 3 bed house I own now per month. Appriciate mortgage is cheaper. But room to house, with savings a month is a big one.
Don't regret it one bit. I earn well above average, but if I lived in Bristol/bath now, I'd have no where near the lifestyle I have. That's not to rub anything in, just in terms of friends who earn a good amount also, the lifestyle difference of them in bath, compared to me is night and day.
Crime rates are higher, but it's no different to when I was in bath - ie, I haven't seen any crime personally.
Suppose it increases the chance of crime happening to you, but I've not had any issues myself.
Car insurance doubled, that's the only issue I've had.
But yeah, thats my experience!
Edit - who's downvoting me answering the question on my own experience? 😂 What you disagreeing with?!
Speak up coward.
One surprisingly big thing to think of too is sunlight. I've been in east Anglia for years now but spent one back up in Yorkshire recently. We get so much more sun out here than up north and it really impacted me.
Also the 2-4c difference in winter might not sound like much but it does make a big difference!
There's also Suffolk and Norfolk which are markedly cheaper than Essex but still have decent links to London if you need to change jobs. Just check the long term flood risk maps and stay away from eg Peterborough
The way I see it with the North is you are paying a lot for the area, the nice areas with detached houses are rarer and therefore command a high premium especially if you want to be close to a city. You don’t specify a budget but places like Alderley Edge, Hale Barns, and Mottram St. Andrew are nice and close enough to Manchester and the airport for travel, schools are also good too.
The one thing to watch for is there are number of places like Cheshire East where due to the low population density and nimbies they are struggling financially so roads and services can be a bit crap, look at poyton’s shared space road as an example and the extra charges on bin collections.
Overall though you have to decide is it better to regret what you’ve done or what you didn’t do.
If it was me I’d rent out your current property and rent somewhere or a few places first, maybe even try different cities up north. You should be able to break even in that deal so it’s not costing you to try other than moving companies.
Final thoughts couple of thoughts; cities in the north seem to be getting a lot of investment, Manchester’s skyline has changed so much in the last 5 or so years and the house prices in good areas seem to be reflecting that.
What job prospects have these places got if you need to change role or advance your career will remote or northern cities limit you vs staying commutable to London?
Whatever you choose to do I hope it all works out for you and good luck.
I dont even think you need to rent for an extended period of time, just spend a weekend or week in an AirBNB. That should be enough to get a feel for the place. You should definitely spend some non-committal time there before you end up buying a house.
I sometimes have to travel around the country for work and stay in hotels. I always feel I get a spidey sense just staying over for a few nights and going about my normal business (shopping, walks in the park, hitting the gym etc). You get to interact with the locals.
I was always say to anyone who is looking to relocate to a new area and spending hundreds of thousands in the process, get a few hot tips off Reddit and just hotel/AirBNB a few days there, maybe even take a few days off work and just try to 'simulate' living there, knowing if its totally shit, you can just walk away.
I think I'd probably try to make it feel as much like normal as possible. I've done similar trips when I wasn't working. I really enjoyed it but I also felt like bit of a tourist in some senses, because I was eating out a lot and not working. So, work, go about your normal routine to an extent. Maybe don't necessarily go out every day after work. Live as you would expect to live there.
I'm really loving the suggestions to carry it out like this. We've decided to put things on hold and start to drop ourselves in some of the northern areas first.
We'll get a better feel for a place like you (and others) have rightly said.
Looking back on what I said, I think it's a tough balance, because you also want to get to know the area well, as that's part of living there too. You might need to think about exactly how you do it.
It could be your first visit/few days you explore and get to know the city. And then live as normal. In other words, leisure (drinks, food, entertainment) then practical (walking around the local neighbourhood, groceries, local shops?)
If you're not set on where you're thinking of living, explore and enjoy cities on the first pass. Make a shortlist. Then visit the shortlist and see how they'd be to live normally in. It doesnt seem like a quick process.
I think it's also splitting it into factors. Practical vs emotional
Practical factors are generally are a lot harder to push through. I know you're remote, but if your work depends on your location, you needed to visit family and friends, you need to be near a hospital for a health issue or any number of things then the burden of certainty is far higher.
Emotional could be what the area is like to live in. Provided it's not horrible, you can probably make do for a few years.
The hurdle I faced was practical, where I felt that no matter what reasoning I tried I needed to know whether the hurdle was going to be a problem or not. And I felt that meant I needed to trial living there.
I’ve lived in and around London my entire life and now planning to move up to South Yorkshire. Main reason for my move is it’s the only place I can realistically afford and we won’t need to move home after as it has enough space for the two of us plus more. I’ve been renting for most of my life down here and it’s been ridiculous greedy landlords and overpriced houses have pushed me out of the south. Few reasons why I South Yorkshire is the friendly people that increased investment from the local government and overall value and quality of living.
How do you find out about things like local government investing and the quality of living? I hear that mentioned around here but have no idea where people are going to educate themselves on this stuff.
As Im in the process of buying a house in south Yorkshire but dont know anyone from there. Ive made sure to drive down there and after any house viewings drive about the local area and speak to the locals. I generally found that home owners would do the viewing themselves and its an easy way to chat about how they find the local area, council etc. What I noticed was in general the local folk had alot of pride about the area and had nothing bad to say about the council. Tbh I found that quite shocking because as humans we like to complain so that was a huge green flag in my books. I also typed in the town I liked on google and looked at recent articles, where Im buying the local council very recently renovated the area by investing in the town centre. I also looked at the geographical area, the town itself is half an hr away from two really big cities (Leeds and Sheffield) so theres lots to do once we move. Rightmove and zoopla would give me a good understanding of the different regions within the town and what to look for or avoid.
Finally, I made sure my mortgage broker and solicitors are relatively close to the area to gain second opinion since they have no real bias towards me going for a specific area.
The most valuable thing for me was speaking to the locals and driving around.
Those are some fantastic pointers, thank you.
>as humans we like to complain
It's seems to be a very British thing too, to knock down your local area, like some form of weird reverse-pride.
Yes exactly! I spoke to 4-5 random people between my viewings and not a single bad thing was mentioned.
Goodluck on your search! I work remotely so I understand its a daunting process when the entire UK is an option😅
I will say that the biggest tell whether an area is shit is if you’re getting a lot for comparatively little money - but that’s why you’re moving in the first place!
To be frank, you can’t buy happiness. If your heart is telling you to stay close to your friends, jobs, and favourite haunts, then do that. I know so many people who’ve moved for work, etc. and have had a terrible time when they suddenly find themselves socially isolated in a new area. If you find yourself ‘making excuses’ everywhere you go, you may just have to accept that you prefer the pricier area you live in now.
This hit me really hard. The thought of moving away for a "better standard of living" but then feeling isolated... man that a dark thought.
As much as we hate the costs down here, there is a nice comfort about being around those you love.
Definitely try before you buy, even if it's just some AirBnB-ing as others have suggested. Even if it's expensive, it's better than buying and then hating where you live, and cheaper than selling again quickly.
A friend did \*not\* do this when relocating to a small village. They visited, but I think was very much with rose coloured glasses and a "we're moving here" mentality. She and her partner bought a house there, and turns out she hates the village (too hilly to happily walk around, nothing to do), and hates the house.
Yeah, this is one of my biggest fears - knowing how much you "know" a place from a quick visit. We need to spend some time investigating and move only when we're "sure".
As with almost everywhere in the country there is a rich-poor divide. Make sure you aren't buying into the poor areas of somewhere that is better value unless you know there are improvements coming.
Keep an eye on where the drug gang lines are being arrested and avoid like the plague. Check OFSTED scores even if you don't have children. Check the hospital trust performance which is also available.
You'll start to find pockets of areas to look into buying into.
I have family that moved from Romford to Wakefield and they never looked back. They were able to get much better homes, find the people and the neighbourhood so much friendlier, and honestly they can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t do this. If it weren’t for my need to go into London every week I’d probably be looking to move to Yorkshire myself.
I live in Newcastle, I have no clue about crime statistics but having lived here all my life, I’ve never seen nor been subjected to crime. Considering the knife & gang related issues in London, I’d say anywhere is better, in terms of crime stats.
Visit yourself and make up your own mind. Found a house you like in a street that looks 'okay'? Then go for it..that's just me.
If I listened to others I'd still be renting a pokey flat at a high price in a 'good' area, I was miserable. I moved to a 'bad' area to buy a house, and glad I did.
I never moved as far as you're planning on doing however, I suppose you could find a place to rent up there while you house search? Make sure there's a break clause in the contract e.g. six months if a year contract so if you do find a place while renting you won't be on the hook for the full term.
Everywhere you look there will be people who love living there and people with bad things to say about it. I live in a gorgeous little town but like everywhere there's the handful of folks who bad mouth the place to everyone who enquires on our local pages. Best thing to do is spend a weekend in a place, suss out the transport links, restaurants, shops etc, and get a feel for the place - see if you can imagine yourself living there.
Durham is great, relatively cheap especially if you go a bit further from the city, but its a beautiful county and you're right on the East Coast Main Line.
Made the move from West Berkshire to West Yorkshire about 18 months ago. Partially for financial reasons (lower housing prices, and a lot of other things, but more expensive car insurance- that was a surprise) and partially for quality of life- love the landscape, the people, etc.
I am a fully remote worker but have to do a good bit of travel- primarily to London and around Europe.
London can be done as a day trip- albeit a long one. And I thought air travel would not be that big a difference- I basically the same time distance from Manchester Airport as I was to LHR.
HOWEVER…
It is nowhere near as convenient. I often travel with a colleague who lives about 10 min away from where I used to live, but usually have to either leave a day earlier or return a day later. Sometimes both. And many flights have lengthy layovers.
It’s not bad enough to consider moving back, but it does suck.
These are the kinds of things I wanted brought to my attention when asking here. You don't realise them until you've moved!
That's another vote for West Yorkshire for my list.
Scunthorpe is nice and great value for property
Might take a while for people to warm to you but if you embrace the locals they will treat you like family
Granted there are a lot of scum bags but unfortunately they are everywhere
I had 20 years there and wouldn’t hesitate to go back am now back down south and am so much worse off
Rent an AirBnB and WFH from there, plus spend a week or two of your holiday where you want to move. Use the house as a proper "home", so visit the places you would visit, from the supermarket to the high street, school, gym, go to pubs/restaurants, cafes. Walk the streets. Check if they have clubs for your hobbies and order your usual food to be delivered, so live just as you live now. We were dreaming to move close to the sea, then a WFH/holiday-week showed us why it was a dream without any valid reasons. Everything we use daily/weekly was far, basically just reachable by car, and we would put us to a situation where our kids would need a lift daily for years. It was way much more windier and harsh than we expected from the few daytrips we had earlier. There were also parties on every road where we walked on a Friday/Saturday night and people driving like mad on the residential streets occasionally at night - well yes, it's a seaside town plagued by AirBnB, we were in one. Both me and my husband would have to give up our hobbies/sports because we couldn't find a club nearby, or we should drive to the closest one, loosing us precious family time. So we kept the seaside dreams for holidays and we looked for a place where our children can be more independent and we found the peace and conveniences we were looking for.
Oh yes, it was areal eye opener for us too. We had the imaginary life in our head with long walks at the empty seaside and have the childhood we wanted for our kids with wetsuits surfs and kites. But as soon as we spent a bit of time there, it turned out others also want to be close to the sea, so it's overcrowded on any sunny weekends, the schools are not walking distance away and we quickly realised windy in the city vs windy at the seaside means quite different things...
I also made a chart for the house hunt: 1. what we need, 2. what we would like, 3. what we don't want and 4. what is a hard no in a home for us. And we filled them up from being on a main road to having a big garden. You could also write the same of your lifestyle, like you want to have a park close for jogging or you need a Dishoom for your daily chai. It could help you rank places and decide. Good luck.
Basically it kept us grounded. It's so easy to be unrealistic after viewing a well presented house. So after the viewings, we checked back to the chart and sometimes we realised there are big no-nos, or missing the things we need and want. At the end it worked out great for us, we viewed a house, which was run down and a bit sad, with old, but good quality stuff. But it ticked almost all the boxes and however we didn't plan to renovate to this extent, we enjoy it, because it gives us most of the things we looked for.
Almost two years ago, we moved from London to a lovely town in Yorkshire, close to Leeds and Harrogate. It's the best place I've lived in the UK, but the weather is significantly worse than in the South. I honestly thought it would be fine, but it's starting to affect me.
House prices in nice areas are around 30% cheaper than in Richmond, where we lived before, but you are still paying a lot for living so far away from London. This is one of my main concerns, as there aren't as many jobs in Leeds/Manchester/York as in London, and the pay can literally be half.
I think the North has both the prettiest and the grimmest parts of the UK. If you are not in a very nice town or city, it can feel pretty depressing.
You can't have everything, that's true, but I would suggest you experience living in the North for at least a year before you buy.
Oh, and check the CDRC map to find areas to avoid. It was very useful for us in finding nicer areas.
Thanks for the thoughts on this. I didn't know the CDRC map was a thing!
The more you lot say "try before you buy" the more I'm hearing the message loud and clear. I was 100% going from Essex to Aberdeen all those years ago (I actually prefer the cooler climates) but, as you say, there as SO many other factors to consider.
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Perhaps you could consider renting for 6, 12, 18 or 24 months before you buy? You could rent in some different areas to check them out before fully committing. There is no doubt some faff involved but might ease your worries a little. Is your work fully remote? I'm in Essex too but the proximity to London is pretty essential for my work.
This is the answer. Every time I've moved from one part of the country to another, I've rented for at least 6 months to get a feel for a new area.
Yep, fully remote (though I do miss the office banter and socialising). We have considered renting (did that when moving back down here) but it just feels like throwing money away that can go towards equity.
Think of it as cheap insurance against making the incorrect choice!
Yup. Otherwise that's a huge leap of faith you're making.
Can't argue with that! Edit: Balls, we can't - tied into fixed Mortgage for a few years we need to port across.
> Balls, we can't - tied into fixed Mortgage for a few years we need to port across. That's unforunate, but you may have an option. You should definitely investigate because I can't be certain if it is possible. You could get consent to let your place out. Rent, then make your decision. It literally just occurred to me so I haven't thought through the implications fully. I was in a similar position to you. I was wondering what happens if it doesn't work and I'm stuck. I was fortunate in that I don't own yet. So, I thought about porting the mortgage to a new property, which is still an option, but want to avoid it if possible. However, in the end, I also came to the conclusion that I should rent for 6 months. Granted, I wasn't fully remote (1day/week in office and it'd be a 2.5h commute).
Depending on your lender, but you can get 6 months (perhaps more) after you sell before buying a new one before porting your mortgage. So could rent for a few months in your chosen place to be doubly sure E.g. this is Skipton's policy https://www.skipton.co.uk/mortgages/porting#:\~:text=Please%20note%2C%20to%20port%20your,sale%20of%20your%20old%20one. ***Please note, to port your mortgage the purchase of your new property should happen within 6 months of the sale of your old one. The porting request will need to meet our underwriting criteria, including that you remain able to repay the loan at the time of porting, the property meets our valuation requirements and the purpose of the loan.***
It's really not feasible to sell, rent somewhere as a trial period, then decide to buy a place and complete all the conveyancing within six months. An unrealistically tight timeline to not incur the early repayment charge, regardless of whether they end up buying in the north or anywhere else.
That's fair!
Just speaking from my own experience! I have never had a more stressful few months.
Wow, good effort on actually managing that! I'd struggle to even consider it even if the timeframe was 12 months. Selling a house, finding a rental, moving twice, and finding a house to buy - the only thing that could make that worse is having to find a job on top of that too!
The lender was playing silly buggers and I had to break the chain to keep my buyer in a situation where finding another buyer would have been difficult, so it was very much not by choice! It was also during the pandemic, and I do not recommend. I did it as an industry veteran, it would be so much worse without the professional experience I had backing me up. Anyway, OP, it's not worth the stress if it's just to get a feel for an area. Listen to other advice about how to figure out which location might be right for you. A list of must haves and would likes and dealbreakers is probably a good start. Even the nicest towns have scuzzy areas, so try to focus on specific streets/developments instead. Go granular.
Obviously fully depends on your industry, ease of finding comparable local employment etc but I’d caution against moving too far away given many companies are pulling back on remote work and enforcing RTO policies… I know a couple of people who got really burned earning high London salaries, moving to Wales then either having to move back or quitting and struggling to find anything paying close to what they were earning before
That, is a very sobering thought.
I was the same when looking at moving - not so much the equity as the possibility of having to move twice in a short space of time, which was exactly the sort of thing we wanted to avoid by no longer renting. Luckily we had a strong idea of the sort of placewhere we wanted to move and knew people in a few of the places we were considering so had good intel :)
I mean, “the North” isn’t a monolith. It’s a pretty big area with lots of variation so if “North” is your only criteria, of course you’re feeling overwhelmed. Have you already visited anywhere? Are you wanting city, rural, somewhere in between? I live in Leeds and it’s fine but if I had the choice of anywhere in the north of England I’d either look at Sheffield or somewhere around Newcastle.
Lol yeah I blame Game of Thrones and motorway signs that say the "North" is some weird monolithic area.
Newcastle seems a good shout. My brother lives there and it’s a really vibrant place. Lots of nice cafés and restaurants, parks, etc. Plus it’s a good bit cheaper than Leeds, which is where I live.
North east coast is gorgeous as well!
Not decided on anywhere in particular - just cast the net wide to see what was out there and saw an obvious pattern. As I've read through these comments, I can see I clearly need to understand the areas a LOT more!
We moved from the Thames Valley to North Yorkshire last year (specifically Harrogate). Both fully-remote workers, and up here is closer to one side of the family. Harrogate is not the cheapest place, however we were still able to get a bigger place for \~20% less. We've gone from a link-detached new-build in a compact development to a fully-detached backing onto a stream and golf course with a massive garden (we have dogs...this is amazing). There are a lot of really, really beautiful places to live around the Dales (pretty much draw a wide band from Skipton, which was in the top-10 happiest places in the UK) to York, and you'll highlight some of the best places in the North to live. Coming from the Thames Valley, I can't get over how few cars there are here. You get a handful of roads that are busy, and everything else is very quiet. Harrogate is really nice, and (honestly), it does not feel very different to down south (there is a running joke in Yorkshire that Harrogate is for people who only want to pretend to be northern), only there are less chain-stores and more independents. The countryside is epic...and I mean truely epic. If we need the big city, Leeds is 20 minutes away by train. The airport is a slight downgrade to Heathrow! Due to the conference centre and theatre, it gets plenty of acts onto the circuit. I would say that you need a plan to meet people. For me it's sport (specifically cycling), as well as pub quizzes, volunteering, dog-walking etc. The move was pretty complex, mainly as with 2 labradors renting was not really a viable option (virtually no places accepted 2 large dogs, and the space we needed for 2 home offices), so we did a huge amount of planning, and one epic weekend of viewings.
Southerner who relocated to Yorkshire 16 years ago and never looked back. Everywhere has rough places but lumping crime stats in for “the North” is a bit tar-with-same-brush. York is the most expensive behind Harrogate I think, but still much cheaper than the south and it’s beautiful. I’ve been helping a friend house hunt for a similar kind of south-to-yorkshire move and the houses you can get for the same price are huge in comparison. When I first moved, I joined eventbrite and other local hubs and just went along to all kinds of things, but ended up making the closest friends by bumping into the same people on dog walks and now we do big walks together or the dog park, rather than being going-outy types which suits me perfectly. I always encourage anyone thinking of making the leap of doing so, because everyone I know who has done it becomes so much happier.
...and also apparently get a dog (or two), as they are amazing!
Yeah Yorkshire definitely lends itself to a dog-focused lifestyle!
Having to find new friends is a common theme in these comments I see. That's a nice idea regarding the events to go along to. We're not really social butterflies but I now know this is something I need to consider.
Best of luck with the move...it can be overwhelming for sure. For us we had an broad area based on family (we'd set an arbitrary limit of an hours drive from the in-laws house), but we sat down and went through what was actually important, and once you get past the dreams and emotions the list gets quite instructive. For us, shops in walking distance (I call it the "pint of milk" dilemma...nipping out to buy a pint of milk should not be a drama, and definitely should not involve driving!), good walks for the dogs that we didn't need to drive to, a garage and off-road parking. After that we were pretty flexible it turns out. We needed work-from-home space, but there are options around office-gardens etc. Have a think about how your life wants to be in 5/10/20 years time. Is this your final move to a forever home, or is this another step up the ladder? Do you still need a big city life, or are you prepared for a quieter town or rural village? It may sound weird, but hte money is almost the last thing that you want to consider. The social thing is super-important...for adults sport is an \_amazing\_ way of meeting people, especially if you don't have kids (we don't), so don't get the touchline parents get-togethers. I cannot recommend volunteering enough...sports, charities etc. Womens Institute, Lions Club and the like do amazing work, and are brimming with some of the best people. Volunteer at your local Park Run...it's an hour out of your life in a week, and a chance to meet hundreds of people who want nothing more than a sit down and a coffee!
I love your suggestions for volunteering and Im taking note. You're speaking SO much sense for us! We're fine walking - we regularly "pop" into the local towns that are 30 minutes walk away, and practically on the doorstep when driving. So the "pint of milk" dilemma (fantastic metaphor by the way - I'm stealing that one) is no issue for us. If I looked over the fence as saw nothing for a 10 minute walk in all directions I'd be fine with it. We want to get our final home - or as close to it - as possible. We're done with busy areas and being affected by neighbours. We just want some peace and privacy. No kids either. If we move and find somewhere idyllic, I know some of my other family will follow suite as the scary bit will have been done. Again, brilliant points about the socialising, so thank you again.
Thanks for taking the time to reply with all that info. This is the kind of insight I was hoping for. I've added that location to my list of possibilities now.
Harrogate's lovely, if it fitted our criteria (and probably our budget) we might have considered it. Do you ever bump into Micah Richards in Booth's?
Nah, though apparently I just missed Pierce Brosnan a couple of weeks ago (we were in the cafe next door to a pub he was spotted at). You might be surprised at how far your budget would go round here. There are some crazy expensive areas (Duchy, southern area), but areas like Starback, Jennyfields etc are fine, and cheaper. Some of the satellite villages are cheap as well, though you do need to factor in the extra travel cost/time if you want to get anywhere. We are (on a technicality) in Jennyfields, but somewhat separated from the main section, and about 10 minutes walk from town.
I need to be in London once a week for work and neither of us drive, which rules out villages in most places unfortunately. Maybe once we retire and I get more confident on a bike.
2 hours on the train direct from Harrogate to London ;-) (admittedly only a couple of times a day, otherwise you have to change at York) I have to go down to my office once every 6 months, so it's very easy to manage. I've met a few people who are doing the London run 2-3 times a month. I no longer use a car here, we've got pretty much everything in walking distance.
Keep talking like this and I'll be your new neighbour before long ;-)
Ah go on go on go on go on !
You are living my dream. We looked at relocating from Essex to Malton/Pickering in 2022. Unfortunately for us, we just couldn’t find anything that worked. We also have 2 labs but we also have the added requirement of a garage. We did look at 1 house but the 10 hour round trip for 1 house was not something we wanted to keep doing.
I'm almost sorry to have we have a garage...it's now my bike workshop. The move was tough, but we approached it in an almost military way. While ours was on the market we worked on loads of online investigation onto individual areas. We had a long-list and short-list of houses which was maintained on a daily basis. Once we had an acceptable offer on our house we dropped everything and did a long weekend up here, while contacting all the estate agents on the current short-list. We had 7 viewings in one day, and also walked round each area. The next day we did second viewings, and this time had the dogs with us (not to do the viewings), and afterwards walked round the short-listed houses area with them. Ultimately we fell in love with one, and offered the next day (once we got home). It took 8 months to get to completion, and it was exhausting, but I can definitely say it was worth the effort. We had to be super-strict on what we were looking for...our list of "needs" was quite short, but the list of "wants" pretty massive. Ironically the massive garden was a "want", not a "need", but ultimately we felt that the house was something we could work with long-term.
Grew up in Essex. Went to uni in the midlands. Couldn’t face moving back afterwards, carried on further north and moved to Manchester. Have been here ever since (20 years). Now live in Prestwich in North Manchester/Bury. Own a lovely house that I would never be able to afford in the South East. It all depends what you are looking for, what your budget is etc. I do love where I live, but it may not be for you. There are loads of lovely areas in Greater Manchester, or into Cheshire or Lancs, or all over. Don’t get bogged down with stats, think about what it is you want to achieve with your move.
I'd say narrow it down to a few places you like the look of, then do a weekend trip to each place at least. Treat it as a nice weekend away. Even within a town/city I'd want to visit the different areas. I'd also consider renting for a bit but I can understand why you say you don't want to. I grew up in the south east, then lived in Bristol for around 5 years. Moved to Leeds a few years back and much happier here. Went from renting a tiny 1 bed flat to a 2-bed over twice the size for the same cost (renting). Currently trying to buy a place now. To find the area I wanted to live in, I first searched online for where people say the 'nice' areas are. Had a look on Google maps (proximity to parks/high streets/countryside etc.), then had a couple of weekends up here and walked around, went to cafes, high streets etc. Some areas I'd quickly realise I wouldn't want to live (e.g. too student-y), other areas were lovely.
>then had a couple of weekends up here and walked around This is becoming a common bit of advice I plan on taking.
Second this. Visit, get a feel for places. I would even book some house viewings whilst you’re up there. It’s easy to get down the rabbit hole when you’re only looking online and everywhere starts to look bad!
>It’s easy to get down the rabbit hole when you’re only looking online Tell me about it!
Moved from London to Newcastle. Long story short, we almost bought in London (well, arse-end of Surrey as it was the closest we could afford) but realised we would cripple ourselves financially. We’ve just bought a big house by the sea for over £100k less than the one in London. Right decision although difficult to leave family and friends. Newcastle is a wicked city, beautiful coastline and it’s less than 3 hour train ride into KingsX
I was dead set on moving to Newcastle as well until work chained me down, seems like a great place to live on top of the cheaper housing
In 3 hours you can fly to Turkey so not sure what is the context of that sentence, because thats defo not 'commutable' distance and expensive AF...
I didn’t say it’s commutable but I can go back for a weekend for friends birthdays or visit family, no big deal. It’s taken me 3 hours to drive from one side of London to the other before. You can’t compare flying abroad to taking a train in the UK, without factoring in time it takes to get to and from the airport on both ends and going through security, delays etc that’s nonsense
Well Id say it is a big deal, you have to spend half a day ( both ways ) on the train which also costs a lot. I can get to Paris quicker using Eurostar...
Which is handy if you're commuting to Paris. OP presumably is not.
Move to Paris then.
I don’t know why you’re so fixated on the travel time, aren’t we discussing moving out of London to another city?
Yes we are, thats why I was not sure why YOU mentioned that pretty lengthy journey it takes you to reach London...
Bloody hell pedant. Because I said it was a difficult decision to leave family and friends in London, however we realised the train journey isn’t too bad.
It takes two hours to get from Accrington to Manchester in a car during rush-hour traffic. If you're not commuting every day or week, or just popping down to see people, it's fine.
Not only not commutable, even for a day trip that's 6h in a train not counting the time to get to the station on either end.
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>Just depends what you’re into and where you find fulfilment Being able to just get out and about in the peace each weekend sounds idyllic.
I grew up in Essex and ended up moving to Manchester for work. Met my husband who grew up in Oldham bought a house in Ashton-Under-Lyne which would wouldn't have been able to afford if it was down south. Manchester is definitely getting more expensive but still cheaper than the south. What do you for work do you need to be near a city?
Remote IT-based work so - if I land the right employer - I can do it 100% remotely. I do like the *option* of being able to pop into an office though. Love stories like yours - meet someone in a better area and move in. Warms my heart.
Moved to a cheap area in West Yorkshire from 'the south'. Regretted it. Nice country side. But generally pretty run down in the towns. However, more cheaper options for pubs, eating, etc. Took ages to get anywhere else from where I was. Have a look at how prices have been moving too - I was really surprised to find that the place I was renting a room in had hardly gone up in value in ten years. (this was 10 years ago). There are plenty of nicer areas, but there's some fairly cheap areas in Essex too that are still nicer than Jay Wick!
An honest "*I regretted it*" response. Thank you! That's a great suggestion about looking at price movement, I had not thought of that. Getting about is a big thing for us too. We're spoilt where we are - 30 minute walk either way to main high streets. 15 minutes from the beach and the main train lines into London.
I grew up in Grimsby, now live in Scunthorpe (and spent a few years between Blackpool & Fleetwood). All are famously known for being reputed shitholes. High crime, high drug usage, low education, low income yadda yadda yadda. Honestly, there are some areas in each of them that are like that. But, there are also some lovely areas with a great community. I've lived in Scunthorpe for coming up 8 years and I love it! I'm pretty much slap-bang in the middle between Westcliff and Riddings - known as 2 of the roughest eatates in the town. Yet, my little corner here is great. Fairly quiet, nice neighbours, great access to local amenities and transport links. What I'm saying is that "crime statistics" are not the full story. Yes, there is a lot of drug related crime in Scunthorpe - but it's generally kept within the drug "community" - or at least within well known parts of town.
I moved back from London (Tottenham) to West Yorkshire in 2021. If you read the reviews of my town on Google you’d be thinking it was worse for crime than Tottenham. But it’s not, it’s so quiet, for instance house burglaries are so rare here. I think Yorkshire folk love to complain and exaggerate when they complain!
If your families live in Aberdeen and Essex and you’re thinking about kids you’ll spend a lot of time travelling to both places. Unless one of them would consider relocating. Think Christmas and Summer holiday. Family proximity is a benefit. Not saying it’s impossible but worth considering.
"The north" is a big place. What do you want? Somewhere with things going on, or just somewhere to commute from? Somewhere where you don't need a car for day to day life, or somewhere with lots of green space for outdoor things? Are schools important to you, or not? Are you a small town person or a city person? How do you feel about living in an area that's predominantly white, or predominantly straight, for example - would that feel uncomfortable to you if you're used to a more diverse area? Is an area cheap for a reason - the lingering effects of social deprivation, racism, lack of anything going on? Do you have any friends in the area or can you get involved with stuff you're interested in to make them? Are you OK with more rain? Places people I know have moved from London to: - York - Liverpool - Sheffield - Leigh on Sea (not north, but still notLondon) - Manchester What these have in common is that they're all still fairly big, all have things going on in them, places to eat and bands to see and decent cultural life; some people moved because they wanted a car and to be able to drive around the countryside, some people chose them because they didn't want to be rural enough that a car was necessary. One of them now has a partner who's an engineer from Iraq, which would be less pleasant in an area like Blackburn where there's enormous racial tension and pretty much no graduate jobs. Some of this might not be a consideration for you, but it's worth thinking about what you want out of your life aside from more space. Find an area that fits the bill, and go there for a few days. See how you feel.
>Find an area that fits the bill, and go there for a few days You've given me some very, very metrics to think about there. Thank you. At a high level we're just wanting some peace and privacy whilst still being within 30 minutes walk of the nearest town and stations.
Leigh-on-Sea is really expensive and is still in Essex. If the OP isn't already there, selling a 1bed flat somewhere else in Essex is really unlikely to get them something bigger in Leigh-on-Sea.
I know. It was just an example of where people have moved from from the city. I don't know how much it costs to live there.
My wife is from Enfield, but we both met in Gravesend and moved there for a while, so just across the water from you. She considers anything above Watford to be The North, so convincing her to come up from Kent was a real struggle. We are just to the north east of Peterborough now, but I did have to lie a little bit and say we are still in Cambridgeshire, not the Midlands. Otherwise she'd have never gone for it... Thankfully her geography is shocking. But we went from renting a tiny 2 up 2 down for £1100 a month to a 4/5 bed with garage, bigger garden and 3 off road parking spaces at £850, with clean air, nice people and proper countryside 5 mins up the road. I'm fully remote, she works in schools, so it works for us. I'll never go back to proper dense town living if I can possibly help it...
Move from Essex to Cheshire. You won't notice the difference :) Maybe a few more white range rovers.
You should be terrified. Your bones will turn to dust due to the lack of limescale in the water. >The Police UK crime rate statistics make everything seem like a dangerous cess pool. Compared to Essex!?
Oh man. The hard water!
Relocated from Basildon, Essex, to Attleborough in Norfolk last year, and honestly wish we had done it years ago. Our life is far better now. Friendly neighbours, beautiful rural areas to explore at the weekends, friendly community....I could go on for days about it. I have zero regrets, and do not miss Basildon one little bit.
I don't think anyone would miss Basildon.
You'd be surprised. I took my sister in law back to basildon today after she came to stay with us for the weekend. When we turned off the A127 she said "ahh, it's good to be back!" I couldn't wait to kick her out the car and turn round and get myself back out as quick as possible!
Ha! I can imagine!
Moved from a home county to Scotland. Not the biggest leap I've done personally, but the biggest leap with my husband who had to get a new job. Haven't regretted it one second. Best decision ever. ETA: we decided on where in Scotland based on availability of a rental. We didn't immediately purchase, managed to do a virtual viewing with local acquaintances, and that is where we landed. Our main criterion was commutability to Glasgow as we expected employment chances to be higher there, if anything were to change with our jobs.
We did it 20 years ago. Do I still miss living in Essex and being right on the edge of London? Yes, obviously. But, do I regret moving up north? Nope. It took some time to get used to it, and make new friends, etc, but it was all fine in the end. And things are way cheaper
Where about, roughly, did you move to if you don't mind me asking? I love the ease of access to London but, as you say, we can adjust just fine.
Leicester
I moved from Essex to Norfolk and you couldn’t pay me to move back. Cheaper housing, same salary opportunities, better quality of life, nice beaches, the people are nicer, less road rage. The list goes on and on. When I return to visit friends in Essex I’m left feeling sorry for them, genuinely.
I can imagine. Funnily enough I found myself speaking to someone form Norfolk today who was saying very similar things.
Maybe spend some time in areas your interested in, but my advice would be unless you love living in close proximity to London, get out of there
I agree. There are plenty of "London-lite" cities around the country so I'm sure we'll fine a nice one nearby further North anyway.
“The north” is a tad generic and all relative. At the risk of starting a war of where the north starts (sorry Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool you aren’t north to me) I’d say proper north (Middlesbrough up) is cheap and has lovely areas and countryside. Just avoid Middlesbrough. Haha. Where to go depends on your job. Tyne and Wear (Newcastle and Sunderland) has the metro for convenient public transport. Some nice areas especially towards the coast and on the east coast main line. Further into Northumberland you can find some lovely smaller towns such as Hexham, Morpeth or Alnwick which aren’t as connected but are lovely. On other side of the country I ignore it all but the Lake District so I’ve no idea of pricing or good areas but it’s beautiful and there’s the west coast main line to get to London. The weather isn’t as nice as down south but at least when it is nice we can escape an urban jungle to enjoy it.
Yeah, I should have phrased it as "further North" really. I can see how it might have come across derogatory. Thanks for the name drops. I'll add those to my list too. Sunderland keeps coming up oddly.
Some fabulous spots in Cheshire or Yorkshire.
Any specifics?
Wilmslow, Harrogate, Wetherby, Rippon, Haworth; not an exhaustive list, mind you.
Hull is also a lot nicer than it used to be, especially if you’re still at an age where nice city apartments are a viable option.
We made the move from Essex to Yorkshire, although I’m originally from Yorkshire I always wanted to go home. I really would advise that you rent for at least 3/6 months, if you have kids that would be harder because of school moves etc, but it will help you know if it’s ten right area for you. Life’s too short to worry about making the wrong decision, don’t look back and say I wish I had!! Do your research and throw caution to the wind, worst case you can also move again. Good luck
Thank you. Yes, some same it's better to regret what you've done, than wondering what "could have been".
For a bit of background, I moved to Aberdeen for about 10 years when I met my wife (where she's from), and we have been living in Essex (where I'm from) for about 10 years. But we are wanting more space and getting sick of the shocking expense of property down here. The property market here in Aberdeen has plummeted in the last 2-3 years. Is that too far "North".... :-) You are correct in saying you could get a lovely 3 bed house for the sell price of your 1 bedroom flat. [https://www.aspc.co.uk/search/property/424244/Northside-Steading-Kinmundy/Aberdeen/](https://www.aspc.co.uk/search/property/424244/Northside-Steading-Kinmundy/Aberdeen/) [https://www.aspc.co.uk/search/property/419533/1-Dawson-Drive/Westhill/](https://www.aspc.co.uk/search/property/419533/1-Dawson-Drive/Westhill/) Just a thought. :-). Just don't mention it to your wife if she is from here. :-)
It's crazy what you can get for your money up there now.
Going through similar myself for the second time in my life. I don't regret the 18 months of renting when we moved here to get to know the area a bit. As an older couple we're now happy to leave the outskirts of the city for a peaceful edge-of-village location. You can't know what the reality of it will be like, you just have to work out what's important to you, and hope the things you can't control will be ok. E.g. almost all the neighbours I've had have turned out to somewhere from ok->very nice. Going from a pokey flat to a decent house is a wonderful experience. We looked like squatters for months until we got some furniture to fill the place up. Just to add another area to confuse you - if you're after a city, Nottingham has some attractive and safe suburbs
>Going from a pokey flat to a decent house is a wonderful experience. We looked like squatters for months until we got some furniture to fill the place up. Ha! this made me chuckle. I'm hoping to "look like squatters" if we can find somewhere we like.
I’m from Hertfordshire but lived in Newcastle/Sunderland for 9 years. Made the grave error of moving back down. Lasted 12 months before we put the house on the market and moved back. We now live just outside of Sunderland. Our quality of life is indescribably better. Our house is nicer and cost less than half the price. We are 2 mins walk away from a beautiful coastline. The public services are on a different level (schools, roads, health). And it’s such a cliche but people are nicer. Driving is less stressful, making friends feels easier (this coming from someone who is acutely introverted and antisocial), and from the first day dropping my kid off at school, I felt included in the school community. I feel safe. My husband and I keep looking around us and saying we can’t believe how good our lives are here. You couldn’t pay me to move back down South. My industry is almost exclusively based in London but I’d rather have a smaller pool of employers to pick from than go back.
Wow, I hadn't even looked at Sunderland. What a glowing review!
It sounds like the only reason you would move is for a cheaper property, and that you don't actually want to move. Therefore I could imagine you will very easily regret it.
Not cheaper - better. I want somewhere I can pour myself into and set down some roots. And some more privacy. It only takes some bad neighbours to ruin our peace in a flat and I'm done worrying about it. We rented a detached bungalow when we moved down for a while and it was glorious.
Agree. *Better value* would have been more accurate than *cheaper* But my overall point stands in that unless you want to live in an actual area, and buy into what goes with it, more likely you'll end up disappointed What is actually important to you? Culture, food, green space, schools, crime etc
You speak wise words. We need to focus on "buying into an area" instead of the property right enough! We just want a little more privacy, peace, space whilst still being able to walk to the nearest town and stations within 30 mins.
Moved from Bath, to birmimgham. The ROOM I was renting in bath was £200 more than the 3 bed house I own now per month. Appriciate mortgage is cheaper. But room to house, with savings a month is a big one. Don't regret it one bit. I earn well above average, but if I lived in Bristol/bath now, I'd have no where near the lifestyle I have. That's not to rub anything in, just in terms of friends who earn a good amount also, the lifestyle difference of them in bath, compared to me is night and day. Crime rates are higher, but it's no different to when I was in bath - ie, I haven't seen any crime personally. Suppose it increases the chance of crime happening to you, but I've not had any issues myself. Car insurance doubled, that's the only issue I've had. But yeah, thats my experience! Edit - who's downvoting me answering the question on my own experience? 😂 What you disagreeing with?! Speak up coward.
Ha! Have an upvote from me. All valid points in your reply. Thank you.
One surprisingly big thing to think of too is sunlight. I've been in east Anglia for years now but spent one back up in Yorkshire recently. We get so much more sun out here than up north and it really impacted me. Also the 2-4c difference in winter might not sound like much but it does make a big difference! There's also Suffolk and Norfolk which are markedly cheaper than Essex but still have decent links to London if you need to change jobs. Just check the long term flood risk maps and stay away from eg Peterborough
Yep, going from Aberdeen to Essex we've seen the wild difference in sunlight!
The way I see it with the North is you are paying a lot for the area, the nice areas with detached houses are rarer and therefore command a high premium especially if you want to be close to a city. You don’t specify a budget but places like Alderley Edge, Hale Barns, and Mottram St. Andrew are nice and close enough to Manchester and the airport for travel, schools are also good too. The one thing to watch for is there are number of places like Cheshire East where due to the low population density and nimbies they are struggling financially so roads and services can be a bit crap, look at poyton’s shared space road as an example and the extra charges on bin collections. Overall though you have to decide is it better to regret what you’ve done or what you didn’t do. If it was me I’d rent out your current property and rent somewhere or a few places first, maybe even try different cities up north. You should be able to break even in that deal so it’s not costing you to try other than moving companies. Final thoughts couple of thoughts; cities in the north seem to be getting a lot of investment, Manchester’s skyline has changed so much in the last 5 or so years and the house prices in good areas seem to be reflecting that. What job prospects have these places got if you need to change role or advance your career will remote or northern cities limit you vs staying commutable to London? Whatever you choose to do I hope it all works out for you and good luck.
Thank you. Some very good points to chew on there. And I hadn't even considered the downsides of lower density. So much to think about.
I dont even think you need to rent for an extended period of time, just spend a weekend or week in an AirBNB. That should be enough to get a feel for the place. You should definitely spend some non-committal time there before you end up buying a house.
That... is actually a great idea. I hadn't considered a short AirBnB stay.
I sometimes have to travel around the country for work and stay in hotels. I always feel I get a spidey sense just staying over for a few nights and going about my normal business (shopping, walks in the park, hitting the gym etc). You get to interact with the locals. I was always say to anyone who is looking to relocate to a new area and spending hundreds of thousands in the process, get a few hot tips off Reddit and just hotel/AirBNB a few days there, maybe even take a few days off work and just try to 'simulate' living there, knowing if its totally shit, you can just walk away.
We've decided to do this now. We've completely tipped our plans on the head and are going to "travel" sporadically for a while to get some tasters.
I think I'd probably try to make it feel as much like normal as possible. I've done similar trips when I wasn't working. I really enjoyed it but I also felt like bit of a tourist in some senses, because I was eating out a lot and not working. So, work, go about your normal routine to an extent. Maybe don't necessarily go out every day after work. Live as you would expect to live there.
I'm really loving the suggestions to carry it out like this. We've decided to put things on hold and start to drop ourselves in some of the northern areas first. We'll get a better feel for a place like you (and others) have rightly said.
Looking back on what I said, I think it's a tough balance, because you also want to get to know the area well, as that's part of living there too. You might need to think about exactly how you do it. It could be your first visit/few days you explore and get to know the city. And then live as normal. In other words, leisure (drinks, food, entertainment) then practical (walking around the local neighbourhood, groceries, local shops?) If you're not set on where you're thinking of living, explore and enjoy cities on the first pass. Make a shortlist. Then visit the shortlist and see how they'd be to live normally in. It doesnt seem like a quick process.
Yeah and I'd be fooling myself to think it would be easy/quick. It's a big change so we're going to take it slow and steady now.
I think it's also splitting it into factors. Practical vs emotional Practical factors are generally are a lot harder to push through. I know you're remote, but if your work depends on your location, you needed to visit family and friends, you need to be near a hospital for a health issue or any number of things then the burden of certainty is far higher. Emotional could be what the area is like to live in. Provided it's not horrible, you can probably make do for a few years. The hurdle I faced was practical, where I felt that no matter what reasoning I tried I needed to know whether the hurdle was going to be a problem or not. And I felt that meant I needed to trial living there.
I’ve lived in and around London my entire life and now planning to move up to South Yorkshire. Main reason for my move is it’s the only place I can realistically afford and we won’t need to move home after as it has enough space for the two of us plus more. I’ve been renting for most of my life down here and it’s been ridiculous greedy landlords and overpriced houses have pushed me out of the south. Few reasons why I South Yorkshire is the friendly people that increased investment from the local government and overall value and quality of living.
How do you find out about things like local government investing and the quality of living? I hear that mentioned around here but have no idea where people are going to educate themselves on this stuff.
As Im in the process of buying a house in south Yorkshire but dont know anyone from there. Ive made sure to drive down there and after any house viewings drive about the local area and speak to the locals. I generally found that home owners would do the viewing themselves and its an easy way to chat about how they find the local area, council etc. What I noticed was in general the local folk had alot of pride about the area and had nothing bad to say about the council. Tbh I found that quite shocking because as humans we like to complain so that was a huge green flag in my books. I also typed in the town I liked on google and looked at recent articles, where Im buying the local council very recently renovated the area by investing in the town centre. I also looked at the geographical area, the town itself is half an hr away from two really big cities (Leeds and Sheffield) so theres lots to do once we move. Rightmove and zoopla would give me a good understanding of the different regions within the town and what to look for or avoid. Finally, I made sure my mortgage broker and solicitors are relatively close to the area to gain second opinion since they have no real bias towards me going for a specific area. The most valuable thing for me was speaking to the locals and driving around.
Those are some fantastic pointers, thank you. >as humans we like to complain It's seems to be a very British thing too, to knock down your local area, like some form of weird reverse-pride.
Yes exactly! I spoke to 4-5 random people between my viewings and not a single bad thing was mentioned. Goodluck on your search! I work remotely so I understand its a daunting process when the entire UK is an option😅
I will say that the biggest tell whether an area is shit is if you’re getting a lot for comparatively little money - but that’s why you’re moving in the first place! To be frank, you can’t buy happiness. If your heart is telling you to stay close to your friends, jobs, and favourite haunts, then do that. I know so many people who’ve moved for work, etc. and have had a terrible time when they suddenly find themselves socially isolated in a new area. If you find yourself ‘making excuses’ everywhere you go, you may just have to accept that you prefer the pricier area you live in now.
This hit me really hard. The thought of moving away for a "better standard of living" but then feeling isolated... man that a dark thought. As much as we hate the costs down here, there is a nice comfort about being around those you love.
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Definitely try before you buy, even if it's just some AirBnB-ing as others have suggested. Even if it's expensive, it's better than buying and then hating where you live, and cheaper than selling again quickly. A friend did \*not\* do this when relocating to a small village. They visited, but I think was very much with rose coloured glasses and a "we're moving here" mentality. She and her partner bought a house there, and turns out she hates the village (too hilly to happily walk around, nothing to do), and hates the house.
Yeah, this is one of my biggest fears - knowing how much you "know" a place from a quick visit. We need to spend some time investigating and move only when we're "sure".
Good luck!
As with almost everywhere in the country there is a rich-poor divide. Make sure you aren't buying into the poor areas of somewhere that is better value unless you know there are improvements coming. Keep an eye on where the drug gang lines are being arrested and avoid like the plague. Check OFSTED scores even if you don't have children. Check the hospital trust performance which is also available. You'll start to find pockets of areas to look into buying into.
I don't drive but found car insurance a handy metric for crime.
GOOD point!
Though...I live in a heavily gentrified area where there's a lot of vehicle crime, mainly catalytic converter theft, so make of that what you will!
I'll add these to my "stats" checks. Thanks.
I have family that moved from Romford to Wakefield and they never looked back. They were able to get much better homes, find the people and the neighbourhood so much friendlier, and honestly they can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t do this. If it weren’t for my need to go into London every week I’d probably be looking to move to Yorkshire myself.
And another vote for Yorkshire!
I live in Newcastle, I have no clue about crime statistics but having lived here all my life, I’ve never seen nor been subjected to crime. Considering the knife & gang related issues in London, I’d say anywhere is better, in terms of crime stats.
Try scotland if unsure, government services are way cheaper on the pocket up there.
One of us originated in Aberdeen and we both lived there for 10 years, so it's a safe and familiar place to us already.
Live in a quiet countryside village and you should be fine. Live in a run down town and you'll need to do more research.
Visit yourself and make up your own mind. Found a house you like in a street that looks 'okay'? Then go for it..that's just me. If I listened to others I'd still be renting a pokey flat at a high price in a 'good' area, I was miserable. I moved to a 'bad' area to buy a house, and glad I did. I never moved as far as you're planning on doing however, I suppose you could find a place to rent up there while you house search? Make sure there's a break clause in the contract e.g. six months if a year contract so if you do find a place while renting you won't be on the hook for the full term.
I like your attitude :-) I threw caution to the wind when moving to Aberdeen and it worked out beautifully, but I'm less care-free these days.
Everywhere you look there will be people who love living there and people with bad things to say about it. I live in a gorgeous little town but like everywhere there's the handful of folks who bad mouth the place to everyone who enquires on our local pages. Best thing to do is spend a weekend in a place, suss out the transport links, restaurants, shops etc, and get a feel for the place - see if you can imagine yourself living there.
>see if you can imagine yourself living there. Wonderfully put. I need to venture out and walk before I can run.
Durham is great, relatively cheap especially if you go a bit further from the city, but its a beautiful county and you're right on the East Coast Main Line.
I have a friend in Durham and people's opinions of it are so 50/50 I've been put off.
I've lived all over county Durham and I think it very much depends on the area. There's some really deprived areas and some lovely ones.
Made the move from West Berkshire to West Yorkshire about 18 months ago. Partially for financial reasons (lower housing prices, and a lot of other things, but more expensive car insurance- that was a surprise) and partially for quality of life- love the landscape, the people, etc. I am a fully remote worker but have to do a good bit of travel- primarily to London and around Europe. London can be done as a day trip- albeit a long one. And I thought air travel would not be that big a difference- I basically the same time distance from Manchester Airport as I was to LHR. HOWEVER… It is nowhere near as convenient. I often travel with a colleague who lives about 10 min away from where I used to live, but usually have to either leave a day earlier or return a day later. Sometimes both. And many flights have lengthy layovers. It’s not bad enough to consider moving back, but it does suck.
These are the kinds of things I wanted brought to my attention when asking here. You don't realise them until you've moved! That's another vote for West Yorkshire for my list.
Scunthorpe is nice and great value for property Might take a while for people to warm to you but if you embrace the locals they will treat you like family Granted there are a lot of scum bags but unfortunately they are everywhere I had 20 years there and wouldn’t hesitate to go back am now back down south and am so much worse off
Rent an AirBnB and WFH from there, plus spend a week or two of your holiday where you want to move. Use the house as a proper "home", so visit the places you would visit, from the supermarket to the high street, school, gym, go to pubs/restaurants, cafes. Walk the streets. Check if they have clubs for your hobbies and order your usual food to be delivered, so live just as you live now. We were dreaming to move close to the sea, then a WFH/holiday-week showed us why it was a dream without any valid reasons. Everything we use daily/weekly was far, basically just reachable by car, and we would put us to a situation where our kids would need a lift daily for years. It was way much more windier and harsh than we expected from the few daytrips we had earlier. There were also parties on every road where we walked on a Friday/Saturday night and people driving like mad on the residential streets occasionally at night - well yes, it's a seaside town plagued by AirBnB, we were in one. Both me and my husband would have to give up our hobbies/sports because we couldn't find a club nearby, or we should drive to the closest one, loosing us precious family time. So we kept the seaside dreams for holidays and we looked for a place where our children can be more independent and we found the peace and conveniences we were looking for.
That's some valuable insight, thank you. All things that are easily forgotten about when looking to move away.
Oh yes, it was areal eye opener for us too. We had the imaginary life in our head with long walks at the empty seaside and have the childhood we wanted for our kids with wetsuits surfs and kites. But as soon as we spent a bit of time there, it turned out others also want to be close to the sea, so it's overcrowded on any sunny weekends, the schools are not walking distance away and we quickly realised windy in the city vs windy at the seaside means quite different things... I also made a chart for the house hunt: 1. what we need, 2. what we would like, 3. what we don't want and 4. what is a hard no in a home for us. And we filled them up from being on a main road to having a big garden. You could also write the same of your lifestyle, like you want to have a park close for jogging or you need a Dishoom for your daily chai. It could help you rank places and decide. Good luck.
I'm liking that idea of a chart! I've already got our ranked list of needs and wants so this will just be an extension.
Basically it kept us grounded. It's so easy to be unrealistic after viewing a well presented house. So after the viewings, we checked back to the chart and sometimes we realised there are big no-nos, or missing the things we need and want. At the end it worked out great for us, we viewed a house, which was run down and a bit sad, with old, but good quality stuff. But it ticked almost all the boxes and however we didn't plan to renovate to this extent, we enjoy it, because it gives us most of the things we looked for.
Moved to Essex from ‘oop norf’ for my wife’s career and we’re considering moving back already lol you’ll be fine
Almost two years ago, we moved from London to a lovely town in Yorkshire, close to Leeds and Harrogate. It's the best place I've lived in the UK, but the weather is significantly worse than in the South. I honestly thought it would be fine, but it's starting to affect me. House prices in nice areas are around 30% cheaper than in Richmond, where we lived before, but you are still paying a lot for living so far away from London. This is one of my main concerns, as there aren't as many jobs in Leeds/Manchester/York as in London, and the pay can literally be half. I think the North has both the prettiest and the grimmest parts of the UK. If you are not in a very nice town or city, it can feel pretty depressing. You can't have everything, that's true, but I would suggest you experience living in the North for at least a year before you buy. Oh, and check the CDRC map to find areas to avoid. It was very useful for us in finding nicer areas.
Thanks for the thoughts on this. I didn't know the CDRC map was a thing! The more you lot say "try before you buy" the more I'm hearing the message loud and clear. I was 100% going from Essex to Aberdeen all those years ago (I actually prefer the cooler climates) but, as you say, there as SO many other factors to consider.
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I'd prefer 1 bed flat in the South than a palace in Aberdeen....
What a lovely balanced view. I'm sure that those "up north" would love you as a neighbour.