Moving South - need advice on area's

glo1967

fimonkey wrote: »

LOL, is that the secret of a happy marriage? only see your spouse 3-5 times a year and live at opposite ends of the country? .. he he, just teasing!

He has always worked away from home. We do see each other a bit more than that as he comes up north once a month / 2 months. We have been married for nearly 20 years now, lets just hope it lasts once we live together properly
If we sell our flat that we have up north, we should have around 70k to put down on a place when we move

Richard_Webster

LOL at Richard Webster for adding his two penneth worth anyway ;-)

Yes it was a bit random!

£130-£140K in Southampton buys you an ex-Council terrace or possibly semi on one of the grottier estates I'm afraid or a 10 year old 1 bed house in Totton?

glo1967

Richard_Webster wrote: »

If it was more Southampton than Bournemouth I might be able to make some more intelligent comments but I don't know the Bournemouth area as well.

I am also looking at the Southampton area. Any help will be appreciated...

hezb

the cheapest place to live in the south is still Gosport due to it being hard to get in and out off in a car!! if you use the ferry to portsmouth and get train in to soton etc good buys to be had!!

Richard_Webster

the cheapest place to live in the south is still Gosport

Yes there are some lovely(!?) flats in Rowner.

Woby_Tide

fimonkey wrote: »

LOL, Good luck Glo, I've been looking for similar since April this year. PLENTY of places with 2 beds within your budget, as long as you don't mind two bedrooms meaning two single bedrooms, you're not bothered by a lease having just 50 years left on it, and you don't want space/privacy/a garden. Plenty of places within purpose built blocks too with HUGE service charges/ground rent etc.

NOTHING within your budget if you want share of freehold/freehold (or if there are, they're snapped up pretty quick), and garden.

PLENTY of mobile homes within that budget, but more difficult to get a mortgage on these, AND in some cases you have to vacate the plot for a month per year.

Bet you and I will be looking at the same properties in May then?!

reading teh property paper last night I'd agree in some respects, for £150k max you'd struggle to get more than two beds anywhere other than the tonw centre it appears. For two beds your best bets appear to be Boscombe and Charminster, in particular to look at the older conversions as opposed to new build/purpose builts as you'll get more for your money, and also bigger room sizes, but as firmonkey says the lease etc. will have to be watched.

As you currently know Boscombe I'd honestly be tempted to keep looking there if you are happy with the area. As I said earlier I still think it's got a lot to offer in the BH5 side with regards to close to cliffs, lot of development investment and potential. The plus side is that a lot of people avoid it due to hearsay so it keeps prices that bit lower(and keeps the pretentious away...;))

LandyAndy

We moved from Warrington about two years ago when Mrs LA got a job at West Parley. We looked at various places and finally settled on Fordingbridge. A pleasant, small, country town within easy reach of Bournemouth (25 mins), Southampton (25 mins), Salisbury (15 mins) etc.

Prices are much higher in this area than in the north (we sold for £225k and then paid £345k for a very similar 4 bed det.) There are small properties at around your budget in this area and they aren't at all grotty. Same applies to Ringwood.

Good luck

Jazzyjeff_2

glo1967 wrote: »

I am also looking at the Southampton area. Any help will be appreciated...

Nicer areas in Southampton:
- Highfield (avoiding being too close to the uni/students)
- Hamble and surrounding areas
- Hythe and surrounding
- Whiteley and Fareham are quite good value if you don't mind being a bit further from Soton (not much to do there either really).
- Some of the roads off the avenue on the way to the hospital are good.

Places to avoid:
- Scholing
- Some of Bitterne
- Millbrook (definitely)
- St Marys (definitely)
- Shirley is mixed some reasonable some bad, overall I wouldn't live there


Personally I would look around Hamble and surrounding (as long as you don't want to be right near the town centre) - about a 15 min. drive out of rush hour times