I’ve been saving up to buy a place of my own but, living in London, there’s no way I can actually afford anything in the city. Well, anything that isn’t just a lease on a place that costs as much as a four bed anywhere else or a 40k parking space.
Now that working from home is a permanent possibility I can and probably should look at places in the rest of country. Just so long as there’s a direct train to London. It gets complicated when you factor in the lockdown though as my understanding is that you probably want to try living somewhere before you buy which would certainly be a task at the best of times.
Do you lads have any suggestions or tips to help narrow down a search?
I don’t fancy moving back to my hometown and studied in student towns so I’m open to suggestions on areas I can look to live. Would say I have about 25k saved so far but not averse to saving up more (I’m factoring my parents vague offer of money as just covering cost of moving). What I’m looking for is a decent flat for 1 in a city where I can meet someone and where I don’t need a car – living in London I’ve neglected ever sorting the licence but could should pull my finger out.
So far I have:
Edinburgh seems popular here going by past threads but I’m unsure if they’ll do independence or I’ll get shit anyway for being English.
Inverness has the problems of above but is much cheaper where you get breathtaking scenery because you essentially live in Iceland. Its adventurous anyway.
Liverpool I've enjoyed when visiting and have mates in the North West but the market looks altogether quite shifty on the leases they offer. Cheap though.
Cardiff could be on the cards but heard it’s quite depressing.
>>3584 I'd go out West from London, depending on how far you want to be from it. You'll end up at Bristol, which isn't a bad place at all, but you have Gloucester, Oxford, Reading to choose from, all sort of on the way.
Inverness sounds absolutely lovely, but it's truly at the arse end of the country. You had better like a) being on your own and b) paying for a lot of flights.
Edinburgh is a really great city but has many of the same problems as London.
>>3585 I live in Reading. It's a nice place but rather devoid of character and history, and I couldn't imagine spending my whole life here. As you say it gets better the further West you go and Gloucestershire (which I greatly miss) is gorgeous and full of friendly people. Although I'd add the caveat that Bristol may well not be your thing - rents are high and the town's full of druggies.
Liverpool is rammed with investment flats on dodgy leaseholds as you've probably seen, but a terraced house in a reasonable area or possibly a flat in one of the old Georgian terraces is likely within your budget.
If you're willing to compromise a bit on location, Warrington might be worth thinking about - it's a fairly dull commuter town, but you've got direct trains to Liverpool, Manchester and London.
A. Rent a place first in a given city to see if I like it first before I buy a property and make the whole process easier (ie. viewings, knowing the area)
B. Accept that is impossible under Covid and just buy a property that thereby saves thousands of pounds and doesn't lock me in a 6 month contract
>>3588 >just buy a property that thereby saves thousands of pounds and doesn't lock me in a 6 month contract
You're often locked in for longer when you own a place and need to sell it - don't believe any of the hype about how long it takes to sell a house, end-to-end; 6 months is pretty good.
>>3589 I don't think its possible to accurately judge anywhere at the minute. Take Cardiff for example, in OP's list - one of its stand out 'traits' is the atmosphere, big events/weekends, clubbing etc. Right now that is nowhere to be seen. You would get an almightily shit impression of the place if you booked a city centre flat for 2 weeks at the moment. But it goes for anywhere.
>>3593 Were it not for the you-know-what, last Sunday would have been one of the best weekends of the year. The best day out I've had was when Ireland were in town in 2019. Even in defeat, their travelling fans know how to have a good time.
I'm in a predicament and would be interested in hearing your views.
I've been offered an opportunity to move out of London with my job. I'm under the Civil Service "places for growth scheme" which would cover 14k in expenses for the general expenses of moving - not a deposit but everything up to mortgage fees if you expense it properly. Can you help evaluate my options and discuss recommendations?
My situation:
I have well over 40k in savings, I'm single, 34 and male, no dependants and currently rent. I make about 45k which will be guaranteed with my voluntary relocation scheme. The only problem is I've been living in Central London for bloody ages so I've never had the kick up the arse needed to learn to drive. I'm close to my separate savings target though where in a few months I'll bite the bullet and do an intensive course.
My goals:
1. Home ownership would be nice at my age, but I always put it off because I assumed that I'd meet someone before I bought somewhere and, really if I did get a place myself I'd only have to sell it when I meet someone which will be expensive with all the fees. Plus obviously good luck getting a decent place on my wage in the South East.
2. I would really like to meet someone and start a family now. Part of the reason I've stayed in Central London is the chance to meet people, one's who won't have already settled down. But I'm quite disillusioned now, the problem with Central London is that a lot of people are just here temporarily and they seem to want to meet the perfect guy. It's not me, I get dates and sometimes even relationships but you know how it is with those wanker personalities on Hinge. I recently heard of a friend who got sick of London's dating scene and just moved out and met someone in her hometown, maybe moving out of London would help me find what I'm looking for if I stick to somewhere still quite developed?
I was looking at Edinburgh because Scotland has a freehold-like structure on flats so I could buy a place that I actually own, properties seem pretty affordable. There's a choice with that of maybe getting somewhere in Central Edinburgh (for transport needs) or there are some outlier towns on the coast that look very nice. It would be a big move and I'd miss the tube but maybe it would be a shake up that I need.
Am I making sense? I have a huge choice to make that I thought I'd never make on my own but I'm not getting younger. I'll miss some bits of London and won't have the same network but I'm sure there's other things to do outside the M25 and it would be a soft-reboot of my life with the security of a career.
If you move somewhere like Edinburgh you'll only have largely the same problem you have in London. It's a nice city but it's still an international city, it's where people go for opportunities and to study and such but not the kind of place a young family can afford to settle down and set up a life easily these days.
Manchester or Leeds, maybe also Sheffield (or yknow, one of the smaller towns around those cities. West Yorkshire especially is best thought of as one giant urban area, the heart is Leeds but it's all interconnected enough it's the same sort of situation if you live over in Wakefield or Morley or Harrogate or whatever. These sorts of places aren't yet prohibitively expensive, and they are still big cities that will give you plenty of opportunities to meet a partner. You'll have no problem at all if you're earning good money and own your own home.
Maybe do the intensive driving course as soon as you can, because moving out of London you really will want to be able to drive. Manchester's metrolink is decent enough, but I can't think of any other city in the country that I'd be able to properly cope in without a car. Lots of young people claim they can do without, but what they don't tell you is that they never fucking go anywhere.
