Help me find an affordable place to buy a house

Davesnave

homeless9 wrote: »

Each to their own. I don't know how anyone can not like Poundbury and its architecture, especially in comparison to the average UK town, Poundbury is much more beautiful.

For a newly built town it's probably as good as you are going to get. I'm not sure what styles of housing you could build that would be that much better, without going over the top on spending, and that would be in-keeping with looking British. The typical average UK homes that I see getting built are pretty drab. The typical UK town is drab, and any good architecture will often have had several concrete atrocities built nearby.

I didn't say we find Poundbury ugly; we just see it as a very controlled environment. Like a model on a magazine cover, it represents someone's idea of perfection, but it's not ours. We like life a little messy at the edges and prefer places that have evolved over time. Our local town goes way back before Domesday.

Besides, we can't afford what we enjoy now in Poundbury. We have a lot of freedom to do what we want on our 5 acre site here, which isn't overlooked. We know no one's going to invoke covenants to restrict us or build something messing up our view, because we own it!

We bought this place for well under £300k. If we sold up now, we might just about get a 3 or 4 bed property in Poundbury with a small, overlooked garden, where, perhaps, we could be bored into an early grave....No thanks.

What was your budget again? Poundbury, like most of Dorset, looks expensive.

As you say, each to his own.

airandwater

Murphybear wrote: »

I find Poundbury a bit surreal. I think it's the sort of place you would love or hate. It does have a small Waitrose in the centre and it can be expensive.

Interesting. This is the first time learning about Poundbury. What's good about is that unlike other new developments, there are commercial units for grocery stores and offices so that people can live and work where they live rather than have to drive just to visit the grocery stores. If you like a town feel, Dorchester is just a 4-5min drive away.

The plot sizes are good to but a quick look on rightmove reveals that it's not a cheap place but that's due to the low availability of semi and detached homes in Dorchester.

Sachs

I couldn't agree more about Poundbury/Sherford. What they are doing in these two places is a million miles removed from typical new build housing estates. There's no point comparing them to a rural 17ty century farmhouse as it's a different beast but compare buying a house at Poundbury or Sherford over a 3 bed with garage in an anonymous cul de sac on the edge of any town in England. I know what I would pick.

I moved to Plymouth from Bristol about 6 years ago and it will blow your mind how much house you get for your money. Plymouth has a bad reputation for two reasons; the early to mid 1990s and the post war city centre. The first problem is more or less gone, it's no longer (just) a post-industrial medium sized city trying to survive the cuts that followed the end of the cold war. The biggest employers are no longer the MoD or the dockyards, it's the university and the hospital. There is a burgeoning creative industry and the old market hall just outside the docks is about to be converted in to a digital technology employment hub. It's not perfect but it's heading in the right direction.

The second issue is the city centre. It was rebuilt after the blitz in the 1950s for retail and the automobile. This has left it souless and empty after 5pm. The council are trying to fix this but realistically it's not gonna happen. To be honest though, when was the last time you went in to the town centre of where you live now? What you want is bars and restaurants and in Plymouth they are around the university and along the waterfront, which is amazing!

There are only two reasons I would recommend people don't move to Plymouth and they are finding well paid work and distance from other urban centres. Sounds like the first isn't a problem for you and the second really depends on where your friends and family are and your attitude to long drives.

In terms of house buying the big decision in Plymouth is about the garden. If you're not bothered by a garden your budget could buy a 3/4 bedroom house with a courtyard 10 minutes walk from the centre. If you're the sort that must have their own green space and a garage then your stuck in the suburbs and you're going to have to drive everywhere.

Based on the information you have provided I would check out Mount Wise. You've missed the boat for true new build but most of the houses are still less than 5 years old and they are an attractive Georgian style within walking distance of the waterfront and city centre. As a slight curveball I would also recommend The Millfields which is the 18th century naval hospital converted in to houseing and offices in the late 1990s and it's literally in the heart of the city. There's a mix of converted 18ty and 19th century hospital buildings as well as some early 2000s new builds.

Any other questions let me know!

airandwater

^^
One of the beauties of Plymouth is that Cornwall is that it's in gorgeous Devon with Cornwall and Dorset just a stone throw away.

No need to spend hours on the motorway during heatwaves to drive to the South West.

The coast and warmer weather is one of the reasons why my other other half doesn't want to move "home" to Scotland or consider Manchester.

If I was working from home I would absolutely consider moving South West.

homeless9

mai_taylor wrote: »

Droitwich is a really nice pretty town with quite a bit going on, it has a few shops, plenty of places to eat and drink and a couple of gyms. There's quite a few events throughout the year. It's 10 minutes drive into Worcester and has a train station with a 20 minute direct train to Birmingham. You can get a three bed detached in your budget but it would probably need a bit of work or you could easily get a nice 2 bed. I'm 33 and love living in Worcestershire.

How about Worcester itself?

I had a quick look around on Google maps and it looks quite pleasant. Taylor Wimpey are building some very affordable 2 bed homes in the North side of Worcester, in a village called Fernhill Heath. Apparently they have wonderful views on the countryside.

Skintmama

Although I don't live in Plymouth, I know it well and really like it. There is a lot of exciting regeneration going on in some of the previously rougher areas which is making a big difference to the surroundings of the city centre. You can search easily online to see what is happening/going to happen.

The waterfront areas are becoming very attractive and far more connected to one another than they used to be. The Royal William Yard, Stonehouse, Millbay, the Millfields, Mount Wise, the Hoe and the Barbican all offer possibilities over a considerable price range. There is easy access to the city centre for shopping, eating out, nights out etc.

An advantage of moving to the Southwest coastal areas is that existing friends are generally very keen to come and visit you.

Murphybear

airandwater wrote: »

Interesting. This is the first time learning about Poundbury. What's good about is that unlike other new developments, there are commercial units for grocery stores and offices so that people can live and work where they live rather than have to drive just to visit the grocery stores. If you like a town feel, Dorchester is just a 4-5min drive away.

The plot sizes are good to but a quick look on rightmove reveals that it's not a cheap place but that's due to the low availability of semi and detached homes in Dorchester.

For those of you who have never heard of Poundbury

"Poundbury is an experimental new town or urban extension on the outskirts of Dorchester in the county of Dorset, England. The development is built on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. It is built according to the principles of Charles, Prince of Wales, who is known for holding strong views challenging the post-war trends in town planning that were suburban in character. Since starting in 1993, the town has received both criticism and praise from architectures and design critics."

Davesnave

I think Diamond Geezer's Poundbury photos on Flickr are pretty good:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/18131547212/in/photolist-tCdVhY-tzSwRm-tAiK2y-sFt8u6-tm5jUt-tCiS3v-sFnPHf-tA3ZqU-tkBp7Q-tkKUmr-tkBrCb-tmibEg-sFUZRt-sFJPoq-tCKLQP-tCRcy2-tCe1mf-sFCPuE-tmc5uc-tmc99B/

After living in Bath for 40 years, much of it within spitting distance of the Royal Crescent, I acknowledge that good architecture and pleasant surroundings are important 'nice to haves.' However, it takes more than prettiness to make a strong community, or one that's enjoyable to live in. Eventually, I tired of the other stuff that goes with daily life in an expensive, tourist magnet of a city.

moneyistooshorttomention

Davesnave wrote: »

I think Diamond Geezer's Poundbury photos on Flickr are pretty good:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgeezer/18131547212/in/photolist-tCdVhY-tzSwRm-tAiK2y-sFt8u6-tm5jUt-tCiS3v-sFnPHf-tA3ZqU-tkBp7Q-tkKUmr-tkBrCb-tmibEg-sFUZRt-sFJPoq-tCKLQP-tCRcy2-tCe1mf-sFCPuE-tmc5uc-tmc99B/

After living in Bath for 40 years, much of it within spitting distance of the Royal Crescent, I acknowledge that good architecture and pleasant surroundings are important 'nice to haves.' However, it takes more than prettiness to make a strong community, or one that's enjoyable to live in. Eventually, I tired of the other stuff that goes with daily life in an expensive, tourist magnet of a city.

I quite like the look of it.

Just couldnt work out whether there is a "big enough central space - that cars aren't allowed to park on". I could see a big square - but it looked as if vehicles are allowed to park on it.

Every town/suburb/etc needs at least one big open space somewhere central (vehicles not allowed) for community activities - eg a farmers market/impromptu dance displays/etc/etc.

Also wondering what the ratio of 2 storey buildings to 3 storey buildings is - ie a high proportion of housing has to be 2 storey (NOT 3 storey). Those developers that build 3 storey houses are piling up trouble for the future imo - as many people won't want/be able to climb stairs to a 3rd storey at some point in their lives. Add that many modern 3-story properties have absolutely minute gardens (even if they are "executive" type 3/4 detached houses) and that is also not future-proof. That being that the garden is just too small for any gardening/sitting in the garden purposes or having at least some of the privacy one needs for "sitting in garden" type purposes.

enthusiasticsaver

We live on the outskirts of Plymouth and moved there from the south east 30 years ago. The new build town they are building in the south hams area may not be quite the thing if you are 30 and looking for bars, restaurants. Plymouth city centre has some newish apartments on the hoe, Barbican area which are in the midst of all the night life. Towns outside like Saltash, ivybridge, plympton and plymstock/staddiscombe have some newish builds which are easily commutable to Plymouth.

The average income issue is only a problem if you are unskilled. We moved down on the same incomes as we got in London area but money goes a lot further. Only issue is links to London now airport closed and bad weather stops trains to and from West Country. Only roads out are A38/M5 or A303 which are nightmare in tourist season. Exeter is also nice but more expensive.