commuter rail fares - impact on house prices

ninky_2

movilogo wrote: »

People can get a job near home which pays less or one which require long/expensive commute with more pay.

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or live in london in a smaller property. chances are they will be able to upgrade after a few years especially with the extra money saved from rail fares.

chewmylegoff

ringo_24601 wrote: »

It's a salaried job with my home being the 'office' - All travel is counted as a expense, so fully claimable and i should get the full amount back.

as i understand, you can only do that if you actually do work at home the majority of the time. this is not commuting.

if your employer pays for you to have a season ticket (as opposed to one-off journies to and from the office less than half the time) then it is likely that the cost of the season ticket will have to be treated as a benefit in kind for taxation purposes. if your contract just says you work at home when you don't then this is probably a tax fiddle, and the fact that it is a season ticket rather than one off journies is going to make it pretty easy to see through.

chewmylegoff

i don't mind commuting. you get used to it quickly, and you can fill the time constructively by reading a book or something like that. therefore you could argue that 90 minutes on a train every day is less time wasted than a shorter journey in a car. i tend to travel in a bit later and go home a bit later to avoid the very busy time, obviously not everyone has a flexible employer though.

whilst it is getting more expensive to commute, i should think that the main reason that commuting is more expensive than mortgage payments in some places is not because of increases in rail fares, but because interest rates are very low at the moment, and accordingly average mortgage payments have fallen dramatically.

ninky_2

chewmylegoff wrote: »

whilst it is getting more expensive to commute, i should think that the main reason that commuting is more expensive than mortgage payments in some places is not because of increases in rail fares, but because interest rates are very low at the moment, and accordingly average mortgage payments have fallen dramatically.

but it doesn't matter what interest rates are once you've paid off the mortgage. however those who have bought in commuter towns will still have the ever increasing expense of the season ticket. money that could actually service a second or larger mortgage for the city dweller. or just some lovey weekends away .

[Deleted User]

chewmylegoff wrote: »

as i understand, you can only do that if you actually do work at home the majority of the time. this is not commuting.

if your employer pays for you to have a season ticket (as opposed to one-off journies to and from the office less than half the time) then it is likely that the cost of the season ticket will have to be treated as a benefit in kind for taxation purposes. if your contract just says you work at home when you don't then this is probably a tax fiddle, and the fact that it is a season ticket rather than one off journies is going to make it pretty easy to see through.

Well, very true, i've solved commuting by getting a job i don't need to commute for (and which is also paid at 'south east' salary rates). I will be doing most work from home

Currently, in my commuting, i find that putting some TV shows on my android phone makes the time go a lot faster (even when crammed in like cattle on the train/tube). Lots of other people read ebooks

ninky_2

i definitely think if you are buying in a commuter town that doesn't have it's own sustainable local jobs market it's worth considering the impact of future fare rises on the future affordability / desirability of your property. you might get a nasty surprise. not least with all the carbon reduction targets in place. it's increasingly in government interests to encourage people to live closer to their place of employment.

Pete111

ninky wrote: »

i don't get this thing about the lifestyle. i don't mean to be rude what sort of 'lifestyle' is there in kent? you can talk to neighbours in london too. there are plenty of neighbourhood groups around our way in north london - many of them based around the parks in the area. there's a food coop and community cafe, allotment groups and loads more stuff if you have children. plus we have lea valley and epping forest just a short hop away for outdoors activities. last time i was in chatham (and rochester for that matter), it looked like a bnp street party was in full swing.

that said we've been for lovely walks around isle of sheppey - shell ness and surrounds. but i wouldn't want to live there.

Fair enough Ninky. Horses for courses I guess. Don't get me wrong, I like/d London but we have never regretted moving out

We live in a small town rather than the middle of nowhere so all the local amenities are there ie shops pubs, a couple of good restaurants etc + a fantasic local butcher which is a bonus.

We were able to get a dog (which we both wanted for ages). And love going for country walks with him that inevitably end up at a rural pub (and then later a taxi home!) In addition, my wife likes horse riding and I'm taking up clay pigeon shooting - both far easier and cheaper to do our our way than in London!!

Our neighbours are great - lots of dinner parties and evenings at the pub etc. After several years in london it was a real shock to have a procession of people pop by to introduce themselves during our first week. In our experience, people in London keep themselves to themselves far more (not just us - all our friends in London agree this is the case)

As we both work in london we can also go out in town during the week if we feel like it too (provided we get our cleaner to take the dog overnight obviously) so we kind of get the best of both worlds.

There is also far less crime, less noise, a minimal amount of antisocial behaviour and a generally much nicer atmosphere. Also (and you may not believe this Ninky) we even have a number of ethnic minorities on our street! Very few BNP types round our way that's for sure.

All in all, we made a great decision. I heartily recommend it!

PasturesNew

movilogo wrote: »

Single people can do long commute but people with family will find it difficult as it leaves almost no time for family

This bit makes me ever so angry. I had an employer who thought single people didn't matter and that family people were more important. I was sent to work 400 miles away, for 3 weeks at a time, whereas the guy with a child was kept close to the office and was home every weekend.

Family people have advantages already:
- not just them doing everything in the house, so if something needs attention while they're away there's somebody to organise it
- somebody still at home keeping life ticking over and potential social interaction
- somebody does the shopping/cooking, so there's a chance of a meal when you finally get home, or at least some fresh bread

And that's even where it's a couple who both have full-time jobs; the workload is shared and distributed according to ability and availability.

Single people really get the short straw.... when are single people supposed to become these fabulous families if they spend their lives commuting and being sent to the longer/further away job "because they're single and don't matter"?

PasturesNew

Pete111 wrote: »

.. good restaurants etc ...taxi home!... horse riding ... clay pigeon shooting ... dinner parties ...cleaner

Gosh you're posh!

Pete111

PasturesNew wrote: »

Gosh you're posh!

I know. It's simply marvelous old chap. :cool: