How did you choose a new area to live?

redandwhitestripes

It's a good few years away but I've been considering moving out of NW London where I have lived all my 40 odd years and move to a new part of the UK.

I've been thinking about ' the South West' - a big area - and I wouldn't know where to start , so have just done a few searches on Rightmove to see where is affordable as an initial starting point!

So how do you choose an area , if you don't have family or friends in such areas to advise you.
It's a broad question I know but just wondered what things went through your mind , and what you did to determine where to move to.

TerracedHouse

Select your favourite pin from the big box of pins you have on the shelf. Now unfold a map of the UK* and stick it on a board. Put a blind fold on and get someone to spin you around and then point you towards the map and you then stick the pin in it.

Hey presto! you have now made your choice.

*other maps are available

hcb42

What's driving the move? Have you visited the area on holidays? Work situation? I tihnk I would be holidaying for a week or two to have a good look around

SailorSam

Get in your car and have days out, or weekends away and just find something you like the look of.

suki1964

I seriously did do the pin in the map

SailorSam

suki1964 wrote: »

I seriously did do the pin in the map

And did it work ? Do you like where you are ?
How many pins before you came to the final decision ?

PasturesNew

You have to look at "what you'd like easy access" to and then pick that.

Jobs?
Specific roads/transport types?
Leisure facilities/walks/beaches?
Cities/nightlife?

That'll get you down to areas. Then get closer with the details:

Want to have Asda as your closest supermarket? Or Waitrose?
Want a train station with trains every 2 hours instead of once a day?

That's a start.

I chose my house based on: it's a flat area (easy to walk) and if I don't have a car and just £5 in my pocket I can still walk (easily) to a supermarket offering the full range of groceries.

As well as some other criteria.

I didn't end up "where I actually wanted to be" as nothing was coming up that I liked/could afford, so then I just opened rightmove and bought a house I liked the look of, that I could afford, that ticked those basic life necessities that was for sale right then.

You'll never get everything - so you have to say "enough's enough" at some point and buy one in an area that's been decided by you "would be fine".

If you buy into an area that "has a good name" you can't lose, so you'll at least know you're keeping up if you decide to move again in the future.

mildredalien

I don't think I know anyone who moved as randomly as that, usually the location is largely determined by a job opportunity, and then narrowed down by whatever other criteria are important to you e.g.

city vs town vs village
commute time
car vs public transport
what you want/need to be within walking distance of your home
signs of an area being well looked after/maintained
what you can actually afford (that should probably go earlier in the list!)

StumpyPumpy

redandwhitestripes wrote: »

It's a good few years away but I've been considering moving out of NW London where I have lived all my 40 odd years and move to a new part of the UK.

I've been thinking about ' the South West' - a big area - and I wouldn't know where to start , so have just done a few searches on Rightmove to see where is affordable as an initial starting point!

So how do you choose an area , if you don't have family or friends in such areas to advise you.
It's a broad question I know but just wondered what things went through your mind , and what you did to determine where to move to.

As it is "a good few years away" you have plenty of time to plan, and I would start with getting very familiar with Rightmove and Zoopla. But to do so you need to work out some base lines for what you want/need in a property.

The first searches I would do would be filtered by area, in your case the South West - use the Rightmove drawn map area to do this. Add the minimum number of bedrooms, type of property and max price. Rightmove will "only" show a maximum of 1,000 entries and you'll probably max this out but you can now start trawling through what you've got. You will soon find that for the house and price you want there are certain areas that keep popping up and others that never do. Focus on the areas you can afford.

It will take a while but eventually you will narrow down your criteria (plus searching all these houses will help you to decide what you absolutely want/don't want) at which point you can start looking at other factors that are difficult to filter on in the searches. For instance, if I see a house that initially ticks the boxes, I go to Google Maps and see what is around and zoom out to actually get a real idea of where it is - you will often be able to discount areas this way eg - through lack of transport links (or too many), in your heart you may want to live in say, Treen but in reality it is so far it is difficult to get to from where you need to be occasionally (say, London) that it is impractical. If the basic geography is fine, go into StreetView and look at what is around to find any nasties (plus remember to look at the Streetview history) but you need to remember that what is shown is a snapshot and might have all changed for better or worse.

After doing all this for a while you will get a better feel of where you want to be and what you can afford, at which point you can start looking closer at the amenities that areas offer, crime stats, congestion, etc... And you will find that you have narrowed down your searches so that you can start looking seriously at what is on offer. You will also learn to curse the lack of usable filters on Rightmove and the way that the agents don't fill in the details properly - for instance, it looks good being able to filter for properties that have a garden, in reality you will get everything including flats with community gardens and places with yards. Personally, I curse missing filters and am constantly wondering why I can filter to show only bungalows, but I can't filter to not show me bungalows (I hate bungalows).

Good luck with your searches!

SP

penguingirl

We decided that being near a mainline train station was important to us, so looked in our area (North West) and picked the area with the best station that wasn't a city centre! And then luckily a job in my field came up 5 miles away so we sprung into action. Worked for us!

redandwhitestripes

Really interesting discussions, thanks.
The pin in the map sounds risky !

I definitely think the weekends away seeing new places is a good idea - seeing what is out there.
Then working out what is important like PasturesNEw said.

I had a thread on here over a year ago about wanting to quit my career due to problems at work - commuting , stress etc and although I am still there , the same things have come up again.
So was looking at downsizing but then i wondered how people decided on a new area.

I guess it is all about amenities, being able to access places and somewhere near the countryside for me - get some fresh air!