Buying a house not facing onto a road

Fight_Club

hi, I hope this question isn't to silly.

I am a nervious FTB and and want to make sure that the cash I've been saving for years doesn't go into a "dud", even if I like it.

This house here:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-23489260.html?sortByPriceDescending=false&minPrice=90000&maxPrice=100000&pageNumber=2&backToListURL=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2FLincoln.html%3FsortByPriceDescending%3Dfalse%26minPrice%3D90000%26maxPrice%3D100000%26index%3D10

is something I quite like. However there is something niggling me. It doesn't face onto a road, but just a path with other houses on the other side of that path.

Would you says this is a good or a bad thing?

you can see better on the map if you swop it to "satellite".

Thanks for your time. any thoughts would be appreciated.

silvercar

Well it will be quieter.

Are there a lot of houses like this in the area? If so, it may be quite normal and not viewed as an oddity.

I would visit at night so you can see how well lit the pathways are. You may feel vunerable walking from the road to your front door alone in the dark.

googler

Nearest point of road access may be a concern if you drive, and spend a lot of time taking things back and forth between your house and your car.
If you don't have a car, it won't be a concern to you, but it might limit the buyer base if/when you do come to sell.

muskoka

I personally don't like houses that kids are likely to play outside & disturb my peace. Depends really if you've got young kids, then it works. If your kids have grown up - then it dosen't

Ulfar

What provision for parking is there ?

If there is parking provided, do you have to pay for the upkeep.

If there is no parking then this can be a big issue maybe not for you but it will be when you come to sell.

Fight_Club

Many thanks for your comments so far but I don't think any of them would affect my decision:

Silvercar: I'm a six foot bloke who will be living on my own and it's not to bad an area so not to fussed about feeling vulnerable. Obviously I don't want bad neighbours but I guess that's a different issue. Secondly there are only about 8 houses in this "off-road" bit so it's not much of a walk to the front door.

Googler: road access isn't a problem as there is a garage around the back. So you would drive up park in your garage and go in the house through the back I guess.

Musoka: the kids playing outside could be an issue I guess, but as there are only 8 houses, and theres a huge park a few hundred metres away I'm hoping that wouldn't be much of an issue.

Any more comments? I'm trying to work out if I would have trouble reselling it - I myself don't have an issue with any of its features including the fact it' not on a road but all comments are welcome as you may help me think of something I haven't already.

Fire_Fox

My property has poor access due to a bus route and heavily restricted parking (even for loading). This is a problem when moving in and out, getting tradesmen to work on the property, bringing in groceries or having heavy items delivered. If you can see how this would work in that property then you have no real issue, as others have said the place should be quiet!

LondonSurgeon

Pros - quiet, might be nice neighbourly feel

Cons - quiet, can be dangerous at night, difficult for deliveries, difficult to move things

Would recommend visiting couple of times during day and night and see how it is in real life.

Other option is to check with local police station and see if there is any trouble in the area.

00ec25

there are whole estates built like that in Trowbridge in wiltshire. I looked at a few on them and my thoughts at the time were:
- the whole weight of the house is backwards. Hardly anyone ever set foot out the front and whenever I checked out the area people were always coming and going from the rear access.
- Parking was a nightmare as there was no space for visitor in the garage access road and describing how to find it was a pain when the visitor could be parking 100s of metres away and have no idea which footpath to go up to find the numbered front door.
- it was quite out the front

I did not take against them particularly but I found a much better "conventional" house and would stick with that again - provided it has a reasonable size front garden so you are set back from the road

star_ka

When reading this post, i felt i should share my experience.

We used to own a house that only had access from a footpath. It was lovely living there with no noisy cars!

If you are concerned about resale, we had no problems in selling our house, just we had to pay an indemnity insurace policy on the path to ensure the access way.

I hope whatever your decision is that it will be for the best.;)

scaredlady

my sister lives in a similar propert, and many year ago i lived in the same property. I can't think of any problems we had.as someone else said deliveries are all done to back door.