Anyone recommned some nice affordable parts of the UK? Should we move?!

[cheekymonk]

Hi there. Just wondered as we are a bit stuck! We are a family of 4, dh, ds aged 6 and dd aged 9 months and I. We live in a 2 up 2 down terraced house in Portsmouth that is valued at 126k. We have an IVA and so assumed we were unable to move but on talking to Northern Rock today, we may be able to transfer our mortgage. Snag is we'd need to find a bigger house (the point of wanting to move) for less- 100k most! is there anywhere nice you can buy a house for that amount in this country. DS goes to an excellent school and we have good docs etc so we'd be bad to give this up for a bigger house in the middle of Beirut but there is just no space. We have no money so can't extend. The 100k prices us out of Portsmouth and most of Hampshire. My folks are in Herefordshire, Dhs are in Scotlad. Would be nice to be a bit nearer to both. DS likes portsmouth but craves bigger house and garden and the kids sharing a room is proving stressful as the one often wakes the other. Have thought about selling up to rent a bigger place too. Any suggestions or ideas??

recommend even!

mad to give up not bad!

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Hmmm, we're in Scotland and you'd be hard pushed to find something bigger than what you have in Glasgow for that money, certainly not in a nice part of town. And I don't think the rest of Scotland either, these days. However, on the plus side, there are some good schools here, no tuition fees (yet...), and much more space for your money than in the South.

My DB lives in Portsmouth and they were recently looking at moving to the IoW - would that be a possibility work-wise for you? It certainly seemed way cheaper than the mainland.

you can get houses for that price in grimsby and cleethorpes, although not near to portsmouth or scotland but you get a lot for your money. there must be other places like that (only up north probably?) but i only know of grimsby as its my home town where i was brought up, relatives still live there. it would not be my 1st choice where to live BUT it is v good value for money, and its not a horrible place or anything. you can get 4 bed house & garden for 100k and there are good schools, grammar schools & also some good comprehensive schools.

What work do either of you do since house prices usually reflect employment availability? You could look in West Lancs - halfway between both Scotland and Portsmouth and some lovely countryside

I see your dh is in the navy, would you not get housing then rent yours out?

Thanks for the ideas... DH is a an engineer, was in Navy, has HND. I work in a jobcentre so should be able to transfer almost anywhere in Civil Service as far as I'm aware.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31104580.html?premiumA=true Looks nice - bet they'd take an offer. No idea what Astley Village is like though.

Ayrshire is cheap. www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION%5E61338&maxPrice=100000&minBedrooms=3

Could you look into buying land and building, it seems to be the only way to get a larger house for less money, but it is not and easy option.

Selling to rent.... it is tricky, we are renting a lovely old 4 bed house for £700 pcm in a very picturesque part of Scotland (huge beaches, lovely village, we could never afford to buy here), but we have no security, private landlords ask you to move on quite regularly - because they decide to sell/move in/renovate (six houses in 7 years and bitter, 3 landlords decided to sell, two after 6 months, one decided to renovate and gave us notice to quit, when we found somewhere they acted hurt, because they had changed their minds about renovating).

We are looking to rent from a huge landowner - life long tenancy, but it all feels a bit feudal to me, but I am sick of moving and we can't afford to buy after saving for 10 years.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29102039.html No idea about location but Street View on this link makes it look semi-rural

we lived in staffordshire last year and i was very happy, prices were good and there are some lovely towns and little villages. not really close to either of your parents but nicely in the middle?!

Links are great- the views are fantastic! Right now all we can see is house upon house! Definitely some food for thought here, thank you all x

Suffolk is cheap but no idea what the area is like. Rightmove have 3 bed propertys under 100k

There are quite a few reasonable areas in Leicestershire where you can get a 3 bed house for £100K.

You would have to look at the areas but there are quite a few houses in south alanarkshire for under or about 100k

You don't mention jobs. Would you/your husband need a job?

As I say, I think I can transfer but my dh's job is more of a sticking point. He currently earns 31k but not sure if he could a9 get a job b0 get that wage up north. Will look at rightmove a bit more...

Better the devil you know in this economy, tbh, and especially with an IVA.

You might find a property suitable, but it'll be at a price: schools, having to run two cars, no jobs, etc. No more than 100K for a three-bed with good schools and jobs and a good neighbourhood. You can't get that even in most rural areas.

Probably better to see how one of you or both of you could earn more money and get an extension.

cheekymonk - I would be cautious about moving without a job to some parts of the UK; the housing stock is often sub £100K for a reason and that reason is lack of employment.

Kettering in Northamptonshire is quite cheap,you could def get a good sized house there for that price. It has some good secondary schools as well,but not sure about catchments.
Thrapston is also very good value and a lovely small town. It has a good primary school and feeds into a v good secondary school in Oundle.
This is only £125,000 - cheeky offer?! www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31825744.html
Have a look at Market Harborough as well - good secondaries and 3 beds of good size in your budget like this: www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-20374464.html
In any of these places youwould not be that far from Herts - 30 miles or so down M1/A1.
Milton Keynes is also good value and there are lots of shared ownership family homes in good areas which you may be able to get.Like this which has goodprimary and secondary schools: here or here as examples

Have a look at West Dunbartonshire or Argyll & Bute areas, low house prices, beautiful, beautiful areas to live and handy for a massive MOD naval base at Faslane.

Swindon or Calne?

'Have a look at West Dunbartonshire or Argyll & Bute areas, low house prices, beautiful, beautiful areas to live and handy for a massive MOD naval base at Faslane.'

With many poor schools/neighbourhoods/crime/economic depression in the former and very little opportunity for employment in the latter - also the need to run at least one car and next to no shops so requiring expensive travel for some of the most basic amenities and thereby largely negating the low house price. And even then, 100K doesn't go far.

As pointed out, £100K for a three-bed comes with a catch.

Moving without a job when you have an IVA is very risky.