Looks like we need to relocate for work soon. Any tips for making sure we don’t plonk ourselves in the middle of something really awful?

Even though we don’t have kids or any use for schools, I’m guessing they’re a fair litmus test for an area. Web site for crime stats are useful to a point but only give limited info and of course, you don’t know how much is or isn’t getting reported.

Any other tips?

Rent first.

Thought about renting but limited options with a dog and time consuming if you don’t like the first couple of places you try.

Even though we don’t have kids or any use for schools, I’m guessing they’re a fair litmus test for an area.

Yeah. Keep away from the schools and you won’t have hoards of noisy kids bombarding you twice a day and hanging about in the street until all hours.
🙂

I have done this 3 times.

First thing I did was to have a look at a map and decide what areas I could live within a reasonable distance from my work.

I have always moved to small towns and villages, I would imagine moving to a bigger place will be slightly different.

Then go and visit the area, if you can, stay in a hotel for a day or 2 to get a feel for the place. Visit the local pubs, they can give you a very good idea of the area.

Right move and Zoopla are very useful.

Be open minded .
Don’t get hung up on perfection
Life is what you make it.

Ask on here. There’s bound to be someone who lives in the area who can give you some pointers.

Also done it twice.

Get a map. See where you will both be working. Decide how far either of you want to travel to work and how, then draw a circle around each workplace that distance away. Where the two circles overlap is where you need to start looking. Bear in mind that some routes/methods may take longer in the real world in rush hour!

Renting first is preferable, it’s what we did both times. Discovered a large 1970s housing estate in an old mining village that at the time was cheaper than the town we were renting in and only 5-10 minutes further from work. We’d never have ended up here if we hadn’t taken 6 months to look around first.

And seriously consider the schools thing id kids might be on the far horizon. But remember that an outstanding school will be harder to get in to and in a more expensive area, and has only one way to go. An improving school in a slightly cheaper area may be a better bet. A shit school in a shit area will always be problematic, with the best will in the world.

If you are wanting to buy but don’t need the schools you need to find the sweet spots that are nice but aren’t in a decent school catchment. You can get some good bargains on houses that way.

Staying in a hotel in the area would be good. Start taking to people in the area, get a few opinions from a variety of folk.

Not all information is on the Internet!!

Ask on here. There’s bound to be someone who has lived lives in the area who can give you some pointers all the horror stories.

😉 🙂

Rent first.

I lived for a while in Cardiff. I chose Splott because it was cheap. All the reviews of that area said it was awful, keep away, you’ll probably get stabbed for breathing in the wrong street blah blah blah.
I loved it there and made many friends. I was sad when the contract came to an end and had to leave.
You could chose to live in Kensington and have neighbours who made your life hell.
Find out for yourself. And definitely rent first.

Ask on here. I recently relocated, had a couple of ideas asked the STW Massive and got loads of useful suggestions and advice. Avoided some big mistakes and helped me think more carefully about my options.

Oh yes- definitely rent first.

Thought about renting but limited options with a dog and time consuming if you don’t like the first couple of places you try.

And if you’d bought those places… 🙄

Thought about renting but limited options with a dog and time consuming if you don’t like the first couple of places you try.

And if you’d bought those places…

We’d be very bitter bunnies. Probably end up hating my job as that would be what put us in that situation. Hence why we want the best chance of getting it right.

I need to be close to Sheffield for work, certainly no further south than chesterfield. Wife needs to commute to Nottingham, probably by train given the state of the motorway south in the morning and north in the evening.

We saw something in Gleadless but then started hearing horror stories about “Gleadless” which may actually have been Gleadless Valley.

Rent FIRST, if you buy the wrong place think how hard it will be to sell.

So we have the two points on a map to start drawing the circles from then…….

Rent first

ask the people you’ll be working with

Well, if you need to commute by train into Nottingham that narrows your options right down to either Chesterfield or Sheffield itself. And reasonably close to the train station in Sheffield as the train journey’s around 50 minutes alone.

Just keep driving around areas that might work with your eyes open. Try evenings, weekends and weekdays if you can

Get insurance quotes for you car and contents at potential new addresses. If they are high find out why

Get details of a few houses in an area and walk between them

My wife says whether you are a dog walker or not should buy a house that has a good dog walk nearby. You are a dog walker so take pooch for a walk in the area. look at the facilities you might use locally and go and try them. Pubs, leisure centres, take aways, restraunts

Every thing you do in the area will provide information. You’ll either end up loving it or hating it

Finally its not just an area its a specific house. So take a long hard look at all the neighbouring houses

Or dronfield, the train passes through there as well. Where I work, people have come from old depots in Rotherham, Doncaster and Sheffield. So it’s a wide spread lot. Some have been helpful but none of them shop like a childless mountain bikers with no interest in nightlife.

Do you need to have a car in Sheffield or could you use train/tram/bus to get to work?

I need a car for work. We’d be happy to ditch the other car if the wife could get to the train station without too much bother/time loss.

I’ve moved a lot over the years.
Rent first. You need to get a feel for a place and we all see things differently. 6 or even 12 months would be enough for you to get around your new locales and see where you might want to live. Even with the best research in the world your chances of hitting the sweet spot are slim.