YankeemovingAbroad

Thank you everyone for the great great feed back.Really is a tough choice when picking a town to call home.One factor I have to consider is leaving the property 6 months out of the year.That is one of the reason why I'm considering a gated community.

I can use the property very much like a vacation home and hopefully not need to worry about the safety of my investment.I kind of envision living in a town that is quite breath taking to see, a place with many amazing medieval old structures.But a place at the same time that has my wish list of things that are entertaining.

If need be I might be willing to go up about 20% on my original purchase price to about $650,000-$700k dollars but that would be my max.Lots to consider including maintance fees not to mention property taxes.Just want to make a good decision.

Have look at properties in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire was quite impressed.Also checked out Bath seems to be quite nice but not sure if the town could be considered a place to go for a great nite out for a laugh or to find dinner clubs.My price restriction might not allow a purchase on the London outskirts?

It does help that the UK is not enormous like the States driving from one area to another is not a 24 hour adventure.Just want to be in a place that has a community feel where people speak to their neighbors and a place short distance drive to pro sporting events and nite life.I've been waiting a while to pull the trigger on this move mostly because I wanted to see how our elections were going to turn out.

One of the up sides of having waited is the fact that the UK property market has adjusted downward not to mention the strengthning of the $$ against the pound.More than likely I have save my self about $200k. BTW,I don't think we are at the tail end of the UK property market devaluation.Late 2009 might be closer to that end.Also the dollar will get stronger under a democratic president.Historical trends point to that being the case.

I wonder what is the biggest difference between living up north compared to the southern uk regions and what does Manchester offer that set it apart from Birmingham or Leeds?I'm thinking that the southern region has the more older established structures because most of the country's wealth was build up first from London outward?If you had to name 4 areas of the UK where you would see interracial couples, what would those cities be not including London?

Thank you for all the advise

G586

I think you need to come visit...

There are old buildings everywhere, all over and ports like Glasgow/Bristol/Liverpool has some amazing architecture due to slavery/trade generally. I wouldn't say wealth spread out from London, it's more that people migrate there to work now.

Every area has it's good bits and bad bits. I could put you down in Cowley Road in Oxford or Muirhouse in Edinburgh and you would get an entirely different idea of the city to having been in the centre.

Cities are pretty mixed racially....I think you just need to do a recce. The difference between North, South and places like Scotland is the people but there are good and bad everywhere so it's hard to generalise and what suits us may not suit you.

Jules Europe

You mention to name 4 areas of the UK where you would see interracial couples.............I am assuming that you are referring to where interracial couples would most likely be accepted? I think you will find the UK and western Europe in general is very accepting and nobody blinks an eyelid. Maybe if you were thinking of a rural British setting, then this would be the case but in any large urban area this is very much the norm. Remember the UK is not the "Deep South" Believe me nobody cares whether a couple is interracial, gay etc............Except the most bigoted of course and they are few and far between.

Jules Europe

Like you I am a non-Brit and I think that you will find with the UK`s relative small size in relation to the USA, that you will find everything that you want, more or less regardless of where you go. Whether you are in London, Birmingham or Manchester etc you can do the same type of things, shopping, theatre etc Also access to the countryside is easy as is access to the coast etc...similiar climate throughout much of the country with plenty of airports to explore Europe etc. With motorway and rail networks nothing is too far away so it doesn`t really matter where you live. You will also find that the UK is probably along with France the most ethnically diverse country in Europe. The only issue that I see, is that you will get a lot more for your money if you head northwards out of London and the south east, because properties in certain areas of the UK at this moment in time are pretty cheap by European standards.

Tr1boy

Throw in some motorway roadworks and it will be.

islandergirl

Don't think gated communities are too popular over there but you could always put a great big colorbond fence around an existing house (do a thread search for the fencing question on RR forum).

Most cities and towns in the UK will have a choice of older heritage typed properties if that is what you are after, but I think you need to spend a few weeks over there visiting first to get a feel for the different places.

What about employment is that not the first consideration for location or have you got an independent income?

Bevm

Yankee, I agree that you need a quick trip where you explore a lot of the country. With it being small you can zoom around a bit. Have you been to England, and if so, when did you visit? Your ideas about it seem way off to me. That's not blaming you. When I first started visiting the US I was astonished by many things, good and bad.

For all practical purposes, forget gated communities. Just not going to happen. If you buy a house and want to leave for 6 months you'll have to get a house sitter (there are reliable companies) have good neighbours, or trust to luck. Apartments would be better for that purpose.

As people have said, most larger towns and cities are going to be culturally diverse, but some in distinct ways. Places like Leicester, for example, are heavily East Indian. (I assume that's still true.) I assume someone who is of an Indian or Pakistani background might feel more comfortable there than someone who's of Chinese background, or African, or African American.

Are you going to leave in the winter?

The west of the country tends to have a milder climate than the east -- the Gulf Stream affect. The South is warmer than the north overall. So the SW has the mildest climate and the NE the harshest, but if you're not there in winter it may not matter.

Brighton's an interesting place and there's good transport up to London. It might be out of your price range, though.

There used to be a US web site where you could put in a bunch of things you wanted in a place and it'd give you suggestions. It wasn't very accurate, but it was fun to play with. Anyone know if there's something like that in the UK?

Bev

YankeemovingAbroad

Are you saying Glasgow is as racially diverse and racially progressive as Manchester and Birmingham?Do you see many Black & Asian Brits living in Scotland as you would in Mans and Birmingham? Or did you mean to say Glasgow only has one of the things on my wish list that being great architecture?

sans

Depends where in the North East you are refering to ? I'm in North East Lincolnshire and its alot milder here then say Blackpool on the west coast. We never seem to get the extremes of weather other places get eg High winds/floods/snow.

YankeemovingAbroad

Thank you Jules for that feed back that is exactly what I was referring to. I am curious if the southern UK townships are more ethnically diverse in your opinion?

I also agree with you that there are towns/cities in the Deep south(usa) which are still quite racist in America.Would not want to live in any of them but of course I've never allowed a few nutters from stopping me from having a good time while visiting.

This info could be particular to these instances but I have heard from a few businessman of color who took short term(24 month) contracts in Scotland, that they did experience racial discrimination.

BTW,they were Brits not Americans so there wasn't any anti Yank attitudes involved.One of those friends actually encountered physical abuse and certain words were use that left no doubt why the attack occurred.Wonder if these were isolated incidents pertaining to Scotland.

In any case that is only one of many factors to do my homework about.This move is going to be incredible I can feel it.

backagen

Well I may be biased being from Manchester, but again I can say that Manchester does have what you mentioned in your last post. Around Bolton and other nearby towns there are many fascinating very old buildings that are open to the public. Many include restaurants and pubs and shops etc.

For the money you specified you won't have any trouble getting a nice detached house in a nice area in UK (although it might not necessarily be in a gated community because as I said there aren't many), just look around at different towns because some areas are more expensive than that especially near London, but elsewhere they're not.

I would still serious recommend a look at Daikins park though because it sounds like it has everything you're looking for.

TruBrit

why LIVERPOOL of course....after all it is European Capital of Culture 2008

seriously... nice properties in Ainsdale/Southport plus access to europe from Speke airport. about 3 hrs from London...great new toll road cuts the journey right down.

as for the people > salt of the earth and with excellent humour thrown in not forgetting the best footie club going aka LIVERPOOL

http://www.liverpoolcapitalofculture2008.co.uk/

YankeemovingAbroad

Will live in the UK 6 months per year therefore no need to change jobs btw I work for my self.Mortgage Broker and plan to give it up in a few years if the move to Europe goes as well as planned.In terms of property I see my self in a stone face or possibly a mostly stone home.The older the better but not one were the grade status would prevent me from making needed changes if the property is in disrepair.A newer investment would work just as well if the property is of interesting architecture.BTW, I will rent 3 months before pulling the trigger on a purchase.

Titchski

Stone facing?

Get thee to Number 9 Coronation Street my good man!

YankeemovingAbroad

Thank you backagen & Truebrit

Daikins you say? Will look it up.Rightmove is a very good search engine.I like that Liverpool is a boat ride away from Ireland that is a major plus worth exploring.For some reason I can't help but think of Scotland in idealistic images.Have been to London years ago but did not explore the other many regions of the UK.So in a way much of this move is going to be very new to me.Exciting when you think about it.Similar to kissing for the first time a woman who has your nose wide open