As a spinoff from the ‘House prices 12x average salary!’ thread. Got me thinking about moving abroad. Say, if you could work remotely online, where would be a good place to move to? Where you could buy a place for an honest price and not have to work every hour available to pay for it. No wife/sprogs to worry about.

Scotland or Wales?

Spain and Portugal are pretty cheap. Great weather and not too far away if you have any family here

Where you could buy a place for an honest price

Port Talbot?

Scunthorpe!

Sardinia, lovely weather and great biking….

Chile

Port Talbot

Lol, tbh I have thought about buying a place in the valleys. Dirt cheap and some lovely countryside. And I have family in Pembs.

Spain or Portugal would be lovely. I’m a sun freak and speak a little Spanish so…

Manchester. There’s a huge surplus of unsold apartments in the city centre at reasonable prices. As a place to live, central Manchester just gets better and better now that most of the DSS scum have moved to Blackpool. Check out Salford Quays – they’ve even got a Booths supermarket though I bet the BBC has forced prices up.

Spain or Portugal would be lovely. I’m a sun freak and speak a little Spanish so…

Around Madrid there’s some pretty cheap housing available, and my feeling is that we’ve hit bottom and prices shouldn’t drop so any money invested now should be fairly safe. There’s also reliable broadband, and services aren’t bad.

But that said I think you’re making one huge mistake: the housing you can afford is cheap for a reason, and in 5 years’ time it’ll still be worth a lot less than the UK equivalent (unless the UK prices turn out to be a bubble). That’s not a problem if you’re simply looking for somewhere to live, and fancy coming to Spain, but as a way to get onto the property ladder (with a view to returning to the UK) I’m not sure how much use it’ll be.

Better now that most of the DSS scum have moved to Blackpool

Charming. Nowt like a bit of ghettoisation…

I love Manchester, but not really what I had in mind.

mogrim’s right – UK property prices will rise faster than anywhere else because everybody wants to come and work here. Buy cheap overseas and you won’t get off the bottom rung.

Around Madrid there’s some pretty cheap housing available, and my feeling is that we’ve hit bottom and prices shouldn’t drop so any money invested now should be fairly safe. There’s also reliable broadband, and services aren’t bad.

But that said I think you’re making one huge mistake: the housing you can afford is cheap for a reason, and in 5 years’ time it’ll still be worth a lot less than the UK equivalent (unless the UK prices turn out to be a bubble). That’s not a problem if you’re simply looking for somewhere to live, and fancy coming to Spain, but as a way to get onto the property ladder (with a view to returning to the UK) I’m not sure how much use it’ll be.

Yeah, should’ve rephrased it. I’d actually be looking to buy a place to live in. Rather than an investment. I know that’s an odd thing to do these days. Spain sounds cool. If I could live anywhere it’d be Ibiza (north) but again, silly prices…

Spain? Cool? I taught English in Andalucia and found the Spanish quite irritating. France for me, any day.

I’ve thought about this loads of times as I work from home for oversees clients, so could, in theory work anywhere in the world (I’m already in the opposite timezone).

But, having family (2 kids and all 4 parents still alive, 4 siblings in-law) and enjoying the countryside so much has made it a non-starter so far.
Perhaps I’m not brave enough 🙁

Spain? Cool? I taught English in Andalucia and found the Spanish quite irritating.

Dunno, my wife seems OK.

do it!! you can allways come back to UK it will still be here (just probably even worse than when you left)

Once I really got to know the lingo and made friends, the Spanish lifestyle really grew on me, just stay away from the big city and costas is my advice, it is a great place to live despite the corruption that has destroyed it in many ways,
people still know how to enjoy themselves there.

S.E. Asia?

As 2 teachers, my wife and I save a salary (approx. 30% bigger than a UK teacher salary back home) a year.

Move abroad, rent whilst saving and then get on the property ladder mortgage free!

Should also add that as a self-employed foreigner with no credit history it’s highly unlikely you could actually get a mortgage in Spain…

Middlesboro ,Scottish Highlands ,Welsh Valleys ? there are loads of cheap places in the uk especially if your work is not dependent on the local economy

Middlesboro

+1, particularly as you get a choice.

The nice bits like Yarm, Great Ayton, Ingleby Barwick etc.

The inbetweeny bits, Guisborough, Skelton*

The sea side bit, Saltburn (resembles the Blackburn comment above though)

The “terraced house for £35k” bits, Skelton Green, Brotton, Lingdale.

The detached house for £750 areas (yes, £750), Eston, Grangetown etc.

North York Moors on your doorstep, excelent (deserted) beaches, good surfing. Glentress in <2 hours, M25 in 2.5, Lake district in 90 min, Yorkshire dales in 40, even N. Wales in day-trip-able.

*I lived there, it’s realy not as bad as some bits look, and you’d get a choice of3 bed houses for £60k!

We were/are looking at an 8 bed house for £188k in a kind of, well we can afford it, so why not, philosophy! Can’t get a 2 bed in Wokingham for that!

How about an alternative, rent abroad where it is cheap. Put the savings you get from not renting in the uk into a deposit for a house in the uk later?

I am presently renting two similar properties, one in the UK, one in Spain. Losing the one in the uk would save about 10K a year! Very much considering it as I migrate to Spain for 4-6 months every winter anyway. Might as well just stay here year round.

thisisnotaspoon
The detached house for £750 areas (yes, £750), Eston, Grangetown etc.

Right – Let’s club together – buy 50 houses each, then build a really high wall around them all.
We’ll have to be quiet though (World War Z reference)

Right – Let’s club together – buy 50 houses each, then build a really high wall around them all.
We’ll have to be quiet though (World War Z reference)

I did wonder about that, but apparently its not allowed. Either it has to be made habitable and on the market or lived in otherwise the council retained some right to sell it to a developer who would.

S.E. Asia?

As 2 teachers, my wife and I save a salary (approx. 30% bigger than a UK teacher salary back home) a year.

Move abroad, rent whilst saving and then get on the property ladder mortgage free!

My folks did Bahrain for seven years and Vietnam for two. Dad also did Rome for a year.

I’m tempted by a job in Barcelona – Pimpmistress Jazz is a teacher.

A lot to be said for it… My Pops describes it as the best thing he ever did, despite having issues with the rented family home in the UK.

S.E. Asia?
As 2 teachers, my wife and I save a salary (approx. 30% bigger than a UK teacher salary back home) a year.

Move abroad, rent whilst saving and then get on the property ladder mortgage free!

Been trying to get a job in Japan for some time now, no luck so far though 🙁