Am I really unable to get on the ladder?

frivolous_fay

Hi All,

I'm desperate to move, so I've been looking into the money practicalities. We have a flat which should hopefully net us around £40-50k profit if it sells, and we have a joint income of around £45k. I *thought* we were in a pretty strong position... :j

Boyfriend has been doing some sums and estimates that even with a mortgage with a fairly competitive rate, we'd be looking at payments of around £1,090 a month over 20 years... and THAT'S just assuming we borrow £150k. I reckon we're going to be wanting a place for at least £230-245k... as the whole point of moving is to find 1) a nicer place 2) a nicer location 3) somewhere closer to our jobs to reduce the £300+ p/m we currently pay out in train fares. There's no sense moving somewhere cheap and 'orrible because we'll be as miserable as we are now in our grim Luton flat. (Sorry Lutonians)

Are we overestimating how much we'll be paying out? With a potential monthly payment of at least 5 times what we're paying now, the idea of moving's pretty scary.

Am I being realistically negative, or am I missing something?

mummytofour

170k @ 5.25% is £1030 pcm over over 25 years...

I suggest that you get a whole of market broker to do some leg work for you, by the way £300 pcm on fairs is not that much, we spend over £700 pcm that why we NEED to move!

Any idea where you wnat to move too?

frivolous_fay

Has to be on the Thameslink... Radlett is nice but way too pricey - we reckon St Albans is the right combination of 'nice' and 'not too expensive'

silvercar

Parts of Borehamwood are OK and a lot cheaper than Radlett and your train fares would be even cheaper.
At £230k+ you should get a 3-bed terrace in a nice road or a 3bed semi in a not so hot road.

withabix

frivolous_fay wrote:

we reckon St Albans is the right combination of 'nice' and 'not too expensive'

Ehhh....isn't St. Albans one of the most expensive towns in the UK outside London to buy property, or has that changed in the last 15 years since I was at Poly down the road in Hatfield?

Talking of Hatfield, have you tried there? Mind you, it's probably still Not Very Nice, like it was then and has probably gone into the Expensive bracket!

frivolous_fay

Well, yes, you do get the 600k-sky high properties in St Albans, but flicking through the property pages I was surprised to see apparently reasonable places between about 220-245k. (Not many, mind you)

I currently work in St A so that would cut out my train fare altogether, leaving the b/f with his to Hendon.

Hatfield would mean a whole new set of train problems... unfortunately we're stuck with the Thameslink until I learn to drive.. and if we bother to replace that financial black hole that was A Car

The lowest priced properties I saw in the paper were in fact in Elstree and Borehamwood. I figured there had to be a good reason for that...

Trouble is I don't really know what these places are like - my first impressions of a place are based on how it looks from the train

asandwhen

Luton is definately the cheapest in the area compared to the likes of Radlett even though its only a few miles - Luton to St albans is definately going to cost you - I think you would be better to buy in welwyn or hatfield and throw the money you save into driving lessons and a car - better still go further north on the a1 stevenage/letchworth/hitchin/knebworth/ you can get a nearly new 4 bed detached with garage in stevenage for 240k

silvercar

asandwhen wrote:

Luton is definately the cheapest in the area compared to the likes of Radlett even though its only a few miles - Luton to St albans is definately going to cost you - I think you would be better to buy in welwyn or hatfield and throw the money you save into driving lessons and a car - better still go further north on the a1 stevenage/letchworth/hitchin/knebworth/ you can get a nearly new 4 bed detached with garage in stevenage for 240k

All these places aren't on Thameslink, how do you get to Hendon from Hitchin????

If you want to PM about nicer roads in Borehamwood or Elstree please do, 18 years local knowledge!