How do you find the optimum place to live?

westv

Irratus_Rusticus wrote: »

Not read every post but I use this site:

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

.

I used the ONS site when I was looking but the info is the same as above.
My part of Hull is better than 74% of other areas in England.

Towser

More food for thought:

The UK's least affordable cities: Property affordability crisis at worst level in eight years as urban house prices spurt again

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-3509308/Home-affordability-crisis-UK-s-cities-worst-level-eight-years.html#ixzz4402MvAxg

MOST AFFORDABLE CITIES
1. Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 3.81*
2. Stirling, Scotland, 4.11
3. Bradford, Yorkshire and the Humber, 4.31
4. Belfast, Northern Ireland, 4.42
5. Hereford, West Midlands, 4.55
6. Lisburn, Northern Ireland, 4.64
7. Durham, North, 4.73
8. Lancaster, North West, 4.89
9. Carlisle, North, 5.03
10. Glasgow, Scotland, 5.07
11. Hull, Yorkshire and the Humber, 5.11
12. Liverpool, North West, 5.23
13. Perth, Scotland, 5.24
=14. Sunderland, North, 5.28
=14. Swansea, Wales, 5.28
*Lloyds Bank affordability ratios

Towser

many people move to london for the pot of gold and end up on the streets. has it occurred to those people that if the unemployed all moved there that that would become a high unemployment area and the place they left would become a low unemployment area. i guess they would all then be told to move back.

From another thread.


Why move there? Why not move to your optimum place to live according to your circumstances?

Li0nhead

Here is my advice in context of this thread.

1. Pick a place you have to be at, usually a workplace, if not possibly family location or whatever.
Open Google Maps, decide how far you are willing to commute to get to the workplace. You then have your search area.

2. Look at that map and just rule out any places that stand out as places you would never live.

3. Open up a property site like Zoopla or rightmove and do a draw search of your search area. Search to your budget.

4. Once you have a handful of properties selected go to http://apps.opendatacommunities.org/showcase/deprivation and search the postcodes of each property. Follow this up with a search on the https://www.police.uk/ monthly local crime map.

5. I assume this will reduce the list to a point where you can start checking out areas in person, local facilities and viewing properties.

All this depends on you being able to afford something in those areas though.

nb73

I'm fascinated that you could plot two variables as diverse as house price and deprivation and come up with a curve.

What would the "U" point of the curve mean?

Perhaps it could represent any one of:
- A place with average deprivation, where houses are a little less expensive than the national average
- An affluent place where houses cost much more than the national average, but less than the average for similar areas
- A run-down area where unloved houses are even cheaper than might be expected for similar areas.

Would you be equally happy in each?

theartfullodger

Equidistant from Pub, JC+ & mistress/toy-boy (or both..)

Towser

At last! nb73 I like your answer. "Now were are talking."

Well I think this would be my optimum out of the three choices given.

- A place with average deprivation, where houses are a little less expensive than the national average

Anybody else thinking like this?

ancientofdays

I wouldn't be able to interpret statistics if they bit me on the bum.

The variables I am using, admittedly in an area I know, are
Will we fit into the house?
Can I get to work reasonably easily? (Am sole worker in household )
Do we like it enough to invest our money in it rather than it being a stopgap?

Possibly not the most efficient method according to my son but he can do the crime statistics.

seven-day-weekend

Although there are 'better ' places to live than my home town (it ranks 77th in Towser's list); we moved from one place to another within it last year.

Reasons?

1, We have one son who doesn't drive and wanted to make sure that he could get to see us.
2. There are some nice areas within it. Although we couldn't afford the leafy area out to the west which is the 'best' in the city, we are within walking distance of it and in the same ward/parish.
3. We wanted somewhere with good local sevices.

So we ended up with this bungalow in a leafy suburb and don't ever regret it.

We also have a second home - a static caravan - on a beautiful woodland site in Snowdonia, North Wales, in which we can live for ten months of the year if we wish.

We are retired, so commuting distances irrelevant to us.

You have to decide what your priorities are and do the best you can with your budget.

Towser

To all you nay sayers:

I think the word I have been looking for is "Algorithm" having just watched a programme on it.

I think I may have found the optimum place to live for us 15 years ago when we had the choice anywhere in the world.

And yes using most of the above criteria.