Looking to move - how to search by certain criteria

enthusiasticsaver

Grizebeck said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

Also as a keen rambler myself I would think about whether you like walking in the countryside or coastal paths. Obviously I assume price may be a factor. Coastal will be more expensive generally. 

Thats why i love county durham!
Under rated countryside and some lovely coastline!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^7299&radius=5.0&sortType=1&propertyTypes=&includeSSTC=true&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

Good value and definitely  cheaper than Cornwall which is where we are.  My family are all down here though and having always been a southerner not sure I can bring myself to move up North. Would love to visit and explore though. 

GDB2222

Grizebeck said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

Also as a keen rambler myself I would think about whether you like walking in the countryside or coastal paths. Obviously I assume price may be a factor. Coastal will be more expensive generally. 

Thats why i love county durham!
Under rated countryside and some lovely coastline!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^7299&radius=5.0&sortType=1&propertyTypes=&includeSSTC=true&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

Good value compared to london.  

Grizebeck

GDB2222 said:

Grizebeck said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

Also as a keen rambler myself I would think about whether you like walking in the countryside or coastal paths. Obviously I assume price may be a factor. Coastal will be more expensive generally. 

Thats why i love county durham!
Under rated countryside and some lovely coastline!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^7299&radius=5.0&sortType=1&propertyTypes=&includeSSTC=true&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

Good value compared to london.  

Just a bit
Always been cheaper as its an ex mining area but the countryside is stunning

Grizebeck

enthusiasticsaver said:

Grizebeck said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

Also as a keen rambler myself I would think about whether you like walking in the countryside or coastal paths. Obviously I assume price may be a factor. Coastal will be more expensive generally. 

Thats why i love county durham!
Under rated countryside and some lovely coastline!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^7299&radius=5.0&sortType=1&propertyTypes=&includeSSTC=true&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

Good value and definitely  cheaper than Cornwall which is where we are.  My family are all down here though and having always been a southerner not sure I can bring myself to move up North. Would love to visit and explore though. 

Go for it! Has an area called The durham dales.ive walked a lot in the area

Longwalker

enthusiasticsaver said:

Grizebeck said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

Also as a keen rambler myself I would think about whether you like walking in the countryside or coastal paths. Obviously I assume price may be a factor. Coastal will be more expensive generally. 

Thats why i love county durham!
Under rated countryside and some lovely coastline!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=REGION^7299&radius=5.0&sortType=1&propertyTypes=&includeSSTC=true&mustHave=&dontShow=&furnishTypes=&keywords=

Good value and definitely  cheaper than Cornwall which is where we are.  My family are all down here though and having always been a southerner not sure I can bring myself to move up North. Would love to visit and explore though. 

Im a southerner - South Londoner - and I was the same, feared of anything the other side of the river

Then nearly 20 years ago now, like the op, we wanted a bigger garden and bigger house so started the search

When we saw how much we were going to have to borrow to stay in the south, I started looking at the map, got to  Lowestoft before prices started to become more manageable. Then I had a brain wave, there was nothing keeping us in the South, there was nothing keeping us in England but we both had family in Ireland so I stuck a pin in a map and started searching 

It all had to be done online, not easy to be flying back and forth. I got to be friendly with estate agents , esp the secretaries who had more time to chat, spoke about areas that would suit, transport etc, narrowed it down to 5 houses within 10 miles of landed pin and came and viewed and bought.

Since then I have come back to England and Scotland a lot, yet never travel down south any more, out last friends we would have visited have since passed. Was in Newcastle last week, 42 years of living in England and it took a move to Ireland for me to visit Newcastle, York before that, Scarborogh, Ripley, Leeds, Liverpool, Edinburgh , Glasgow, Ayr ,Harrowgate - just a few of the places we have visited since lockdown 

The North is not to be feared, its amazing, its beautiful, its historic, its the whole country above say Northants

Anyways, OP, like I say we didnt have any ties so we could really move anywhere. We didnt have to think about schools or place of work. We just needed to be within reach of a train station and air port and in an area that had broad band - where we moved to did - but at dial up speed lol. We are still waiting for fibre - 2026 they say now.

So you do still need to think about what really is important for you and your family. Does everyone drive,? do you need schools,? what about your work? Can you work from home or will there need to be a commute to factor in?

If theres a commute needed, then you need to work on how long that commute is going to be. No point living in the middle of nowhere if too flipping knackered to enjoy it. Do you have family that will need to be seen - parents getting on in age and no siblings to shoulder the load.- we had to bring my parents with us. There are always things that determine where we chose to live 

When you have worked out how far out you can move to,  you could always get in touch with Escape to the Country and let them do the search for you

YoungBlueEyes

Just to echo what Longwalker has said. OP are you truly without limit as to where you can move? Other than budget presumably.
 
I'm a rarity in that I was in this situation a few years ago. I had to move but had no idea where I wanted to go, bound only by a few things. My budget was finite, I didn't want a flat, I didn't want to live in/too near a city.  I looked at the map on my phone and started mentally cutting chunks off. Too dear, too rural, no jobs. I was brutal and was cutting whole counties out in one go because you have to if your starting point is the whole UK. I knew I wanted to live in a town/large village. Not on but not too far from the coast. Good walks or green spaces in the surrounding area. Then I started putting town names into wikipedia and reading about what was good/bad about it. I knocked a few more off that way.

When I had a manageable list of towns + surrounding areas I started looking on RM. Budget is this, house like this. Then I started 'driving' round those areas using google maps. Knocked a couple more off that way. I also read the local papers online to get a feel for what the areas were like - what kind of things were going on, good and bad. That killed a few more. 

Then when I had a list of places I could see myself living I started actually driving round them. Spent some time in the towns, people watching from a cafe etc. Wandering round imagining I already lived there.... where would I get my shopping? What's the parking like? Is the council proactive? I started picking individual streets I wouldn't mind living on, and walked round them at different times of the day. Are people proud of their area and taking care of their houses, or is it... unloved?

That's when I started actually viewing houses. I think I had about a dozen across 4 counties. 2 houses stood out for me so I put an offer in on both of them (on the same day) and told the EA's "I've also offered on another house, first person to accept my money can have it". 

And that was it. I packed up and moved.

(Reading this back before I hit "post" I sound like a crazy person. But it worked for me and I'd do it again.)

Be brave, and good luck to ya

ETA - I ended up in Lincolnshire (can recommend it), not too far from Louth actually. Lovely old market town, but I got what I wanted cheaper a few miles further south.

I also forgot to say - when you've picked a street, check out the sold prices on RM. A fast turnover might be for entirely natural and not at all suspicious reasons, but I cut those streets off as well.