Buying a house - first steps

oh yeah, I can totally understand this. we’re being priced out, not to mention the pollution, the horrible gridlocked roads, the fact we never ever go into central London (i can count on one hand the number of times i’ve been there in the last year), the crime, the fact we can hear upstairs’ every footstep… we can’t even afford to move as far out as a 25km each way bike ride without still being in a flat, which isn’t an option to us for this next move really :woman_shrugging:

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We like living in London a lot, but the pandemic has destroyed lots of what made it enjoyable - being able to go to museums, galleries, events, restaurants and pubs etc. Not that we even used that stuff all the time, but the variety of options on weekends was great, as is having shops and stuff on our doorstep, and being able to walk to nursery and stuff. But, we can’t afford more than two bedrooms or any outdoor space here. And we really need that.

That’s why we’ve picked somewhere like Cambridge - it’s still expensive, but we can stretch to a place that gives us that, while still having a lifestyle that’s not based around having a car - we can walk to shops, pubs, museums etc when they’re open.

Part of me would love to live rurally, and I think one day in the future we will, but I’m not ready to devote my life to driving everywhere yet.

Then we’ve got some friends who’ve moved to proper commuter belt suburban life - nice houses, sure, but to me the worst of both worlds. Endless estates with no facilities without driving, and no countryside either. Not for me.

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I don’t disagree with the kids in the sticks thing.

& I think it’s something that the Uk does especially, no - exceptionally badly. Comparing what I grew up with, for example, the extra curricular sports and other clubs (language learning/arts/crafts and more) that were on offer for kids in rural france is a different universe. The shitty Cub Scout group I went to for an hour a week is not the same.

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i watched new town utopia last night and think everyone in the south should probably move to basildon.

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Yeah but why would anyone live in Roscommon

:wink:

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  1. all the houses are nice
  2. passionate local arts scene?
  3. history of trade unionism
  4. good green space

I go through 99% of my life not having to remember these exist. And then when I’m reminded, it totally knocks me sideways. Such a void of neither here nor there. Not for me either, Clive.

I’ll probably move to cramlington when i’m old

Yeah I’m not actually moving there :smile:

Whereever my next home is i want it to be long term and I don’t think I can put up with the weather on these islands for another 30 years…

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Sounds nice!

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Admittedly my view is biased because 90% of my trips to Basildon involved going to the magistrates court, but I don’t think it’s quite how you’re picturing it here.

incredible that you keep getting off tbh

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OBJECTION

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Hopefully remote working, with occasional (say, no more than once a month) trips into the London office. There’s no way I could do more than that. So it’s largely dependent on my work agreeing to something like the above upon my return to work after maternity leave. I have a hunch they’ll be okay with it given previous discussions, but I guess they might not…

In the long term, a reduction in living costs / mortgage would mean a possible change of career for me (I want to learn to become a bike mechanic) which is something I would never ever be able to consider if we were living in London, or even somewhere else in the SE. Both sets of our parents are still living within 2 miles of each other and we’d absolutely love for them to be involved in their grandkid’s life, so as long as we can wangle the work situation it seems to be one possible answer.

And the IoW is very much not your endless suburbian estates. Plenty of nice towns with decent enough facilities, and proper countryside within minutes of pretty much everywhere.

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The UK does a lot of kids stuff badly.

E.g. places like this seem commonplace in Berlin. Not so much here. And if play parks do exist in an inner city they tend to have an entirely different vibe. This one here was chosen fairly randomly, but looks so chill and welcoming. All this is as much to do with social setup as just being a built environment thing, I suspect.

Spielplatz

Each to their own, of course, but I don’t think that not travelling into central London in the past year can really be used as a reason for moving to the sticks, given the circumstances.

That’s you told niki, no changing your life plans now.

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:roll_eyes: :roll_eyes:

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or perhaps it’s provided a year of working out what’s important and what kind of future the plastics would like?

c’mon mate you know PN will know all of this.

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Valid. And I was going to say something similar. But the raft of other reasons given made me haud my wheesht.