Moving from south to north

gwynlas

You have not said why you are looking to move is it to get on the housing ladder, be nearer family or work? There is a list of most affordable areas to live published this week and there are areas that i would consider preferable to some in the North. In making any move as a family you need to consider schooling, public transport ,local amenities and employment opportunities for all of you over the next 10-15 years until your children are in a position to decide where to live themselves. Ex mining or steel industry areas can appear blighted for years despite inward investment.

pinkshoes

YoungBlueEyes said:

@pinkshoes From memory - a few  years ago (during lockdowns etc) Dominic Cummings (a govt. advisor) was caught out breaking lockdown rules by taking his family on a jolly on a car trip to Barnard Castle from London. His excuse reason was that, as he had covid he needed to make sure his eye sight was alright, and decided the only way to do this was to load the family up and drive to BC, where it just so happened his family home was.

Ohhhh yes! I'd forgotten all about that! 

whofan101

We need to move somewhere more affordable, the south is just so expensive, plus we want a change, with my job we can get a mortgage of around £120.000, we don’t have any family or friends up north but like the idea of starting a fresh.

Jackie1813

We did this three years ago, moving from Kent to Choppington Northumberland.

I was being made redundant from my central London job and my husband took early retirement. It was a big step as we have no family here but we love it and have never looked back.

We did not rent for any period of time as we were totally committed. We marketed and got an offer on our house in Kent and then came up here for three days seeing around 18 houses one of which we brought, a three/4 Bedroom semi with huge garden £157K.

Our daughter followed us up a a teacher and got a job in Darlington, she brought her own house this year a three bedroom terraced that is huge for £115K.

We have no regrets at all.

Albermarle

Because the OP mentioned Durham, pretty much every response has been focused around the North East.
There is some debate about what constitutes the North Of England, but usually it means somewhere starting about halfway up the M6 between Brum and Manchester on the West side, and North of Nottingham on the MI.
So it is a much bigger area than just around Durham !
Also if cheap house prices are the driver you do not even need to go that far. House prices in most the of West and East Midlands are also similar to the North, and only about 1.5/2 hours drive from London.

whofan101

thank you, I only sait north east as I believed that was were the cheapest house prices are but we are very open minded about this.

Grumpelstiltskin

Have you actually visited any of these areas?

You do need to do this and get some idea of the areas.

I do agree with the poster who mentioned areas north of Nottingham I live in that area and many people have moved here from the London area, jobs? If you are happy working in an Amazon warehouse no problem.

Albermarle

whofan101 said:

thank you, I only sait north east as I believed that was were the cheapest house prices are but we are very open minded about this.

Yes the NE has the cheapest average house prices, but there is a range from very cheap in grim areas to nicer areas.

whofan101

With a mortgage of around £130.000, are there any areas you would recommend?

RelievedSheff

You need to visit some places where you would consider living and working first.

It's a massive leap to up sticks for your whole family!

Your budget of £130k would buy you an alright house here in Worksop which is in the Midlands rather than the North and is close to lots of commuter links to bigger norther cities.

We both commute into Sheffield from here and have well paid jobs but benefit from more affordable house prices than in Sheffield.