To move up north for a big but cheap house!

[dancingmonkey]

Just that really. I l live in Hertfordshire- south east and very expensive part of Uk. Budget is around £270,000 and around here that will get me a small 2 bed/ poss 3 bed. But have looked at properties in York which I know is lovely and the will get me a 4/5 bed with massive garden, playroom, utility etc!

Has anyone on here moved far from friends and family to get more value for money on a house? did you regret? I have a 2 year old so obviously it would be hard to not see grandparents and friends but other that that not sure what I would miss! I also work from home so wouldn't need to worry about that.

It's a bit tricky to for people to help you decide whether you'll regret the move if your search area is 'the north or maybe somewhere else entirely', OP! Because whether you'll regret it will depend partly on how much you will miss being near friends and family (which only you can know). The rest is based on how nice the location is - which is impossible to say when you've got no fixed idea of location!

We moved to Cumbria from Oxfordshire 6 years ago (in our 40s with school aged dc) having been lifelong southerners and having previously lived in London. We got more house for our money, but not dramatically so. (We could have got a lot more if we'd chosen a less desirable area, further from the M6, maybe West Cumbria). We loved it here from day 1 and would never move back to the SE/London. Might consider another move one day, but it would be somewhere else rural.

It just depends what's important to you. It's rainy here, and public transport is crap, and jobs can be hard to find in some sectors, but none of those things are important to us, so it's not a problem!

OP, I live in York (walking distance from the centre). House prices are very, very high.

You could get a terraced house that's actually in York for your budget, but it would be in a very much less desirable part of York.

Price is invariably to do with location, and with a £270k budget you'd be better off looking elsewhere.

York is lovely, though!

Some of the comments on here are the reason I (a Northerner) moved abroad.

Budget is around £270,000 and around here that will get me a small 2 bed/ poss 3 bed. But have looked at properties in York which I know is lovely and the will get me a 4/5 bed with massive garden, playroom, utility etc!

In YORK?

I'm very surprised at this. York itself is ridiculously overpriced.

Isn’t it strange the view some people have of up North!?
The ‘North’ is very desirable actually and like everywhere, has it’s cheaper and expensive parts. I’m in East Cheshire and I could get more for my money in the Surrey hills!!

Without being rude, if you can buy a 3 bed for £270k in Herts, it must be a not nice bit of the county.

So, moving to the North must be tempting. But it's friends, family, the distance to London, schools and jobs that would keep me in Herts.

We are in an eye wateringly expensive bit of Hertfordshire, but the schools are fantastic and the area is really very nice. Plus 20 mins to central London on the train.

^

Insulting and a stealth boast. Bravo

I live in a nice area just outside a large northern city and round here £270k would get you a two bed flat. Maybe a tiny semi on that needs completely gutting if you're lucky. The North is a big place!

@Joans3rddaughter, there's place in Wigan that will resole your clogs while you wait. Handy if you've only the one pair.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65298042.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-79977307.html

^^ this one could be great if your builder DH could do an extension ?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-84585083.html

Love the decor of this one !

We moved SOUTH and got far more for our money. We used to live just south of Manchester and we moved to Sussex. Current house cost around 600k. We sold our previous, smaller house up north for 645k. You won’t get a nice big 4 bed in a nice area of South Manchester for your budget unfortunately.
I love it down here with the coast close by. Why not look down this way?

That last one in Ripon is

For 300,000 you could get a 4 bedroom house in a lovely area of Birmingham. Nice and central for traveling to see relatives down south. Good schools.

Definitely consider the area and schools when thinking of where to move. In Birmingham you could buy 2 houses with that money, but in a rough area with crap schools (ie where I used to live!)

I've lived in the north, the south and the midlands (that forgotten in-between place) and am confused as to where the lines are drawn. All have their good points. Some of the comments on here are laughably ignorant.

OP, you need to take a trip (when safe to do so) around the areas you're interested in and really get a feel for the place, speak to people who live there, chat up some estate agents etc I think if you like it and find the right place at the right price you'd get used to some extra travel to see family. Look for good transport links to London - generally don't go too far west or east.

..., Ripon is in an area of gypsum dissolution. The ground has large areas of butter gypsum, which washes out and causes sink holes.

Having said that, I’d definitely do it. Better to make the move with a younger child too. I love the north and midlands! All very varied but generally much friendlier and more down to earth than wealthy southern counties.

Oh karst. ....that's never good. ...

We moved from the south of England to Ireland and a modern 5 bed detached with huge rooms and 2 acres for about £250k 6 years ago.

I wouldn’t ever want to go back to Brexit Britain, even though my family are all still there.

If you’re not sure, then rent your house out and find somewhere to rent up north, or wherever. Give it at least 6 months before making your final decision.

@managedmis, I’m guessing you live at one of the stops in the old Bed-Pan line or in the town with the castle? Very similar prices to lots of nicer areas in the north too. The op will find nicer areas slightly cheaper but won’t be able to move from an unpleasant bit of Herts to the nice part of Cheshire.

[quote Normalmumandwife]@chomalungma

You can get even a better house in Goole.
Or Harehills in Leeds
Or Chapeltown

If you fancy moving to Harehills or chapeltown, then buy a stab vest. That's how nice it is there![/quote]
Whilst they’re not the best areas in the world, and not somewhere I would choose to live unless it was all I could afford, I can’t think of anybody ever being randomly stabbed in either Harehills or Chapeltown, and it’s now veryrare for targeted stabbing there too.

Why don't you just go slightly north of where you are...Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire are generally cheaper than Hertfordshire. Maybe Huntingdon www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71642448.html

That house isn't near York. I'd consider somewhere gorgeous like York. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere up north (unless it was in stunning surroundings) would make me feel a bit isolated and depressed. But that's just me.

Why go so far? We're in the East Midlands and around here you can get a nice 4 bed detached with a decent garden in a good area for that money.

I think the very fact that you think that house is in York is an indication that this is a very bad idea at the moment. You haven’t done any level of research and seem to be focussing on property prices.

Remember property prices reflect what purchasers can afford to pay. If that large house is ‘only’ 270K, it’s because that’s what people living in that area can pay for it, that wages locally are lower. That might not effect your earnings but it will certainly impact on what your partner will earn as a builder.

My grandparents did something similar, sold up their tiny basement flat in London and bought a property outright in rural Ireland. They had plenty of family where they moved to as it was where my grandmother grew up but having got used to living in London she found rural living lonely). She missed her older children and young GC (me included) who remained in London. Grandad couldn’t find work locally so ended up living in digs to work in Dublin Monday-Friday and coming home for weekends. This went on for over 20 years.

@TempestHayes

Just moved to a 5 bed, 3 recep, 3 bath, three large gardens. For a price that would make a Southerner weep.

I mean, I'm Northern, and I love the place. Stone's throw from the Peaks and the Lakes, bit more to Wales.

I say do it. My family have never shown any interest in visiting or looking after my kids so being near or far from would make no difference.

I'm currently in Altrincham and thinking of selling up moving out so I can afford to buy more than a 2 bed terrace.

Can you point me in the right direction, be as vague as you like, I don't need your address or any thing

I can't advise except to say that the East Coast line to sothern parts is pretty good. eg York to Stevenage in under 2 hours.