Has anyone relocated from the South East to North of England?

chelseablue

Me and my husband are both Southerners, always lived in Berkshire

We'd like to move to a bigger/nicer house but I'm sure people understand that prices in our area are very expensive

Our house is worth around £450,000 and the houses we like are about £575 - £600K here

The same houses further north are around £300,000

If we moved we could be mortgage free, or have a much smaller mortgage

Down here I'm a PA/Office Manager and earn £36,000, I understand I might not earn this in a different area. My husband earns £29,000

We have friends 'up north' they live in Cottam, Preston but we don't necessarily have to go there

Has anyone relocated and would recommend it? Or is it a stupid idea and we'd be mad to consider it?

Only just started thinking about this so any advice welcome!

AnotherJoe

Friends of mine did, Berkshire to Cheshire and more recently when they retired, Cumbria. They've been there 30 years now.
Of course they have to put up with constant rain, whippets and frothy beer.
But apart from that they seem to like it.

Comms69

chelseablue wrote: »

Me and my husband are both Southerners, always lived in Berkshire

We'd like to move to a bigger/nicer house but I'm sure people understand that prices in our area are very expensive

Our house is worth around £450,000 and the houses we like are about £575 - £600K here

The same houses further north are around £300,000

If we moved we could be mortgage free, or have a much smaller mortgage

Down here I'm a PA/Office Manager and earn £36,000, I understand I might not earn this in a different area. My husband earns £29,000

We have friends 'up north' they live in Cottam, Preston but we don't necessarily have to go there

Has anyone relocated and would recommend it? Or is it a stupid idea and we'd be mad to consider it?

Only just started thinking about this so any advice welcome!

To be honest on your wages I'd have moved years ago. You'd be looking at comparable wage sup north - within a few thousand - and much cheaper living costs.


Being mortgage free alone would probably save you more than the difference.


Preston is ok, but if you look further north you have both Lancaster and Kendal - both are quite nice.


Lancaster is more of 'city'.
Kendal has the lakes - though slightly more expensive house prices wise.

Davesnave

...Or you could go west. A decent house can still be had around here for £350k, if you stay away from the coast.


Still rainy in parts, but warmer, and not a whippet in sight.

sgun

I moved from Suffolk to north east, Newcastle and now in Northumberland. Its colder but that's the only downside. People are genuinely friendlier, that's a cliche but is true. House prices are reasonable but in some areas your £450,000 wont go far. A real difference I find is repair/improvement costs which are way lower than in the south. Would it take you a long way from family? That might be something you regret. Dont come with a "southern" attitude (cue outraged southerners demanding to know what that even is!)

p00hsticks

Yes I did - from Berkshire to Staffordshire twenty plus years ago, and currently in the process of moving further north to North Yorkshire for retirement.

Don;t regret it at all - it meant I was mortgage free far sooner, could save more, had a better standard of living and could retire earlier.

My only concern is that my parents are now elderly and still livng down south, so it;s a bit of a worry bein so far away from them, and I couldn't afford to get back into the housing market down there now.

AnotherJoe

sgun wrote: »

I moved from Suffolk to north east, Newcastle and now in Northumberland. Its colder but that's the only downside. People are genuinely friendlier, that's a cliche but is true. House prices are reasonable but in some areas your £450,000 wont go far. A real difference I find is repair/improvement costs which are way lower than in the south. Would it take you a long way from family? That might be something you regret. Dont come with a "southern" attitude (cue outraged southerners demanding to know what that even is!)

Very good point. I live in Berkshire. Our kitchen fitter of a couple years back "lived" somewhere Manchester way but worked down here in the Reading area staying with his mum in the week because he said he easily earned 2x more than he could get up there,

OldMusicGuy

Friends of ours moved from St Albans to a small village not far from Leeds many years ago. It's a lovely spot and they were able to buy a much nicer house than they could down south. The countryside around there is very nice and they have been there happily for 30 years. However, he was relocated for his public sector job so wages were not an issue while she ran her own business and worked from home.

We live in Berkshire and are downsizing to Somerset. I wouldn't want to go up North for a number of reasons but love the SW part of the country. Property prices in that part of the world are much more affordable than Berkshire (we are retired so are putting equity from our place towards retirement). Obviously wages are not important to us but they could be a big factor for you.

Grumpelstiltskin

' The North ' is a big area.

Starting from the River Trent to the Scottish borders.

Work out what you want, city life, suburban life, small town life, country life, coastal life.


Then look at transport links to the south, I would suggest within striking distance of a station on the east or west coast mainline.


Then where you could get employment.


After all of that get in your car and spend a fortnight looking round all the areas you have shortlisted.


Don't worry about moving to an area where you don't know anyone you will find the people are much more friendly than your typical Southerner as long as you are prepared to be friendly in return.

OldMusicGuy

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

' The North ' is a big area.

Starting from the River [STRIKE]Trent[/STRIKE] Thames to the Scottish borders.

There you go, corrected that for you......;)

Sorry, as an extreme Southerner I couldn't resist :rotfl:

But you make very valid points. There are plenty of nice areas outside the SE where property prices are more reasonable and they are close to large conurbations. But not everywhere is cheap.

babyblade41

I moved from Oxfordshire to Carmarthenshire, then to Herefordshire .. Hated it .
I did 4 years in total and back in January moved back again....yes we had a lovely house and in Hereford made some nice friends , but no family nearby.
I have a grandson and missed so many things when I was away and although we did see them but only a couple of times a year and in the end I was going back home every few weeks for a few hours.

Its lovely having a nice big house but for me pointless if I couldn't have my family around to share it with me