Found a great house, not sure of the area...

laurawantsahouse

What would you do?

I posted on here the other day about what to offer but am now wobbling about the area.

The area the house is in is nice, a quiet culdesac. But its close to our town centre (5 min walk). Our town is going down hill and has a lot of anti social problems, drunks walking around in the day, drug problems etc.

Should we be put off by this? I dont tend to go into town anymore but am worried about being that close.

So confused! We cant afford to buy outside of town or rent (we rent at the mo).

BitterAndTwisted

The only way to be sure is to carry out some sensible research. Visit the street at different times of the day and night, especially midnight on Friday or Saturday . Knock on doors and ask the neighbours. Maybe even pop round to the local police station and ask them if they've had reason to call there recently

laurawantsahouse

We have been driving around there at various times and it all seems fine. I will go to the police station tonight and ask. Thanks.

Cannon_Fodder

You say you cannot afford outside of town. Usually there are suburbs with a range of property prices. If none of those are in reach, then your budget must be tight for the area.

I see from your other thread, that you are looking to spend less than £120k. Difficult without the region, to be sure about whether this is only 'borderline', or worse...

There will usually be a reason why a house falls into a tight budget. If its not the house itself, which you love, then it is likely to be location, to some degree.

You need to ask friends and family about the area. Google it. See what newspaper reports come up on the road names close by.

See if http://maps.police.uk/ gives you some clues. Not so much in detail about 1 or 2 streets, but comparitively, one area vs another.

paperalice

I completely understand your dilemma.

I found a nice house that had been reduced by £15k into my price range. I had a viewing all arranged and decided to type the street name into google. Turned out that about a week before the price was reduced some houses on the street had been firebombed!

Needless to say, I cancelled the viewing.

I would recommend doing an extra bit of research to make sure you feel safe in your home.

laurawantsahouse

Thanks for the link. It seems that in most areas of the town there are anti social problems. We can only really afford the house if we get it at the cheapest price we can offer.

getmore4less

If it is a genuine dead end for cars and more important pedestrians with no obvious hangout place or problems then it will tend to stay that way for some time but it can change......

What are the mix of occupants.

Where I live over the 12 years we have seen a few changes as the kids around the area grow up. When we move in there were a few groups hanging out with there mates from the not so good area nearby(same schools) they grew up and moved on the current kids play/hang out elsewhere so it is very quiet, in a few years that could all change.

Are all th ehouses in the strret lokking well kept, cars all in good nick etc.
Do most look like they work, check the morning and eening for comings and goings.
Any sign of comminity, people chating at the weekends or a local watch scheme(if there is contact them).

laurawantsahouse

I have just realised why its so well priced! Its right next to a huge helicopter company so low flying is v.common. Not a problem for me as I grew up very near to this house.

Do you think thats something that would put a lot of people off? Helicopters fly so low you could probably see the pilot!

CloudCuckooLand

Big turn off.

cooltt

There's also a free website calle www.upmystreet.com that tells you all about the area.

Hailstorm

The nicest house I viewed was in a dodgy area. It was the nicest house in the street but all the others looked shabby and uncared for, a lot of the cars in the street barely looked roadworthy, etc.

I concluded that the only reason why that house was affordable was because of the street it was in and the asking price was over my budget anyway. I decided I would prefer a lesser house in a nicer area.

I suppose it depends on whether or not an iffy area is the only way you can tick all your boxes. For me there were other places that ticked all my must haves. This house had several extras that I thought it would be nice to have, but none of them were essential to me.