Friend is buying house in a rough area.

nightwatchman

My best mate & next door neighbour have decided to buy a house….
He is a teacher on about £35k
Wife is work on catering on about £14k
House is new build 3 bed on about £185k
They have hardly any savings for deposit (say £2k max).
They will use the government home-buy scam to raise the 25% of the equity.
The rest is on 2 year fixed on about odd 4.9%
From the planed 40 odd homes only 2-3 have been build.
Nothing odd until here.

Now the bad part……
The property is situated in the Lodge road in Birmingham, a stone throw away from the prison……
As a special constable I spent some time serving in the area & I am telling you…… is really bad.

Personally I have a gut feeling that they making a huge mistake, mostly due to the area.
Unfortunately I am not that articulated to put forward a convincing argument against it, and after all it’s only my gut feeling that says no.

If it was anybody but them I would not had bothered to tell them that this is a bad deal, but as I have already said he is my best friend.

Could someone please help me?

dopester

nightwatchman wrote: »

If it was anybody but them I would not had bothered to tell them that this is a bad deal, but as I have already said he is my best friend.

Could someone please help me?

Difficult one. Especially when they've allowed themselves to get really locked into the dream of buying a house. Even when offering reasons why it might make sense to hold off, they may suspect you of just trying to deliberately sour their dreams or not take kindly to your lack of support for their great decision.

There are enough people, who ordinarily you'd think were smart in their own line of work, who genuinely believe we're on the verge of a new boom in house prices. I don't know what course to suggest how you should proceed.

An existing paradigm is seldom dispelled by evidence alone. As Keith Thomas has written, "Such systems of belief possess a resilience which makes them virtually immune to external argument." A people whose culture grossly misinterprets certain facts will not necessarily reason their way to a more encompassing worldview until forced to do so by the brunt of economic necessity or military defeat. Reason does not alter values.

Just taken a trip up that road on Street View. I presume it's one of the homes the have built here (Google Streetview link).

Nice road. There are a few up for sale on that plot on RM and other property-portals. Couple of examples. One - and -- Two.

Emy1501

nightwatchman wrote: »

My best mate & next door neighbour have decided to buy a house….
He is a teacher on about £35k
Wife is work on catering on about £14k
House is new build 3 bed on about £185k
They have hardly any savings for deposit (say £2k max).
They will use the government home-buy scam to raise the 25% of the equity.
The rest is on 2 year fixed on about odd 4.9%
From the planed 40 odd homes only 2-3 have been build.
Nothing odd until here.

Now the bad part……
The property is situated in the Lodge road in Birmingham, a stone throw away from the prison……
As a special constable I spent some time serving in the area & I am telling you…… is really bad.

Personally I have a gut feeling that they making a huge mistake, mostly due to the area.
Unfortunately I am not that articulated to put forward a convincing argument against it, and after all it’s only my gut feeling that says no.

If it was anybody but them I would not had bothered to tell them that this is a bad deal, but as I have already said he is my best friend.

Could someone please help me?

I would not get too involved reardless of the fact that the person is your best friend. As long a you have pointed out the downsides of the area then I would simply leave it down to the person in question to make their own decision.

VfM4meplse

Maybe you could point out that with a bit of imagination any property can become a dream house. A house in the wrong location is easy to buy but a nightmare to sell.

DaddyBear

Sounds like the wrong decision to me, however, when it comes to property people don't seem to listen to others.
If you are going to compromise on something it shouldn't be location. You can improve a house but you can't improve it's location. There are very few good bits of advice that have come out of the property !!!!!! era but the one I stuck by is "buy the worst house in the best area". I think that was from Beeney.

We rent in a very desirable village where 3-beds go for over £400k. However there is a very small street of ex-local authority houses that are now owner occupied. Only 2 have come up for sale in the last 10 years and their price is around half the usual village price. Location is perfect but the houses aren't the cottage-type.
One has just come up for sale, with one of the biggest (and south-facing) gardens in the village. It's a compromise I'm seriously considering, but only because the location is perfect.

amcluesent

> is really bad.<

Possibility of gentrification with more owner occupiers moving in.

wymondham

Difficult one, but they are adults and able to make their decisions/mistakes etc... Being adults, they would have visited the area at various times to checkout what it's like and are obviously happy with it as they are making a big financial and lifestyle commitment. They might not appreciate being told negative things about the area if they are embroiled in the house purchase dream!

I'd bite my tongue - it's their choice and you never know they might like the area once they move in????

Harry_Powell

DaddyBear wrote: »

One has just come up for sale, with one of the biggest (and south-facing) gardens in the village. It's a compromise I'm seriously considering, but only because the location is perfect.

Careful, you might end up as the subject of a 'another Bear bites the dust' thread!

I'd advise you to hold on because with the election and other stuff, house prices will be falling a further 30%. Instead of getting this non-cottage house, you'd be looking at a chocolate box style thatched cottage!!!

Timberrrrrrrr!! :rotfl:

Jonbvn

You cannot get involved in the personal decisions of friends, whether it be their choice of house or choice of spouse.

drc

If a 3 bed new build in a very rough area of Birmingham is priced at £185k :eek: then we as a country are truly !!!!ed.

horsechestnut

As one of the property shows said "buy the worst house in the Best Street; not the best house in the Worst Street" You can change the house. but it takes a lot to improve the area.
Could you perhaps find some other houses in a better area and show them to him?