To relocate up north

It always seems idyllic when you visit for short holidays, the scenery, the charming towns and villages but the reality can be far from that.
I live in the North but have family in the south who I visit regularly. The standard of living is much higher in the south. Its cleaner with much better public amenities. The over riding impression is one of prosperity. The North in comparison is pretty neglected, dirty and with poor facilities.

I found the North-east so much easier than the north-west because of the weather. Broadly, north is colder, south is warmer, west is wetter, east is drier. Up to a point. In winter, east is colder, west is warmer. High ground obviously is going to be colder and wetter than low ground.

But you’ve stomped right in there suggesting buying in the North is a bad investment. I definitely didn’t find Cheshire to be a poor investment. In fact, our current house on the south coast isn’t in anywhere like as buoyant a market so is probably a far worse investment. But it doesn’t need to be as it’s our home and we’re not moving again.

www.zoopla.co.uk/discover/property-news/house-price-index/

This just isn't true. The housing market in lots of places is very steady and actually positively trending compared to some southern areas.

There are areas of significant social deprivation (as there are in the south) but when you quantify "the north" as one homogeneous mass v London and a very small area around it you are going to get some very skewed results.

Poverty? Poverty? I dream of mere poverty, we are proper brasic and not fit the lick the (knackered, holey, ill fitting, hand me down) boots of those that have attained poverty.

To be fair I think you started it "Don't buy up North......it is anti-social in many places:

To be fair I think you started it "Don't buy up North......it is anti-social in many places:

If that's what you call following your heart and being happy.
Happiness is what I want to achieve, not a fat inheritance for my kids.
She's hardly frittering it all away.
Plus as others have said, the property value won't devalue. It might not go up as much but they won't lose money.
And its not a whim, she's researching, weighing up the pros and cons.
We're all different i suppose.

Chester is nice, lots of country side,.close to North Wales, 40 mins to Liverpool and Manchester and an hour to Birmingham, not far from the peak district and not a ridiculous trek to the lakes.**

Do we really have to have the North vs South debate....we're all in this together....

We moved 2 years ago from South East, we're between Lancaster and Kendal. It's great to be able to see the mountains, coast nearby, lakes, dales and Forest of Bowland all 30 mins away. And less crowded and more laid back.

....or "extremely poor "

The houses haven't decreased in value yet, so don't know why you think they would start decreasing in value now.

It's anti-social in many places So it is in many places in the South.

Also lower life expectancy up there Your personal life expectancy won't decrease if you move up north.

Wow...I've lived in various towns 'up north ', including Tarporley, Nantwich and Chester...none of which I would describe as grim.

@UAvoidUrProblems, we bought in the NW before the 2008 crash and our house, whilst dropping/stagnating temporarily, soon bounced back. We made a healthy profit when we sold a few years back. It’s continued to rise in the last decade and is now worth 1.5million. It’s just a standard 4bed 1950s detached.

As long as the OP sticks to the rules of buying something that doesn’t have an obvious flaw making resale difficult then they’ll be fine.

As opposed to living life based on emotional whims?

And those of us not living in Kent only see depreciation of our houses, apparently 😂

We've done bugger all to ours since we moved in 9 years ago and recent evaluations increased the asking price over 300k on what we paid.

This is an insane comment. Look at how much house prices have climbed over the last 10 years in places like York, Leeds etc.

Moved from south to North Yorkshire 7 years ago and never planning to go back!

We moved from South East to Yorkshire.
Be prepared for an almost cultural shift in the climate if this is something you're considering. We did the same 30 years ago. All I can say is the SE must have undergone the hell of a climate shift since then, much greater than the rest of the country.

You don't have to live your life based on return on investment though....such a sad way to think.

Because people only buy houses as investments obviously

You spend time up there regularly, OP. You know where the areas are that you like and have the time to have a good look around the nice small towns and near them.

Please ignore much of the utterly batshit Southern rhetoric on here. It's nothing short of ignorance. Go wherever you want to go and maybe don't ask Southerners about the North! 😂

There are lovely and EXPENSIVE places to live from the Midlands up to the Scottish Borders.

375k wouldn't buy you a nice place in the village I live in, I can tell you that much.

I've just looked at Northallerton and Knaresborough on Rightmove... you can get a nice house for your money up there, and they are both pleasant areas. OK, you won't get a fancy period property, but a good-sized 3-bed semi or detached is well in your reach. Even Richmond is quite manageable, and its beautiful round there.

Okay....I'm not talking about any of that though. I'm talking from an investment standpoint.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yep definitely don't move up North to where I live. Beautiful countryside, hardly any crime, only 45 min drive to unspoiled coast or the Lakes/Dales. Amazing community spirit and kids can play out safely.
Definitely don't come here, it is vile 🤣🤣🤣