Did my ears deceive me?

poopscoop

JenIttels wrote:

It's a lovely estate and is choca with well off people with BMWs (i realise that's a generalisation btw). I don't know if there are many key worker or similar properties about but there're no crumbling caravans or burnt out cars!

Sorry, but well off people don't drive BMWs The majority of working people do though.

MORPH3US

Have seen this first hand, newish estate in one of the areas that we were looking at in the midlands. From the front of the estate it looks like large, well spaced out houses priced at (i would guess) about £500,000+ surrounded by fields, big gardens etc etc.

Then crammed in (hidden) at the back are about 30 houses in the space of about 4 of the larger houses. These were obviously the affordable housing requirements imposed on the developers!!

As people said above, they are probably more likely to be shared ownership / just smaller terrace / semi family homes than the larger ones which are more likely to be detatched with bigger gardens etc.

M

livinginhope

Hi PBH,didn't say you did want to keep up with the Jones' just pointed out that the 6 months spent on one of these estates was exactly like that.Felt just like the film with Jim Carry,can't remember the name,when everyone does the same things,same cars,same jobs,even probably use the loo at the same time,totally unbearable.
Forgot to add that although the road we lived on had no social housing,around 60% were buy to let,so even if you think you are safe,you may not be.
We once bought a house on a private road and had the neighbour from hell living next door,rats,vandalism to our cars,threats to kill and excrement in the front garden to name a few.We couldn't do anything about getting him out because he owned his home,only complain to environmental health,just shows that you can't judge people from their address.

char9

Having lived on a very similar new build estate a couple of years ago, I would point out that whatever you think of the people who are in affordable housing, they aren't likely to be "living next door" as such.

Where I lived, and on other places I have seen, there was a small street on the edge of the development which belonged to a housing association. And these houses were usually smaller and not as nice as the so-called 'paid for" ones - although people do pay rent in affordable homes sometimes you know.

Ironically, a few years down the line, my OH and I have bought an ex council house because it was the only way we could afford to live in the pretty London area we have loved renting in so much. And I am perfectly happy with my ex-council and council neighbours.

lynzpower

Also to note that in this development my flat 197000 ( affordable SO) other non affordable flats, same layout inside (250-275k) Ive got a garden, they dont. However, they have much nicer taps & door handles than me :rolleyes:

Someone somewheres being ripped off.

lauraaurora

I consider myself to be a well-brought up, well rounded and socially aware person.

I moved into a Shared Ownership new-build property 6 months ago. I'm a media professional, and due to the industry I work in I have an ample, but not huge salary. My boyfriend is slowly working his way up the career ladder and so could be on a better salary, but we all have to start somewhere.

Four years ago I lived with my ex in a £175,000 two bed property, but then when we split up I had to rent a flat.

When I met my current boyfriend we wanted to buy a place together, but prices had gone up far too much for us to buy anything.

If you honestly think that I am the kind of person you need to be worried about, then I pity your lack of knowledge about Shared Ownership and young people like myself who just can't afford anything. And before you suggest otherwise, all of my neighbours in the Shared Ownership section are just as nice and considerate as me. If anything, the bad parking and inconsiderately bright garden lights (don't ask!) are coming from the other end of the estate.

I just hope you don't end up in a situation that's out of your control, where you have to get a Shared Ownership house. And no, we don't get anything for nothing; we pay our mortgage, and then we pay our rent on the other half to the Housing Association. They're the people who are benefiting more than we are.

Mirtos

PBH, I totally see your point of view, BUT FYI, my partner and I both have masters degrees from two of the best colleges in the world, we are polite and considerate and very eager to find a home we can love. Alas, the only way in hell we'll ever be able to afford to buy a home is probably through an "affordable housing" or shared ownership scheme. - With any luck, you'll end up living next door to us! I grew up in a very well to do and sought after neighbourhood, and our neighbours permanently had a beat up old banger and miscelleaneous car parts strewn across their front lawn. Some people are inconsiderate slobs, regardless of social background - if you want to avoid that, the only way is to go and live on a desert island!

garethl_2

Just to add my two pennies worth. I was brought up on a rough council estate. I'm degree educated and very respectable (I like to think). My Mum lives in a council house, not the one I was brought up in as a youngster. She has fantastic views and quiet neighbourhood. I live on a sought after private estate. I have neighbours with a dog that barks all hours of the day and it's driving me to insanity. I'm in the process of logging the noise for the env. agency to act on it, and making plans to move back to my Mums council owned house, because it's simply a better quality of life. But what I'm getting at is that people who pay through the nose for their own property are not necessarily nice considerate people. Quite the opposite in some cases. And people living in council houses can be extremely well educated and considerate. People's personalities are not governed by the type of property they live in. Though I do admit some council tennants are coucnil tennants because noone else will take them on... these people are a nuisance but an exception to the rule rather than the norm.

madfrenchgirl

just one thing: NIMBY ALERT!

If poor people keep on being stacked up in council estates, then you end up with a ghetto culture and how do you get out of it?

chugalug

I think what the OP can take from this discussion is that there are good and bad neighbours wherever you live!!!

Perhaps we need to not generalise about people by the type of housing they have? I for one can't afford a mortgage and tbh don't really want one but I pay my own rent. I'm lucky, I live in a converted property in an expensive part of town. Estates were always a bad idea so thank goodness we're moving away from that. And to live on a private estate in 'suburbia' would be my idea of hell.