to ask what £300k would buy where you live?

[callingtimethistime]

And do you like living there? If not, where would you rather be?

WIBU to consider moving there with my DC?

(This is part idle speculation, part deadly serious as going through separation and I've never liked the the town we currently live in. It doesn't have much to offer older DC, plus the secondaries aren't great here. Wondering where we might all have a better life... )

A 3 bed semi requiring a bit of updating in a decent suburb of Leicester with good schools. This is worth £300k of anyone’s money.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/108623054#/?channel=RES_BUY

3-4 bed in preston Lancashire depending on area

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/81365997#/?channel=RES_NEW

A two bedroom flat… I live in Dorridge, Solihull.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/109290191#/?channel=RES_BUY

You could get a 2 bed flat here for that.

A couple of acres of beachfront property.

Something like this. 4 bedooms, detached home.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E933&maxPrice=300000&minPrice=300000&propertyTypes=&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

I never understand why people don't move to cheaper areas?

Our house is worth about £270. Its a 5 bed townhouse with stunning sea views (we are on right the seafront), we have all the local amenities you could wish for and we're just a 20 min hop on the train from Edinburgh. Excellent schools. I've lived in London previously and I'm well aware that we would only get a flat there for that amount of money, which seems ridiculous.

I never understand why people don't move to cheaper areas?

Well they are now and prices are rising.

Like nothing like barely a one bedroom flat in a crappy area

You’d get a 3 bed detached (probably new build given the amount flying up around here - I think we are single handedly accommodating boris’s building plans!
Great little town with great community spirit, CW12 postcode. Good if pricey commuter links to Manchester. Great schools.

I never understand why people don't move to cheaper

Lots of reasons - jobs, family, commuting costs to name a few.

I did move somewhere cheaper and landed on my feet but that's not the case with everyone. Lots of people struggle in new places, especially without a support network and in a new work environment.

@judgejudyrocks

I never understand why people don't move to cheaper areas?

Our house is worth about £270. Its a 5 bed townhouse with stunning sea views (we are on right the seafront), we have all the local amenities you could wish for and we're just a 20 min hop on the train from Edinburgh. Excellent schools. I've lived in London previously and I'm well aware that we would only get a flat there for that amount of money, which seems ridiculous.

Well, I'm an actor and DH works in a specialist role that doesn't exist outside of major financial centres, so we both need to be with commuting distance of London for work.

I'd love to live somewhere bigger and cheaper, ideally on the coast, but it wouldn't work for us.

@judgejudyrocks

I never understand why people don't move to cheaper areas?

Our house is worth about £270. Its a 5 bed townhouse with stunning sea views (we are on right the seafront), we have all the local amenities you could wish for and we're just a 20 min hop on the train from Edinburgh. Excellent schools. I've lived in London previously and I'm well aware that we would only get a flat there for that amount of money, which seems ridiculous.

If everyone did that, those areas wouldn’t be cheaper anymore, would they?

A nice, but small 1-bed with courtyard. Maybe a 2-bed, but it wouldn't be particularly nice and no outside space.

Where I live 300k would get you a small one bedroom town centre flat without parking, just about, if you were lucky.

I love living here and was very lucky to be able to get on the property ladder when I did, but may have to move if we have DC to be able to afford a decent size home. Sadly that will mean we're a flight, not just a drive or a train, from everyone we love here

I never understand why people don't move to cheaper areas

Work, family ties, friendships, loving the area they live in...

I live in one of the cheaper areas and recently prices have risen to ridiculous levels. This is driven by people moving into the area from more expensive areas (and because we are seen as being in a low risk area for Covid).

2 bed terraced - South east

@judgejudyrocks well living in a cheap area doesn't mean you automatically get on the property ladder. I moved back to London from Germany in 2016, a friend of mine did the same but moved to Yorkshire. A house in her area is 100k. A flat in my area is £400k. I own the flat and she is still renting 5 years on. Not for lack of want to buy. Her outgoings are around the same as mine despite cheaper rent because of a few things, and she is also on lower salary:

1. £500 per month for her and her husband's car /van due public transport being crap, DH and I don't have cars and use London public transport
2. Her council tax is higher than mine
3. She is still paying off debt from being unemployed during pandemic. She isn't in a hospitality role either. Job opportunities are far more limited in her area so I guess it's harder to find a suitable job? When I interviewed at a workplace open to everyone working remotely, they still asked me where I lived and calculated how long my commute to Bank would be!

So I guess the thing is- earnings do matter. A 100k house doesn't mean you are necessarily more able to buy it without the income to match. I mean l looked at Edinburgh and it didn't seem that cheap to me esp when taking into account drop in earning potential. Fine if you are at an executive director level because you probably have quite a lot of equity by then but rich people wanting an even bigger house to upgrade from a pretty nice house in London is hardly a housing crisis.

@LakieLady

£300k would get you a 2-bed flat or tiny 2-bed terraced house in my Sussex town.

If you want a new-build, it's £280k for a (small) one-bed flat overlooking Tesco's car park.

I guess we are in the same town if the new flats are Columbia house

Where I live you could maybe get a small 3 bed within the school catchment area, more likely a 2 bedroom though.

Sorry, should have added. I live in bearsden just outside Glasgow

300k wouldn't buy anything in my village.

You could likely get a 1 bed ex council studio flat in a high rise, maybe a very small 1 bedroom with a bit of luck. A 1 bed private flat in a newer building you'd need another 50k+, possibly another 75-80k.

Needless to say I bought before things climbed and spiked.

@judgejudyrocks

I never understand why people don't move to cheaper areas?

Our house is worth about £270. Its a 5 bed townhouse with stunning sea views (we are on right the seafront), we have all the local amenities you could wish for and we're just a 20 min hop on the train from Edinburgh. Excellent schools. I've lived in London previously and I'm well aware that we would only get a flat there for that amount of money, which seems ridiculous.

I really wish we could @judgejudyrocks but many barriers. Firstly, we have a particular rare health condition where the leading hospital is up the road. People travel from all around the country to get treatment here. It would mean needing to come here 4-6x a year. Secondly, by the time you add commuting costs if we moved to a commutable town, we'd be no better off and more exhausted. Thirdly I help an elderly relative who is a 10 min walk away and I'm the only family member in the same city. Finally, I have 3 jobs and would need to be in a better financial position to go down to 1, which granted I would love and certainly if we moved that is likely, but right now with house prices inflating in the countryside and smaller towns/villages, feels a tad risky.

I think too that for many of us, especially those in London, our homes will become the pensions that are no longer available to most of us. One day I could move out and immediately have money left over to help towards retirement. So in some ways there's other benefits to staying too. I also love where we live, have a strong community, feel it's very diverse and welcoming, as well as progressive, and know my dc who are all vastly different from one another, fit in. There's a wide acceptance/embracing here that just isn't found everywhere. It's a factor when considering my dc's needs too. However much we need more space!