Buying property in Luton/Bedford a good idea?

Butterfly_Brain

Luton is a dive and Dunstable has no train station and being in central beds council it has one of the highest council taxes in the country and is the M1's bypass, I know I live there, but it is much better than Luton or Houghton Regis.
If you want a London link why not try Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead, Leighton Buzzard or Ampthill all have train stations.

jackyann

It does depend on what you want.

My very personal opinion is that your home should be somewhere you can be comfortable in all senses of the word. If you get it just for investment, you may end up miserable. Prices (and the perception of areas) go up & down like school socks.
I also think that a lot of places are what you make them, and if enough people don't / can't contribute to their community, then it will end up as a "dive". There are a lot of parts of Luton & Bedford that aren't (but for £100k you've not much choice)
However, the problem with Dunstable is that the traffic has sucked the life out of it - there are people living there who never go into the town itself. I have been saying for over 30 years that it needs a tunnel - everyone said I was barmy - but now I see Hindhead has one!! Surely it's not because more influential people live in Sussex than in Beds!!!

I now live back in my native east / north northants - love it - 3 bed terraced house with garden but no garage in our street is in your price bracket. If you come here, join in, become one of us, you may never want to leave!
Kettering to KingsX is 1 hour, and you can change at Bedford or Luton for the north London / City stations. Where I live (I don't commute though) I have a 20 minute drive to Bedford train station.

pootleflump

I live in the bedfordshire countryside between Bedford and Luton. You couldn't pay me to live in either of the 2 places. How about Flitwick? It's got the train station with great links to London and seems to be pretty well-priced.

SuzieSue

I know someone who used to live in LU3 1EY in a terraced house and it wasn't too bad. I think there are some flats around there too.

RobertoMoir

J_i_m wrote: »

Lol, "the attraction of Luton"

Both Bedford and Luton have some pretty rough areas, I personally wouldn't want to live in either.

Fair enough, live wherever you want and all, but just about every town or city or even big village you visit these days will have their 'pretty rough area' and they'll have a 'pretty damn nice area' too and probably plenty of variations inbetween.

Have you considered Dunstable? That's near enough to the M1 and train station for links into London. And it's also slightly less offensive than Luton.

I think you either haven't been to Dunstable in a very long time or you need to have a bit of a lie down. It's not really any different to Luton; good and bad bits in other words, except that the traffic's even worse from what I can see.

SuzieSue

RobertoMoir wrote: »

Fair enough, live wherever you want and all, but just about every town or city or even big village you visit these days will have their 'pretty rough area' and they'll have a 'pretty damn nice area' too and probably plenty of variations inbetween.
.

Agreed, you could be living in a multimillion pound property in Chelsea and there could be a rough area a couple of streets away.

Even villages can be blighted by anti-social behaviour as many MPs in rural areas have said in the past.

usa1

Hi

I would suggest Wigmore or Stopsley area of Luton as it has easy access to Luton Parkway. Avoid Dunstable as it has no train link to the City and as another poster has already said very high council tax and is clogged with traffic all the time.

I dont know whether you have secondary school aged children, but the state secondary schools in Luton area are hell holes, primary schools are just about ok.

ShAnE

jackyann wrote: »

I have been saying for over 30 years that it needs a tunnel - everyone said I was barmy - but now I see Hindhead has one!! Surely it's not because more influential people live in Sussex than in Beds!!!

As a resident of Surrey, I would like to thank the influential people living in Sussex for building us the most expensive stretch of road in Britain.

leachyd

Check out leighton buzzard. I just moved there, cheap, pleasant enough, reasonably well served locally, and 30 minutes commute to Euston from the train station.

NellABC

Hello,

I would definitely say buy in Bedford. Having decided not to buy in St Albans, Hitchin or Harpenden because of inflated property prices, I chose to buy a house in Bedford in an area called Castle Area. The properties are simply beautiful and characterful and the area is situated next to the river and Russell Park. In Castle area alone, there are many good shops and eateries, such as a tapas bar, an Italian supermarket, an organic fruit and veg shop, a cupcake shop, a delicatessen that sells fabulous cheese and wine, an art gallery, antique shops, the list is endless. Moreover, it is a friendly neighbourhood with a sanguine community feel. On the fast train, a trip to London is no problem at all, about thirty five minutes into St Pancras. Another nice area is Prime Ministers. It is even closer to the train station and you get more for your money there. Again, properties are full of character and it is so close to Bedford Park which is truly lovely. I would really encourage you to buy here, I think Bedford really is up and coming, especially with the improved train links. In fact, it was even named by the telegraph as a property hotspot in 2012. Hope this is helpful.