Moving to Wales to be better financially?

[DAISYBELLAxx]

Hello!

My partner and I are currently selling his flat in Surrey and our house budget is around £500,000.

I am a teacher and he is an electric gate engineer. I am currently training to become a self-employed dog groomer, as I struggle with the stress and workload of teaching.

We have been looking at houses around our way, and the prices are so expensive for what you get! We have decided that we need a driveway (so that he can park his work van), a large garden (for my dog grooming business eventually and for our own dogs) and a minimum of 3 bedrooms (we would like to start a family within the next couple of years).

A work colleague of his mentioned about the good house prices in Wales, with wages being the same rate as the UK. We have done some researching, and have seen that for £350-400K, we could have everything we wish for and more. This would mean a cheaper mortgage for us (we have an 100K deposit) and it would allow us more flexibility money wise with starting a family and becoming self employed.

We are looking around Cardiff, which is around 3 hours away from Surrey. I am very close to my family and will miss them if we went. We both do not have a big circle of friends anyway. I do worry about being lonely and know that we will both need to step out of our comfort zones in order to build a new circle of people around us. On the plus side, meeting with family will probably mean more living further away, as the time will probably be more valued and of good quality.

It all makes sense but equally seems so daunting. Has anybody moved from England to Wales and would be happy to share their advice or experience with me please?

Thank you. 😊

It's just another part of the UK, so there's no culture shock to deal with. You'd notice differences in culture if you moved 3 hours in any direction from where you live now. Making friends is no harder in Wales than anywhere for example, so you don't need to think of it as having additional hurdles.

I think there are very noticeable differences in culture - but in a good way for the OP. The people of South Wales are incredibly warm and friendly - I spend a lot of time down there (am from London) and people just are open and welcoming IME.

@DAISYBELLAxx - go for it. It sounds perfect for you both.

I was born in and live in that area. Where and what are you looking at for that kind of price??

I moved from London to Cardiff. I like it here a lot and don't regret moving but it is of course very different to London. I think the difference for you might be less if you are moving from Surrey.

Downsides. The weather. Cardiff is very rainy!

You will probably get the anti-Welsh lot coming on here to tell tales of how the Welsh hate the English and change languages etc. when English people come into the shop/pub etc. Ignore them!

I think there are very noticeable differences in culture

I agree, like I said you'll find differences in culture moving three hours in any direction from your home town. I was reassuring the op it isn't like moving to a foreign land. It's a variation on a theme she already knows, not something that takes a huge adjustment in attitude or expectations.

I've moved from northern England to N Wales to southern England and back to N Wales. I've never felt like I had to do anything differently wherever I was living.

Agree about the rain though! You don't move to Wales for the weather ☔️

If I were you, first of all I'd research electric gate engineer jobs in Cardiff and look at how many dog groomers there are already in the area.

A cheaper house isn't much good if you can't afford the bills.

DH and I moved our young family from England to live in Wales 17 years ago. We have never looked back and never once regretted it. It was no different to moving anywhere else other than the fact that the area in Wales we moved to was very 'Welsh' and they spoke Welsh in the Schools (translated to English for our girls until the learned the language) Both my daughters who are now 23 and 18 are fluent Welsh speakers and have been since they were little. We see this as a good thing. However I don't think you will have the same thing in Cardiff as I think they conduct lessons in English down in that part of Wales. Everything else was the same as moving anywhere else in England. The people were/are friendly and we have made many amazing friends here. Property prices are insanely good here and yes, you can get lots more for your money in Wales.

When we moved we left behind our friends and family but we made new friends very quickly and our old friends and family love to come visit us. Where we live is beautiful (Dyfi Valley) and we are nestled between the mountains and only 30 minutes from several different beaches. It has been an incredibly safe place to raise our children and crime is very low.

Moving to Wales was the best decision we ever made for us, and raising our family, and served us well when the girls were growing up. Sometimes you need to be brave and take a leap of faith! If it doesn't work out, you can always move back (that was the mindset we had when we first decided to go for it!)

Could you afford the mortgage repayments on a gate engineer + dog groomer's wages?
Dog grooming is very, very low paid work, given you only can do one at a time!

I think I might worry about moving to a new area and setting up a business at the same time, especially if the business is (like yours will be) one which largely relies on word of mouth as you won't have any friends to spread the word or bring their own dogs.
Also, what do you mean by your partner being an electric gate engineer? Is this for businesses or private homes? If private homes, are there as many private homes with electric gates in Wales as there wee in Surrey or somewhere?

Are there enough electric gates in Wales? I would assume the home counties have lots more.
Are you happy that future dc will need to learn Welsh?
Culturally I do find Wales different as there is a different language that is pretty prominent.

Be careful in and around Cardiff for £350-400k. It's not the best budget. Which areas are you looking in and for what kind of house?

The wages are lower in Wales than the home counties you'll find. Teaching is also much better paid than dog grooming, particularly as you'll be relying on word of mouth to set up your business in an area where you don't know anyone. I'd also be concerned of the viability of your partners job, electric gates will be a rarity somewhere like Wales opposed to Surrey! You might have to suck it up and have a larger mortgage or a smaller house.

I moved from London to Cardiff (as you can see from my username ). Some of the threads on here/ internet articles talk about moving to wales when really they mean moving to somewhere really rural, but moving to Cardiff or Swansea isn't that different really. I really like it, and people are friendly.

I don't know Surrey but compared to London there are similar types of jobs but less of them. And wages are a bit lower. There are more dogs though!

If you are going to visit your family then the M4 is not too bad as long as you avoid rush hour around Newport.

Moving from a flat to a house will mean potentially lower mortgage but higher costs like utility bills, maintenance and maybe council tax.

So your new mortgage would still potentially be 300k?
But you're giving up your job to become self employed and husband moving 3 hours away. How do you plan on getting a mortgage? You'll struggle to get one without at least one full year's accounts from the dog grooming business. Most lenders will want two...

I would consider whether the market for gates is as good, that said you aren't far from Bristol in Cardiff and some serious money (I don't live far either but here people leave front doors unlocked so I doubt they would pay for electric garage doors!) Also be aware there are dozens of groomers, seems ever 6th house is one, check there is potential

I personally would suggest you look at Chepstow as it's convenient to get to the Bristol area too and stick with teaching at first, you might find it more enjoyable outside of the se hot housing

House prices reflect expected salary / job opportunities.

I love Wales and may one day live there again, but cheaper house prices isn't a good enough reason to move there in your situation, especially when you will still have a big mortgage to get the sort of house you want (and be self employed to boot) As others have said, make sure you look very carefully at the work opportunities you will have and your likely income and be very realistic.

I agree Chepstow may be worth a look. Also, If you're not quite ready to go for Wales, perhaps consider just on the border. Some of the villages on the edge of the Forest of Dean are lovely and you still aren't far from places like Bristol, Gloucester and Cheltenham.

I live in South Wales. Not really keen on Cardiff. Chepstow/Magor are much nicer areas. Chepstow also has good links to Bristol. That’s where I would look.

🤔

We moved from Hampshire to Cardiff 12 years ago (our families are still in Hampshire). Personally we love it here: Pace of life feels much slower than the South Coast (which we appreciate) and as others have said... On the whole the Welsh are much friendlier!

We've started our family here and intend to stay. I would say that although housing prices are definitely cheaper in Wales if you're looking in the "nice" areas around Cardiff (e.g the north of Cardiff or Cowbridge in the Vale then house prices likely won't feel too dissimilar to parts of Surrey.

You might struggle to get a house with a big garden and drive in a decent area of Cardiff on that budget. Prices have risen a lot.

As someone else said, be prepared for a LOT of rain.

Rather than a dog-grooming business, it would be safer if you could get a civil service-type job such as working for the DVLA in Swansea. That will give you a steady income.

One of you should get a job there first before moving up. That would lower the risk of being unemployed and having no income, whilst trying to set up a business.