Moving away - help please - Lincolnshire

nicolahewitt

Hi there

After some advice please.

I currently live with my 2 kids and 5 dogs (slightly mental) in a 3 bed house in Surrey. My quality of life is appaling at the moment as I work in Central London so have a commute of over 1 hour each way, kids are picked up by a childminder and hate it (I am a single parent) and I am not loving my job at the moment. I also sell my own crafts so I do that most weekends at school fetes etc which is of course seasonal. My daughter goes into high school next year and I am not loving the local choices.

So it got me thinking shall I jack all this in and move? I have about 200k equlity in my house as long as it sells of course and for that I could buy somewhere outright. My ex give me a small amount towards the kids so it could be workable with a part time job to make ends meet and have a better quality of life and spend more time with the kids.

I have been looking online at areas around Norwich or Lincolnshire - mostly Grantham area and villages there.

What do people think? I am mad to give up a good job and lovely house?

thanks in advance

greatgimpo

THe one thing to remember, if you move away to somewhere significantly cheaper, it would be extremely difficult to move back without significant sacrifice.

Eliza_2

Not mad at all, in fact completely sensible! And now's just the right time to do it. We moved from just outside London (with the same old commute) to Lincoln City itself. Like you we managed to buy a house for cash with the equity from our Hertfordshire one so goodbye mortgage. It meant my other half could go back to university without having to worry about providing for the family.

As for moving back - why would you ever want to? Lincoln was great, we have since moved around the North Midlands and North West. Everywhere is much nicer than London! We actually only plumped for Lincoln as there had been something on the radio about cheapest house prices so that swung us. Very unscientific but it worked out wonderfully.

The fact that you're even considering it means that you're half way there already. Investigate your areas, visit as much as you can (but not just holiday times or areas) I found reading the local papers was a good help too.

I'm very envious, would gladly do it all again. Good luck and look forward to hearing what you decide to do.

Liz

hazyjo

Not a big fan of 'accidental landlords' (and hate and disagree with that term lol), but, for the reasons greatgimpo states, it may be worth considering renting your house out for a year or two, renting up there, and seeing what you think.


Even if you sell, it may still be worth renting first.


It's so hard to get the location right when you don't know the area (let alone the road).


If there are a few people on here who know the areas, you may get enough advice to risk it, but it is one big risk!


I'm hopefully moving to Leigh-on-Sea, Essex next year - will mean no mortgage and possibly one less day a week. It may be possible to stay closer to home but in an area like that. It's very desirable, has a lot to offer, and has a lovely atmosphere. I'll be commuting to London still. (It was mentioned in the Times Top 5 places to live this or last year I think.)


Jx

carefullycautious

You can never get the time back so I would say go for it. I did commuting for 13 years and hated every minute of it so did my children.


If I had the time over again (which I obviously will not) I would never do it.


To be mortgage free and have more time for you and your family can only be a positive. However, do your homework and make sure you are all on board with any compromises you will all inevitably make.


Good luck with your decision.

t0rt0ise

Absolutely you should do it. I did something ridiculous five years ago and don't regret it for a moment. Looking back I wonder how I had the nerve but I did and it's all worked out.

nkkingston

How do the kids feel about it? If you're going to be moving away from all their friends (and possibly their dad, if he's in the picture at all?) you need to make sure they feel like part of the decision. They may not value spending more time together as much as you do! Or rather, when they look back on it as adults, they probably will, but you'll have to put up with some very rocky teenage years first if they feel like the decision to move has been all about what you want, rather than them. Take holidays to the places you're thinking of together to get a sense of how they feel about them, and what there is for them to do (that they'd want to do - it's all well and good if the new town offers wonderful karate lessons but both kids want to take up watercolour painting!).

What part of the country most excites them? How would they feel about bigger bedrooms, or a spare room to have friends stay in (so their current friends can come visit)? Would walking the dogs be more fun on a beach or up a mountain? Do they have any friends or family in the areas that would be a starting point for forming new relationships?

phoebe1989seb

We sold our 3500 sq ft six bed house on the south coast nine years ago. We had a reasonably large mortgage but with the equity we were able to buy a detached five bed house in Essex mortgage-free. We left the rat race and set up a small online business.

It was a huge mistake and we lost money when we sold three years later.

We then bought a [STRIKE]real wreck[/STRIKE] fixer upper in Wiltshire - for 250k cash and spent a further 100k+ on restoring it to its former glory - but again the area wasn't right. Although we made a profit when we sold in 2014 we could no longer afford to go back to the kind of house we had previously owned in the south (similar houses there were now around 800-900k) without losing our mortgage-free status.

In addition, DS went to uni the year we sold the south coast house. In the hols he rarely bothered coming home as he never felt 'at home' in our new locations, buying his own place in the south soon after graduation. I guess it would have happened anyway, but I blame our move for splitting the family up.

Obviously it works for some, but it goes without saying that such monumentous decisions need long, hard deliberation and conviction that it is indeed the right one for you/your family

paddy's_mum

I did exactly what you're suggesting, moving from the Guildford area to South Holland in Lincolnshire. I've never regretted it even though I am aware that I could not now afford to move back.

There are some very nice residential areas and villages, although it would be wrong of me to deny that there are ghetto-ish areas where the migrant workers congregate but it seems to me that most large town or city centres attract the less attractive souls among us. Transport in very rural areas is not always easy which is why I choose to live in a small market town with good bus links into Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and mid-Lincs. I go to visit family every couple of weeks and generally get the train from Kings Lynn as it goes direct into Kings Cross and being head of the line, I always get a seat.

My daughter qualifies as a midwife next year and she is considering moving here then. £150k ish buys a house very similar to the one she is currently living in which, valued at £350k plus, is way outside her budget. Even if she could afford it, she would still be facing the daily rat-race with no way to escape it in the overcrowded South.

Education, public services etc are still pretty good and although I missed big trees when I first moved here 15 years ago, the huge skies are a natural wonder and I have learned to enjoy the different but equally special landscape and surroundings in their own right.

If I had my time over, I would do the same again.

lincroft1710

There are some nice villages around Grantham, £200K would actually buy you a modern 3/4 bed estate detached in the town.

martinthebandit

lincroft1710 wrote: »

There are some nice villages around Grantham, £200K would actually buy you a modern 3/4 bed estate detached in the town.

......and Grantham is only just over an hour away (depending on the train) from Kings Cross.