How do you find the optimum place to live?

moneyistooshorttomention · 22 October 2015 at 8:25AM

Some people do function more at a "logical/analytical" level than others. The vast majority of people get influenced by their emotions to some extent or another and those emotions can (and with many people DO) make a huge difference to what its like to live somewhere.

On another tack - and the plan for moving from current location for OP being to "get a better house AND for less money than tied-up in current house". Yep...this is possible (if not easy) for some people.

However - thinking of friends of mine that moved from their home areas to area we are all now in. One couple I know had much the same idea as you. In their case it was down to "have equivalent house - but release some of the house equity in the last house they had". So - they moved to this cheaper area of the country, with the intention of using a portion of that released house equity for the necessary work on the house they bought here. What happened in the event is that they then decided to get their current house exactly as they want it before they get too old to go through all that work. "Exactly as they want" has proven a LOT more expensive than they anticipated (we're talking real granite kitchen worktops/high quality everything). The end result is = all that work is using up a lot of the "house equity" money they released from their last house and they wont have nearly as much savings to one side to "fund their old age" than they had thought.

Be prepared for a similar scenario to happen to you.

There DOES come a time in life (for many of us) when we simply aren't prepared to wait any longer to have a house that is EXACTLY as we want it and that's what we will try to do. You might as well, after all, with say only an estimated 20 years or so of life to go.

Davesnave · 22 October 2015 at 9:21AM

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

There DOES come a time in life (for many of us) when we simply aren't prepared to wait any longer to have a house that is EXACTLY as we want it and that's what we will try to do. You might as well, after all, with say only an estimated 20 years or so of life to go.

I agree that bringing a tired house up to a good spec can be very expensive, but I seriously doubt the wisdom of seeking perfection, either in the build, or in seeking the optimum location.

Both of those objectives are doomed, because the world, including our ourselves, is too unpredictable and complex. Change is part of it, and the person who tries to resist that is on a hiding to nothing.

I'm surrounded here by people who wanted that special house. Some of them invested far too much in achieving it. At that point, they wanted things to stop, but things don't, so they got old, fell ill, fell out with each other....whatever.

Far better to enjoy the journey than to worry about arrival.

Towser · 22 October 2015 at 12:30PM

PLACE TO LIVE 2015: WHERE DID YOUR REGION RANK?
2015 Rank Region Rank Change from 2013
1 Edinburgh 97
2 Solihull -1
3 Hertfordshire No Change
4 Northumberland 4
5 South Lanarkshire 55
6 Berkshire 3
7 Darlington 18
8 North Lanarkshire 98
9 York 6
10 Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire & Renfrewshire 102
11 Surrey -6
12 South Nottinghamshire -8
13 Central Bedfordshire 18
14 Wirral 13
15 Outer London - South 3
16 Warwickshire -10
17 Bath & North East Somerset; North Somerset & South Gloucestershire 3
18 Hampshire -5
19 Orkney Islands 86
20 Cheshire East -8
21 Tyneside -7
22 West Cumbria 41
23 Derby 14
24 Cornwall & Isles of Scilly 42
25 East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire; Helensburgh & Lomond 59
26 North Yorkshire -24
27 Swindon -8
28 Coventry 36
29 Aberdeen City & Aberdeenshire 46
30 Calerdale & Kirklees 12
31 Worcestshire 13
32 Warrington -4
33 Outer London North & West 22
34 Leicestershire & Rutland 6
35 Birmingham 38
36 Falkirk 75
37 Sunderland -11
38 East Lothian & Midlothian 90
39 Cambridgshire -9
40 Telford & Wrekin 1
41 Hartlepool & Stockton-on-Tees 14
42 Cheshire West -26
43 Durham -19
44 Buckinghamshire -33
45 Gwynedd 81
46 Bournemouth & Poole 34
47 Bristol 25
48 Sheffiled -19
49 Walsall 41
50 West Northamptonshire 11
51 Glasgow 84
52 Flintshire & Wrexham 60
53 Oxfordshire -43
54 Scottish Borders 83
55 Gloucestershire -48
56 Sefton -8
57 Staffordshire -19
58 Conwy & Denbighshire 71
59 Plymouth 30
60 Greater Manchester North -11
61 [joint] Leeds -26
61 [joint] Perth & Kinross and Sterling 41
63 Southend-on-Sea 22
64 South & West Derbyshire -44
65 Portsmouth -14
66 Dorset -23
67 Peterborough 52
68 Essex -15
69 Shropshire -33
70 Medway -19
71 West Sussex -48
72 Swansea 37
73 Bedford -27
74 Herefordshire 4
75 Outer London - North & East 8
76 North Northamptonshire 1
77 Wolverhampton 2
78 Wiltshire -44
79 West Lothian 46
80 East Derbyshire 17
81 South Ayrshire 26
82 Isle of Anglesey 6
83 Stoke-on-Trent 25
84 Inner London - East 15
85 Angus & Dundee City 46
86 Wakefield -55
87 Inner London - West 14
88 Cardiff & Vale of Glamorgan 27
89 East Riding of Yorkshire -73
90 Powys -21
91 East Merseyside -20
92 North Nottingham -5
93 Luton 23
94 Outer Belfast -33
95 Lincolnshire -45
96 East Cumbria -31
97 Milton Keynes -40
98 South West Wales -6
99 Southampton 1
100 Greater Manchester South -42
101 Leicester 21
102 Nottingham 8
103 Kent -58
104 Belfast -82
105 Norfolk -29
106 Lancashire -73
107 Lochaber, Skye & Lochalsh, Arran & Cumbrae, Argyll & Bute 29
108 Caithness & Sutherland; Ross & Cromarty 26
109 Brighton & Hove -35
110 Liverpool -16
111 Suffolk -44
112 Shetland Islands -31
113 Thurrock -22
114 Bridgend & North Port Talbot -18
115 Blackburn With Darwen -1
116 Iverness & Nairn & Moray; Badenoch & Strathspey 16
117 East Sussex -47
118 East Ayrshire & North Aryshire (Mainland) 20
119 Torbay 4
120 North & North East Lincolnshire -73
121 Monmouthshire & Newport -3
122 Barnsley, Doncaster & Rotherham -68
123 Clackmannashire & Fife 10
124 Isle of Wight -20
125 [joint] Gwent Valleys -1
125 [joint] Somerset -43
127 Dumfries &Galloway No Change
128 Sandwell -25
129 South Teesside -36
130 East of Northern Ireland -91
131 Central Valleys -10
132 Devon -46
133 Blackpool -16
134 West & South of Northern Ireland -75
135 Eilean Siar (Western Isles) -15
136 North of Northern Ireland -68
137 Kingston Upon Hull -7
138 Bradford -43
Source: uSwitch

Lord_Baltimore · 22 October 2015 at 12:45PM

Towser wrote: »

Either you know how to do it the statistical way or you don't.

I am guessing the people who have replied are more expressive or dominant rather than analytical.

Hmm, you might equate your statistical approach to finding a place to live with that of an arranged marriage. It might work out but generally speaking people prefer to choose their spouse on the basis of love, suitability, prospects etc.

And so it is with property! But good luck anyway.

Towser · 22 October 2015 at 1:07PM

Edinburgh best place to live in UK, according to quality of life index by U switch

Low crime rates, affordable living costs, high salaries and fast broadband propel Edinburgh up the charts to become the best place to live – taking over from Solihull
Bradford and Hull are officially the worst places, let down by low disposable income, low employment, high rent and crowded schools
Victory for Scotland: more than half of Scottish regions have improved their Quality of Life ranking since 2013 – the top seven biggest climbers are all in Scotland
English doldrums: 16 out of the 20 biggest falling regions are in England
Living costs: Nottingham pays the most in council tax yet has the second lowest disposable income in the UK – while energy bills are highest in Northern Ireland and lowest in Scotland
Hardest working: 41% of people in West London work more than 45 hours a week compared to 15% in the Orkney Islands – but West Londoners are also paid the most
Longest lives: women in Buckinghamshire live the longest, as do men in Surrey –while Glaswegians have the shortest life expectancy.

libf · 22 October 2015 at 1:33PM

Towser wrote: »

Either you know how to do it the statistical way or you don't.

I am guessing the people who have replied are more expressive or dominant rather than analytical.

Knowing how to do it, and wanting to spend time doing it, are two very different things...

Either look into learning how to do it yourself, pay someone else to do it, or give up.

chris_m · 22 October 2015 at 1:36PM

To be perfectly honest, using stats in this way is pretty well meaningless for choosing where to live - that choice is made more by factors such as where one has to work, where one likes if not tied by work, where family are or aren't.

To quote Samuel Clemens, "lies, damned lies, and statistics"

libf · 22 October 2015 at 1:40PM

Hmm. Suspect troll.

Here has a husband: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=69299943&postcount=1
Here has a wife: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=69363058&postcount=4

Possible, but...

Towser · 22 October 2015 at 4:31PM

Why do companies publish Quality of Life Indexes then?

lisa110rry · 22 October 2015 at 4:34PM

I used to live in Solihull (Knowle, actually) and I note it has been pipped for first in that list and is now number 2. Yesterday, someone told me about a "star" of a programme called Benefit Street who lives in Solihull. Hmmm...

I'm all for statistical analysis - do a lot of it daily - but when it came to our present home, it was the one we could easily afford, which had a good feeling to it and about which I could (and did) say "they'll take me out of here in a box".

How do you find the optimum place to live?

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