Nice house bad area or bad house nice area?

alexlyne

Let's assume we're not talking about streets with drug dens/ gangs etc (chance's are there's not gonna be a 'nice' house on this kind of street anyway).

Has anyone thought they were moving into a bad area, to find it to actually be quite good actually?

What do you consider to be a 'bad' area?

For me, I have had a rather middle class upbringing. For me, the thought of living on what may have once been a council estate is a bit unappealing. There are pockets of houses that have obvioulsy caring owners, and make their homes look nice. There are also the ones that still have rusty cars on bricks and overgrown front gardens. All the houses are made of either red brick, or grey pebbledash. So I'm not stereotyping the people in the area, more the drabness of most of the houses when driving through. I would consider a cul-de-sac location with a few houses, assuming that when I drive past, I don't see kids playing football off parked cars and sitting on walls smoking.

A bad house in my opinion, is one that ideally needs work before moving in, antiquated plumbing/electrics, awful wallpaper superglued to the walls, ancient boiler. Council-grant style double glazing (i.e. the cheapest that can be bought, and a bad job of doing them).. All things that whilst live-withable in the short-term, would need serious money to turn the house into a cosy home.

So to put this into my opinion, I think overall, the area would have to be nicer than the house. But the house can't be trully awful either :think:

maninthestreet

Location, Location, Location - you can improve the house, you can do nothing about it's location.

jenny74

Agree with man, definately location every time.

clutton_2

if funds are a problem buy the worst house in the best area

mum2g1b

Definitely location. Buy worst house on best street!

Debras_Angel

everytime the worst house on the best street. Though any street can include the kids playing football!

Never underestimate the importance of location, you can live to regret it.

Debs

Pee

You are probably never going to find a house that looks just the way you want it, so starting off with something you have to change can make more sense. (Whilst i wouldn't really want a pink bathroom, I wouldn't have paid out for a new bath so quickly had it been pink instead of the awful avocado green...)

Ex council houses do usually have that look about them, but there are structurally worse built places to live...

AdrianW2

alexlyne wrote: »

Let's assume we're not talking about streets with drug dens/ gangs etc (chance's are there's not gonna be a 'nice' house on this kind of street anyway).

You may be surprised at where drug dealers live.

QTPie

Agree with everyone else... you can do an awful lot to change a house (and make it what you want), but you cannot change it's location.

DEFINITELY location.

QT

hostiegirl

I agree with everyone else I also would want a house in a nicer area, and that is exactly what we have just bought it needs work.
Could have bought a 4 bed detatched for same money where we are now but a 3 bed detatched in better area wins hands down for me.