I live in St Albans and I have sold my house without seeing anything obvious to buy.
This area is fantastic if you have a £1m budget but mine is more like max £620k (single mum) and with kid settled in secondary I don’t want to disrupt them by relocating to eg Hemel or Welwyn where we don’t know anyone. I ended up here because it made much more sense when married on 2 salaries. I’d rather compromise as much as possible here than leave. My exh is close by (50-50) and I have a great group of family friends here I’ve known since kid started nursery. Also for medical reasons I can’t drive.
I sold a small terrace out of sheer desperation for more living space. And I can obtain this locally, but I am choosing between compromises. Which might be the easiest compromise?
3 bed in quite far-flung suburbs (Drakes Drive/New Greens for those who know the area), cabs to station for work and to see friends. Bit isolated maybe but family areas so we’d get to know neighbours I hope. I love to entertain and I’m sure friends would drive/cab to me.
3-bed flat in the centre, so no garden for summer bbqs but these are not exactly frequent events. Usually best way to obtain space cheaply. I do have a cat tho. Not keen on litter trays. Bit worried about leasehold and service charges and noise.
House nearer the station (Hatfield Road/Fleetville/Camp area for those familiar). Those in my budget generally need a lot of renovation I don’t really have money for. So compromise here would be saving up for 5 years for new kitchen, bathroom etc. or maxing the mortgage, in either case cutting lifestyle spend back to the bare minimum (no holidays, meals out, planned weekly shops in Aldi, very little socialising outside the home, clothes from charity shops/ebay only/packed lunches).
I know this is all a first world problem. Living in a suburb or a flat or living frugally is what many many people do. It’s compromise rather than deprivation. I’m just not sure what compromise to choose.
What would you do?