Friend is buying house in a rough area.

ruggedtoast

drc wrote: »

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.

Thats what I thought. Why is it so expensive?

C_Mababejive

Leaving aside your friends circs..i would just say that due to BTL landlords...your "nice" area could soon become a bad area due to benefits tourists who no longer wish to live in social housing but prefer a "nice semi" somewhere nice..i.e next door to you..

phil_b_2

drc wrote: »

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.

Would have to agree with that. A dodgy area near a prison at that price? It must be a mansion (with 3 really huuugeee bedrooms).

andykn

It's a sign of the bizarre expectations when a 3 bedroom house (bigger than many people will ever live in) is seen as a first time buyer property. And can't save more than 2k out of a combined income of 50k.

And what's "bad" about the area anyway? Malaria? Prone to flooding? Earthquake risk?

Or just the people that live there?

Ron2256

It seems very expensive for West Brom and it's on a busy road.
Instead, they could get this click for 122.5k a few street away.

wymondham

.... and because people are prepared to buy at that price in a bad area purely for the benefit of owning a house is why house prices make no logic and go up silly amounts....

One good thing though is that if they build new houses in bad areas there must come a point whereby the owners take pride in the local environment and so the area goes up in this world..?

Spartacus_Mills

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 know the area well, it is dreadful.

You have to let them make their own mistakes but you may want to, as someone else has said, caution them about hanging on til the election has passed and hope they see sense.

fc123

Spartacus_Mills wrote: »

I know the area well, it is dreadful.

You have to let them make their own mistakes but you may want to, as someone else has said, caution them about hanging on til the election has passed and hope they see sense.

I know :j Tell them not to commit to anything until after The Election...then persuade them to take on a 6 month rental there...just to see. We did it...best thing ever as you get to try out an area.

You could spin it with 'after The Election prices may fall da de da and so on. Just get them to rent there for 6 months before committing to a purchase. If they do that and then decide to buy, then no worries.

I have lived in very lowlife areas and they are not that bad when you get to know the neighbours (who turn out to be PLU's ''people like us'') . People make an area and he will be one of them.

nembot

Help them do their research properly, plenty of information for buyers online, detailing what they should be doing. Talking to a few (not just one) locals, driving round at different times of the day, checking crime statistics etc.

If after this due diligence process, they want to go ahead - so be it.

nightwatchman

Thanks for your replies.

I am afraid that my friend has been suckered for the homebuy direct scam that makes it looks like he is getting a gifted deposit (a loan really although on low interest).

If his income was somewhat lower I would had run the numbers through a mortgage calculator to make him see that in the long run is not a good deal.
However a £190k mortgage is affordable on his wage (for the time at list).
The first 2 years the rate is fixed….. but havens knows what the rates may be after that.

Maybe my best course of action would be to recommend us having a walk through the area at 02:00 AM on a Saturday night.

And again all is pot luck really…. he could listen to my advise, buy in another area & end next to a neighbour from hell.

Hmmm….. on another thought it may be only that I don’t want him to move because he is a good neighbour.

Man….. that sucks….