dunroving

Having watched more than my fair share of "property porn" TV shows during my time off work (the leg is coming along fine now, hopefully back at work by end of January!), I thought I'd post a slightly different "Where to live?" thread.

Quite a few returnees seem to come back either with limited resources, or from countries where property was much cheaper than the UK. As a result, we're not all able to choose from anywhere in the UK to live and have to watch the pennies when it comes to housing.

So ... as we seem to have quite a few property-watchers who know about these things, I was wondering if anyone has recommendations of places where the property market isn't quite as silly as the general country market, but are not bad places to live?

"Homes Under the Hammer" is one program I have been watching every morning (it's become quite a ritual; I don't know how I'll wean myself off it!). I like it much better than most of the property shows, because many of the houses they show are actually what I would call affordable (closer to £100k than £200k). The North Midlands and Northeast are areas that often seem to come up as affordable, but I don't know the towns they mention very well.

Any suggestions from our property porn experts of communities that are liveable but won't blow the budget?

scot47

Isle of Bute in the Clyde Estuary. Seaview apartment for £30,000 !!!

dunroving

I visited there a few years back and loved the sea air and scenery. It's close enough that the ferry ride doesn't take too long, either.

I heard that it has gone to seed a bit lately - is that true? I was thinking of taking another trip there, maybe at Easter, and maybe with my bike. The ferry port (Largs) is only an hour and a bit from my house, so it would be an easy long weekend trip to make.

I didn't realise properties were that inexpensive there. If I planned to stick around, I'd even consider buying one as a holiday let/holiday home!!

Sally Redux

Care is needed in the North East. The nice places are surprisingly expensive.

holly_1948

Everyone will have their preferences. I would look at New Brighton (30 minutes train ride from Liverpool). It's an area that was very down but bounced back.
For example http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-37809134.html

UK IFA

Use the research facilities of Zoopla, average house prices etc

Snap Shot

I watch, 'Homes under the Hammer' I record it in case I miss an episode. You are right, it's better than the home make over shows.

However, I can't really comment on where would be cheap. The unfashionable areas of any city would be ok, however, there are usually reasons why !

dunroving

But they don't tell you about the feel of a place, which was the second part of my question - I can find lots of cheap houses on Rightmove, but I don't know what the areas are like. BE is a great place for learning from each other, so I thought I'd ask for suggestions from those in the know.

dunroving

OK, let me see if I can kick this thread along a bit. I thought there would be a few more responses, but maybe there aren't as many "bargain basement" shoppers on BE as I thought.

When I first came back in 2006, I was in south Wales, and was surprised at how inexpensive housing was there (although looking at historic house prices on Rightmove, I soon learned they were selling for £20k-£30k just a few years earlier )

In many respects, south Wales can be a difficult place to live, but I did find a couple of little oases in the middle of some pretty rough places. One was Mountain Ash. It had its own train station, and was an easy commute to Pontypridd and Cardiff, and a short drive from the Brecon Beacons and various country parks. A couple of representative properties currently for sale are this one and this one. There are plenty of places in the area for much less than these two (£50k and less), but I chose these two because I know the area is nice, and on the more accessible side of the main road towards Cardiff (so no waiting for traffic in the mornings!).

Where I live now, there is a town not far called Milngavie that has it all. It's on the trainline to Glasgow (trains every 15 minutes or so), has lots of shops, and is on the doorstep of the West Highland Way and Mugdock Country Park. Glasgow is close enough for commuting and shopping, but far away enough that you don't feel like you are in a big city. A couple for sale at the moment are this one and this one. The first is a fixer-upper, but if you look at it using Google Street View, you'll see it isn't nearly as bad as it looks from the photo on Rightmove - I'm guessing maybe an older person lived there and the outside wasn't maintained. The second is ready to move in straight away, nice little garden and all.

So you can find decent family-sized homes in nice places without breaking the bank. Anyone else know of some decent places away from the high-priced areas of the UK?

lf1

I nominate the Scottish Borders. We are near the market town of Kelso and there are a number of properties, under £200,000, for sale. Some are rural, whilst others are in Kelso. Price was one of the reasons we chose the Borders. Initially, we had been looking in Perthshire, but the properties in our price range were snapped up very quickly. Kelso has most things that we need and if we need a big city fix, Edinburgh is just over an hour away. The coast is a twenty five minutes away. I love the scenery and hills and the people in our village have made us feel very welcome. Also, the east of Scotland gets less rain than the west, but can be colder. Fortunately, I am used to the cold and so far I consider this to be a mild winter. Might be changing my tune over the next few days.

The downside, depending on individual circumstances, is employment. I wouldn't fancy having to commute to Edinburgh or Newcastle on a daily basis, but if you can work from home, are retired or work in agriculture then it could be an ideal spot for some. I think there are more sheep here than people or cars, hence the reason that Kelso only has one set of traffic lights

Sally Redux

My brother lives in a house very similar to this in Northampton (without the awful fake stone cladding though).

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-30501352.html

He seems to really like the town, he used to work locally but recently got a new job in London and commutes.

robin1234

Usually when I look on Rightmove, I look in my price range (£125,000-£200,000, say) in towns I'm interested in. Sometimes I'll just dream and look at £5,000,000 houses in Bath or Harrogate, or £50,000,000 houses in London. But it's also fun to look for the cheapest house in Middlesbrough, or Great Yarmouth or Margate! Here's a good one for instance; "some refurbishment is required."
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercia...-37068385.html
This one is pretty mild.. I remember once seeing one with a tree growing out of the roof; not a sapling, a full sized tree.

Sally Redux

Open All Hours opportunity.

robin1234

doh!! quoted wrong message so corrected that.. Garden's quite nice on that one. I notice there is no photo of the kitchen, so probably needs work..

robin1234

Margate. It's the place to be, and property is still reasonable. I wonder if these people would leave some of the pictures on the walls?

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-38379203.html