I thought it may be a good idea to see where people are from in East Anglia.

First off, I'm from Ipswich, commuting into London, looking for a three bed house.

Hi IP

From Norwich and working in Norwich. I'm looking for my first property and would like a 2/3 bedroom house ideally with a garage. I would prefer an older house (pre 80's) as they tend to be bigger and often a bit more garden unlike todays higher density builds. Not a fan of newer houses with their plasterboard walls where you can hear your neighbour plus the very small gardens.

Hello - I'm in Norwich too, but take an interest in the Norfolk stretch of the A11 corridor house wise. We're happily renting, and currently not in any hurry to buy. When we do buy, I hope to find a house "for life" at an affordable price, which will go some way to protecting us against this crazy property bubble stuff in the future...

Something not recently built - so it has old mystical things like cupboards (you don't seem to get them in new builds - I think the developers are in cahoots with the storage companies myself ), and with a reasonable sized garden that's not overlooked by 20 other houses!

Hiya, I both live and work in Norwich.

Sold my house in NR1 in August 07 and completed in October 07. Currently live with partner in 3 bed semi looking to trade up to 4 bed in Old Costessey, I agree - somewhere with lots of "sin" cupboards would be great!!

Just waiting..........

Ps.... what do people think for Norwich? I understand that new builds/flats will take a big hit, but what about the 400k houses that are around ?

Moved back to Colchester last year, and work locally. I own a teeny 20 year old 2 bed BTL flat which I bought in 2006 before I relocated. It's probably worth the same as when I bought, but 1 bedders on the same development have soared another 10-20% since I bought.

As I can afford to buy a hovvel but rent a mansion, I've kept on renting up here. It's also given me chance to try out different parts of town until I build up some capital to move up the ladder.

There is (and probably always will be) huge rental demand for very small properties. I have rented a succession of large 2 bed flats in the 600 - 650pcm range. Last was a new build which got repossessed. I'm currently living in a very large new build flat near North Station. It's in a good location for commuting (Liverpool St is 50 mins away), but I'm paying 200pcm less than the last tenants. The problem is the figures don't add up for commuting - a season ticket to Liverpool St. is about 4K a year, a young single professional is better off living in London and saving on the train fare and journey times. I'd have to get a job in London for about 36K a year to make it worthwhile giving up my pretty decent local job.

Colchester is probably a good long term bet, although prices will always lag behind Chelmsford and Brentwood which are much nearer to London. Crime is pretty low here, the schools are good, the Uni is expanding, it's easy to get to London, and there's lots of nice countryside and coast. It's also the driest place in the country (rain, not beer!)

Downham Market here but used to be Norwich NR2 postcode

Pro's - We STR'd and now have a nice 3 bed det house with garden for a lot less than we could buy for. Also our landlord is great - present for christmas, bottle of Champagne on our Wedding Anniversary etc.
Commuting to London is a little over hr and a quarter, reliable service (far more so than when I used to commute from Norwich - I remember one day getting in at 3:30pm for my 10am meeting!)

Con's - well Downham Mkt as an area is quite frankly sh1t. The town is nothing more than the usual - 6 EA's, about the same in charity shops and a few independent traders (local butcher is fantastic - well worth a visit, meat like it used to be...no added water just plenty of flavour). Tesco etc. for food
Lack of anywhere decent to go for a pint or something to eat - the few good places are over priced IMHO simply because there is no competition, mind you, there is no competition because there is not sufficient demand...most seem happy with sh1t, but then that's Norfolk for you

This is a resident of Norwich NR4 signing in! I am a long standing resident of the area...the only thing I have really noticed here are a few home repossessions, one of which is a bungalow on the opposite side of my road. The sad thing was that it involved a family with three children...this is the downside of the recent housing madness.

On the jobs front we had the news of the liquidation of Zenith Windows involving the loss of some 400 jobs.

Dont forget Marsh too!

What with NU laying off left and right in its slow death as a UK employer, l do wonder what sort of wealth this city expects to have in the future.

Norwich living and working. Renting, sharing, saving. First home will be old, detached and minimum 3 bedrooms, large garden. Or l rent long term from a Norwich landed old boy (once checked out Beeston Hall with serious intentions of renting that on an 18yr lease) or all else fails l emmigrate.

STR in Norwich having returned from Leamington Spa a few years back.

Now going to live abroad for a year or so living off the interest on deposit money, and watching from the sun with popcorn whilst Rome burns.

Having any leaving drinks? =D

Hi. STR'd in July - used to live on Thorpe Marriott. Now renting a fantastic renoveted cottage standing in splendid isolation south of Norwich. Waiting and hoping for the crash, and will buy back in, hopefully mortgage free, when prices return to "normal". I couldn't possibly ever afford the place we now live in, and it costs a couple of hundred more per month than we get in interest on our equity out of the old house, plus the mortgage we were paying. It's worth every penny though for the chance to live in such a dream house in a fantastic quiet location for a year or two. And here's an interesting thing, even if I had the cash to buy a place like this outright, the stamp duty alone would be more than a years rent...... Who says renting is money down the drain!!

Hello, I'm from East Norwich (NR7). Bought a run down ex-LA flat 3.5 yrs ago. Fixed rate mortgage ends in 18 months time, hoping to upgrade then if I can afford to do so.

Quite like to buy in the NR3 (North Norwich) area as property prices there seem quite reasonable compared to other postcodes AND I won't have to walk far from the pubs in the city centre.

Hi All.
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Not sure I belong on this forum but here goes.
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Born in Norwich, Raised in Beccles.
Currently living and working in London like everyone I know from back home who made it to University.
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Renting and saving piling up cash ready to buy back in Suffolk when the time is right.
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ST

I'm In Milton Keynes. Before you ask if I should be in another region, we are on the Anglia TV weather map so yes we are in East Anglia. And Anglia TV used to have a office in the shopping centre. Prices here are still being stubbonly high and we have a business community that is making MK the place to be - live and work. That doesn't help house values.