Teeny house in Brighton vs big house on Kent coast

[ataloss8]

Myself, DH and our 3 year old son are looking to move to the coast and are torn between buying a very small property in our favourite location (Brighton) or going for a bigger place with more space somewhere like Folkestone or Margate.

Our budget is £400k, which having looked at Rightmove, would just about get us a teeny tiny house with a courtyard garden in our preferred part of Brighton (Hanover/Kemptown), or a much bigger place (three bed with a larger garden) in Kent. We definitely want a house, not a flat and aren't prepared to compromise on that.

I'm a bit concerned about Folkestone as having looked on FB, it seems there's quite a divide between the locals and newbies. I also worry about the lack of diversity and the right wing element, which obviously isn't an issue in Brighton. We really want to be somewhere with a close-knit and accepting community.

Does anyone have any experience of living in these places and what they're like for kids?

What would you do?

We are in Brighton at the moment, OP and leaving in a few weeks. It's nice as a holiday destination but we haven't loved living here. We've had noise issues (house next to a student HMO), lots of stories from neighbours of drug users using peoples doorways to take drugs/do the toilet etc. We even had to call environmental health ourselves to come and pick up syringes left in our garden. We have a two year old and can't have him picking stuff up. Also, walking into town, you literally have to run the gauntlet of folk begging you for money.

We moved further out from the city centre up to near Preston Park, which has been much nicer, but it's far too expensive. And the prices keep going up, due the mass exodus of folk leaving London. Recently, several houses across from us have sold in under a week with a price tag of over £600,000. So, you're unlikely to get a bargain.

We thought about the Kent coast ourselves but have decided to go North instead, where you get a whole lot of house for very little £.

@ataloss8 my friend moved to Shoreham with her family from central Brighton a few years ago and loves it. She also raves about its state of the art secondary, Shoreham Academy. It only takes me 10 minutes by car when I visit her.

There are a number of nice Shoreham houses within your budget with this estate agent, but they're all sold!, so it's obviously becoming very popular! iIt might be worth you registering with them.

www.harrisonbrant.co.uk/search/1.html

@ataloss8 I just saw these two on the same website that are less than £400K and still for sale:

www.harrisonbrant.co.uk/property-details/100964019084/west-sussex/southwick/old-shoreham-road-1

www.harrisonbrant.co.uk/property-details/100964018726/west-sussex/southwick/old-shoreham-road-3

I think it is like everywhere else.. Where ever you live, there are nice bits and not so nice bits.

I live in Dover on the Kent coast which would not be widely recommended on mumsnet. However, I love where we live.

In the summer, we go down and swim in the sea every day on a beach that is never crowded. My daughter sails at the local sea sports centre for very little money. We have English heritage passes and go to the castle all the time, which is lovely. There is a cute little museum and a lovely little library with groups for toddlers. I actually live in a little village in the outskirts with 3 beautiful and huge parks. We can walk over the hills, or in the parks, on the cliffs and in the roughs. Further afield there are lovely zoos and farms. Folkestone has a sandy beach and a wonderful coastal park plus fountains that the kids can run through in the summer. There is a little railway that runs through Hythe and Dymchurch with a train museum.

I live in a pretty green village with an outstanding preschool and outstanding primary school. My six bed semi detached victorian property with a drive and a garden was 250000 (9 years ago, so would be more now)

Yeah there are some parts which are a bit more down at heel, but overall it is a really lovely place to live.

I'm sure Brighton is similar and has some nice bits and some not so nice bits. I think it is about working out which one has more nice bits that are important to you.

I don't know anything about the areas but I just wanted to say take any location advice with a pinch of salt, mumsnet hates my town, if I listened I wouldn't have gone within 30 miles and have had to buy a house half the size in a naice postcode, but honestly it's a really good location. Has good schools, low crime, low house prices, countryside on our doorstep and lots of facilities, it's just not particularly pretty, it's functional. So just something to bare in mind, I'm very guilty of allowing myself to get persuaded by mumsnet, I find local Facebook groups asking how people find it is a really good place to start, when I've done that I've gotten very balanced views from a variety of people (even teenagers recently growing up there!!)

True and MN really doesn't like Brighton!

@SilverGlitterBaubles

Brighton appears great fun on the surface, especially to visit on a sunny day but look a little deeper and it's no different to other cities with a big homeless, crime and drug problem. Take a walk through the streets during lockdown without the crowded streets and it's truly grim. It really is not somewhere I would want to bring up a family. Lots of better places along the coast and more for your money too.

All this. I used to live in Kemptown but work in town. It was not an uncommon occurrence to have to take a different route due to the street being cordoned off by police. Great fun to visit, but I wouldn’t live there again. As a pp said I would spend so much time working that I couldn’t afford to do any fun stuff.

Also I found the beach really disappointing. I’d lived in a couple seaside towns before that and felt a real connection to the sea and coast. In Brighton it just felt like a city with the sea attached.

I really wouldn't recommend Margate. It is run down despite it being 'up and coming' for about 20yrs!
Also anywhere in Thanet is just a long way to get to.
It doesn't actually have high speed rail. The high speed doesn't start until you get to Ashford. (I live in Ashford)

Hythe is nice. I would go for somewhere along the coast either side of Brighton. Close enough to go in but cheaper houses.

@user85963842

I don't know anything about the areas but I just wanted to say take any location advice with a pinch of salt, mumsnet hates my town, if I listened I wouldn't have gone within 30 miles and have had to buy a house half the size in a naice postcode, but honestly it's a really good location. Has good schools, low crime, low house prices, countryside on our doorstep and lots of facilities, it's just not particularly pretty, it's functional. So just something to bare in mind, I'm very guilty of allowing myself to get persuaded by mumsnet, I find local Facebook groups asking how people find it is a really good place to start, when I've done that I've gotten very balanced views from a variety of people (even teenagers recently growing up there!!)

True. MN hates the town I live in. Very snobby about it saying what a shit hole it is if it ever gets mentioned. I’ll keep all the amazing parks, restaurants, coffee shops, nearby country side and coast. When ever the town I grew up near is mentioned everyone falls over themselves to say how wonderful it is. You can’t even get a decent cup of coffee but no, it’s amazing.

I still stand by Brighton being a great place to visit but an arse to live in.

Brighton is awful. Can't imagine why anyone would want to live there.

It's steeped in queer theory and has more trans identifying children within schools than in any other part of the UK.

Plus stony beaches. Why would you move to the seaside to a place where you can't build sandcastles?

Brighton is all the happier without people like you then Clymene. It's why it has a nice vibe, because it's not full of bigots who read the daily mail. All the awful trans kids who are going to infect your precious children can live peacefully.
Same happened with the gays in the 80s, I'm glad there is somewhere they feel safe away from the haters.

Yep, MN hates the town I grew up in, the place I've lived most of my adult life and the town I'm moving to

MN is a funny old place and seems to abhor anything that doesn't fit a very narrow definition of naice.

I've had a very happy, full, sociable, interesting, lovely life, made friends and brought up kids with no bother whatsoever wherever I've lived. And I intend to do the same in the new place!

One thing I would say, the sandy beaches of Thanet and east Kent are far superior to Brighton's...imo.

I've lived here for 30 years. Yes I'm sure there are some grotty areas but the inclusiveness more than makes up for it. Brightonians are very tolerant, which is why it makes for interesting living :)

I wonder if any of us live in the same town although given how many towns actually get a kicking on MN it doesn't really narrow down the possibilities!

If you've only been to Hastings old town, you'd have a shock if you moved there...

Visited Eastbourne fairly recently and thought it had a lot going for it, it's definitely lost the "god's waiting room" (as my grandparents used to call it!) vibe that it used to have. Also had a few friends move to Shoreham of late and all seem happy there.

@terribletea

True and MN really doesn't like Brighton!

Surely the MNers who share their views on a place are generally people who live there or have lived there!

I would be more inclined to buy a property in Worthing or Eastbourne as you will get more for your money while close to Brighton and ok for getting to London.

Codename perhaps you don't read the FWR boards Brighton is constantly slagged off.
Also Brighton is the type of place lots of people have visited but not lived in, so everyone has an opinion.
I've lived all over the country and I chose Brighton.

@BaileysforBreakfast

Brighton isn't particularly diverse either in terms of ethnic mix. Worthing is becoming more diverse (slowly) and is attracting lots of buyers from London and Brighton.

Agreed, it's very much a whitewash ethnically.

It's really the only lonely haven of left-wing types in the south-east outside of London though.

I was born near there, I returned in 2013 but moved to Yorkshire in 2017 as I was fed up of paying more for a tiny 1-bed flat than for a 3-bed semi up here. I was also getting a bit weary of the organic quinoa farmers market vegan hippy brigade.

Schools are very good but competition is fierce. If you're intending to send DC privately then crack on but if you're reliant on state schooling then it will be a lottery getting them into a good one. It would make more sense to go for Worthing and try to get a bigger house in a good catchment area. Worthing is dull as fuck but it's quick to Brighton on the train.

It's worth noting that traffic in that whole region can be an absolute nightmare. Brighton itself has been alleviated a lot by the strict enforcement of bus lanes and huge investment in public transport, but driving and parking in the summer is hellish. The A27, which is the main route east and west through Brighton and really the only route to take you west of the city, is almost comically jammed every morning and evening. The A23/M23, which joins Brighton to London, is frequently heavily congested or closed altogether.

All that said, it can be a lovely place to live and in general people are very friendly, kind, and helpful. It's the sort of place where if you fall over, people will rush over and help you. If you get on the bus and you're 50p short on your fare except for a £20 note which the driver can't change, someone will pay it for you. You pull into a car park and someone who's just leaving and has an hour left on their pay and display will offer you their ticket. You get the idea - people pay it forward.

I wouldn't touch any of your other options with a bargepole I'm afraid!

@terribletea

Codename perhaps you don't read the FWR boards Brighton is constantly slagged off. Also Brighton is the type of place lots of people have visited but not lived in, so everyone has an opinion. I've lived all over the country and I chose Brighton.

I do read the FWR boards and have also lived in Brighton. I wouldn't send my kid to secondary in Brighton for anything. Allsorts who wrote the abhorrent trans toolkit are based in Brighton and crawling all over all the secondary schools.

Putting location aside, do you want to live in a small house with a courtyard garden? Will a small garden be enough for your dc? Would you like more children? If so would a growing family fit into the smaller house?
Think about a bigger house with a bigger garden? Expanding your family would be easier if that’s what you’d like. A bigger garden is lovely for kids to run about in.

You need to decide on your compromise. Location vs size of house.

I have to tell you that wherever you move to in Kent, someone will object to you. I've only experienced it once in 13 years.

Folkestone is more on the up than Margate. Margate has a serious drug problem. London councils have dumped their undesirable social tenants there.

Broadstairs is nice, Deal, Romney Marsh. The later is more remote but cheaper than the former two.

Definitely don't move to Margate. Broadstairs is nice, if you really want to be down that way.

Rottingdean/ Woodingdean are nice and affordable.

Thanks for all the comments - I didn’t expect such a big response! I can’t reply to everyone but I will look into all the suggestions.

I just had a glance at Romney Marsh on Rightmove and my first impression is that it seems very remote - am I wrong? There are some interesting looking properties though!