How do you move long distance?

[Cornishandbored]

Just that really! I live in Cornwall and I want to move up country.

Somewhere near East Midlands or North East.

Cornwall is beautiful and so friendly but our family need a change and we feel utterly crushed / trapped by high house prices & shite pay.

So what order do we do stuff? I’d rather rent a 2nd property in the new location while our home in Cornwall sells - is that how you do it?

There’s more work up north for us both too and we have family scattered around up there so we wouldn’t be lonely.

Any advice would be fab as my mind is in one big confused whirl!!

How long does it take to move? I’d leave tomorrow if I could

I would think carefully as the economy is going to be tanking for a few years unless you are confident you can get work. I would also rent and rent out your own house if you own it to get a feel for the area and where best to settle.

We’re in the middle of a move at the moment. We’re renting in the new location. Our house is sold stc and the sale has stalled because of the pandemic. Once it goes through we will move from the rented house into the one we’re purchasing.
The downside is we are paying to run two houses. We didn’t hire a removal company but did several trips in a hired van. A lot of our stuff is still at our house though.
It only took a few days to secure a rental ( we have pets so that can be tricky as most will not take them).

As long as you are able to get up there to look around houses I'd say to do it as you would any time, but budget for full packing service from removal company as it makes things much easier. Have your house on the market and do lots of research into houses you like and job possibilities. If your home sells quickly you might need to be prepared to rent near to where you currently work until you find new jobs, which might mean you need to budget for the removal company to store your things for a while.

We did Bristol to the SE before DC. We did it ourselves as we only had a flat to move but I swore never again. I ended up needing a week of annual leave to do it...professional movers all the way if you can afford it. We moved for DH’s work but I would have moved even if I hadn’t managed an internal move with my then employer. I’d sort the jobs first unless your notice period’s very short.

We are thinking of doing this soon too - moving from Scotland back to Wales. Selling up in one place and renting in another while we wait to buy somewhere else sounds good, but I guess I'm worried about effectively doing two house moves quite close together with young kids... sorry no advice, I'm clueless really!

Thanks everyone!

Yeah the economy and impending doom is my biggest worry.

There are quite a few jobs for both of us up there (we do similar roles) - if we were made redundant today there’s no work in our industry in Cornwall. Which also feels really risky!

House prices are £100k less there too. Rent is £200pcm cheaper.

I don’t know it just feels like we need to live! And at the moment we’re just muddling on and struggling on.

I hate having a whinge

We have done it a few times.
We always had a firm job offer before moving. I wouldn't ever consider moving without a job to go to, but I do know people who have.

Professional movers seem expensive, but can be better if you are moving further and doing several trips would take hours/days.

We went into rental and rented our old house out for a year before selling and looking to buy, just so we could get to know the area a bit better.

We wouldn’t move without firm job offers either.

I’m too much of a worrier for that kind of risky shenanigans

How do pets travel long distance? We have 2 cats.

We have family we could stay with for a month or two but obviously there’s restrictions on households mingling so this wouldn’t be an option. (Not that we could move so soon anyway!)

I feel a bit silly in admitting this but we did move long distance before. We moved from London (as graduates) back to Cornwall.

We rented a house that we hadn’t seen.

And my husband had a job already lined up.

So we have done it before and I completely forgot. I guess it feels totally different / riskier now we have a child & a house.

trust me to forget I’ve already moved long distance once!

Have you done much research about the East Midlands / North East yet? I am from the East Midlands and have some experience in Cornwall too - house prices in the good city areas (with outstanding schools / rental potential / jobs / good access to public transport) aren’t very different. It’s often the difficult to access shire locations or the more dodgier city locations where house prices are cheaper.

For example a small rundown 3-4 bed in Leicester or Nottingham could cost you a minimum of 400k in a great area. Sounds great on paper but you need to move quickly (even during Lockdown houses have sold unseen within days) and often need to offer above asking price just to get a look in.

How do pets travel long distance? We have 2 cats.

We did a 500 mile move with one cat. I thought she’d need a wee at some point during the 11 hour car journey but the vet assured me she wouldn’t (vet was right). Just don’t let them out of their travel baskets at any point and double check all is secure before anyone opens a car door. (I was slightly paranoid about this after friends told me that during one house move they spotted a cat streaking away across the services car park thinking it looked like theirs, then realised it was theirs - they did manage to grab him fortunately).

DH was given permission to WFH on a permanent basis. Put house up for sale, moved into rented (we had school to consider so had to move for September term start).

In the meantime we had found somewhere to buy so had new house extended whilst still in rented. I secured new job after s few months.

Always easier when moving to a cheaper area tbf.

@RandomMess sounds absolutely perfect! Did it work out for you?

@SabrinaThwaite That’s interesting! And good to know. Our cat would definitely be the cat farting across the services so we’ll need to be extremely careful!

I think it sounds like a good move for you as a family and the job prospects will definitely be better for you, but I'd do your research carefully, like pp said, about house prices. I live in the E Mids and my good friend lives in Cornwall and her (comparable) house is cheaper than mine.

We've moved longer distances (150 miles +) twice. The first time, I had a job in the new area and dh didn't. We rented in the new area after one weekend driving round rental properties and the area, and sold the other.

The second time (with child), we both had jobs that we could do from home, so visited the new area - there was a huge area we could choose from - and did loads of viewings over 3 weekends. Once we'd offered on a house we looked at nurseries and the one that had a place was happy to pencil ds in.

Yes definitely seen some pricey homes up there so we’re crossing out certain areas.

I just feel doing this during a pandemic and recession is madness! but it’ll solve many many problems almost immediately

I’ve applied for some jobs and have telephone interviews lined up. More job activity than I’ve had for years in Cornwall!

We did this about 10 years ago.
Dh is an engineer that is self employed but does a fair bit of long term contracting jobs.
He got a job in an area we had enjoyed visiting (300 miles away from home town )
We were in the lucky position of having paid off our mortgage, so decided not to sell our house in the immediate incase we hated the move , his job etc.
We also decided not to rent out our house to enable a return for the same reason.
We found a house to rent packed up our furniture , hired a removal company , both drove our own cars to new area , camped out on airbeds for the first night and our belongings arrived that day.
We ended up renting that house for 18 months before putting our house on the market ( we had kept our bed there, cooker, fridge , 2 camping chairs ) and would spend a weekend every few months to satisfy the insurance. Kept the heating on during the winter, gave a family friend a key etc.
Sold it , bought a house in our new area and this has been home now for nearly 11 years.
If you don't try it, you will never know if it's the right thing to do.

The way we’ve done it was to plan carefully and prepare.

Firstly find jobs to move to for at least the highest earner. Don’t move without knowing you can have work. For us it was the jobs we moved for. They decided the where.

Second is accommodation. We were always fortunate to have somewhere to move into ahead of move date so my husband moved ahead of us for a few days to set up the home whilst we ‘camped’ with mini possessions. Renting for a short while to give time for buying in the right area is a good idea. You can’t really know the good areas or where you want to be specifically until you are there.

Have schools and nurseries ready to take children, so they settle quickly.

Join a few things initially for local friends and knowledge. That might be PTA, might be a playgroup, a church, a neighbourhood group. It might be a choir or Zumba class. Get to know people quickly but don’t think these have to be lifelong friends unless you want them to be. They are simply a way in to the local community.

Research local services such as GP, tradespeople, main supermarkets, parking and local transport. Find out where local beauty spots and tourist attractions are so you can plan nice days into move and make it more appealing to children.
P

I've also moved from Cornwall to the North East. Can I ask where you are thinking? I've found it really tough in some ways although there are some great positives: job opportunities, great access to so many areas Scotland, the lakes, Northumberland, north York moors, the Dales etc. What I would say though is that I don't think house prices are that different from Cornwall in nice areas, although there is more and better paid job opportunities. There are undoubtedly some cheap areas but often they are not that nice---there is a reason they are cheap. I often see people saying how much cheaper the North is, and it can be, but the nice bits of the North, like anywhere is pricey. I found it a massive culture shock from Cornwall

Practically I think renting before buying would work--gives you a chance to try out an area before making a big financial commitment

Yes it worked out ok. We couldn't go back as moved from M25 commuter belt so swapped shoe box to family home.

We actually knew the town we moved to fairly well so it wasn't as difficult perhaps.

Thanks everyone for your insight! We have good news on the job front. DH (main earner) has a 2nd job interview (video) scheduled for today! They just phoned him to tell him!!

IF successful- I wonder if we can move before September (school). But I expect that’s pushing it.

I just don’t know!!

I would think about renting your Cornish house out for a while and rent in your new location if you can - it means that you take some time to find the right place to buy if you decide to settle, plus if you time it right you get to be a chain free buyer.

Good luck!

You need to be organised! I moved back from Brussels to Cornwall last year (with two cats), and making sure they could break the journey in a cattery overnight was key, as I can't do the whole drive in one hit, so needed to stop. They then went into a cattery for a week whilst we got vaguely sorted, and I walked up through the village and saw them every night.

We rented abroad and kept our house in Cornwall, so we always had somewhere to come back to.

@thegcatsmother Was your property in Cornwall empty?

I’ve just found out we can’t leave our house empty for long as per insurance