Good afternoon, Mumsnetters!
I'm a long time lurker who, until now, didn't have an account. I've found all your insight and community both helpful and inspiring while trying to narrow down areas in which to relocate or to buy.
We're based in the South East and, like most people who rent here, we've been completely priced out of the property market. There's just no question, anymore. We'd love to stay here with our support network, family, and friends, but this is the sad reality of low wages and sky-high property prices.
Since the big C hit in 2020, DH and I have been working from home. Our company has dragged its feet coming to decision about whether this will be a forever situation, but all signs say that it will be. The company have indicated that, as long as we can make it into an office site once a month, they can't tie us down to living within X miles of an office.
Now, to the material point.
Because of the C-who-shall-not-be-named, we haven't been able to leave our area to explore where we might relocate to. We've relied entirely on google maps, crime statistics, reviews and, of course, the good word of mumsnetters to get an idea of what it's like to really live in certain areas.
DH and I are quite taken with the idea of Market Harborough.
It reminds me of my childhood in and around certain parts of Devon, it seems to have a nice sense of community and, most importantly, we could afford a two to three bedroom house with a garage (garage is very important to DH). We both understand that it is considered a more expensive part of the general area but, believe me, it doesn't have a patch on our current location.
In fact, we are so indoctrinated into the idea that a house is beyond our means that we question what might be wrong with it if we can afford it!
The other advantage of Market Harbs is, of course, the high speed rail line which I would be entirely dependent on to reach an office as and when is necessary.
During our investigations we've also considered Desborough as it's close to Market Harbs, but have heard mixed things about it.
We also looked at Uppingham (which seems lovely and makes me think of little Cornish and Devonian villages), but noticed that it's a bit of a pain as it doesn't have a train station. As a byproduct, we also looked at Oakham, and have heard mixed reviews about this area, too.
We aren't looking for an area where we would flip a house, sell it, and move on. This isn't an 'investment'. We want to own a home and stop throwing money at landlords. We would like to build a life that isn't transient which, lets be honest, renting always is if you have fickle landlords.
I would love to hear what you all have to say about any of the above areas, your honest experiences, whether you think we might have trouble moving into certain communities, safety (I was a victim of a burglary situation as a child while we were all home and, although it's people and not places that cause crime, I am always wary of areas that generally feel 'unsafe'), what you would avoid, what you can recommend, etc.
We'd like to narrow it all down a bit so that we can make plans to visit some of these lovely places when it's safe to do so.
Many thanks in advance for anything that you have to say, good or bad.