125k First Time Buyer, Where In Norfolk?

ReadingTim

gohan2091 wrote: »

Yes but the legal fees I will have to pay for regardless of whether I drive or not drive, it's an unavoidable cost but the driving cost is avoidable.

That approach shows you know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

Stop thinking about learning to drive, and start learning to drive! You are shooting yourself in the foot by not doing so, and your post may as well be entitled "what is the best way to shoot myself in the foot?"

Well, unfortunately mate, the best answer you're going to get is 'don't shoot yourself in the foot in the first place....'

Rosieandjim

That's a bit harsh.


Just be careful about council owned flats look at this


https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jul/31/owners-ex-local-authority-homes-bills-thousands


Make sure you are fully aware of the implications of buying leashold

SuperMoose

Have a read of these if you haven't already. They will give you plenty of information about buying a leasehold property.
https://www.gov.uk/leasehold-property
https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/living-leasehold-flats-guide/

Asl77c

I haven't read all the info on here but as I live in norwich too my input is with respect to driving. Get a CBT done you can then ride a 125cc scooter with L plates on, park for free all throughout the city and be able to widen your net. CBT costs £100 and lasts 2 years. Can do it each time.

FreeBear

ReadingTim wrote: »

Learning to drive will greatly increase the pool of properties you are able to buy, both in terms of absolute number, and relative value

Learning to drive, whilst a useful skill to have, will not expand the range of properties that the OP can consider. Having a car/moped/bike will, but will also increase his living costs.

Living in a smallish city such as Norwich, public transport can work out considerably cheaper over the course of a year - Especially if you factor in the parking charges that staff have to pay at some of the hospitals.

OP - By all means have a look at Caistor/Yarmouth/Gorleston, but do be aware that the A47 is not a nice road to travel on for any length of time. During the summer months, hordes of holiday makers blocking the road with their caravans. Winter months, icy, wet, and nasty cross winds. Road closures are a regular occurrence due to accidents. The train service isn't too bad, but can be subject to the odd delay - You also need to watch the bus/train times and make sure they run to suit your shift start/finish times.

gohan2091

CBT Is something my sister suggested, I'll certainly look into it but I have visited 4 properties in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston yesterday, 2 were in terrible areas I would never consider living in but wow I fell in love with property #4 which was on Alderson Road (North Great Yarmouth). It's so large inside, 4 bedrooms. You certainly can't get anything like this in Norwich for that price, expect to pay double that! Unfortunately he wants £128-000 - £130,000 which is out of my budget. I offered £120,000 but it was declined.


The problem is I have gone from 34 hours to 37.5 hours a week, and I now work not only Saturday but Sundays too so I get around 4k extra in enhanced payments a year. However, I can't prove this just yet because I don't have 3 months of updated payslips with the new amounts. The Payroll department refuse to provide me a letter that show my enhancement pay, they will only quote the £17,460 default salary. So this means even with 31k in deposit and a possible few k extra from family, I can only hit around the £120,000 mark at a push because my London & Country broker says the most he can offer me is £85k. So I guess I will have to wait until the end of the year.



I fully acknowledge the travelling issue, but the X1 bus (which I catch outside Trowse already) runs frequently and it adds only 30 minutes each way to the journey time I do now. So not a biggie and I have a train station nearby too. It certainly would be worth it for the lovely properties I have seen. There is a similar property on the next street along for £125k which I will view next week but wish my payslips were here now as I can't do anything but offer low amounts.

norfolk

Would suggest Dereham.

Much quicker to N&N than Yarmouth etc that’s being suggested.

gohan2091

Yeah I looked into Dereham. The buses are not good. I currently pay £25 a month for a corporate FIRST BUS pass for Norwich Zones 1-5. If I move to Yarmouth I would need a network pass which is around £40. For Dereham, KonectBus runs a nice early bus on weekdays (so my corporate bus pass is useless here). I could get a KonectBus pass instead but on weekends I would have to get mixed company buses, both FIRST Bus and Konect which would be very expensive when you add it up. For me, Yarmouth is a better option and the travel times are almost the same.

norfolk

gohan2091 wrote: »

Yeah I looked into Dereham. The buses are not good. I currently pay £25 a month for a corporate FIRST BUS pass for Norwich Zones 1-5. If I move to Yarmouth I would need a network pass which is around £40. For Dereham, KonectBus runs a nice early bus on weekdays (so my corporate bus pass is useless here). I could get a KonectBus pass instead but on weekends I would have to get mixed company buses, both FIRST Bus and Konect which would be very expensive when you add it up. For me, Yarmouth is a better option and the travel times are almost the same.

Fair enough, don’t use the buses really. I guess if you’re travelling early you’ll miss all the queues and regular accidents on the Acle Straight hence my travel time comment.

Still, if buying...Dereham is MUCH nicer than Yarmouth

FreeBear

norfolk wrote: »

Dereham is MUCH nicer than Yarmouth

That is very much open to debate and personal opinion.

That said, I did toy with the idea of a small property in Dereham a while back. Needed a bit of work doing to it...