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.

@dinosaurdee

We were considering a similar move - currently in Sussex and thinking of moving up to Durham where DH's family is based due to house size for money.

We thought long and hard about it, but decided against it due to the South East being where the jobs are (I know you said you could work from home), but personally being from the South East I do find the pace of life slower up there and, dare I say (I will be shot for this), attitudes are more 1950s (in my opinion).

1950s?! Yes, yes we're all housewives and pit workers up here

York is expensive. You might find something in an ok area of Leeds for that budget. Or consider Liverpool/Wirral.

Where on earth does the pp's friends in Surrey live where it takes an hour to get anywhere? Surrey is not a big county and everything is quite close, even if you live in a village near Dorking or somewhere like that.

The North is fab. I'm from the North. York would be pretty good on facilities, culture etc, so I would say, yes do it, just factor in more inconvenience seeing grandparents etc, especially as they get older. People get very snooty about the north. Just seen someone say it's an aquired taste The North is actually pretty big, and there are shit areas down south, as there are everywhere. Hard to believe I know! Research hard, and you'll be fine. Northerners are a pretty friendly lot IME.

Yes, the north is an acquired taste. Best not move up there. It's awful

@ReceptacleForTheRespectable

There's money in the area but it's quiet farming money, not flash cars.

Forget money! You don't need your neighbours to have money. What you need in an area (particularly if you are working age with kids) is access to decent jobs, schools and facilities.

It does if you're self employed like OP and her partner and you need people with cash around to be able to pay for your services / products.

As I said, I haven't been in 15 years but I remember Driffield as quite posh. Not a flash your cash kind of place though.

Just makes me so mad to see all the ignorant attitudes about flat cap wearing, 1950's backward northeners. Some of us go to university and everything!

Yes, the north is an acquired taste. Best not move up there. It's awful

Ah, glad you agree

We left all family behind and moved 500 miles north from Herts with a one yr old. It was a big social change which we've never regretted. Househunting the property market at long sistance is very difficult and if there was one thing we'd have done differently, it would be to rent and get a good feel for different areas and different architecture in your chosen locality, before you buy.

Our 4 bed detached house in Huddersfield is worth about £400k and we don’t even live in the very posh bit
You can get a nice 3 bed for around £270k in some areas round here though and cheaper if you go somewhere a bit dodgy
We are close to both Leeds and Manchester here so really good for commuting to big cities if you need to for work

The North

Gosh some people are daft. Sheffield is the same 'area' as 200 miles up the road in Berwick?

Oh and attitudes are more 1950s ???? Ignorant bullshit.

We recently moved from Hertfordshire op. From one green leafy village to a small green leafy town in Bedfordshire. Just outside North Herts. 50% more house, 3x the garden, detached instead terraced. 1/3 more of the cost for all that.

I'm so glad all the ignorant people on here being snooty about the 'north' are never going to come and live here - the fact you don't live here is one of the things that's good about it. I'm from the south, incidentally.

@dancingmonkey You need to think long term.

House prices in the north will never keep up with the south so if you move north, the odds are you will never come south again.

I did the opposite- moved south.

I now have a long 5 hr drive to see elderly parents, and no extended family nearby where I live now. My parents did not see much of their grandchildren, so you need to weight all of this up.

Also, as others have said, that price of the York house is very cheap- probably not the best of areas in the city which is £££ owing to the uni and people buying student accommodation.

Anyone with sense makes their money in the south and then sells up and moves north and has a very nice life. That is what I am going to do. As soon as my DC are old enough, I will be off with my capital gains on my SE property and buy a smallish house and a holiday home.

@emmylousings

I'm so glad all the ignorant people on here being snooty about the 'north' are never going to come and live here - the fact you don't live here is one of the things that's good about it. I'm from the south, incidentally.

I was just thinking after I posted, my house has a 'local occupancy clause'.....to stop mainly southerners buying them up as holiday homes. It must be so shocking to some of these posters that some people holiday in....the North

Idiots.

You're welcome any time Emmy

I've loved and lived several areas in "the North". Cities are cities and towns are towns where ever they are placed!!

I really miss my home city in the North but I can't work from there.

I don't get this '1950s attitudes' thing about the North. These things vary by area, it isn't a north/south thing - many places in the south have reputations for being 'backwards', normally more rural places quite far from cities. I've seen Wales, Cornwall be accused of this.

But it always gets bandied out like some sort of clincher on North/South divide threads

I am from the south, married a welshman, live in North Wales 270k would not buy 5 beds. here. Great for kids, schools a mixed bag you really need to know which one to choose so have to live in their zone.

We have beaches, parks, forests, mountains, but for teenagers it is a tough few years. You make your own entertainment.

I'm with the mortally offended re the North being an 'acquired taste.' Also you would need to be more specific around where you want to live. Not everywhere 'oop North' is cheap - there are some very exclusive and expensive areas.

Personally, I'm a Northerner and proud. Love where I live.

'An acquired taste' I read it to mean it's a different of life to where op is living now. Same as Cornwall has a different feel and pace of life than where I live. The same as living in the Welsh valleys has a different feel to it. That's what make the U.K. such a great place to live surely?

I’m hoping to move North! I hate living in the South.

It’s so much more friendlier there 😍

If work allows it, I say go for it.

Then again, I live in a large country and after moving away when I was younger, I have recently moved CLOSER to my family... We're now only a 2-hour drive from my parents and sister! To me that's pretty darn close!

Brits think anything more than a 5-minute walk is the other side of the world! 😆

There are many fantastic parts of ‘the north’ and Yorkshire has many of them but do seriously consider that fact that the weather is significantly colder and wetter. As a SAD sufferer, I struggle for most of the year and there’s nothing worse than turning on GMB when you’re getting ready for work to find them bleating on about the ‘UK heatwave’ whilst it’s actually hammering down outside of your window!

Also expect that you will be the ones doing all the visiting. When we moved up north, my parents were bemused that their sibling never came to visit, but now the one of my siblings has moved away, I completely understand. We have busy lives and there just isn’t room for a cross county trip. I haven’t seen my brother and his family for over a year now and I have no idea when we will see them. But a visit would take up a whole weekend and mean that DS (in normal times) would miss out on his weekend activities so we never actually get around to visiting. To be fair they don’t really come back here either. But I understand my parents’ families’ feelings; they move away, they come back to visit.

Don’t be surprised when family and friends aren’t magically available when you do come back either, they can’t just drop everything when you come home.

I know that sounds really harsh but to be honest, it’s the truth.

I’m surprised at York being as cheap as you think it is. I’d want to scrutinise the details a bit more - location, state of the property etc.