Would you buy on a council estate?

milliebear00001

poppysarah wrote: »

Does it look like a council house? and is that what she threw a wobbler about.


EX LA houses usually are massive and have decent sized gardens so make great value for money if you're not a snob!

It is actually a reasonably attractive house, and my mum likes the property (she raved about it when she saw the photos). What she doesn't like is that it's clearly on an LA estate. Her particular bugbear was the neighbour opposite with garden furniture in their front garden rather than back (it gets the evening sun!). She thought (from my description) that is was more 'separate' from the rest of the estate, but is in a quad on the opposite side of the road to the rest of the estate. We are as far as you can go before the estate becomes private terraces again, but her first impression is that we are 'living in the middle of a council estate'.

She is a bit prone to knee-jerk reactions though, my mum. She also has a very loose grip on reality when it comes to house buying. This house is what we can afford NOW. It ticks most of our boxes. I might want to move into a 'better' area when I earn more money, but want a secure family home now, not in five years. Everything else (and believe me I've checked, everyday for best part of a year) is out of price range, has two beds, no/patio garden, smaller rooms etc etc.

Cannon_Fodder

All house purchases involve some sort of compromise.

If the "estate factor" hindering resale is a compromise you prefer to make, versus rooms size, garden, price etc, then so be it.

Resale should be pretty near the top of the list, imo, if you will want to move when you earn more money.

woody01

I don't think it depends on the estate at all.
You will ALWAYS have people on an estate that you would not want to live near, regardless of how nice it looks.

To be fair though, i grew up in a council house (street not estate), and it was a great place to live.

woody01

poppysarah wrote: »

Does it look like a council house? and is that what she threw a wobbler about.


EX LA houses usually are massive and have decent sized gardens so make great value for money if you're not a snob!

What's snobby about not wanting to live in a council house.

Why would anyone want to spend half your life paying for a house that was designed and built for families that were low income.

Most council houses are bought by people that grew up in the 'LA' environment. Just because they are now pivately owned, it doesn't automatically mean the neighbours are nice.

mufi

milliebear00001 wrote: »

She is a bit prone to knee-jerk reactions though, my mum. She also has a very loose grip on reality when it comes to house buying.

I'm a mum, probably of offspring around your age.
They've found, after long and bitter experience, that it's best to ignore me. I suggest you do the same:).

milliebear00001

woody01 wrote: »

I don't think it depends on the estate at all.
You will ALWAYS have people on an estate that you would not want to live near, regardless of how nice it looks.

To be fair though, i grew up in a council house (street not estate), and it was a great place to live.

Fair point, but isn't that true of most streets? There is plenty of private housing in my town that is let out to people I wouldn't choose to have as my neighbours. When you buy a house, you might like the neighbours that live there at the time, but what happens if/when they change? It's a gamble for us, but it's a gamble for every house-buyer I think.

I do want the freedom to move eventually though, so the resale is important. I would not be too concerned about selling for less profit than other houses (as this is, to some extent, cancelled out by the fact that I am paying less for it in the first place.

I would be concerned if I couldn't sell it at all though, or it lost value. This scenario seems unlikely to me, given that the houses that are now privately owned, have sold reasonably well in the past - including mine which was bought privately by my vendor, and another backing onto my garden which has been bought and sold twice in the past 6 years (the last one for an exorbitant amount after being completely renovated).

evenasus

milliebear00001 wrote: »

Am I buying a millstone?

I grew up in a council house.

Back in the 60's when I got engaged we (fiance & myself) started saving the deposit for a house. And for the essential items to go in it.

I remember my mother telling me that by buying a house, it would be a millstone round our necks. The new, fairly small three bed semi we saved three years for, cost £3120.00. A lot of money in those days.

I just knew that there was better than 'putting your name on the corporation housing waiting list' as my mother suggested.

Call me a snob if you like but I wanted better than that.

poppysarah

Visit next time it's sunny and see what the neighbours are like.

Loads of ours sit out on the fronts in the evening sun... it's quite pleasant

milliebear00001

evenasus wrote: »

I grew up in a council house.

Back in the 60's when I got engaged we (fiance & myself) started saving the deposit for a house. And for the essential items to go in it.

I remember my mother telling me that by buying a house, it would be a millstone round our necks. The new, fairly small three bed semi we saved three years for, cost £3120.00. A lot of money in those days.

I just knew that there was better than 'putting your name on the corporation housing waiting list' as my mother suggested.

Call me a snob if you like but I wanted better than that.

I'm not sure if you're saying, yes - it will be a millstone because it's ex-LA, or no - it's better to buy your own home if you possibly can?!

milliebear00001

poppysarah wrote: »

Visit next time it's sunny and see what the neighbours are like.

Loads of ours sit out on the fronts in the evening sun... it's quite pleasant

You can't even see the house opposite with the furniture (or anything else) because the bottom of the front garden has tall fir trees growing which completely block the view! I'm not keen on people sitting on their front step with a can of Special Brew (as happens in my mum's road!) but sitting in your own front garden seems reasonable to me?! I suppose she might be concerned about noise/rowdiness in the evening though...