Location - how much research do/did you do ?

Edwardia

We've decided to move from a town of 50,000 people to a much smaller town of 5000 people in the next county.

When I visit my mother this is the place with her nearest station so I know the train service, location of post office, bakery, pet shop, mini-supermarket, leather goods shop, handbag shop, dry cleaners, charity shops, kitchen ware shop and several cafes. I've not ever known so many stores alreadyin a place before I've moved there before. But this still only scratches the surface.

So how and what do you research before moving ?

SleeplessinScandinavia

I usually consult www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk for the place I'm interested in, and see what they tell me - like is this the kind of place I would want to live?

I also check council tax rates (which again can be done on line) and try and get estimates for utility bill (electricity, water rates etc).

At the end of the day though, nothing can replace actually going to a place and getting more of a 'hands on' feel for it.

Best of luck!

DKLS

I usually check with a local copper, when I moved to my current city I discovered which city centre pub was the BIB pub and went for a couple of lunches and picked the cops brains. So much more informative than the estate agents.

moneyistooshorttomention

For my next house (ie in different area) I just generally chatted to absolutely anyone and everyone - which amounted to a LOT of people:rotfl:.

In the course of that, I've been told exactly which areas wouldn't suit me personally, which would (but I cant afford it - darn it:() and which would (and I can afford it). Didn't need to chat to a local copper - I got a wife of one instead - and got told which area he keeps getting called out to (therefore I shouldn't buy a place there).

What I found in the course of all this was that it was surprising how well I got summed-up pretty quickly by most people and instantly pointed in the direction of which areas would suit me personally (and they were right too....:rotfl:).

Davesnave

We did 3 years of research in West Wales, on and off, talking to anyone and everyone, weighing-up amenities in the larger towns and seeing what our money would buy. We even took three winter holidays there, which were a good, cheap way to see things in less-than-ideal weather etc.

Then we bought in Devon.....

phoebe1989seb

After our last (disastrous) move (from Hampshire to Essex), where we stupidly did barely any research, we wanted to avoid making a similar mistake three years later when we moved here to Wiltshire.

Previously (and I'm only talking 2007 here - and it was our fifth move so not FTB ) we were so naive that we didn't even visit the nearest town before offering on the house we'd fallen for, let alone look at crime figures etc online!

Fast-forward to 2011 and another long-distance move to a(nother) part of the country we were not familiar with, but this time we thought we had it all mapped out - criteria were listed, houses and areas (we were looking across several counties to complicate matters) were investigated, both in person and via google maps etc.

Initially, whilst almost anywhere seemed preferable to the dreaded Essex, I wanted to be within walking distance of a decent supermarket (preferably Waitrose!), so based much of our searching upon that criteria - more or less drawing a ring round any branches located in our favourite areas, but as DH wanted to be somewhere at least semi-rural, that didn't seem achievable!

Our first two purchases fell through and the end we stumbled upon this house unexpectedly - it wasn't really within an area we had been searching, but as it falls within an AONB with fantastic dog-walking all around and has a mini Waitrose-style village shop on the doorstep, we fell in love and once again failed to research as thoroughly as we should have.......fortunately this time things worked our really well and we're very happy here

motherofstudents

I always do online research, for stats. Look on maps etc but more importantly, I visit at different times, especially Friday and Saturday nights. Then I will knock on doors and get a feel of what the neighbours are like and what they think of the area. Not sure what else you can do, unless it is possible to rent somewhere first if it is a different part of the country. Oh, and ask on here if you have a specific location in mind.

nearlyrich

I only moved 500 yards up the road so I knew the area pretty well...

Lizling

Everything I could think of.
Walked around the area at different times
Cycled and jogged around the area
Randomly talked to people I saw around the flats
Read the local paper, of course
Attended the local branch of a sports club instead of my usual branch to get another chance to chat to people from the area
Looked up the crime stats
Looked up the mosaic and acorn classifications
Had a read through the local community's Yahoo group
Googled for any redevelopment plans (that was well worth doing - getting some great new facilities nearby)
Looked up the schools and read their OFSTED reports, even though I haven't got kids and I'm not planning on changing that!


And this was only for a move of 2 miles down the road :rotfl: Just wanted to be careful because it *looks* potentially dodgy around here, even though I think it's fine.

I_have_spoken

So how and what do you research before moving ?

Spent two weekend in the area, mooching about.

Also look for signs of gentrification, so new coffee bars etc. Obviously a new Waitrose opening is the grail of house-buyers.

Charity shops not so good, of course. Drop into the pubs, that'll tell you all about the locals (assuming mostly white British of course)

Also check quality and age of cars parked up, well maintained gardens and sign people are investing their houses with extensions etc, so a skip or two is good.

6feet

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

After our last (disastrous) move (from Hampshire to Essex), where we stupidly did barely any research, we wanted to avoid making a similar mistake three years later when we moved here to Wiltshire.

Previously (and I'm only talking 2007 here - and it was our fifth move so not FTB ) we were so naive that we didn't even visit the nearest town before offering on the house we'd fallen for, let alone look at crime figures etc online!

Fast-forward to 2011 and another long-distance move to a(nother) part of the country we were not familiar with, but this time we thought we had it all mapped out - criteria were listed, houses and areas (we were looking across several counties to complicate matters) were investigated, both in person and via google maps etc.

Initially, whilst almost anywhere seemed preferable to the dreaded Essex, I wanted to be within walking distance of a decent supermarket (preferably Waitrose!), so based much of our searching upon that criteria - more or less drawing a ring round any branches located in our favourite areas, but as DH wanted to be somewhere at least semi-rural, that didn't seem achievable!

Our first two purchases fell through and the end we stumbled upon this house unexpectedly - it wasn't really within an area we had been searching, but as it falls within an AONB with fantastic dog-walking all around and has a mini Waitrose-style village shop on the doorstep, we fell in love and once again failed to research as thoroughly as we should have.......fortunately this time things worked our really well and we're very happy here

Ok, I am dying to know where in Essex you lived? Please share