Advice wanted re moving to Devon or Cornwall?

spirit

For the regulars on this board, yes I know I've only just moved here but.....

I moved here 8 weeks ago yesterday, My reason for moving was to have a lower mortgage, be nearer work and save money too on commuting. This I have achieved. I sold for £230k in a city 30 miles away. My mortgage there was £78k. I found a house here which is the same size and has a double length garage - which I didn't have before.

I paid £180k for it because a) it is a cheaper area here and b) it needed updating. I budgeted on spending around £25k on it to bring it up to standard again. I've had all new windows, fascias, soffits, guttering, doors and 2 internal walls taken down. I have bought a bathroom suite and am waiting for that to be installed and just have the kitchen to do.

However, I hate my job with a passion. Always did do, but needed to move here to lower my costs. There are no jobs in the city I came from - it's a small city with no big employers, only the local council, hospital and shops to work in. So staying there and downsizing or getting a job locally wasn't an option.

My sister and brother in law are going to go to Cornwall once they've sold their house and I fancy doing the same. I don't know the area very well though and am hoping to tap into MSEers local knowledge.

If I get £230 * for this house once I've finished updating it and paid off my £50k mortgage, I'm wondering what I could get in the west country and the best locations? I don't really want another mortgage as I'm in my early 50s. I'd need a job but tbh would be happy cleaning chalets, in a shop or similar, I just need to escape the hell that is my current job.

Sorry for the long post by the way.

*a house like mine went under offer within a week for £230 and they haven't done all the updating that I have done here.

warez22

Hi there,

I live in East Devon. I have a 3 bed ex local authority semi in a beautiful location which is probably worth about £175000. I live in a village but am about 30 minutes away from Exeter which is where I work.

I am about 6 miles from the local beaches so it is brilliant for the kids.

Dartmoor is about 40 minutes away so I really have the best of everything.

Work-wise I personally dont know anybody who is out of work out of choice. I work in an office and my partner works for the postal service. He has been laid off a few times over the years and has always managed to find employment, albeit unskilled work.

Now is a good time to probably move down here because the tourist season is starting and seasonal work will be plentiful, I have seen lots of signs outside places offering vacancies. Maybe that would be a good start until you found something more permanent.

With regard to money, one of the shocks you would have is our water rates. They are the highest in the country, partly due to all the beaches we have down here and the maintenance of them. I pay £80 per month on a rateable value property.

There arent that many big employers down here (in my area anyway) apart from The Met Office and obviously the supermarkets.

Hope that helps.:)

Almo

What do you do, or what do you want to do? Would probably help us to advise.

I lived in Devon (Exeter mainly) for years and my parents still live there. Beautiful part of the world but pretty expensive to buy a house in! From the experiences of my parents and a friend who lives about 30 miles out of Exeter now, jobs are not that easy to come by at the moment. In the area as a whole, many vacancies are seasonal, house prices are high due to second home owners, as mentioned water rates are high and traffic is a nightmare in the summer when the holiday makers are around..

Of course, you are talking about two huge counties and things vary drastically from town to town - do you have any particular ideas where you want to live? A city or large town? Exeter/Taunton/Plymouth? Coast or moor?

maria6259

Can you live with your sister until you get a job, then look for somewhere to live, maybe even rent for a while until you're sure you like it. I don't know anything about the area but I would love to do this myself, quit my job, sell my house and move around the country getting jobs in various places until I find somewhere I really like.

I still have a dependent at home and my elderly father living close by so it will be a few years before I can join you!

Davesnave

'Devon & Cornwall' covers a huge area and an equally large variety of localities, from isolated moorland villages to decent sized cities. Even weather conditions are different between, say, the balmy south coast and the windier, wetter, north one.

Generally speaking, although prices may be high, relative to some areas, people from London & the Home Counties may not think so, and there are many retired folk. If you avoid the obvious touristy or seasidish places, you'll find lively communities with a good mix of locals and incomers running things. It's worth remembering that the further west you go, the less choice you'll have for days out etc to other localities, without travelling a long distance. However there are still hotspots, price-wise, around western Cornwall despite this 'inconvenience factor.'

Consider how much you want to be part of that annual tourist invasion and search accordingly. Mid Devon, for example, is still only mildly affected; in our village there are very few holiday homes.

I would certainly rent here first, if you don't know the region. It's a great area but, like buying in Wales, there are a few pitfalls for the unwary!

sunshinetours

Davesnave wrote: »

'Devon & Cornwall' covers a huge area and an equally large variety of localities, from isolated moorland villages to decent sized cities. Even weather conditions are different between, say, the balmy south coast and the windier, wetter, north one.

Generally speaking, although prices may be high, relative to some areas, people from London & the Home Counties may not think so, and there are many retired folk. If you avoid the obvious touristy or seasidish places, you'll find lively communities with a good mix of locals and incomers running things. It's worth remembering that the further west you go, the less choice you'll have for days out etc to other localities, without travelling a long distance. However there are still hotspots, price-wise, around western Cornwall despite this 'inconvenience factor.'

Consider how much you want to be part of that annual tourist invasion and search accordingly. Mid Devon, for example, is still only mildly affected; in our village there are very few holiday homes.

I would certainly rent here first, if you don't know the region. It's a great area but, like buying in Wales, there are a few pitfalls for the unwary!

Some great advice in there.

Don't be swayed by Devon/Cornwall's claims of MEditeranean type weather. It can be very wet and very windy as Davesnave says.
However when the sun is out there are parts of Cornwall especially that are simply stunning with amazing beaches and a relaxed feel to the place.
Biggest downside I can imagine to living there aside from the lack of varied employment is if you live in a tourist hotspot you will be inundated in holiday periods

Parts are also very expensive. For example we often holiday near St Ives area and house prices round there are as if not more expensive than our part of the SE England

Good luck

PasturesNew

spirit wrote: »

...I fancy doing the same. I don't know the area very well though and am hoping to tap into MSEers local knowledge.

I'm in Cornwall and I've a warning for you: there's nothing here. Wages are low, expenses are high, high, high (London prices for a lot of things). Buying anything is a pain because it's either not available at all or you have to do a 50-80 mile round trip to buy the one that's available. As for jobs, most will tell you at interview "we don't pay a lot, that's the way it is here, people move here for the lifestyle", but with the highest water rates in the country, long travelling distances, high prices in the shops - there IS no lifestyle.

It can work for a couple (two incomes), or if you're really lucky and have a specialised job that's in demand in the public sector (nationalised wages), but otherwise you'll end up like me, bumbling about being offered minimum wage (or near to it) on jobs 20 miles away or more.

Devon would offer more. More transport, more jobs, more access to services/goods/etc and without the "here for the lifestyle" attitude so 'in your face' in interviews.

spirit wrote: »

I'd need a job but tbh would be happy cleaning chalets, in a shop or similar, I just need to escape the hell that is my current job.

Cleaning chalets is a very seasonal job. Shop work is available, but again often seasonal.

You need to really think hard about how "stuck" you'd feel if you can't earn enough to leave your home, no money for events or holidays. Also, how do you feel about a journey time to London of 5 hours (say) and a train line that goes about 30mph (if there is a train) - and a train service that terminates at Plymouth and becomes slow buses on a very regular basis.

Do you need to shop? Like to shop? Forget it - nothing here to buy. Big supermarkets are few and far between.

These are the issues you'd need to think about in choosing the right place for you. Where the properties are 'cheap as chips' it's because they're in the middle of the county, no jobs, no transport and nothing around. Oh yes, they look lovely.... but you have to be practical and look at the access issues for the next 15 years so you do have a quality of life.

andyhart44r

Stay away from older properties in cornwall and surrounding areas.

Some were built with a local material and are deemed structurally unsound but as most properties these days have been rebuilt it may not be a big problem anymore.

spirit

Thank you all for your replies. Sorry i've not been back on here sooner to check them out but have been busy here getting the place ready to sell.

There is a lot of good advice here, I had no idea about the water rates. Note to self to tell sister too!

Pasturesnew, thank you for giving me the low-down. I've been watching your own thread with interest. I'm not mad keen on shopping, tending to do most of it on-line. I'm not bothered about there being lots of tourists or conversely being in the middle of nowhere. However, I'm not intending on moving again so do need to consider access to shops and healthcare in years to come :eek: (scary thought).

I work in an office sitting on the end of the phone all day and I hate it. There has been a change of management recently and we are now 'managed' by a team of children. You know the sort, they come up with some 'brilliant' idea - which has been tried years before, when they were all still in nappies - and they think their idea is revolutionary (yawn). There's a lot more to it than that, but I just can't see myself staying here much longer.

Doing up this house has highlighted to me how much more I enjoy doing more physical work - like gardening, decorating etc.

Actually If I had to work in an office again, I wouldn't mind doing something like a doctors receptionist or something. I'm on the NHS jobsite for the West Country area generally.

spirit

PS, have now narrowed it down to Devon. I've got some time off nest week so will have a mosey on down there.

martindow

Devon is a big county. Some areas are very expensive - South Hams, Totnes and Kingsbridge for instance. Cheaper areas tend to be inland and in the north and some are quite remote. Quite a lot of people want to live or retire there on the basis of a few weeks sent there in the summer.

As has been said there are not many jobs around and a lot of it is on minimum wage or not much above. I would suggest going down and renting so you can look around and try to find work. You do not want to buy a house and then find you cannot get work or change your mind about living there.