Hi

we need a bigger house with more land than we already have. Becauce of the price of houses in my area we cannot afford what we want here so will have to move out of the area and probably quite a distance. 

My problem is how do you find houses in other areas and how do you know if it is a nice area to move to? I had a quick look on the net earlier and find a really nice house in our price range,sounded ideal apart from it neighbours a really rough estate and you would be mad to move to it. Hence the cheap price. If I didnt know that I could of been tempted. Help ;o)

i suppose one way is to spend a day or two driving around the areas you're thinking of moving to. narrow down your list by looking at a map and drawing a red circle around your area of interest. you can discount areas that are too far away from work schools etc etc.
when driving around the areas, try and visit at several different times, early morning, afternoon and night time. look at local shops, and areas of interest. a tip that phil and kirstie give our is to look at at cars in driveways, are they nice?

Check out the website of the local paper maybe? look up the local schools and see if they are good or not?

http://www.upmystreet.com/
check this out, gives information,about income, schools etc

I can second that website that cocopop suggested, we used this initially for our search in the UK as it gives you crime figures, results on schools etc and even details what "type" of people live there (although we didn't take that part seriously). We then looked on www.rightmove.co.uk to check house prices to ensure we could afford that area then did the visiting in person, spending time there etc to get a feel of the place.

Good Luck

:-)

if you narrow down the areas you fancy you could always try and contact the local police to the area, they can usually give you a general idea for an area ;) I've taken calls in the past for lovely 6 bedroomed houses that look to be good value ~ until I told them that the area was bedsit-land and crime figures were quite high....

good luck :)

Hi
thanks for the info. At the moment we really have no idea were we want to go. Personally I dont want to move far from were we are now but if we are wanting land and more rooms we have to get out of the commuter belt. Either way the kids will have to change school and i will have to give up my job. I dont work enough hours to warrent a lot of travelling.

Hubby is self employed and works from home. We really need a office for him as his business is growing. I think it would be better again if he stayed in this area as he has built up contacts but as he travells all over Scotland he says it doesnt matter.

Its not something we are going to rush into. As we are not desperate, but just starting to put out feelers. Kids do not want to move schools so that might put a hold on things for a while.

Thanks

i live in the central belt too, in the falkirk area. pm me if u want any info for my area and i'll help as much as i can.

I'm in the Fife area so feel free to ask if you find anything in this area. The borders or angus areas are traditionally a bit cheaper than other areas, there ae a few cheaper areas in Fife too but not convinced I would want to live there IYKWIM ;-)

will do thanks.  We were thinking boarders so may look there first ;o))

Wendy

with the housing market today i would suggest getting yours on the market.

You may only be thinking about it but already are looking at properties on the net, what if you see something your really like?? Better to be in the position of having an offer on your own or at least  be  for sale.