Would you buy on a council estate?

milliebear00001

Hi there

I am awaiting the survey on the house we are planning to buy. It is an ex-Local Authority property on a fairly small, relatively quiet council estate. A few houses (including next door) are now privately owned. The street is right on the edge of the estate with four houses in a quad. All look reasonably well looked-after. The price is approximately £30,000 lower than the same house would be in the next postcode. It is a family-sized, three-bed semi, with a decent garden, in a town where there is a shortage of such properties.

So...all fine, except, my mother has just seen the house, and thrown a wobbly about the estate . I am really upset and it has killed my excitement about buying it. Clearly, I would consider buying on an LA-estate (although it would very much depend on the estate)...but would you, and would most people?

I want to know what my resale prospects will be like in say 4-5 years, when we might be ready to move somewhere else. Am I buying a millstone?

Thanks

Annisele

As you say, it depends on the estate.

In London I wouldn't (generally) have a problem with it at all, so long as it was a house and not a flat. But I definitely wouldn't buy a ex-council property in the village I lived in as a child - that estate was a dump then and remains a dump now.

Mum_of_3_3

Would I buy on the one in my town? No, because it's a real dive, kids living feral, bins being set on fire every night and a big drug problem.

Would I buy one in my Mum's (very large) village in Cornwall? In a heart beat.

It really depends on the Estate. Do you live in the town already? If you do then you must know if it has a reputation or not. If you don't then try to find forums for the town and see if you can get any info that way or drive around after school, on weekends, during various times at night etc.

As far as resale goes, you will always get less for an ex-council house, but as you paid less for it in the beginning this cancels it out.

Squish_21

Totally depends on the estate.

Going by your Mums reaction it sounds like there is a stigma attached to the area? You may not worry about what friends and family think but do you think/have you tried to see what reaction you get from them?

Do loads of research:
- Is there anyone you know who lives there or near there, any friends of friends even?
- Visit at various times of the day and on different including a Friday and Saturday night.
- Check out the crime rate
- Google the street, neighbourings streets and the general area, to see if anything comes up. e.g anti social behaviour etc.

Hope you make the right decision for you in the end.

Lance

Have a look around it at weekends and evening. Do you have a problem with kids playing outside, if so maybe not the place for you. Try and have a look at your neighbours. Walls in exes council house very thin and could hear every sound next door.

dexter_fan

we have previously bought an ex council house. The edge of a reasonable estate- well built 1950's house - solid construction and good size rooms and gardens. As posted before - depends on the estate and also that you will sell for less, but you bought for less

neverdespairgirl

I would have no problem in relation to any supposed "stigma", etc. What I'd care about would be the house itself, the area, the neighbours, etc. Depends, as the others in the thread have said, on the estate.

milliebear00001

Mum_of_3 wrote: »

Would I buy on the one in my town? No, because it's a real dive, kids living feral, bins being set on fire every night and a big drug problem.

Would I buy one in my Mum's (very large) village in Cornwall? In a heart beat.

It really depends on the Estate. Do you live in the town already? If you do then you must know if it has a reputation or not. If you don't then try to find forums for the town and see if you can get any info that way or drive around after school, on weekends, during various times at night etc.

As far as resale goes, you will always get less for an ex-council house, but as you paid less for it in the beginning this cancels it out.

I do live in the town and my mum does not. She lives in a large city and is somewhat paranoid about estates (she grew up on one). I live in a smallish, quiet town where the in-town estates are pretty quiet (unlike the overspill estates outside the town which I would never consider). As far as I know, the estate is 'sniffed at' simply because it is LA - but then I currently live on an executive, private estate with lots of nice, middle-class families who have little experience of council estates. The actual estate seems fine - esp the bit we will be in. I can find nothing about it on forums/newspaper trawls/web searches. Vendor says he gets on well with his neighbours and has never had any criminal activity. Have driven round at various times - always seems quiet on the immediate streets - might try a little further into the estate - kids in park in the evenings, but then I think you get that everywhere now...

Is there anywhere I can look at reported crime/anti-social behaviour by postcode? All I've found is levels for the whole town.

milliebear00001

Lance wrote: »

Have a look around it at weekends and evening. Do you have a problem with kids playing outside, if so maybe not the place for you. Try and have a look at your neighbours. Walls in exes council house very thin and could hear every sound next door.

I'm not overly keen on very young children out by themselves, and while I have seen this on other bits of the estate, it doesn't seem to happen on my road. The family next door have young kids (as do I) and I don't mind a bit of children's noise. Plus, it's a semi, so limited to one side (kitchen/dining/bathroom/second bed) anyway. Neighbours look OK - two families, one older couple.

milliebear00001

dexter_fan wrote: »

we have previously bought an ex council house. The edge of a reasonable estate- well built 1950's house - solid construction and good size rooms and gardens. As posted before - depends on the estate and also that you will sell for less, but you bought for less

Thanks for this Dexter fan. Can I ask if you had any issues with asbestos in your property? Another stick my mum is beating me over the head with is the high use of asbestos in 1950s LA houses!

kr15snw

I live in a ex council house. All but 2 houses in our street are now privately owned.

If it wasn't for the fact that all the houses are identical and very basic you wouldn't know as our street is lovely! (2 streets away another story!)