Buy now or wait ?- in Bedford

sharkie

for around 150k you should be able to buy a 2 bed flat in harrow, zone 5.

The next question are any of your windows next to the communal block entrance doors, if so people will be tapping on your window.

I'm in harrow and pay annually £1760 for a season ticket. I'm sure you pay quite a bit more for Bedford. This is where in 5-10 years you may save £ ?

jedp78

If you are worried about making an emotional decision, then some more food for thought (if you're not worried then don't read this - as it is quite negative!)

I commute from Flitwick station (one stop nearer London than Bedford), and I envy those who hop off at St Albans having only been on the train 20 minutes out of London. I've been doing it nearly 10 years, so I'm very used to it, but living in Bedford will at least double your train ride - which is a serious consideration when you're doing it twice each day (approaching 6 hours less 'life' per week than you have now). And if your planned socialising in London means you get home late, it is quite likely you'll be on a stopping service -- every stop from London to Bedford is no fun. However, if you time it right there are very fast but infrequent East Midlands trains from St Pancras, and you will always get a seat from Bedford on First Capital - our main advantage over SA commuters

Another consideration is that an annual season ticket from Bedford is nearly £1k per year more than from St Albans (which in turn costs a lot more than living within Zone 6 boundary). That may not offset the cheaper living costs, but if you were able to put that much aside now, you'd double your current deposit in just 2 years.

Goldington Road to Bedford station is at minimum a 20 minute walk - but as others here have said - that's based on you living at the Town Centre end. The full length of Goldington Road would add at least 25 minutes to the walk, so it's 20-45 mins depending on where the flat is, or get a bike. Leaving your bike at Bedford station is free. If you wanted to drive, the car park is fairly expensive at about £1100 per year.

AliceBanned

brit1234 wrote: »

Hopefully not, it looks like the house price crash has resumed. All the figures are going down and that was for peak season. Nationwide is expected to continue the trend down and go negative this month with the others.

Nationwide
Mar + 1.0%
Apr + 1.1%
May + 0.5%
Jun + 0.1%
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/historical/jun_2010.pdf

Halifax
Mar + 1.0%
Apr - 0.1%
May - 0.4%
Jun - 0.6%
http://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/me...dexMay2010.pdf

Land Registry
Mar - 0.3%
Apr +0.2%
May - 0.2%

Acadametrics
Mar - 0.5%
Apr - 0.7%
May - 0.2%
Jun - 0.5%
http://www.acadametrics.co.uk/acadHousePrices.php

Better saving for 2 years and buying in St Albans as the house price falls accelerate. As for shared ownership my views are well known as well as all my friends bad experiences. I recommend you save and wait the 2 years.

Give it a week and look at the house price survey results from the big institutions coming out. Hopefully when some show 4-5months of falls it will give a better indication of what's going to happen.

Thanks, that's very helpful. I've just been to see the flat again this morning and was smitten. However that would be an emotional decision. The woman from the HA did say "I havent' seen one like this before and I don't think there will be another one like it"0 (ie of their schemes, and they have given it to me first priority with other people waiting. my reason for taking that flat would be that it is beautiful, rent to homebuy therefore I could wait for up to five years before I buy it and it has plenty of space for two so I could have a lodger, which would help me to save. Still not quite reached a decision yet then..

AliceBanned

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Alice, having had a look at the most local paper property pages, a 1988s 2 bed lowrise fat in a reasonable area is on offer at £120K and a 1 bed cluster home near Tesco Goldington at £112,500. Both are "private" builds. These make £135K for an HA 2 bed flat rather expensive in my view. Even if property prices remained stable I would seriously doubt if you would recoup all of your capital investment in the short term if you did go for S/O.

Thanks - I was worried about that as I did look around on the internet and Bedford is very cheap for housing so I also thought it a bit steep. There is no room for negotiation for this either so I guess they get people who are desperate to set up home; they have queues of people in private rented accommodation wanting this flat if I don't take it, and from their point of view the rent is cheap at £510 for a large two bed flat but from mine it adds to my expenses, unless I get a lodger, which I would be entitled to do. aggh! Still in two minds. thanks for your help.

AliceBanned

sharkie wrote: »

for around 150k you should be able to buy a 2 bed flat in harrow, zone 5.

The next question are any of your windows next to the communal block entrance doors, if so people will be tapping on your window.

I'm in harrow and pay annually £1760 for a season ticket. I'm sure you pay quite a bit more for Bedford. This is where in 5-10 years you may save £ ?

It's around £3,500 per annum without underground. So yeah you're right, a lot of money over that time. I can't afford a place in Harrow though but weighing it up £135k is steep for Bedford. there are many less attractive two bed flats at 90k so it isn't looking like a good investment to me. Just a very pretty home.

AliceBanned

jedp78 wrote: »

If you are worried about making an emotional decision, then some more food for thought (if you're not worried then don't read this - as it is quite negative!)

I commute from Flitwick station (one stop nearer London than Bedford), and I envy those who hop off at St Albans having only been on the train 20 minutes out of London. I've been doing it nearly 10 years, so I'm very used to it, but living in Bedford will at least double your train ride - which is a serious consideration when you're doing it twice each day (approaching 6 hours less 'life' per week than you have now). And if your planned socialising in London means you get home late, it is quite likely you'll be on a stopping service -- every stop from London to Bedford is no fun. However, if you time it right there are very fast but infrequent East Midlands trains from St Pancras, and you will always get a seat from Bedford on First Capital - our main advantage over SA commuters

Another consideration is that an annual season ticket from Bedford is nearly £1k per year more than from St Albans (which in turn costs a lot more than living within Zone 6 boundary). That may not offset the cheaper living costs, but if you were able to put that much aside now, you'd double your current deposit in just 2 years.

Goldington Road to Bedford station is at minimum a 20 minute walk - but as others here have said - that's based on you living at the Town Centre end. The full length of Goldington Road would add at least 25 minutes to the walk, so it's 20-45 mins depending on where the flat is, or get a bike. Leaving your bike at Bedford station is free. If you wanted to drive, the car park is fairly expensive at about £1100 per year.

Thanks for the reality check. No problem at all if it's negative - I need to weigh everything up as it is so easy to get carried away now and then regret it once winter sets in and I'm trudging through snow for 2 miles to Bedford station..I think on balance this flat is a high price for the location it's in. It's a pleasant location but for that money I probably also need practical. I don't want to make the wrong decision just because I need to make a fast decision, ie because the HA needs to know today. I will have to say "no" if I am unsure I think. :-(

AliceBanned

Thanks everyone - you have all been a great help. I have just phoned and asked for another 48 hours to decide and the HA said sorry they couldn't. they also were a bit vague on the service charge which is currently a £30 "estimate". It all looks like the finances could get tight and I don't think it is a safe bet for me, in managing the travel etc in addition to the extra stress of paying for the bells and whistles that are not essential (just very pretty ). So I said in that case i will have to say no, as I have another option to look at tomorrow. Let's face it, I'm giving up an assured tenancy so I need a bit more time to get this right, so if they cannot give that then I had to say no. I understand that they have people waiting. It sounded like the other people were in private rented accommodation so would benefit from the reduced rent of the Rent to Homebuy scheme, whereas I would pay more than I do now. I wandered around Bedford and it has grown on me. It is not a bad town, I was pleasantly surprised and the prices are good so I can shop around again once I've a bigger deposit and bag a bargain instead. :jThis website has brought out the frugality in me in a big way..I'm proud that I've managed to make a rational decision and feel ok about it:).

mlz1413

You seem very level headed, well done for not going with your heart.

AliceBanned

mlz1413 wrote: »

You seem very level headed, well done for not going with your heart.

Thanks. It was difficult and stressful, but I realised there was no point in me taking the flat just because it was so different to the others and because I might not find that again. It really helped having the feedback so thanks everyone, it kept my feet on the ground.:)