Before I start whining about my situation, I’d first like to make it clear that I do consider myself lucky to be on the property ladder at all and would hate to be in my early 20s now, and trying to get on the first rung!

I bought my flat in St Albans nearly 11 years ago now. It has two bedrooms, a spacious living room, a patio and small communal gardens and does me nicely but I’m getting itchy feet. I need a change of scene, a bit of an upgrade, the chance to go upstairs to bed and the privacy of a bit of a garden – and therein lies the problem!

Yes, I have made a lot of money on my flat which was quite a bargain even ten years ago, but even though its value has risen probably about 200 per cent, it’s still not enough to get a bigger place and stay in the city where I currently live.

Option 1: If I doubled my mortgage, which is just about possible (although I’d have to downgrade my lifestyle somewhat – and it’s not exactly lavish at the moment!) I could possibly manage a two-bedroomed cottage, but nowhere near the centre of St Albans.

I’m on the outskirts now and would need to look at some of the surrounding areas such as Park Street. But even here the choice at that price is limited and to be honest – I would only be moving to a similar property but on two levels instead of one and any garden I could enjoy wouldn’t be terribly private!

Why pay DOUBLE OR MORE what I’m paying now, for a similar sized property but with a different view? So – what to do?

Option 2: Well – I could do what many of my friends have done and move to areas north of Luton, such as Toddington and Barton, where for my money I could buy a relative palace! Three or four bedrooms, a big garden – maybe even room for a shed! And still not far away from my family.

Problem solved you might think. Well – not exactly. You see apart from being reluctant to lose my lucrative piece of land in St Albans, I also have to consider my career. I currently work 12 miles from my home, a place that I drive to, but to further my career I can see that commuting to London again is a possibility.

The cost of this is astronomical enough from St Albans, but move further out and it could easily negate any savings I’d made from moving away. Plus, when I worked in London before, I sometimes felt that I just used my home to sleep in. If I moved further away from the capital this feeling could get worse.

A job in London maybe some time off, but it needs to be considered, and if I move out of St Albans it would be difficult to move back without downgrading again. Although by then, somebody might have a garage I could live in, or maybe even a garden shed!

Then again, I do spend a lot of social time north of Birmingham and going further up the M1 corridor would cut my journey time and costs somewhat – AAAGGGGH too much to think about!

So onto Option 3! What I had been considering was renting out my St Albans flat AND moving northwards and was tentatively looking at figures. And at first glance, this seems like the best idea.

But I also know that my mortgage has risen a couple of times in the past couple of months and with warnings that property prices are set to fall dramatically, I along with many other people feel that it may be a very bad time to buy now. So I think I’ll hang on a bit and see what happens!

I know people who went through negative equity hell in the early 90s and don’t want to add THAT problem to my life unnecessarily.

In fact the house price warning has been a godsend! I can now delay my decisions – and have a good excuse for it – other than just being pathetic!

Cling on
But, when all’s said and done, part of me wants to cling on to St Albans because it’s my home, and in the past decade I have seen it lose its community feeling beyond all measure, so some of us need to stay!

It seems that many people move there from London, just to commute back into the capital. House prices have risen beyond belief and the people who have lived there as youngsters have to move away from their home town if they want to own property.

If people in rural areas complain that people from cities are pushing up their property prices, then please remember that the same thing is happening to us!

Also, if more people were able to live where they worked, it may ease the daily traffic congestion as around 40,000 people attempt to get into St Albans every morning – as I struggle to get out of it!

Plus - I like St Albans. It’s a nice place to live; I don’t necessarily want to base myself a long way away from it.

And thinking about moving and thinking about my career all at the same time is just too stressful – I just wish I had a crystal ball – well a reliable one at least!

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The Gardener's Diary