But if you are free to relocate and have a mortgage, buying a house in the right area is not just about how to make the most money or find the best investment. It's also about finding the best quality of life you can. You are, after all unless you are a property developer, buying a home for you and your family.



If you need some tips on where to buy your dream home, here are 2005's top five best places and worst places to live.

Best Places to Live

1.Epsom and Ewell

2.City of Westminster

3.Harrogate

4.Ashford, Kent

5.Stratford-on-Avon

So what qualities make a place the best place to live in the UK?

•Low crime

•Green spaces and parks

•Idyllic village life

•History and culture

•Cosmopolitan and trendy

•Great shops, restaurants and bars

•Sky high educational standards

•Strategic location for commuters

Of course, no place is perfect. Harrogate for example in North Yorkshire came in at number three on the top ten list for its gentility, floral attractions and idyllic Yorkshire Dales surroundings. It may have a reputation for being posh – it has been described by Londoner's as the ‘Richmond of the North' - but Charles Dickens described it as, “the queerest place, with the strangest people leading the oddest lives”.

Worst Places to Live

1.Hull

2.Nottingham

3.Strabane

4.Hackney

5.Middlesbrough

Property may be cheap in Hull, but that's for a reason. Some may see it as a perfect business investment, but why has it been dubbed the worst place to live in the UK?

•The lowest education results in the country.

•High crime rates. Hull recorded up to 69 crimes a day and Nottingham, the second worst place to live, dealt with more gunshot wounds than any other UK city.

•High unemployment.

•Poor lifestyle. Hull was the fattest town in the UK with 101 fish and chip shops.

•Ugly environment.

Of course, if Hull is where you call home, than perhaps it doesn't matter if it's been nominated the worst place to live by property experts. Home, after all is where the heart is.