House for sale next to level crossing

[90019]

But of course you are talking about city-centre flats, which are always very expensive. I'm coming from the perspective of what the average detached house costs in a "residential" area of North-West (ish) England.

The 2 bedroom flat is in a suburban area, and is a few miles from the city centre.
For what it is, the 3 bedroom one is cheap.

I'm actually quite surprised how expensive Edinburgh is, considering the weather!

It's not a cheap place to live, but the weather is better than you'd expect

The company I'm working for currently have a penthouse flat in a new development a couple of miles from the city centre that's £1.65m.
My dad works for a different company and he's currently dealing with quite a few properties that are between £1m and £2m, but they're mostly big houses in the suburbs.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Well, it's North-West of London, and everything is centred around London, isn't it. Some might even consider Milton Keynes to be in the "North-West." I certainly wouldn't say it's in the "South."

If you take "North-West" to just mean the Manchester/Liverpool/Lancaster area, I honestly wouldn't know how to describe the area in which I live. It's not in Wales, it's not in any part of the Midlands, and it's not near Manchester and Liverpool.

Not really, it's in the West Midlands. Milton Keynes is in the South East as it is in Buckinghamshire. From what I can gather, you live in Cheshire, ergo you are in the North West.

 

[All Line Rover]

The 2 bedroom flat is in a suburban area, and is a few miles from the city centre.
For what it is, the 3 bedroom one is cheap.

My mistake.

It's not a cheap place to live, but the weather is better than you'd expect

I base my opinions of the Edinburgh weather on our first - and only - holiday there as a family. It was in February - a few years ago. I'd rather not talk about it.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Not really, it's in the West Midlands. Milton Keynes is in the South East as it is in Buckinghamshire. From what I can gather, you live in Cheshire, ergo you are in the North West.

The very, very edge of Cheshire on the Welsh border. To confuse things even further, we even have a Shropshire postcode!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

The very, very edge of Cheshire on the Welsh border. To confuse things even further, we even have a Shropshire postcode!

Still North West

Lots of places have postcodes outside of their county, for example Chesterfield in Derbyshire has a Sheffield postcode!

 

[WestCoast]

I base my opinions of the Edinburgh weather on our first - and only - holiday there as a family. It was in February - a few years ago. I'd rather not talk about it.

So an opinion based upon limited experience is being presented as fact? I've had some lovely weather in Edinburgh before...

If you want guaranteed "decent" weather (whatever that means to you, everyone is different), then a holiday in the UK is probably not the most appropriate option. It feels very changeable at the moment.

 

[Zoe]

It depends how you want to define things, the boundries for the first level NUTS regions of the UK are quite clear but West Midlands can refer to either this region or to the smaller area covered by the metropolitan country. In the case of London there are still many people that consider Romford to be in Essex even though it has been in the ceremonial county of Greater London since 1965, the London administrative area and the first level NUTS region called London.

 

[All Line Rover]

Still North West

Many areas in the North West of England are very nice. You just don't think of them as being in the North West, as "North West" makes you think (or at least it makes me think) of very industrialised towns and cities.

 

[WestCoast]

It depends how you want to define things, the boundries for the first level NUTS regions of the UK are quite clear but West Midlands can refer to either this region or to the smaller area covered by the metropolitan country. In the case of London there are still many people that consider Romford to be in Essex even though it has been in the ceremonial county of Greater London since 1965, the London administrative area and the first level NUTS region called London.

It's the same with Greater Manchester, towns on the edge often class themselves as Lancashire or Cheshire, when they lost that status some years ago.

 

[All Line Rover]

So an opinion based upon limited experience is being presented as fact? I've had some lovely weather in Edinburgh before...

It's being presented as fact in the context of our holiday. It was the worst weather I have ever experienced - ever! (I have been to Edinburgh more than once, by the way. )

If you want guaranteed "decent" weather (whatever that means to you, everyone is different), then a holiday in the UK is probably not the most appropriate option. It feels very changeable at the moment.

The problem with Edinburgh is that there is practically nothing to do when it's raining (for families, that is). Such a problem does not exist in London, or many other UK cities as a matter of fact.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Many areas in the North West of England are very nice. You just don't think of them as being in the North West, as "North West" makes you think (or at least it makes me think) of very industrialised towns and cities.

Same with any region, or even county. Take Kent - up in the Mudway towns it is horrid, but as you heads south of Maidstone, it is stunning in places. Same for Cheshire - not so nice around Crewe and parts of Chester, get south of the aforementioned and it is really nice. I'd do one set for each county if I had time .

It also depends if you go off traditional boundaries or modern unittary authorities etc - for example, Warrington being in Lancashire, Romford in Essex, Birmingham in Warwickshire.

 

[WestCoast]

Many areas in the North West of England are very nice. You just don't think of them as being in the North West, as "North West" makes you think (or at least it makes me think) of very industrialised towns and cities.

Depends on what you class as "very nice". People do have different preferences, not everyone is happy with "genteel" even if they had the money, some want to be near jobs and with easy access to facilities, entertainment and transport.

It also depends if you go off traditional boundaries or modern unittary authorities etc - for example, Warrington being in Lancashire, Romford in Essex, Birmingham in Warwickshire.

Warrington is in Cheshire?

 

[Zoe]

It also depends if you go off traditional boundaries or modern unittary authorities etc - for example, Warrington being in Lancashire, Romford in Essex, Birmingham in Warwickshire.

It gets more complicated with Essex: Chelmsford is an Essex both ceremonially and administratively, Southend and Grays are ceremonially part of Essex but not administratively. Romford is neither ceremonially or adminstratively part of Essex.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

It gets more complicated with Essex: Chelmsford is an Essex both ceremonaly and administratively, Southend and Grays and ceremonaly part of Essex but not administratively. Romford is neither ceremonaly or adminstratively part of Essex.

I know, Blackburn is technically in its own unitary authority, but is still classed as Lancashire... Preston is the HQ for the county in the modern day, before it was obviously Lancaster. Blackpool is part of its own unitary authority, along with the rest of the Fylde, yet it is still part of the county, as Blackburn.

 

[Zoe]

Unitary status does not result in a separate Lord Lieutenant so the districts remain part of the ceremonial county. Greater London though does have a Lord Lieutenant and some areas that used to be in Essex are now ceremonalty part of Greater London.

 

[WestCoast]

I know, Blackburn is technically in its own unitary authority, but is still classed as Lancashire... Preston is the HQ for the county in the modern day, before it was obviously Lancaster. Blackpool is part of its own unitary authority, along with the rest of the Fylde, yet it is still part of the county, as Blackburn.

I would support that logic, sorry to nitpick (again) but the situation is a little more complicated than that: Blackpool Council is a unitary authority covering part of the Fylde, but Fylde and Wyre Councils are not unitary authorities. It's not comparable to Blackburn with Darwen Council. However, Blackpool now run some of Fylde council's services (revenues and local services), because Fylde are supposedly short of cash.

Unitary authorities do confuse matters somewhat in regards to who does what. In my part of the world, there is a bizarre situation when another local (not county) council (who you don't pay rates to) provide your services....

I think this thread has gone WAY off-topic, back to a house besides a level crossing in Solihull.....

 

[90019]

I base my opinions of the Edinburgh weather on our first - and only - holiday there as a family. It was in February - a few years ago. I'd rather not talk about it.

I base mine on the fact I live here

Seriously though, what do you expect in February?

 

[junglejames]

hock: I've just been looking at Rightmove and can't believe how much houses cost in Solihull! 300k plus for a 4-bed detached house! hock:hock:hock:

I've never been to Solihull so can't comment on how nice the area is (perhaps it is one of the nicer areas of the West Midlands - if there is one that is ) but nevertheless you can get cheaper houses in Ashford and Dover!

300K is about the average for that sort of property nowadays.
As for Ashford and Dover. Talk about picking probably the 2 cheapest areas of South East Kent.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Dover: £275k.

What are they taking to mean Dover?? Sounds like they are adding places like Sheperdswell into that. Dover itself is cheap, but not very pleasant.

 

[Hydro]

Dover is a sh*t tip. For 275k you'd be looking at one of the outlying areas, maybe even St Margarets, which is certainly more upmarket.

Just looked, and with a few exceptions (i.e. near the castle or uncommonly large), most of the expensive properties seem to be in River or Whitfield, which aren't truly "Dover" per se.

 

[the sniper]

hock: I've just been looking at Rightmove and can't believe how much houses cost in Solihull! 300k plus for a 4-bed detached house! hock:hock:hock:

I've never been to Solihull so can't comment on how nice the area is (perhaps it is one of the nicer areas of the West Midlands - if there is one that is ) but nevertheless you can get cheaper houses in Ashford and Dover!

How old are you? I'm hoping you're young, as it may go some way towards explaining some of your posts on this forum.

If you're not very young, the ignorance shown in your post is really rather embarrassing.

 

[Class172]

How old are you? I'm hoping you're young, as it may go some way towards explaining some of your posts on this forum.

If you're not very young, the ignorance shown in your post is really rather embarrassing.

He's 15 I think.

 

[All Line Rover]

How old are you? I'm hoping you're young, as it may go some way towards explaining some of your posts on this forum.

If you're not very young, the ignorance shown in your post is really rather embarrassing.

Ashford may not be one of the nicest towns in England, but it is within a 35 minute commute of London. Solihull to London takes 2 hours by train, so I find it quite remarkable that property prices are more expensive.

Then again, that could be said for lots of areas. Why is Chester so expensive, when half of it is a dump? Why is Nantwich so expensive compared to Crewe, when it has poorer transport links and fewer amenities?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I base mine on the fact I live here

Seriously though, what do you expect in February?

I didn't expect torrential rain, flooding, 80mph gales, about 90% of services out of Waverley to be cancelled, to have six umbrellas fly away in three days, to be stranded in our hotel, etc, etc..

 

[90019]

Ashford may not be one of the nicest towns in England, but it is within a 35 minute commute of London. Solihull to London takes 2 hours by train, so I find it quite remarkable that property prices are more expensive.

Property prices aren't just based around travel times to London, there are many other factors to take into account. The local economy plays a big part, as does travel time to any other large conurbations nearby, along with a load of other factors.

I didn't expect torrential rain, flooding, 80mph gales, about 90% of services out of Waverley to be cancelled, to have six umbrellas fly away in three days, to be stranded in our hotel, etc, etc..

When was this?

 

[All Line Rover]

When was this?

IIRC February/March 2009. The ECML was also shut because of flooding around Berwick, meaning that hundreds (if not thousands) of people were stranded in Edinburgh. People were coming to our hotel for a room and were being turned away!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Property prices aren't just based around travel times to London, there are many other factors to take into account. The local economy plays a big part, as does travel time to any other large conurbations nearby, along with a load of other factors.

Some places are just perceived as "posh" (such as Chester) whether you think that the area is "posh" or not (and I don't think Chester is "posh" - it's extremely overrated!).

Dudley is similar to Solihull in terms of distance from Birmingham. Now I know that Dudley is an absolutely horrible place (after having been there numerous times). I've been looking at Solihull on Streetview, and I agree that it looks like a very nice place. But for property prices to DOUBLE within a distance of just 20 miles is crazy!

Similarly, I've never understood why Nantwich is so much more expensive than Crewe. The town centre may be nicer, but some parts of Nantwich are just as run down as Crewe. Nantwich railway station has a terrible frequency of service. The only (main) benefit about Nantwich is the extremely good schools, but not everyone has children!

And why is Crewe so cheap? Although the town centre is terrible, some residential areas are very nice. Crewe is 38 minutes from Manchester, 39 minutes from Liverpool and just 54 minutes from Birmingham. Excellent connections!

 

[Greenback]

Property prices are based on so much more than railways, or travel. Having bought several properties myself, I can say that for me access to employment has been a major factor, along with proximity to shops, a frequent bus service and the quietness of a street or area. Others are willing to pay more for bigger gardens, a particular age of a property, good schools, a nice view, the list is almost endless. Even an address or council tax banding can be considered as highly desirable!

 

[bushytailedfox]

Blimey, I've just logged on and nearly fallen over at the number of posts about my little railway house.

Then I realised that the posts are mainly discussions about counties and other places to live :grin:

So, does anyone want to buy a lovely 3 storey Victorian house, perfectly placed for the trains and in a really nice, safe area?

 

[Class172]

If I had the money!!

 

[theblackwatch]

Blimey, I've just logged on and nearly fallen over at the number of posts about my little railway house.

Then I realised that the posts are mainly discussions about counties and other places to live :grin:

So, does anyone want to buy a lovely 3 storey Victorian house, perfectly placed for the trains and in a really nice, safe area?

Unfortunately for you, probably not - everyone just wants to talk about it - count yourself lucky nobody has discussed your decor yet!

 

[bushytailedfox]

Unfortunately for you, probably not - everyone just wants to talk about it - count yourself lucky nobody has discussed your decor yet!

Oh no, not the soft furnishings!!

 

[WestCoast]

It's often the way as threads get derailed (pardon the pun!), I remember one thread recently where most people forgot what the OP was about!

It's a nice house, shame your moving! :cry:

 

[bushytailedfox]

It's often the way as threads get derailed (pardon the pun!), I remember one thread recently where most people forgot what the OP was about!

It's a nice house, shame your moving! :cry:

I know, I love it here and thought I'd never move. To be fair, if I don't sell it I will stay put quite happily but I hope someone comes along who loves it as much as I do.

I wasn't overly fussed about trains before I lived here, but have become worryingly attached to them now :grin: