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.

We did- moved from London selling a one bed shit flat in a crap area for a lovely Victorian terrace in greater Manchester for the same price. Best decision we ever made. I’m a southerner but love it here. However DH is from the north so we have family an hour or so away.

I moved up North from the south coast 6 years ago, just before I had my firstborn. DH's family are up here. My mum had lived in another part of the country and has now moved up here too.
We were in the position as (actual, not mumsnet) medium earners of not being able to afford a single thing down there, without moving out to a really desolate area and having shared ownership (and it would have had to be a flat).
We live in Leeds and it's massively varied: some areas are very cheap and quite rough, but others are lovely. We live in a nice area that's a little industrial and have a three bed (small kitchen, no utility) that cost £150k 4 years ago (now worth about £180k) - £270k would get you something nice around here.
I would echo what others said about checking the area though: I made huge generalisations about it being cheap up here but actually you need to see the local area - houses a few miles up the road in Horsforth and Adel are waaaay more expensive. In Leeds at least a nice area can be very close to a not so nice one.
One thing as well: It was really hard being away from friends, especially trying to make new ones. I took that totally for granted. For a while I felt like a fish out of water. After a couple of years and lots of viewings we found a little area of the city that we felt at home in, after renting for a bit somewhere else in the city (thought of as posher): eventually that brought forth the friendships, and we feel more at home than before. So my advice would be to do your research on the area, and visit a few times. Think about what you would miss (pubs / cafes / cultural places/ parks / good schools) and whether the area you look at is well served.
The 'acquired taste' is rubbish: you get all sorts up here - Harrogate is very different from Dewsbury for example! Plenty of bleakness in the south too, dontcha know.

Ineednewshoes - I think the point is not that an area cannot be an acquired taste, but that “The North” is not an area.

As if you can dismiss eg Liverpool, Cheshire, Bradford, The Lake District, The North Yorkshire coast, and Sunderland as all being the same thing and “an acquired taste.”

DestroyedPeople - that may be all very well in areas around London used as commuter towns with direct train links and near the M25 etc. 40 miles on nothing more than A roads, with no trains and limited buses is a whole different kettle of fish.

You need to see what the area is like. Houses in York are expensive - dont know which area the one you mention is in but it certainly won't be near any of the city amenities

I wish I could get a 5 bed for 270k in my bit of the north!

Same!!! My tiny two bed house is worth that and I'm up north. Maybe I need to go further up, Dunnet Head maybe.

I think anywhere is an acquired taste. I've lived in the North my whole life and even moving within the same city takes adjustment.

It really depends what you're looking for. I live in a leafy area of South Middlesbrough in a 4 bed house that cost a fraction more than I sold my 1 bed York flat for. There are lovely and cheap areas in the north, but they can take a bit of finding. The north/south price differences really aren't that huge anymore.

I know the area.

Those villages are gorgeous, but cheap for a reason...

That village has neither mains gas nor mains sewage (so, factor in the cost of running and maintaining biodigester plant in the back garden, and your central heating system - oil tanks/ deliveries, or bottled gas — and the risks of running out and not being able to book a delivery in a bad winter!)

Im pretty sure that but for the school bus there isn’t a bus service. So you will need to drive. And have a car each. And ferry any kids about till they can drive, and have a car for them (5 car household isn’t unusual there)

There are no shops, play areas or pubs. Nearest is Driffield. It’s a couple of miles, but not really walkable (narrow road, no paths) no issues getting into a school, there’s plenty of places. But you’ll have to get there!

Driff is nice, but limited in amenities and more importantly employment. You are about an hour from anywhere - Hull, York, the motorway. Doesn’t sound too bad, but that really seems to get to people if they aren’t used to it.

Lastly, there’s bugger all employment. The only big employer is the local council. Otherwise it’s retail, agricultural or bar work or that hour round trip to hull or York.

I live in the North and the amount of people down South who turn their noses up, or assume we all live in some form of poverty is just baffling!

I earn a pretty good wage that would be the same down south. I have a lovely house close to the sea for money that would barely buy a studio apartment in some areas down south.

A friend down south said it's amazing what you get for your money up here 'but it's a shame you earn so much less money up there.' Errrr, we don't. I earn the same as I would in other areas of the country for my job. My DP works for a huge international company, working from home, so earns the same as he would anywhere. He also owns his own house in a wonderful location. He used to live down south and he said he wouldn't be able to afford such a house down there!

Same friend is also amazed how I can 'go on lots of nice holidays/short breaks' - thats because I don't have as much money going on my mortgage etc.

No advice about moving North but more moving away from family and friends.

When I got pregnant with DD we lived in Surrey in a studio flat and there was no way we were squishing in a baby too. So we looked to moved somewhere cheaper and decided to go to Cambridgeshire where DH was from. We swapped our tiny studio flat for a 3 bed semi (RESULT!) however it turned out his family had little to no interest in us or the baby and all his friends were unmarried lads who had very little interest in a friend with a kid who couldn’t always go out.

I was 120 miles (doesn’t sound a lot but it’s a long drive as the M25/M11 is always a pain and the train is 3 hours) away from my support network of friends and family who all initially visited a lot. And then visits became fewer, and fewer until it was only my parents who still came. We back back home to visit loads but it just wasn’t the same as being round the corner or the other side of town for a meet up and people became busy with their own lives and families.

Eventually I was left with no one. I’ve made a few friends over the years through DD and work but they are very superficial, and I still really miss my old friendship group even though they are long gone and merely FB friends now.

Think really carefully about your move, maybe make is somewhere more accessible to your friends and family?

OK, I'm sorry this may be harsh, but this is cracking me up. The North is an acquired taste?? What, the whole North? What does 'the North' even mean? Are you talking literally from the M25 to Hadrians Wall? Any 'areas' you'd recommend? Are people fucking serious? Is this a real conversation? Sometimes I think people have this vision that the country is either 'London and the South East' and 'The Rest of England' and it's all just one big place.

York has some lovely places no doubt but it's also a big place, you cannot recommend whole cities as worth living in, they are massively varied. It doesn't help that you started looking at a house that's not even IN York. Why have you even chosen York, have you been there? The city centre is nice of course, great history if you like Vikings, but seeing as you've started looking at a house about an hour away it's not a great start. I live in Sheffield and I wouldn't just say to you 'oh yeah, move to Sheffield, it's all nice'. It's not just like a pretty country village, it's a big city with a great variety of areas, and you won't know what each area is like until you've actually lived there or at least visited.

This reminds me of when I was an estate agent in Newcastle and people from London would buy houses in the roughest estates in the city for like £30k (obviously they'd never viewed them) and then be shocked and confused why no-one wanted to rent them out for £350 a month. Very entertaining. Like what on earth did you expect??

270? for 4/5 bed?

Maybe in a shitty bit around the edges of manchester

Maybe a shitty bit around the edges of Huddersfield or Leeds.

I can guarantee you would have awful public transport having to drive miles to get to a train station. All A roads until you hit m62 or M1 which are both shit motorways.

And you work in fashion - I'd be attempting to at least be commutable to leeds / manchester as those are the places you are more likely to find suppliers to work with.

270 you could get a niceish 3 bed in an ok area with a bit of garden in a not too fancy bit of manchester.

York is a great place to live.

But there's no way you're getting a 4/5 bed house in a nice area, in the ring road, for 270K. Unless it needs lots of work.

@BikeRunSki that’s really sad and must impact hugely on your life. For balance I’m north of Manchester and my parents are in Cornwall but we see each other very regularly. We travel each way and have lovely weekends and weeks holidays with each other. Yes day to day childcare needs to be payed for and we don’t have the safety net of grandparents jumping in but it doesn’t have to be the end of your relationship. My friends regularly visit from the south and I visit them too.

York is lovely. I'd consider it.

Though OK I will also say to answer your question that it really is up to you if you think moving away from family is worth it. Personally, I lived in Australia for a few years and missing family and friends is a big deal. I also lived in Newcastle (bit closer to Sheffield than Melbourne) and even that was hard at times. You miss family events, occasions, birthdays, you feel distant, you lose touch...it does matter, and even if it's just a couple of hours you aren't going to do that every weekend or even every month. My mum lived away from Sheffield when we were little and she hated it, she pined for home the whole time and was unhappy.

I wish I could get a 5 bed for 270k in my bit of the north!

In the town where I live, it gets you a medium to large 3/4 bed semi or a smallish 3/4 bed detached house.

I don't regret moving to be near family with small children. The opposite of what you are proposing. I think being able to sustain my career in those early days probably depended on it, as schools are far less flexible than nurseries, and have shorter hours (many do not do wrap around care, especially in more remote areas). As I have got older, and so have my relatives, being nearer and popping in more is much better. I absolutely wouldn't move away for a 4 bed house instead of a 3 bed one. It's a bit different if you can't buy at all in one location but could in another. I'd buy the 2/3 bed near your family, look for two reception rooms, or go up into the roof.

I wouldn't OP.

I visited Up North once and I still have flashbacks.

Open sewers, people keep headlice and ferrets as pets. Furniture is scarce, reading skills poor. Most people tend to marry close family members and eat roadkill.

Don't go. It is pretty gruesome in Up North- an awful place.

I think family support is far more important than where you live.

But, the expression 'It's grim up North' was said for a reason ...

the north is an acquired taste

Don't you just hate it when people refer to anything north of the Watford Gap as "the north"? And are pig ignorant enough to think that "the north" is all the same?

We left Herts 2 years ago and live in the Pennines / weardale area. Any regrets no. Miss children and grandchildren but it’s not impossible to jump in a car/ train. Houses cheaper insurance cheaper life lovely. Dream house and land. Less than 350k.

The north is fantastic. I live in the midlands but I go to Leeds & Manchester a lot.

I'd definitely move but everyone is different. I've got a gorgeous 4 bed Victorian semi for less than £160k.

I think you need to do what's best for you and your family. If you believe you would benefit from a larger house then move...save the money.

@NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace

YANBU but .... the north is an acquired taste. It's a big decision, in my opinion.

Good luck with whatever you decide

What on earth is that supposed to mean?

But, the expression 'It's grim up North' was said for a reason ...

What reason? Seriously, I don't understand how anyone can look at a picture of the Yorkshire Dales or the Lakes and say "Oh yes, that's grim"

@UrsulaPandress

I think family support is far more important than where you live.

But, the expression 'It's grim up North' was said for a reason ...

Is the reason that the person who said it was a wanker?