How do you find the optimum place to live?

getmore4less

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

LOL at the Wetherspoons Litmus Test for prices in the area:rotfl:.

Sounds as valid a test as any other - and I'll bear it in mind in future:).

On the Wetherspoons Scale - what's the verdict for "The nearest Wetherspoons would take about an hour to get to from here"?

That could be an indicator,
too remote not enough people or
too many posh people or
so deprived even weatherspoon won't go there.

Along side spoons you have the poundland(s) and Iceland factor they deliver free so carless people use them.

Our town has gone from trying regenerate(private finance pulled out) to 2 spoons a load of Poundlands type places.

Then we got Asda and Waitrose.

we already had the other mains supermarkets along with 2 Aldi and a Lidl to round off the set.

All within 1m radius of the town centre.

As with most places we have Grotty bits, very nice bits and LOADS of new build from social, studio to exec, who knows what they will all turn out like in a few years.

This is the problem the stats cover too wide an area to find the pockets that would be fantastic places to live.

Wokingham may be high on the list but it will have !!!! bits and if that is all you can afford...

I tried the center of Glasgow for a few months and loved it ( 7 spoons within 1m walking 6 of those are under 1/2m of each other.) loads to do and plenty place to eat out good transport infrastructure along with very friendly people, extra damp in the winter killed it for me.

[Deleted User]

questionss wrote: »

JimmyTheWig Is right we're nearer WGC/Hertford than St Albans these days! Can't afford Radlett!

Ah, I get you.
The only people I know that can afford to buy in Radlett are also the types of folks that are handed £100k-200k by their parents to 'help them out'

It still surprises me how the 'London factor' is effecting the HPI around Hertfordshire.

getmore4less

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Ah, I get you.
The only people I know that can afford to buy in Radlett are also the types of folks that are handed £100k-200k by their parents to 'help them out'

It still surprises me how the 'London factor' is effecting the HPI around Hertfordshire.

Commute time makes a massive difference to desirability.

Stick a station with a fast connection and the area will become more expensive.

Do a distance/time/house price compare on the Chiltern line through Bucks against the lines through Hertfordshire.

Lizling

Ok, so you want the optimum area, defining optimum as 'the least deprived area with the least house prices.'

So all you need to do is get a list of house prices by area and a list of deprivation scores by area (separately, probably from the ONS site), rank them both from best to worst or index them against the top value, and add up the scores. Easy, but also pointless since noones happiness depends on how the average house price in their area relates to deprivation levels. My guess is that looking for the place with the least demand for housing relative to local income will give you somewhere with good reasons for that, e.g. isolation or lack of basic facilities. Perhaps one of the Scottish islands.

Even if you are determined to limit yourself to just those 2 variables, I'd simply strip out places you can't afford, then pick the least deprived one left.

Incidentally, this has nothing to do with big data. You'll be dealing with one row of data per subward, at most, not hundreds of millions+ of records.

Towser

Surely this this thread is a troll? The OP is effectively asking a mathematical equation to chose an area for him to move to.

No not at all. I am genuinely interested in this subject strange as it may seem.

Thanks for the bump though we have had some interesting answers since.

[Deleted User]

getmore4less wrote: »

Commute time makes a massive difference to desirability.

Stick a station with a fast connection and the area will become more expensive.

Do a distance/time/house price compare on the Chiltern line through Bucks against the lines through Hertfordshire.

I know what you mean.. they're proposing a direct line from the Abbey Flyer (Watford <-> St Albans) all the way to Euston, and we think it could easily add £50k to the cost of a house if they do that.

I still think the house prices are madness

Irratus_Rusticus

Not read every post but I use this site:

https://www.uklocalarea.com/index.php

Five year survey of country wide relative deprivation. Always fun to read the EA blurb and check out the postcode. If the postcode isn't provided i use google maps to find the nearest.

Stats are stats in the end. But I found the ward stats matched areas I know pretty closely relative to each other. Can't expect a figure to be mathematically significant, mind, just use its higher/lower relativity to the others. Avoid 0% for crime! It's a start anyway.

moneyistooshorttomention

Irratus_Rusticus wrote: »

Not read every post but I use this site:

www.uklocalarea.com/index.php

Five year survey of country wide relative deprivation. Always fun to read the EA blurb and check out the postcode. If the postcode isn't provided i use google maps to find the nearest.

Stats are stats in the end. But I found the ward stats matched areas I know pretty closely relative to each other. Can't expect a figure to be mathematically significant, mind, just use its higher/lower relativity to the others. Avoid 0% for crime! It's a start anyway.

I've just checked that out for the two areas I know best - and it is pretty accurate from what I can see. The one snag is that I cant compare across between these two areas (with one in England and the other in Wales) and I could only find out how to compare Area 1 with rest of England and Area 2 with rest of Wales. Is there a way on that website (or alternative website) where there is comparison across the whole of the country (ie across the whole of Britain - rather than dividing it into England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland)??

EDIT; Just checked my parents' postcode (which I also know very well and its a reasonable area) and it has overall rating of 91% compared to England only. Not good news for much of Britain then - as its "not luxury or special - just ordinary decent".

That would have been a handy website for me to look at when moving across country then - as my comparator %age would be 90%-100% (if I could afford it - rueful LOL).

JimmyTheWig

Towser wrote: »

Yes I think the answer is Wokingham being the most affordable.

So have you answered your own question, OP?

Towser

So have you answered your own question, OP?

Yes I think so. But as posters have said I am only using two variables. It has been really interesting having everyone's positive input it has given me more to think about. With other websites recommended too.

Even if you are determined to limit yourself to just those 2 variables, I'd simply strip out places you can't afford, then pick the least deprived one left.

This is what I have done with our current location. I just cannot believe how lucky we have been. I have been trying to find the next best location but have been unable to for the last thirteen years. I think where we are living now is home. I love where we live and statistically it makes sense. The only thing is I wish we had a bigger house (the reason for looking for the next best place but I don't think there is one)