To relocate from the south east up north??

[BadgerLovesMash]

Just to start I have never moved away from where I grew up so this would be huge!! But now after having our landlord decide to sell our home again (5th time in 12 years this has happened to us!) We are seriously considering moving somewhere cheaper. But some things making me wonder whether we should.

We currently live just outside of Brighton so are very used to easy and cheap public transport which is vital as we don't drive.

Our daughters are 14 and 10, so 1 heading into GCSE years and the other just about to start secondary school.

We have a good support network of friends and family here. All the girls friends are here.

However we are both on minimum wage. DH works for a company that would let him change locations. I work in childcare so could find another job in that field (I was looking to change anyway as no longer need term time once dd2 starts secondary and theres no chance of increased hours where i am) so financially we would be significantly better off.

For reference our current rent for a 3 bed is £1500 per month and this is cheap, others in this area are closer to £1800. I was looking at Grimsby and for a similar sized 3 bed it is £515. But that is 5hrs on the train from here!

So has anyone done this and what are the pros and cons?

Oh and this is all quite outing if you know me! 🤣

You're right Bristol is v expensive but why so much hate for Liverpool? Assuming you have lived there and have personal experience then fair enough. I have family in Crosby, Aigburth and the Wirral, spent a few months there and visit regularly. There's no more trouble there then there is London! Just avoid Toxteth and Norry Green... Hate for Liverpool just seems like snobbery to me

As opposed to central Manchester, central Liverpool, central Glasgow, central Edinburgh. The UK has more cities than just London you know. Even up north.

There are plenty of areas in Cumbria with rent less than 700pcm. The OP currently pays far more than this.

I really feel the cold, so while it may be bullshit for you it isn't for me.

This thread is bonkers and it's hilarious that the Lakes have been mentioned as a cheap place to live! Honestly, have a look on Rightmove- you'll get the shock of your life if you imagine that Cumbria and the Lakes are cheap!

It depends where you're moving from, and also where in Cumbria you're moving to. I don't think anyone's suggesting moving inside the Lake District National Park. We moved near the Cumbria/Lancs border, which is certainly cheaper than where we lived down south, but not super cheap. There are definitely places a lot cheaper in other parts of Cumbria, as I'm sure anyone could also find out by looking on Rightmove.

There are definitely places a lot cheaper in other parts of Cumbria, as I'm sure anyone could also find out by looking on Rightmove

I also live in this area and in a house valued considerably higher than where family living on the south coast live. Cumbria is far from cheap and actually very comparable with the south of England price wise. It's not all terraced houses and whippets in the grim north...

I also live in this area and in a house valued considerably higher than where family living on the south coast live. Cumbria is far from cheap and actually very comparable with the south of England price wise. It's not all terraced houses and whippets in the grim north...

Yes, I'm aware of that. As I mentioned, I live in Cumbria. Parts of Cumbria are very expensive. But it depends where in Cumbria, and what the prices are like in the area of the SE where the OP is moving from. The OP currently pays £1500 pcm. There are places in Cumbria where she would pay considerably less.

I highly doubt that if you moved to the north you would be paying £700 plus a month more to heat your house though.

You can get rentals for that in really nice areas up here.

I pay £600 for a mortgage on a large detached in a very affluent market town.

The 7th post on this thread literally tells the OP to look at the Lake District. (And Cheshire!)

The perception that the whole north is cheap is very bizarre. The areas with poor transport links and few jobs are deprived and cheap, but the areas with good transport and job opportunities are generally quite expensive. And the beautiful touristy areas like the Lakes are really tricky for renters as landlords can make more income from holiday lets than from a long term tenant.

I'm guessing you bought that house quite a few years ago? Or had a massive deposit?

Most affluent northern towns would require a much larger mortgage than that for a large detached house these days.

@BadgerLovesMash I moved from the south to north. I really don't think there's such a huge difference in weather (sometimes I have the beautiful sunny spells whilst family down south complain about the rain and cold ).
However, I would do my research, schools, work, areas etc. all town and cities will have affluent outskirts, but some might be far more expensive than your current house.
Then there's schools, there's a great selection of grammars (not everyone's taste), Manchester, Yorkshire and Lancashire have a fair few grammar schools.

I'm in a northern town not many would consider, but we are on the edge of town, and with all the cows and chickens around us, I absolutely love where we live.

As an example - I live near a Yorkshire market town. It's not super affluent, but is considered 'nice' and offers a good standard of living. There are jobs, decent schools, and good public transport links to the nearest cities.

The cheapest 3 bed terrace rentals start at £700, but there are hardly any at that price. To rent a larger house in the nicer areas you are looking at roughly double that amount. The idea that you can rent a big house in the affluent areas of the north for £700 a month is complete fiction IMO.

If you must move up north (and the north is a huge place with loads of different variables) think very carefully about where and be prepared for a big culture shock in terms of attitudes and opportunities, not just the weather.

I grew up in the north east but spent most of my working life in the south west (a bit in the south central bit too and the north west very briefly) until moving to the north west last summer. I have no idea how long I'll last here but I have been astonished at how badly it's deteriorated since I was last here, how incredibly low the aspiration levels are and how restricted the world view is even amongst very educated people, and how utterly corrupt some of the local councils etc seem to be.

I have days when I'm glad we kept our address down south, where things are still tough but a walk along the seafront is still free and people don't think a 30 minute journey to the nearest big city for work is undoable. (Doesn't help that where we live now is on record as having the most unreliable public transport in England. That's on non strike days.)

Moving from somewhere like Brighton to, say, Newcastle or Leeds or Central Manchester or the nicer bits of Liverpool is one thing, but moving to somewhere like Grimsby or Blackpool is something else. You might want to actually spend some time in a place before you take the plunge. If it's just cheap housing you're after what about the Midlands? Again, check out where though...

Oh, and the temperature thing? It can be at least five to ten degrees colder here on average than where we left. This year the north west is drier than normal but I also cannot overemphasize how wet it is normally. When we left 35 to 40C temperatures and yellow baked fields last summer, it was still green when we arrived here and in the high twenties/early thirties...

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/map.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E61333&minBedrooms=3&numberOfPropertiesPerPage=499&propertyTypes=&viewType=MAP&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&viewport=-2.12198%2C-1.19089%2C54.7325%2C55.5411&keywords=

I’ve lived in both. I prefer the SE but I hear you on prices- the difficulty is that anywhere up north I’d live is also expensive! The weather doesn’t bother me as such but I do prefer it down here.
Tricky for you OP- could you go on the council list? Or housing association?

Another thing to consider is altitude. I often mention on MN that it is cooler where we live, especially in summer when all the summer haters complain about the heat.

We are on the edge of the Pennines and in a village so it is usually a couple of degrees or so cooler than Sheffield.

Oooo
I grew up in Manchester until I was 18, but spent the last 15 years in London.

Eventually in 2022. We could survive, taking out loans to cover basic essentials. Council wouldn't help and rent went up again and well I tried everything I could.

Eventually found a HA FLAT on rightmove in Bramhall, Manchester (nice side of town)

We just cut cost of £1750 a month in rent to £400.
And we have a life long tenancy now!
So it's quite worth it, researching up housing associations, especially Clarion (they advertise lots) and see what their advertising on rightmove.

I miss London terribly and it's been a massive culture shock especially for my husband! but ultimately my family are happy I'm back and I can visit London whenever for cheap as my in-laws are there and now we are financially comfortable.

So cut my very long story up short! Worth looking at housing associations online!

The 7th post on this thread literally tells the OP to look at the Lake District. (And Cheshire!)

Fair enough, but there are places in Cumbria which are fairly cheap. No idea about Cheshire.

The perception that the whole north is cheap is very bizarre.

Yes, saying the whole north is cheap or the whole south is expensive is an unhelpful and inaccurate sweeping statement, even though presumably if you chopped England in half I'm presuming the average house price or rental in the north would actually be cheaper than in the south.

No. I'm up in Northumberland and you can easily get a lovely detached for £200k

20 years ago, me and (the now ex) DH moved from Hertfordshire to East Yorkshire coast. ( We could not afford a house in Hertfordshire, we were in a 50% shared ownership 2 bedroomed flat that had been in negative equity for 13 years!)
I have never regretted it.
My eldest was in year 6 about to take his SATs, (when we moved) my middle in year 2 and my youngest - 2 and 1/2 years old. They all did well at school, all got good grades and all been to University up here.
And the weather, that someone mentioned! What rubbish! We have glorious weather , here on the coast especially, -at least as much as anywhere else - beautiful scenery and lots of good cities nearby. { London is around 3 hours on the train, from where I am, easily do-able in a day ).
The wages up here might not be quite as hot as down south, but we make up for it in a slower pace of life.
Why do so many people from The South believe it is all doom and gloom 'oop North'? Like everywhere in the country,it has its good and bad areas.

Oh get the stick out of your arse. It's a joke, why are 'proud northerners' all so bloody touchy?

The north-south divide is a term used to describe the social, economic and cultural disparities between the London and the south-east of England and the rest of the UK. People living in the south-east typically have a longer life expectancy, higher income and better standard of living than those living in the north

Poverty rates are also over 5 percentage points higher in the North than the rest of England; and the job density rate for the North is 0.78 compared to the national average of 0.83 and the London rate of 0.98. Job growth since 2004 has been less than 1% in the North compared to over 12% in London, the South East and the South West

There you have it in black and white.
Grim areas in the South do not negate the massive disparity in health/wealth between the North/South.
Now that might not mean you personally but calling people a dick is ridiculous .

My late grandad always used to say he’d rather be poor than a southerner 😂
He lived to the grand age of 96 so didn’t do too badly.