House prices

missbiggles1

AlexMac wrote: »

The Isle of Wight, where over 50% of the 1200-odd homes currently on the market are under £200k... compared with Surrey where barely 2% of the 5,000+ homes are 2 bedders in your price-range...?

Pros... amazingly cheap property, very good environment (albeit a bit old-fashioned, which adds to the charm IMHO) and a benign micro-climate...

Cons... very low wages and limited job opportunities (unless you commute over the Solent or continue to work from home), expensive ferry crossings (a bit cheaper for residents) ...

I lived there for years as well.:(

Other cons....Very insular, lots of chavs, terrible educational standards, very little to do, packed with tourists in the summer.

catterlen

Immers7 wrote: »

Avoid. If you are used to Surrey.

Wouldn't live in Salford if someone paid me unless its Worsley.
Heywood and Blackley are not very nice.

Crewe i know nothing about but i imagine it's nothing like Surrey or anywhere you are looking for.

Crewe is not very nice if you are used to nice places... You could try Holmes chapel or northwich which are close ish to Crewe if you want to be out of a city.
How about smaller towns like congleton (commute distance to Manchester with a train station), cheadle hulme?

Or, completely different, the other side of the peaks, Sheffield? Nice city, you could live on the outskirts, on the tram route, be walking distance into town and only a couple of hours from London on the train.

Landofwood

Have you considered Bulgaria?

Landofwood

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I lived in Shrewsbury for many years and, although there've been lots of new developments, prices are still reasonable. It might fit your needs...

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34735185.html
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49920412.html
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34649667.html?premiumA=true
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34397919.html?premiumA=true

That first house looks lovely, great value.

claireabelle_2

I've just moved from South London (wandsworth) to South Manchester (chorlton) and I love it. It's got loads of independent shops and bars and is 30 mins into Piccadilly from the new extended tram link. Lots of 1930s semis and Victorian terraces.

Immers7

claireabelle wrote: »

I've just moved from South London (wandsworth) to South Manchester (chorlton) and I love it. It's got loads of independent shops and bars and is 30 mins into Piccadilly from the new extended tram link. Lots of 1930s semis and Victorian terraces.

I don't think the OP realises that he won't get much for his 200k in places like Chorlton.

Innys1

Surrey is beautiful - I've been here nearly 15 years now. The only place I would consider moving to is Cornwall or, perhaps, the West Coast of Scotland.

Running_Horse

Bet your parents are pretty pleased with the "profit" they made on their house. Problem is many parents will lose touch with their families forced to move away to buy a house. I would rather prices stay affordable where I am so my child can choose to live round here.

dirty_magic

This website is good for showing roughly where the good/bad areas are:

http://illustreets.co.uk/explore-england/

I think it works on deprivation statistics, so it does tend to just show all council/social housing areas as red but it's fairly accurate where we live.

Red-Squirrel_2

Immers7 wrote: »

I don't think the OP realises that he won't get much for his 200k in places like Chorlton.

They'll get a lot more than in Surrey!

Personally, I wouldn't live there, I think its overpriced for the sake of trendiness, but a lot of people seem to see value in the vegan cafes and so on.