Where in the England can I buy a decent 3 bed house for £200,000?

[PinkShimmerSparkle]

Just that really, I would like it to be in a nice area as well.
Is it even possible?

[Blossomgate]

Depends on your priorities. If it is schools - Ripon, North Yorkshire.

11+ - Ripon Grammar www.ripongrammar.co.uk - outstanding, as is the other secondary school.

Small city
Community feel.
Walking distance of everywhere.
Great primary schools
Easy access to the countryside and A1.

Your £200,000 just about gets a 3 bed.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-90053078.html

[BarbaraofSeville]

riot

Does your town name begin with a C?

I have clients based on the industrial estate and I sometimes have time to kill, which I usually spend wandering around the quite depressing shopping centre. The area doesn't seem too awful though and it's good for beaches and countryside.

[MrsPnut]

Most of these are in reasonable places. www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E804&minBedrooms=3&maxPrice=200000&radius=5.0&propertyTypes=&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords= I wouldn’t live anywhere near Monks Road or Sincil Bank but the villages are all pretty quiet. North Kesteven has one of the lowest crime rates in the country and none of the schools are really bad.

[riotlady]

@MozzchopsThirty no, I live in a town in Northumberland that I really like, but probably isn’t your typical mumsnet idea of
“decent” xD My parents live in Morpeth though and it’s lovely

[GreyGardens88]

@NetballHoop

Chapel Allerton in Leeds, 4 bedrooms and lots of other rooms. It's listed as offers in excess of £200,000, but you could always try a cheeky offer.

That's not in Chapel Allerton though, despite what the estate agent is trying to tout. The area that house is in is actually quite rough.

[Iheardit]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E61294&minBedrooms=3&maxPrice=220000&minPrice=180000&sortType=1&propertyTypes=detached%2Csemi-detached%2Cterraced&primaryDisplayPropertyType=houses&includeSSTC=false&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords= Cornwall some areas are ‘rough’ but Cornish rough is not like other places. But you are limited with attractions and depending where you live it can take 2+ hours to travel to exeter

[NotMeNoNo]

Wherever you buy a house you can get unlucky with neighbours, rat runs, public footpaths etc. Sometimes just being the other side of the road will make the difference. That's just the uncertainty of house buying. If you can acquire some local knowledge as to crime hotspots and are cautious about where a property is relative to schools, pubs, whether it's accessible from the back, then you have done your best.

There are plenty of nice enough areas where maybe it's a bit quiet and the houses aren't Instagram pretty (1970s estates for example)but they are perfectly OK places to live. You may have to compromise on something but if you want to be mortgage free then I guess you would weigh that up.

Also if you are in a cheaper area of a larger town/city, you still get all the benefits of the facilities even if you don't live in the most affluent suburb. Whereas a cheap small town might be limited in its attractions.

[Takeitonthechin]

Firstly, it depends on what you call " decent", the house, the area, the amenities, but I would definitely say you'd get more for your money in the North.

[sashh]

OK OP

What else do you want? Countryside? Seaside? Are you bothered by any local accent because your younger children if not your 11 year old will probably acquire it.

I'm assuming you want a town rather than a city and not i the middle of nowhere.

New builds are good for children making friends as other children are moving and wanting friends.

Schools - do you want grammar? Single sex? Faith school? Diversity?

Do your children (or you) have hobbies or something you want to take up such as hiking or skydiving?

What do your children want?

[NetballHoop]

Forget to post the link: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-72587496.html

I blame my dog for distracting me.

[NetballHoop]

Chapel Allerton in Leeds, 4 bedrooms and lots of other rooms. It's listed as offers in excess of £200,000, but you could always try a cheeky offer.

[Danglingmod]

Yes, and I realised when posting that it sounds massively snobby what I wrote but it's always worth correcting the idea that any property outside of the SE costs about £50k and you can live like a King.

A pp said that in the cheaper parts of the country, salaries are low, too. That's true but in my city (often touted as a cheap place to live) and surrounding desirable villages where, outside of a couple of niche industries, most of the best jobs are public sector and then the obvious things like solicitors etc, there are hundreds and thousands of properties in the 350+/450+/500+ price bracket. A new build small semi with small garden is 225+. A new build small detached is 280+.

[Immigrantsong]

@Bluesheep8

immigrantsong are you able to give any info as to an idea of your country of origin? Also, is work/commute a consideration?

I would rather not as it's very identifiable and have been recognized here before and had to ask for posts of mine to be deleted.

I can talk to you via PM though if you want to know.

Yes work and commute is a consideration. I get a taxi provided as a disabled person but have been working from home during Covid as shielding due to my disabilities.

On annual leave now though. My sector is academia.

Thank you

[Bluesheep8]

immigrantsong are you able to give any info as to an idea of your country of origin? Also, is work/commute a consideration?

[Immigrantsong]

@BarbaraofSeville

Buying what I think of as a decent house in the very nicest part of Newcastle, Liverpool, Nottingham, almost anywhere mentioned is not possible at that price point

Well of course it's not, but believe it or not, there's a huge middle ground between the subjectively very nicest parts of any particular city and the rough areas with social problems that blight people's lives. And the majority who live in those middle ground areas generally do so quite happily.

I honestly despair of the obsession on Mumsnet with only accepting the very best and if there's any sort of compromise, feeling hard done by.

And as for the most desirable areas of the city where I live, there's still issues. The schools are the most oversubscribed, so if you move there, chances are your DC won't get into the schools that you've paid extra to live near anyway. In non COVID times, the traffic is worst and access to the motorway takes forever. I know a few people who live in areas like Adel, Horsforth, Cookridge and they've all been burgled, sometimes more than once, because guess what, criminals have transport and know where to look for people who have the nicest stuff and are often complacent about security, because they live in a nice area.

I remember a thread where a Mumsnetter needed to move to a nice small town on the east side of Leeds because her DH had got a job there and there were endless posters suggesting that they lived in areas like Horsforth, which would have forced him into a 2 hour round trip each day to commute because they couldn't see past their desire to live in their perceived 'best' area, when they could have found somewhere perfectly nice within 5-10 minutes drive at most that still had lots of nice local amenities and would have been cheaper too. Ridiculous.

You make some very good points, but wanted to offer my experience as a word if caution to people.

The house we bought 10 years ago was in a brand new development in a lovely culture de sac. So very nice area.

However due to it's proximity to 2 notorious estates and having a public footpath by it we encountered so many issues.

So it's possible and extremely unfortunate to do good research and choose a good property and location, but due to other factors having your life made into hell.

[Immigrantsong]

@Bluesheep8

imigrantsong

I am genuinely sorry you've had such bad experiences.

Thank you kindly.

It's been a nightmare. The worst is that we want to be a part of this country and feel like we belong here, but haven't been allowed to do so.

I do consider this my country and it's a real pity things haven't worked out. We did try iut all of West Yorkshire too so we could have an all conclusive idea of things.

If anyone can suggest a place that welcomes foreigners up please let me know. Desperate to move somewhere where we get included and allowed to fit in.

[Signifyingnothing]

5 bed house for £135,000
Telford

[MozzchopsThirty]

Re the friendliness of the north east, took my teen ds shopping yesterday, he said 'wow the people here are so nice & helpful, it's not like at home'

Northerners and geordies in particular are just lovely

[Signifyingnothing]

Telford

[MozzchopsThirty]

The north east is lovely, I grew up there
Coast is beautiful, Newcastle is great for culture, shopping, architecture and transport is excellent

@riotlady are you from Morpeth? I grew up there. Currently visiting Newcastle but live far far away I still miss the north

[BarbaraofSeville]

Buying what I think of as a decent house in the very nicest part of Newcastle, Liverpool, Nottingham, almost anywhere mentioned is not possible at that price point

Well of course it's not, but believe it or not, there's a huge middle ground between the subjectively very nicest parts of any particular city and the rough areas with social problems that blight people's lives. And the majority who live in those middle ground areas generally do so quite happily.

I honestly despair of the obsession on Mumsnet with only accepting the very best and if there's any sort of compromise, feeling hard done by.

And as for the most desirable areas of the city where I live, there's still issues. The schools are the most oversubscribed, so if you move there, chances are your DC won't get into the schools that you've paid extra to live near anyway. In non COVID times, the traffic is worst and access to the motorway takes forever. I know a few people who live in areas like Adel, Horsforth, Cookridge and they've all been burgled, sometimes more than once, because guess what, criminals have transport and know where to look for people who have the nicest stuff and are often complacent about security, because they live in a nice area.

I remember a thread where a Mumsnetter needed to move to a nice small town on the east side of Leeds because her DH had got a job there and there were endless posters suggesting that they lived in areas like Horsforth, which would have forced him into a 2 hour round trip each day to commute because they couldn't see past their desire to live in their perceived 'best' area, when they could have found somewhere perfectly nice within 5-10 minutes drive at most that still had lots of nice local amenities and would have been cheaper too. Ridiculous.

[Bluesheep8]

I completely understand that West Yorkshire is home to a few people here and I don't wish t continue offending them.

You haven't offended me. As I said, I'm not FROM here, I relocated here and your opinion is based on your experience. I'm surprised and disappointed to hear it but that doesn't make it any less valid.

[Bluesheep8]

imigrantsong

I am genuinely sorry you've had such bad experiences.

[Immigrantsong]

@Danglingmod

The problem with these threads when they come up is that people suggesting places all over the country that the OP doesn't know (I know she asked for that) but genuinely, I don't think £200k goes that far in the nicer parts of any city, region or county.

Several places mentioned here I know well and you definitely wouldn't get both a nice house and a nice location for £200k. Possibly the very most rural parts of some of these places, Northumberland, other counties, parts of Scotland, Wales etc...but the more rural you are, the more likely your dc are to want to move away when they're older.

Everybody seems to want to live in a peaceful, safe place in the country/by the sea, but with excellent local facilities opportunities and transport links to the rest of the country. Buying what I think of as a decent house in the very nicest part of Newcastle, Liverpool, Nottingham, almost anywhere mentioned is not possible at that price point.

I completely agree with all you said.

[Immigrantsong]

@Bluesheep8

If you are British and local of course you will have a different opinion

Well I am only one of those things in that I am British but I am definitely not local, I relocated.
One of the things I like about West Yorkshire is the fact that it's culturally diverse.
I accept that you've had different experiences though, so as a pp asked, why stay? Especially for 21 years?

Thank you for sharing your experience.

For the first 11 years we moved around the county renting and working to save for a house.

The next 10 we bought a house and could only afford to buy in Bradford. The house in itself is lovely and wish I could still live in it in a completely different part of the country as it's 3 double bedroom, 3 bathroom, great garden...

But we experienced massive problems with the public footpath and the reaction to us being BAME. I am also disabled so moving is not the easiest.

What this shows is that different factors affect people's experiences and I do hope people here can understand where I am coming from with what I said. We have tried so hard, but nowhere we lived within West Yorkshire welcomed us. After Brexit especially people have been openly racist.