Moving north as a long term plan (cost of living related)

413x

413x

413x

Caporegime
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I live in a moderately priced area and was quite shocked to see the cost of houses in the north after hearing what a friend paid (i actually didnt realise how cheap houses could be!). Some perfectly ok houses for 1/4 of the price here.
Indeed houses where i could pay off a mortgage in 5 yrs on my wage i get here

where as here i would be looking at 20 yrs most likely

Has anybody uprooted and moved for this reason? Even if i took a 5K+ pay cut i would actually probably be better off month to month as well as less mortgage debts

the caveat would obviously be job...i would need to look at what jobs were available in general and get myself trained up with the hope of getting something in the next two years.

i havent looked much into this but cannot really see that many negatives IF i can find a job
 
Find a job then....? =P

I'll hopefully do Similar after moving to Cambridge for a bit, way too expensive!!

Remember finding a similar payed job might be hard!
 
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I considered moving to Scotland or the North of England, but stayed in Northern Ireland because the situation calmed down and house prices are still not as well recovered from the collapse as they are in the rest of the UK. Perfect buyers market. Provided you can get work.
 
I've been trying to do this because my family all live in Lancashire and I want to live closer to them (and yeah I've noticed the house price difference too). Your experience might be different but I find it extremely difficult to get taken seriously when applying for jobs up north. If I apply for a job down here I normally at least get a call from the recruitment consultant, up north - nothing.
 
I bought this in May last year for £112,500.
A quiet cul-de-sac on the fields in Stoke On Trent.


I genuinely have no idea why people aspire to live in the South when the prices are so much higher.
I'd love to live in Cambridge, but I can't afford it, so I don't :p.

When you say move 'up north', the Midlands is as north as you need to go :p.
 
i havent looked properly at all. and i am expecting a pay cut, which would still be an effective net pay equalization.. the pay cut would have to be very substantial to make me worse off after costs

Scorza, that is an interesting point and something i didnt consider at all. The plus i have is i have a job so nothing is urgent. apart form retail i need to look at what is available up there.. i should have done teaching!

I need to do something i can train for whist i have a job, ive looked at accountancy and general programming/DBA but really need to decide on something specific
 
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al4x said:
i havent looked properly at all. and i am expecting a pay cut, which would still be an effective net pay equalization.. the pay cut would have to be very substantial to make me worse off after costs

Scorza, that is an interesting point and something i didnt consider at all. The plus i have is i have a job so nothing is urgent. apart form retail i need to look at what is available up there.. i should have done teaching!
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Yeah same here. I don't want to put you off too much - I do work in an industry that doesn't really have much of a presence in the north, so maybe that's got something to do with it as well as location.
 
scorza said:
I've been trying to do this because my family all live in Lancashire and I want to live closer to them (and yeah I've noticed the house price difference too). Your experience might be different but I find it extremely difficult to get taken seriously when applying for jobs up north. If I apply for a job down here I normally at least get a call from the recruitment consultant, up north - nothing.
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My girflriend moved up north to live with me from London. SHe has been living with me for 2 years and has really struggled to find a job, she has found the exact same thing as you scorza. Though house prices are really cheap up here unless you can get a job before you move i wouldnt bother.
 
Absolutely no point in moving without a job to go to. I need to do my research on what I can go to really.
How long it would take to train for it etc
If I can get something I don't see how I would be worse off
 
A friend of mine bought recently in a village close commutable to Cambridge - she's not on a high income so I believe you should still be able to find some things near to where you are now.

I think once I settle down/want to have kids I would move outside London... would be good to be in a role where working from home is an option. If I sold my London flat now I could easily get a nice family home in other parts of the country. If its a longer term plan I'd look into jobs that could potentially allow working from home or work that might have a reasonable contractor market so you can still earn a high wage. Aside from that if you want to earn a good living outside London/the south east you seem to either need to join a profession or become self employed.
 
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I bought my first house last year Price paid £188k

Weston-super-Mare

3 bed detached and garage and the back garden is massive, Best thing back garden is walled and a massive field out the back with a park and lake.
Also in a cul-de-sac


Love this house even though it's a new build it's really good! my energy bills were halved! from November 2013 - Current I have so far paid £350 for gas and elec,

loving it atm !

 
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no, stay down south you dirty southerners! taking our jobs and pushing our house prices up not to mention speaking all funny...
 
I live in an absurdly expensive area. My current flat, which I share, has a kitchen so small that two people can't use the work surface at the same time. My room had the choice of a desk or a double bed (obviously I chose the latter, but this means working at home is a PITA). Every other room is tiny too.

Price to buy? £240,000.

But then... not the same opportunities up north except for Manchester or Birmingham.
 
I worked out pretty thoroughly that when I finish uni in June, I will be financially better off earning 18k and living 5 minutes away from Manchester city centre than I would be on 30k in London.

This doesn't include the fact that I would have my own house here vs renting in London. Nor does it factor in the sheer time spent commuting in London. Plus, as far as amenities go, I'm well served enough here that I can't imagine London offering too much more to me.
 
DanTheMan said:
I worked out pretty thoroughly that when I finish uni in June, I will be financially better off earning 18k and living 5 minutes away from Manchester city centre than I would be on 30k in London.

This doesn't include the fact that I would have my own house here vs renting in London. Nor does it factor in the sheer time spent commuting in London. Plus, as far as amenities go, I'm well served enough here that I can't imagine London offering too much more to me.
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The difference is that the network you'll build and the opportunities you'll find in London are several times greater than that of Manchester. It's not about where you start, it's where you can go.
 
It's all well and good saying get a better job but it isn't that easy without the right background etc
I haven't done the proper sums but considering how tax is tiered a big pay cut doesn't exactly chop your take home by that much. And if you factor that a mortgage in the North would have a lower rate, lower actual monthly cost and lower time to pay off I can't see the downside.

I personally would never want to live in London it's just not me.

One thing I don't have to think about is kids now or in future. Which does make things more flexible with moving for jobs etc

I live in a village atm that is near Huntingdon, a small town
 
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