Where To Move House To In The UK?

Associate
Joined
30 Aug 2014
Posts
668
Hi. Me and my mum are planning to move away from Hertfordshire. Reason being is that we own a totally rubbish house on an ex-council road and would like something better but can't afford a good house in Herts.


Budget is 250k.


So far we have checked:

Derby - Some good areas but some really bad areas too (Rose Hill).
Kettering - Seemed empty, small town, not sure if there's anything to do there? Cheap though.
Cambridge - Way too expensive and actually had some run-down areas.
Leicester - Dirty town center, lots of weird people, nice shopping mall that's about it.
Peterborough - Didn't see anything special there besides cathedral. Mum liked the demographics.
Norwich - Mum doesn't like cos it's too English (she's Eastern Euro). Going again next week.
Canterbury - Really liked town center, lots of tourists, expensive.

Is there any where else we should check? Haven't visited west/south UK yet.

Personally I wanna live somewhere which is touristy and has a university. I feel bad in areas that have an aging population and would like there to be lots of attractive women (gotta get married and all that right?). Low crime and clean houses (somewhere people actually maintain their homes rather than let them rot). Obviously needs to have good employment opportunities and no flooding areas. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
 
Soldato
Joined
31 May 2009
Posts
21,257
Move to Norn Iron, it's great... so it is, we love immigrants and are really tolerant of you English types, so it is ;)

250K will buy you a lovely big house in town or country excluding Belfast.
 
Associate
Joined
19 May 2009
Posts
1,508
Location
Nottingham
Derby - Some good areas but some really bad areas too (Rose Hill).

Try Nottingham? Great University and lots of attractions in the city. Ever since they refurbished the main square it normally has something interesting going off at most times of year. We've had Ice rinks, beaches, german markets, a rip off of the London Eye, all sorts.

There are a few nice areas just outside of town that 250k would get you plenty of house for.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
30 Aug 2014
Posts
668
Those are big houses up north... but they are in the middle of nowhere? My neighbour has a house in Yorkshire and says he can't sell it... it's been there for over a year on sale!

Haven't tried Nottingham but am having bad luck with the Midlands so far after visiting many run down areas. What about Bath/Bristol? Heard it was cheap there too.
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Dec 2004
Posts
22,367
Location
S.Wales
I wouldnt think Bath would be cheap, certainly not in the nice areas, the houses are older and grade looking buildings, lovely architecture and its a well sought after area with great vibes.

Saying that there will be your normal areas of bath, I generally thought its an expensive place to buy a house though
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
Joined
15 Jan 2006
Posts
32,369
Location
Tosche Station
What about Bath/Bristol? Heard it was cheap there too.

You heard wrong! Unless you pick specifically bad areas, or areas out of town (aging population), then you won't get anything that doesn't have an inflated price.

To be honest you have a rather impossible set of requirements, well, if you are after "good value" in terms of property size anyway. You're not the only ones who want those things from a home, and as a result demand is greater. With limited supply, prices = ^. I know it might be obvious, but to tackle the problem you need to put your requirements/wishes in to an order of priority, and work out what you are willing to compromise on for other things.

Work out things that the prospective property absolutely *must* have, things it absolutely *must not* have, and then things that are more fluid, which you would be willing to compromise on. Only then can you really measure the value of and compare houses against each other.

The biggest unknown - for us on the forum at least - is the job situation. What you do/plan to do for a living is quite a big factor most of the time.

This map is a decent tool for looking at general areas and seeing what's what. It shows me, for example, that to commute in the M4 corridor area the best "value" is found around the Swindon area, all other things being equal.

:edit: Hmm, the map seems to be a little broken since I used it last. There are a few similar tools available online, have a google around and you should get a good idea of affordability:happiness in different areas.
 
Soldato
Joined
16 Oct 2007
Posts
7,418
Location
UK
Definitely the North East - I made the move from the South, and it is a stunning place - friendliest people in the country, gorgeous countryside, and the cities can be superb
 
Caporegime
Joined
4 Sep 2008
Posts
28,836
Location
Yorkshire.
Eh? Leicester City centre dirty? ... I mean, a bit of it is run down, but 2/3's of it is not.

Every city has weird people, and the shopping 'mall' is 'ok' but little different to other big shopping 'malls', the John Lewis is great.

Leicester is a hugely diverse twinned University city; great culture, you just have to live somewhere nice.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Oct 2006
Posts
90,821
You heard wrong! Unless you pick specifically bad areas, or areas out of town (aging population), then you won't get anything that doesn't have an inflated price.

To be honest you have a rather impossible set of requirements, well, if you are after "good value" in terms of property size anyway. You're not the only ones who want those things from a home, and as a result demand is greater. With limited supply, prices = ^. I know it might be obvious, but to tackle the problem you need to put your requirements/wishes in to an order of priority, and work out what you are willing to compromise on for other things.

Work out things that the prospective property absolutely *must* have, things it absolutely *must not* have, and then things that are more fluid, which you would be willing to compromise on. Only then can you really measure the value of and compare houses against each other.

The biggest unknown - for us on the forum at least - is the job situation. What you do/plan to do for a living is quite a big factor most of the time.

This map is a decent tool for looking at general areas and seeing what's what. It shows me, for example, that to commute in the M4 corridor area the best "value" is found around the Swindon area, all other things being equal.

:edit: Hmm, the map seems to be a little broken since I used it last. There are a few similar tools available online, have a google around and you should get a good idea of affordability:happiness in different areas.

250K is something that can be worked with around Bristol/Bath albeit probably looking at one of the market towns a few miles out - lots of new builds lately where 250K will about get you in on something that isn't totally unreasonable for the money and largely ticks the boxes for low crime and generally being clean and tidy. You'd need to be close to one of the transport links or have your own vehicle though as for real activity (socialising, etc.) and better employment prospects (and likewise university) you'd need to be able to get into Bristol and/or Bath and/or jobs can be a bit spread out i.e. I work outside of town with limited to no public transport there.

Loads of touristy stuff all over the general area and in both neighbouring Devon and Dorset, etc. though you'd need to pay attention to which parts are and aren't susceptible to flooding as for instance anything near the Somerset levels would be best avoided.

EDIT: While overall its quite English as an area there is a fairly sizeable amount of eastern Europeans as well - they seem to flock to jobs around the M5 area especially Bridgwater - not sure why.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom