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Original poster

Decent areas in the south of wales?

65 replies

drummergirl34 · 23/06/2017 20:53

I'm on a very tight budget of ~£60-65kand looking for 2bed+. I'd like to be near supermarket, post office and a bit of a community and not too close to a major road (the smell of diesel fumes haunts me), but wouldn't mind living in the middle of nowhere as long as the basic needs are met!

Where could I be looking?

OP posts:
noenemee · 24/06/2017 23:14

I linked to that one Confused I thought it looked good Sad It is semi detached whereas the cheaper one last year is mid terraced and the average price for the postcode is over £125,000.

The information here looks a bit out of date, but you might find the website useful in some way
www.streetcheck.co.uk/houseprices/dh88qu

noenemee · 24/06/2017 23:18

Oh well, you're welcome. Sometimes a different eye will give you a new lease of life to your search and suggestions you might not otherwise have thought of.

Good luck with your search.

noenemee · 24/06/2017 23:32

If you wanted a spacious maisonette and were prepared to spend a few quid on it
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44236896.html

Original poster
drummergirl34 · 25/06/2017 06:43

I see lots of artex on walls and ceilings around Aberdare / Caerphilly - is it common for it to contain asbestos?

OP posts:
feejee · 25/06/2017 07:33

I have just moved to the same row that someone posted a link to in Nelson. I've lived in Nelson for many years, but sold our house and moved to a rental whilst we wait for a new house to buy. I quite like the village, there seems to be quite frequent buses to nearby towns and then can change to Cardiff (30 minute drive). Theres also 2 train stations in the villages either side of Nelson. A few shops, greengrocers, takeaways, schools are fine, low crime rate. The area that house for sale is on is the council site (this top half is better than bottom half for anti-social behaviour apparently but ive not seen anything untoward in the week ive been here), but a lot are privately owned. This house we're renting is an excellent size with a great garden, lots of green space and a playpark very close (although if im honest the houses are pretty ugly from outside, the insides of the ones ive been in have been lovely).

Unihorn · 25/06/2017 08:03

Lots of schools still have problems with asbestos around here (Cwmcarn closed last year as a result of it in fact but I'm not sure on houses unfortunately.

Ruhrpott · 25/06/2017 08:45

We had artex on the ceilings and have plastered over most of it. It's not that expensive to get them plastered over around here. We didn't get it tested for asbestos but surveys say may contain asbestos to cover their backs.

FrogFairy · 25/06/2017 13:27

My house had Artex on walls and ceilings, I have had most of it just skimmed over.

Original poster
drummergirl34 · 25/06/2017 13:29

And this is what's starting to worry me with skimming - even a house that looks like it doesn't have artex could very well still pose risk for it!

OP posts:
Temporaryanonymity · 25/06/2017 13:30

It is fine so long as you don't disturb it.

Bloody artex everywhere in my house!

numbmum83 · 25/06/2017 13:54

I'm from the Midlands and recently bought a caravan outside Welshpool and I would suggest if you don't drive looking at public transport and getting about . My hometown you can get buses to anywhere in the region minutes after each other. In Wales you might get 1 every 3 hours and the roads are not ideal to walk on. Taxi companies were giving me a waiting time of an hour and a half and it's £13 each way to town . No takeaways deliver locally and the nearest shop is 3 miles away .
You will probably I know be looking at more built up areas but if you are coming from a big town or city some areas of Wales may be quite isolating at first so you definitely need to visit to realise this.

I would move to Wales tomorrow though if I had a car . It's a beautiful part of the UK.

DragonMamma · 25/06/2017 18:58

Pembrokeshire is lovely but public transport isn't great locally and the bigger supermarkets are usually best served by a car.

I live in South Wales, there's plenty further up the valleys that is affordable and better served by public transport. Don't believe some of the horror stories that you read about them.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66343922.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-59605999.html

Ruhrpott · 26/06/2017 10:44

The second one there is near to me but near/on a main road.

AvoidingCallenetics · 26/06/2017 10:54

If I were you I'd move to a town where you can walk to the shops etc, rather than rely on public transport, which is not great in many places.
Look at school reputations, if relevant.
Brecon is a decent place to live, as is Abergavenny (which has a train station and reasonable bus service).

AvoidingCallenetics · 26/06/2017 10:55

Blackwood might be worth a look too.

Unihorn · 26/06/2017 14:15

You'd be hard pushed to find anything in Brecon or Abergavenny on that budget though! Blaenavon and Abersychan are both quite near Abergavenny and would be in your price range though:

www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/48933720
www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/66961667

sulee · 26/06/2017 20:40

Watching this with close interest as we are thinking about moving to South Wales in the future as we love the area and could get rid of our mortgage. I love the Burry Port area. Has anyone had any problems settling in?

Original poster
drummergirl34 · 26/06/2017 21:05

This is proving more difficult than I thought because the main towns have houses that are within spitting distance of the heavily populated roads that service all the vallrys - and at the top of the valleys so I've been reading are some heavily industralised areas, or soon to be with new contracts being sorted for the next few years so will have heavy diesel lorries up and down them all day and night!

There are some great places mentioned in this thread though, and I'm still hunting - if only the EA's were just as helpful!

OP posts:
FrogFairy · 26/06/2017 21:16

Not sure exactly which towns you are talking about, but quite a few of the valleys towns have bypass roads.

Temporaryanonymity · 26/06/2017 21:17

Sulee, it really depends where you end up. Some of the more rural places might be tricky to infiltrate, but you won't have any problems in towns or cities. If schools are important to you then you may want to check whether they are welsh language or not. I think in some parts of Wales it is mainly welsh medium only now.

Temporaryanonymity · 26/06/2017 21:20

Drummergirl, I travel the Heads of the Valley road most days. It really isn't that busy at all. I used to live in the midlands. Now that was busy! What industry? The Valleys are pretty short on jobs. I really can't think where you might be thinking of.

Original poster
drummergirl34 · 26/06/2017 22:11

temporary - I've read maerdy for example has a new rubber production factory opening up there (no post office though!)

OP posts:
Ruhrpott · 26/06/2017 22:12

I used to live in Gilfach goch. It has only one road in and out (the same road). It's cheap there, there are buses and a post office, spar and chippy and a doctors surgery, no diesel lorries there and the views are great. Was too far out of Cardiff for me but it sounds like you might like it. There are a lot of wind turbines around there but I never heard them.