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The Daily Mail recently looked at the top 10 towns that offer the best value homes and commute for those travelling to and working in London. These top ten towns included Biggleswade in Bedfordshire, Benfleet in Essex and Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. The research by The Daily Mail included the average house price, travel time from home to London and the price of an annual season ticket to London.

The average house price ranged from £177,741 in Peterborough to £379.442 in Winchfield. Meanwhile commute times into London ranged from 32 minutes from Broxbourne to 63 minutes from Huntingdon. Finally the cost of an annual season ticket ranged from £2,736 in Broxbourne to £6,936 in Peterborough.

Putting these figures and results together, the report was able to create a top ten list of best value commuter to towns in London. We have listed this below for you;

10. Winchfield

Winchfield had an average house price of £379,432, the travel time into London is just over an hour at 61 minutes and an annual season train ticket will cost you £4,292.

9. Broxbourne

The average cost of a home in Broxbourne is £344,691 and the travel time to London is 32 minutes. An annual season train ticket from Broxbourne to London is £2,736.

8. Sandy

The average home in Sandy will cost around £285,709 and the commute to London will take 48 minutes. An annual train ticket for this commute will cost you £4,972.

7. Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes has the average house price of £268,255. The commute into London will take 36 minutes and this commute will cost you £5,524 for an annual train ticket.

6. Peterborough

The average cost of a home in Peterborough is £177,741. It will take 53 minutes to commute into London from Peterborough. You can expect to pay £6,936 for your annual train ticket for this commute.

5. Grays

If you are looking to buy a home in Grays you can expect to pay £266,333. This will get you a commute time of 38 minutes and your annual season ticket will cost £2,516.

4. Wickford

You can expect to pay around £313,500 for the average home in Wickford. Your commute into London will take 39 minutes at a cost of £3,924 for an annual season ticket.

3. Benfleet

An average home in Benfleet costs £327,807 and the commute into London will take just under three quarters of an hour. You can expect to pay £3,612 for your annual season train ticket.

2. Huntingdon

The average house in Huntingdon costs £269,841. The commute from Huntingdon to London will take 63 minutes and the annual train ticket will cost £5,604.

1. Biggleswade

Biggleswade came in top as the best value commuter town into London. An average house will cost £300,903 in Biggleswade. This will get you a 44 minute commute at the cost of £4,792 for your annual season ticket.

While Peterborough only ranked 6^th in the top 10 best value commuter towns you will see that Peterborough was named as the least expensive commuter town. While it is the furthest city out of London the journey time is still just 53 minutes. This journey time looks to be shortened in coming years as tracks and trains are improved.

If you are looking to move home and want to improve your commute into London, why not consider a home in Peterborough. Give us a call to tell us the sort of home you are looking for and we will send you some property details which suit your needs.

The Sun newspaper recently reported that Peterborough is their chosen best place in the UK for young families to move to. They completed research on the prices of homes, birth rates and things to do. The results are in Peterborough was chosen as number one.

The report states that the main reason Which? consumer guide chose Peterborough as the best place in the UK for young families to move to was the combination of cheap homes and high birth rates. This means that it is the perfect city for those young families looking to get on the property ladder. There will also be other young families near them too, due to the high birth rates in this city.

The average property price at time of the Which? consumer guide report was £169,261. This number came in well below the national average price of a home, at time of the report, which was £219,000. The birth rate was also at 16.3% per 1,000 residents.

This high birth rate level means that Peterborough is likely to have more child care opportunities, nurseries and primary school places as well. Peterborough is also reported to have more resources for new parents and young families, such as support groups and similar organisations.

In second place for the best place in the UK for young families to move to was Leicester. Leicester had an average property price of £152,281 at time of the report. The birth rate at this time was 15% per 1,000 residents. In 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th place for the best places in the UK for young families to move to were Middlesborough, Manchester and Gloucester, respectively.

In Wales the top place in the for young families to move to is Newport, while Midlothian and its cheaper homes and high birth rates came as the top place for young families to move to in Scotland.

The cost of a home in London is much more expensive. While places like Slough, Watford, Reading and Crawley all have relatively high birth rates; the house prices and cost of living make the areas tricky for young families to live in.

If you have a young family or are planning on having children why not look at moving to Peterborough. We have a selection of great family homes  across Peterborough and surrounding areas.

We recently came across a really interesting article in the Daily Mail and we wanted to share some of the article with you. The article shared some top things to know about moving home. We have taken out the bits that we know will interest you so you don’t need to read the whole article!

• The busiest day of the year for moving home in 2019 was 30^th August, followed by 28^th June and then 27^th September. These were all a Friday. Friday is the most common day for people to choose to move house. This gives you the weekend to move in and unpack, without taking too much time off work. 

• People that bought or sold their homes in 2019 paid around £1,154 for conveyancing. Please note this figure does not include disbursements such as land registry fees for example. Meanwhile an average of £677 was paid by first-time buyers for their conveyancing needs.

• The average distance moved by home owners in 2019 was nine miles. Around 40% of all people that moved house in the last year, moved within a five mile radius of their previous home.  As a Peterborough estate agent, this is something we definitely see a lot. People love the areas they live in and often ask us to look for houses for sale in Peterborough that are near to them.

• The property market was really driven forward by first time buyers last year. In fact, first time buyers accounted for 55.7% of all home purchases. More than a fifth of the first time buyers used a Government scheme to help them buy their first home. This included the Shared Ownership scheme and the Help to Buy scheme.

• Data collated by Halifax and Reallymoving found that the average deposit paid by first-time buyers during 2019 was £28,800. This is 17% of their average purchase price with is £180,000. 

• First time buyers also largely escaped paying stamp duty. However, those home owners that were moving up the ladder last year typically paid around £4,625 stamp duty.

• Movers in the UK that bought and sold their home at the same time sold their home for around £237,000 on average. Meanwhile, they bought their new home for around £292,500 on average.

If you’d like to make sure that you are in the know of all the facts you need when buying a home in Peterborough, call our team. We work hard to make sure our home buyers and sellers know everything they need to know, so they are prepared for the journey ahead.

Here at Letters Group we help lots of home buyers in Peterborough find their dream home. We love taking the time to understand what a first time buyer wants from their next home. We can then show them homes in their budget that fulfil their requirements.

However, as a first time buyer in Peterborough there are a few things you may want to do before you start looking for your next dream home. We have listed some top tips for first time home buyers below so you can be prepared for a successful house buying process.

Get Approved In Advance

Before looking at homes online or guessing the amount of mortgage you can get, get pre-approved. Book in for a chat with our team and we can help you get the best rate for your mortgage so you know the house prices you are looking at. We will talk you through all the additional costs involved in buying a house too, some of which you may not be aware of. If there are any relevant government schemes or grants we will let you know about those too.

Choose Your Territory

There are good and bad parts of all areas. Take the time to think about where you want to live. You may get more for your money in some parts of the city. However you may prefer to live in a quieter neighbourhood which could cost more. Do you need to be near to public transport or need a local shop for last minute essentials? Would you like to be near to a good primary or secondary school? Before looking at homes, think about where you want your next home. This will then make the house hunting process easier for you. 

Think About Preferences

If you are buying your first home with a partner sit together and decide what you want from your dream home. Would you like a driveway that fits 2 cars or are you happy with a communal car park? Do you need a spare room for guests or an area to turn into a home office? How big would you like your garden to be, and should it be high or low maintenance? Think about the preferences you have for your dream home in Peterborough, and then you can give your estate agent a clear idea on the sort of home you want.

Act Fast

Good homes in Peterborough sell fast. If you see a home you like online, book a viewing with your Peterborough estate agent as soon as possible. The home you see online Monday may not be available by the weekend so get in there as quickly as you can. As a first time buyer with no chain you will be an extremely attractive bidder to home owners, but you still need to get in there quickly.

Are you a first time home buyer in Peterborough? Call us now and we can go through the steps with you, helping you through the process of buying your first home.

Selling your home can be a long, stressful and often exhausting process. Knowing your market or working with experienced estate agents in Peterborough (like us), that know the market will help speed up the house sale. However, there are some other things you can do when selling your home in 2020.

We have put together some top tips below for you. Have a read and see what you think. If you’re feeling that your home is ready to sell, call our team. We can help sell your market for the best possible price, and even help you find your next home too.

• Make sure your home is up for a reasonable price. You may think that your home is worth more money, but look at the prices that homes in your neighbourhood are up for. The property market is changing and this can mean that your home is worth more or less than you thought. By having your home up for a reasonable price you will be more likely to sell it.

• Check out your curb appeal. How does the front of your home look to those people passing? How will the outside of your home look in photos on the internet or as potential house buyers in Peterborough pull up outside for their viewing? Your lawn should be freshly mowed and your driveway should be as neat as possible.

• Remember what makes your home stand out and make sure this is clear when your home is advertised. Perhaps you are near to an outstanding primary school, near good train links, a good community, low crime rates or similar. Boost what is great about your home and the area you live in.

• Home buyers in Peterborough want to imagine themselves living in your home. Try and depersonalise the home. Take down personal photos and declutter your home or personal belongings and things you have collected over the years. This will make the home seem larger, more spacious, cleaner and easier to imagine the potential buyer living in your home.

• There will be smells that you are used to in your home and you might not even recognise them anymore. However, a new person visiting your home will notice these smells. Whether you have a dog or cat in the home, a delicious homemade curry the night before or damp towels hung up for example. Try and rid your home of these bad odours to ensure potential buyers noses are not turned off by your home.

• Before putting your home on the market, make those small minor repairs. This could be a hole in the fence, a dodgy lock on the front door or chips in the paint in the hallway. Making these minor repairs can make a huge change to a person’s perception of your home.

Call us now to help you sell your home in Peterborough.

While the experienced team of estate agents here at Letters Group don’t have a crystal ball to see what will happen in 2020, we do have experience. We know what affects house prices and how different factors affect house prices in Peterborough for better and for worse.

In this blog post we would like to share with you the things that we think will affect Peterborough house prices in 2020;

Brexit

While the election result has been completed, nothing is currently set in stone. We do not know that the UK will leave the European Union at the end of January 2020. This means that lots of movement in the house market is expected until this time. Even if Brexit does go ahead, we still expect some economic volatility during the progression of trade talks.

The Budget

We expect that there will be a holding pattern in the house market, until February’s budget. Experts predict that the government could introduce a stamp duty surcharge to overseas house buyers in this budget. It is also expected that we will see reforms for first-time buyers and landlords in this budget too. For this reason the house market may not kick into action until the early spring of 2020.

Supply and Demand

If Brexit goes ahead we could see a vast increase of houses on the market and transaction numbers will increase. This could be a good thing for house buyers in Peterborough looking for a bargain as it would then be unlikely for house prices to rise, but instead lower. Even if buyer confidence returns in the UK it is likely to remain a very price-sensitive market. It is likely that overpriced homes will be left languishing in the home listings.

Base Rate and Mortgage Market

The Bank of England base rate could shift entirely either way in 2020. This is purely dependent on what happens in the wide economy. It is a good time to get a mortgage as a first time buyer, home-mover or landlord at the moment. However, attractive rates and stiff competition will need to continue in 2020 to kick the house market back into gear. 

If you are looking for professional estate agents in Peterborough to help sell or buy your next home, call us. We would be happy to help.

Some people avoid selling their home in Peterborough during the winter months. However homes do sell during the winter months. Houses are bought in Peterborough almost every day of the year, come wind, rain or shine. However, there are things you need to be aware of when selling in home in Peterborough at winter.

The visitor traffic to estate agents websites places like RightMove drop in the run up to Christmas. This happens every year. Peoples focus turns to decorating their own homes, Christmas shopping, school plays, pantomimes, Christmas parties and more. Looking for a new home is not at the top of the list, for now.

However, lots of people have ‘New Home’ on their list of New Year’s resolutions. If your house is on the market in winter then you can grab the attention of those people that want to make an early start on their resolutions for the New Year. That said it is important to note that while people may look at your home in January, the real buying action picks up mid January until early February.

Spending time with families over Christmas can often make a home feel smaller. This can result in home owners looking for bigger homes, or older children looking to move out and get their own homes. Christmas can also be a popular time for proposals, which can be the first step to getting a home together. Couples will be looking for smaller homes as the New Year begins, while families look for bigger homes with more space.

If you are looking to sell your home but you’re concerned about selling a home in Peterborough in winter then call us. We can have a chat with you about the benefits of selling a home in winter. We will show you how we can best promote your home to people house hunting and make sure you get the best buyer for your Peterborough home.

Contact us now to see how we can help you sell your home this winter.

This is a question we are often asked as professional estate agents in Peterborough. However it is not quite as easy as taking your home off the market for 2 weeks and then putting it back as a new property weeks later.

Previously we could re-upload your home to RightMove and it would be classed as a new listing. However this changed at the end of 2016. You have to take your property off the market for 14 weeks and then relist it for RightMove to class it as a ‘newly listed’ property.

However there are things that we can do if your property is still on the market at Christmas, but there are also things that you need to consider.

There is a dip in views on RightMove over the Christmas period. This happens every year and as experienced estate agents in Peterborough, it is something that we are used to seeing. The views on RightMove will drop significantly on Christmas Day. Understandably people have other things to do on Christmas Day, than looking at homes. That said, RightMove still get around 500,000 views on Christmas Day.

On New Year’s Day this number is reported to triple the number of views. The reason for the boost in views is the whole ‘New Year, New Start’ thing. However it is often the time when the festivities have finished and you realise how small your home is with family, friends, loved ones, decorations and presents everywhere.

The views go up again to over 4 times the views from Christmas Day to the traditional first day back at work. After a long holiday off work, indulging in too much food or drink, the last thing you want to do when you are back in the office is get back to work! So instead employees are on RightMove checking out the homes for sale.

Things will slow down over the Christmas period. We won’t be calling you up on Christmas Day to tell you people are desperate to view and buy your home. However by having your home on the market over the Christmas period, you can make the most of those looking for new homes as the New Year bells chime!

RightMove research shows that Boxing Day is often the busiest day of the year for people browsing potential new homes. Will they be checking out your home on Boxing Day?

Speak to us now if you are looking to sell your home.

As you may have seen from our social media posts, or heard from the excited cheers if you were near our office – we have been announced as the Best Estate Agent in PE1 and Best Overall Agent in PE1 for our excellent levels of customer service.

We are so excited to have been recognised by All Agents for this award, and still feel like we have our head in the clouds. This is a huge achievement for the team and our estate agency in Peterborough.

The Letters Group team would like to take this chance to thank all our customers. Without people coming to use to sell or buy their next home, we would not be in the position we are in now.

Here at Letters Group we are different to other estate agents in Peterborough. We strongly believe that it is people first. We always take the time to get to know our sellers, buyers, renters and landlords. We want to understand what they really want and their dream outcome is, so we can give them exactly that.

We believe that you should know who we are and how to find us. Buying or selling a house is a huge part of your life. We want to be alongside you, helping you, every step of the way. Pop onto our About us page and put a face to the name if you have had a chat with us on the phone, or pop into our estate agents in PE1 to meet us in person. We really are a friendly bunch.

Letters is 27 years old. In this time estate agents and letting agents in Peterborough have come and again. However we are still here, standing strong. If we weren’t good at what we did, we wouldn’t still be here now. This is why we think we won the Best Estate Agent PE1 and Best Overall Agent awards earlier this month.

If you’re looking for an award winning estate agent in Peterborough to sell your home, contact us now.

When your property is for sale in Peterborough there are a number of things you need to prepare and organise to ensure a smooth and fast transaction. Here at Letters Group we have a team of professional and caring estate agents. We know all the best property tricks and tips to ensure a smooth sale and we would like to share these with you, as they will help when selling your home in Peterborough.

Arguably the most important step in selling your home in Peterborough is making sure your finances are in order. You need to check your existing mortgage, how much is left outstanding and any penalties you may face by selling your home. 

If you are planning to sell your home to buy another speak to your mortgage broker, or our team. We can make sure you can get the right mortgage for your new home. 

It’s a good idea to put your house on the market before putting in an offer on a new home. This gives you a chance to check out the market speed and the properties about. You will also feel a lot less stressed if you have an offer through the door before making one on your next home.

When selling your home in Peterborough you need to make some important decisions early on. For example, you need to think about the lowest selling price you want for your home. Think about your furnishings too, will you take them with you, or include them in the sale of the house? 

By making these decisions before you start you will feel more in control and you will have less to worry about later down the line. Make a list of decisions you need to make and go through them one by one with your partner or family. Make sure you are happy with the decisions before you put your property on the market.

First impressions count when it comes to selling your home in Peterborough. It is essential that your home looks its best in all photos taken by the estate agents. We would recommend that you declutter your home to make rooms look bigger and more spacious.

Decluttering will also help with the move as you will have fewer things to take to your new home.

Paperwork is never very exciting to a lot of people, but it is really important that you get your paperwork in order. There may be times when you need a certain document on a very tight deadline and you can’t find it for love nor money. If you have been given an offer for your home that you can’t afford to miss, you will need to ensure your paperwork is to hand and organised.

Avoid that last minute panic by preparing a folder of all your mortgage documents, solicitor letters, energy efficiency certificates, plumbing certificates, boiler inspections and more. By having these organised and to hand, you will enjoy a much smoother transaction when selling your home in Peterborough.