Newly single and priced out of the south help me find a new home town

[Shitonthebloodything]

My absolute peach of a husband is buggering off leaving me with 3 kids and no hope of securing a mortgage anywhere close to my home county of Essex. I can’t rent forever and I don’t qualify for any single parent help from UC so it’s time to put down roots somewhere new.

Budget £150-170 (yeah, I know!)
I need at least 3 bedrooms, close to a town that’s good for shopping and teenage socialising.
A college where ds16 can finish his plumbing training or equivalent opportunities
A decent secondary to start ds10 in yr 7
A decent primary for ds3 to start reception
Plenty of things to do
Somewhere reasonably safe
Somewhere friendly that will welcome us
Somewhere with nice outdoor places to visit seeing as I’ll be bloody skint forever.
Poss near a motorway to allow for regular travelling back to see family etc.

And the moon on a stick.

Any ideas would be very much appreciated, at this point I’m basically just sticking pins in the map and searching on Rightmove.

i was also going to say south wales. you could probably get 2 houses for that where my relatives live and people are really friendly.

Sheerness would be affordable but I don't know about schools. Faversham is a nice, small town with good schools, they have some shared ownership new builds in your budget. It's an easy journey back to Essex - straight up M2 to Dartford crossing.

This is only 25% but Maidstone meets your criteria

Roundwell Park Road, Bearsted, Maidstone, Kent
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/115530731

Faversham

Jupiter Grove, Ospringe, Faversham, Kent
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110805620

Mistley, Essex

New Road, Mistley, ESSEX, CO11
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114988130

@elizadoalittle yes don't even get a garage down this way (South East) for that money!

I'm in the same position op and have resigned myself to not moving away. I don't know anyone anywhere else and I would have to commute back to London to do my job as I can't find anything equivalent outside of London. I'm nearly 50 now though so unlikely to get a mortgage anyway, so stuck with renting forever. If I let it, it would keep me awake at night worrying.

Plenty of places in NW England you can get a 3 bed for £150-170k. Newton-le-Willows is a decent area with good transport links, a nice little high street, but close enough to big cities like Manchester and Liverpool.

Wirral has areas you could get a nice house for that price.

Sorry you're in this situation. Would you be willing to move quite far? I'm north east and you could definitely have all of that. My house and lots around would fit that bill, we bought our lovely 3 bed semi with decent garden, garage and double drive for £160k. We are about 5 minutes away from the A1. Lovely towns locally and I'm in between Newcastle and Durham. Not far from lovely beaches and countryside.
And we are a welcoming bunch up here

@HermioneKipper

Oh no this is awful. You poor thing ☹️

Sounds like your only option is up north. Or could you afford to rent in Essex?

Don’t make it sound like “up north” is a bad thing!! (I realise the OP is from Essex). It’s not quite last chance saloon north of Watford.

OP, large parts of W and S Yorkshire will tick your boxes. You may not get a house in the “naicest” places, but certainly not the worst. ECML runs through Leeds and Wakefield and gets you to London in 2.25 hrs Leeds-LKX. A1,M1, M18, M62 make an excellent, albeit busy, motorway network.

Huddersfield on the edge of town and countryside, good primary school nearby. Might actually be in the catchment for the three tier first/middle/high school system we have in SE Hudds.

For ease of access to get back to Essex I would look at places along the A1/M1 particularly South Yorkshire.

Wakefield 👍🏼

Stoke-on-Trent fits your criteria. Lots of properties in your budget, near motorways, good schools and colleges if you live the right town (which is possible with your budget), Hanley Town Centre for shopping and Birmingham or Manchester only an hour away for big, big shopping.

I’ll biased but around Chester le Street would be okay. Outstanding primary/ outstanding secondary. New college and Gateshead college. A1 on doorstep. Loads of new houses/estates being built within budget.
North east is friendly.

170k will get you a three-bed house in parts of Coventry or Birmingham. Loads of choice for schools, colleges, etc. Plus they are on the HS2, so you and the kids have London less than an hour away.

I'd just go to Suffolk or Norfolk, assuming you'll still want to travel back to Essex sometimes.

Sorry, just to clarify budget is £150-170k to buy.
I have no ties to anywhere outside of Essex but am prepared to move north to get a good quality of life for the kids.

I own a property which is rented out. I can’t live in it, sell it or remortgage it for another 6 months minimum but it excludes me from UC or any other support. I’m currently appealing but not much hope.

I need a plan to set us up for some sort of a future and it looks like that’s going to be pretty far north. If I rented I could stay closer but I’d deplete all of my funds and be fucked a few years down the line. I need a forever solution.

Will go back and read all the lovely replies now - was so worried no one would answer!

Just to add, we rent do there’s no ‘family home’ I can just stand my ground in.

Cant add to the suggestions but not Wales, education isn't good and the NHS worse. The People are nice though.

Just add I’m not sure I’m keen on would qualify for part ownership schemes as I’m not a first time buyer and having been through the mill I really crave the security of a home that’s just ours.

Can you not just stay where you are for 6 months and then move in to the property that you own?

The property that is rented out - could you live in it in the future ie when the children leave home? Might be worth renting where you and having that as your future security net.

The East Midlands? Derby, Nottingham or Leicester. Close to the M1 so quite easy to get about. Trains are 1 1/2 hours into London.

The property that I own is a two bed in a really rough area, I lived in it for 12 years but it’s no place to raise kids safely.

I think if I can, buying something else and making a fresh start will be for the best. Just a case of trying to find affordable towns.