Thinking of purchasing a property on a southern/eastern coastal town

[Isreeh]

Hi MN,

I’d like some help and advice. Im considering purchasing a cheap property near or in a coastal town south eg Poole or even Deal/Margate Kent for potential rental and then living. I’ve not found one yet but what are the things you would consider when selecting a town/area? Ideally good links into London is a must for me.

Any good/bad advice about living in such coastal towns? Floods, insurance, tourism etc.

Thanks

Asides from the pitfalls of becoming a landlord (if the tenant stops paying you will have to be able to cover the mortgage until the legal process has evicted them) you will struggle to find a rental property which will also double up as a home for you in the future.

If you decide to go ahead, I would either choose a good rental property or somewhere you would like to live.

Whitstable has excellent links to London, things to do and a lovely coastline.

Why does the rental property have to be in the area that you want to move to when you retire? You are not going to live in the rental property for many years are you? Why not buy a flat in London for that price? It won't lose its value and you will be nearby if necessary. When you are ready to retire you can sell up and buy somewhere just for you.

I think buying a property for rental vs living in would have a very different set of criteria. We often use air bnb for coastal UK breaks & location is the no 1 consideration.

You can likely rent any property however whether the rent would cover all your costs would be debatable.

Muddle or another local is probably the best person to help you OP with Poole, I get what others have said about deprivation although you can avoid that part unfortunately you or me don't have enough to move towards sandbanks or Bournemouth so you'll probably have to balance cost and location. Just asked my Dad and he doesn't think it's that bad this is the thing with perspective everyone has a different one!

My Dad certainly loves living there but does drive to sandbanks or Bournemouth he's near Poole Park so nearer the start of sandbanks but wrong side of the track so the estate agent told them for the house to be worth tens of millions the prices towards that way are eye watering & I find it a little sad when we go to sandbanks as particularly in the winter a lot of the expensive houses aren't being lived in, they must be second or holiday homes.

My Nan used to live in Bournemouth and she loved it as well.

Having just made an offer on a house ourselves we started off thinking we wanted one thing, slightly out of town near some greenery. Then realised we actually really like being near everything and would end up driving everywhere so wouldn't have the lifestyle we enjoy. So what I'm trying to say is have a real think about what is important to you what do you enjoy doing then base your search on that. Try not to get a rosy tinted view but actually how you do live? I used to imagine living in a local village with my family then gave myself a shake as I've lived in a small country village as a teen and know there's very little to do.

My friend recently moved from a nice estate in our town to a village thinking she wanted a country life and is already regretting it. I suspect she needed to live within our town but in an area where her neighbours weren't as close as that is what she hated about where she used to live.

Good luck in your search.

My gosh thanks everyone! The advice is really useful and lots to think about. I have been abit naive (slight rose tinted glasses) but I’ll start with thinking what I actually want and take it from there. Much appreciated. X

[quote Isreeh]@FreeAmigos I’ve been living in London for 26 years and I’m feeling as I get older there isn’t much quality living in a over populated city. Don’t get me wrong I love London but thinking of places where I could invest and enjoy as I get older.[/quote]
So why not make the move now...no point hanging on if you’re no longer getting as much out of being there as you once were. As I say, we moved out in our late thirties and really it has been the best thing we ever did. We still pop in occasionally (in more usual times) and DH still commutes a few times a week (well he was pre Covid), but normally we can’t wait to get back to the beaches and beauty of the Kent coast and find there’s not that much we miss that we don’t have here in spades.

What is your budget? I'm assuming up to £300K max, from an earlier post.

How often would you want to be going to London?

@BIWI budget wise I’m looking under £300k max. In terms of going into London I guess once I’m settled it might be on occasions. But I’m also planning on fertility treatment next year so ideally where I could raise a child in a happy and clean environment.

@FreeAmigos if I find the right place, right town and good commute back into London then yes I could move in the new couple of years. For the future I’ll still have my fathers house in London. Hence commute is also important. It sounds like you guys made the right decision.