The image of the flat cap and whippets went years ago, although in reality it has been decades since the miners and shipyards dominated the workforce and anyone who has not visited Newcastle in recent years has starved themselves of culture, friendly people and a city that is going places.
The Newcastle housing market though, is spread over different areas and a huge variance in home prices and property, even though, Newcastle is still seems to be one of the cheaper places to buy a home, or raise a mortgage for in the UK.
A lot of traditional housing estates still reside in Newcastle and even though a lot of money has been imputed to improve the immediate local area, they still come with some stigma and therefore low property prices. Some homes in these areas can be bought very cheaply in deed, and in fact many buy to let operators out side the Tyneside area have come in, bought a lot of property and then rented these out, with good profit.
But as these areas diminish there are many newer more upmarket properties right across the Newcastle area, offering a great quality of life with home prices well below what you pay down South. With good transport into Newcastle and even driving is not as bad as many other cities, Newcastle does have a lot offer a home buyer.
The biggest issue with many Tyneside jobs though, is that they don't often offer a high enough salary to cover the higher deposits required by mortgage lenders in today's market. It is quiet ironic that the Northern Rock the local building society was one of the first UK financial institutions to get into trouble during this credit crunch period, and one of the reasons given by financial experts, was the fact they offered the 125% mortgage deal, when it was not sustainable when home prices failed to increase to the levels they had done in previous years. As a sponsor of the local football term a lot of North East home buyers did trust Northern Rock with their mortgage options.
Living in Newcastle there is a sense that life is for enjoyment, so saving for that mortgage, with lower wages could be just that bit harder for the Northern Lad or Lass. Although there are many areas to Newcastle, the river Tyne plays a big part in splitting the area into two, with sometime totally different football clubs being followed as well as shopping habits.
But as far a mortgage hunters go, the options are the same and excluding some of the estates that have an image problem, which is sometimes and unfair one property prices are pretty similar for the same type of house throughout this area. However if you move another 30 minutes north, houses can be cheaper still and that 30 minute drive into Newcastle is nothing compared to what many suffer in London and other city areas.
The local people have the name Geordies, which they are proud to be called, a great local accent and a passion for life. It is a great place to live if you can find a job that pays a good enough salary to allow you to be able to save and qualify for a mortgage within this area.
Mark is webmaster for Independent Mortgage Adviser Newcastle and Independent Mortgage Broker Newcastle
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Flanighan
