Where's cheap to live?

[DelphiniumBlue]

I was looking at another thread about adult children living at home, and some people were saying how theirs had saved up for a few years for a deposit and were thus able to move out and buy their own place in their 20's.
I am a Londoner, as are my sons. One of them lives in a University town that costs 800 pm for a room in a shared house, in the SE, the others live at home.
They all want to get their own places but with rent at that level, it's really hard to save. But now that working from home is becoming such a thing, it strikes me that they could live almost anywhere, if the wfh continues.
So where is pleasant to live and affordable, either for a starter home or rent? Near public transport and and not too rural - they are used to be able to easily get to cinema/pub/cafe etc.
Because here it's just not an option - DS1 ( living at home) has saved several thousands this year , with no fares etc, but it will be a decade at least before he has enough for a deposit for anything. I'd like them all to have a an acheiveable 5 year plan, especially for DS1 who is already late 20's.
Any suggestions?

@tigerbear

Sounds like a very expensive part of London you live in.

Nuneaton or Rugby. Cheap seasons tickets into London in around an hour.

Re East Mids season ticket prices are eye watering

You wouldn’t need a season ticket if you wfh.

@KenAdams yes true but the OP mentions WFH so presumably isn't talking season tickets. I have positioned myself there as I work from home and should only need to be in London 1-2 times a fortnight, if that at this rate, so the cost savings living here far outweighs the expensive but limited of train tickets needed.

There are cheaper areas in the SE. What about Eastbourne or Hastings? Train links to London are a bit slow but still accessible.

Another vote for Wirral/Merseyside. Able to buy for all budgets and good for transport.

I live in a town just north of Manchester, I have a 4 bedroom, 2 reception room dorma bungalow worth @£165,000. It's in a nice area with decent schools and transport links and 20 mins on tram to Manchester or 15 min drive to beautiful countryside. I live 2 minutes walk from a country park with woodland and a river. I love it here and wouldn't want to move but I know people who don't like it too so it depends on what you want really doesn't it 🤷‍♀️

@notheragain4

Oh and DH and I are public sector, our wages are the same anywhere in the country for what we do, we wouldn't even get London weighting, so it would be ridiculous to live in an expensive area. Public sector workers living in cheap areas tend to do well.

If you wanted to live in the Southwest, which you don't, there are lovely towns where there are smaller cheapish houses, and jobs in the public sector where you would be one of the best-paid people in the town. Wages are really low here, and very seasonal.

@JoJoSM2 it is expensive, but not one of the properly expensive areas, if you see what I mean. I

Belarus?

Another vote for Lincoln - room in a shared house there is roughly £400 a month including all bills!

Look at the areas where the Conservatives won traditionally Labour held seats in the last general election.

Look at areas that are grim like run-down seaside towns or areas with high unemployment.

North East

@whatsnewpussyhat

Shhhh... we need to keep our lovely corner of the NW secret! Im in the area you mention and my large 1 bedroom flat with parking 5 minutes walk from the beach is HALF what her DS pays for a room.....

This is what £135k gets you in a nearby town with decent transport links to Glasgow
Lochwood Close, Kilwinning
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-95305880.html

Peterborough. I know people like to be rude about it but it's fine and it's affordable.

Trains are 50-80 minutes to Kings X. There are some nice flats in the town centre or they could afford a house in Fletton or Woodston. The latter 2 are 10-15 minutes bike ride to the train station and at most 30 minutes walk to the town centre. It has a pretty river too.

@BashfulClam Do you know Kilwinning

@tigerbear

I’m in outer London and the linked houses would probably be 700k for the mid terrace and probably 800k-ish for the modern one on an estate.

Look at areas that are grim like run-down seaside towns or areas with high unemployment

This is such a pathetic opinion. There is a life outside of the SE you know, you've just all been brain washed to think you fall off the world if you go north of Watford. I've lived all over, including London, and I honestly do not believe for those with normal wages it is worth the sacrifices needed to remain there. There is a lot more to life and for many people it is much easier to obtain a better standard of living outside of the SE. Yes of course house prices are often set for a reason so personal earning potential is important to reflect upon, but it doesn't bloody well mean a place is "grim" because you can get a 4 bed house for less than half a million.

If you don’t want too far away then Suffolk near the coast or Lincolnshire is cheap

Could get a 2 bed 1900’s terrace for £80k

Also came on to say Lincoln and surrounds. My son has just bought there - detached house with detached garage at age 26 (alone, not with partner)
Lincoln is a nice city, too.

@notheragain4

Look at areas that are grim like run-down seaside towns or areas with high unemployment

This is such a pathetic opinion. There is a life outside of the SE you know, you've just all been brain washed to think you fall off the world if you go north of Watford. I've lived all over, including London, and I honestly do not believe for those with normal wages it is worth the sacrifices needed to remain there. There is a lot more to life and for many people it is much easier to obtain a better standard of living outside of the SE. Yes of course house prices are often set for a reason so personal earning potential is important to reflect upon, but it doesn't bloody well mean a place is "grim" because you can get a 4 bed house for less than half a million.

This a thousand times over. I have what I consider the holy grail. A secure, reasonably well paid job although would be considered a pittance on Mumsnet that allows me to live comfortably on the outskirts of a city in northern England.

I wouldn't have a better lifestyle on twice the money in London because I'd still not be able to buy a house and would be stuck with a long commute or expensive rental. Even public sector workers like nurses, teachers and emergency services workers, that struggle in London can buy houses in nice areas in and around many other cities in the UK and have a comfortable lifestyle whereas in the south east they struggle massively.

Why we continue to cram people into a tiny overpriced overcrowded corner of the country and perpetuate the myth that 'it's grim up north' I'll never know.

Luton is more affordable than a lot of places in the south East and has fast transport links to London (and an airport) ...but is often on lists for the worst place to live

I don’t in the least think it’s ‘grim up north’, but some of the places mentioned by name on here In various parts of the country — that I’ve either lived in or spent considerable time in — are not somewhere I’d want to live for the sake of cheap housing unless I was actually desperate. I’d live in or around Newcastle or in Liverpool like a shot, but Nuneaton, Corby, Kettering, Grantham? Absolutely not.