Where to live, Belfast?

C_Mababejive

saverbuyer wrote: »

Let me guess you're from London or the SE?

£135,000 not too much money...

No..I currently live in England. My parents and their parents before them and a few other generations before them all lived in Co Antrim. My parents are from the Glenariffe /Skerry area. I still have relatives in NI though i do not visit frequently. I wonder if it might be a possible retirement possibility?

wanchai_2

OP - rent in an area before buying!

I would stick to South Belfast tbh. Lisburn Road, Ormeau and Stranmillis are your best bets. They're the safest, most diverse and, well, nicest areas. The 'nicer' bits of East Belfast are OK but you wouldn't be able to walk home at night as you'd have to go through all the horrible parts!!!

Don't touch North Belfast with a bargepole.

C_Mababejive wrote: »

OMG (and as an aside) i just rightmoved Belfast and 40 miles around. My but you can get a lot of house for not too much money. Are things going to get worse?

Yes. A lot worse.

A.L.D.A

C_Mababejive wrote: »

No..I currently live in England. My parents and their parents before them and a few other generations before them all lived in Co Antrim. My parents are from the Glenariffe /Skerry area. I still have relatives in NI though i do not visit frequently. I wonder if it might be a possible retirement possibility?

You could do worse, but with our weather you seldom have to worry about a hose pipe ban. On the other hand it seldom gets really cold. The winter before last being a rare exception.

If it is retirement keep public transport in mind, some parts are a lot worse served than others. I am sitting in a room with views across the sea to Scotland, regular rail service into Belfast, sailing, golf, horse riding all local and walks. Traffic is never that terrible locally and levels of crime exceedingly low. But a lot of small towns are slowly losing services, post offices, banks etc.

saverbuyer

C_Mababejive wrote: »

No..I currently live in England. My parents and their parents before them and a few other generations before them all lived in Co Antrim. My parents are from the Glenariffe /Skerry area. I still have relatives in NI though i do not visit frequently. I wonder if it might be a possible retirement possibility?

All the properties displayed on rightmove are from one agent Reeds Rain. Average wage here is around 22k, much much lower I'd imagine in Glenravel/Skerry so it may seem like value for money to you - but still very expensive for people earning their money here. We have very different views as to what is "not too much money", thought we had similay views before our housing crash in 2007.

So in answer to your question on how bad it will get.

It's going to get worse here, a whole lot worse.

BigAndy_79

sansie wrote: »

I'd highly recommend the Ormeau area, and you would definitely get value for your money at that price!

Ormeau is very up-and-coming, you have forrestside at the top of it, and you can quickly get onto the motorway to head north via Ravenhill.

I live right beside Ormeau bakery, and its quiet, safe area, Dunnes is handy for shopping, great bars, excellent Vineyard offlicence, great restaurants (Macau, Grafitti, Gaze etc. ) Great takeaways, and only 20mins walk into town, or buses every 5 minutes!

Yeah, I second this. I lived on Haypark Avenue for a year and agree with everything said in the above post.

Another place to consider is the Bloomfield area of east Belfast. I have lived here for two years and it is excellent for retail and shopping with Connswater and also Bloomfield shops on Beersbridge and Bloomfield Avenue. Is an up-and-coming area and you can walk to the city centre in about half an hour, should it be that you enjoy walking. There are also great bus links from that area, along Albertbridge Road & Beersbridge Road. . .

wanchai_2

BigAndy_79 wrote: »

Yeah, I second this. I lived on Haypark Avenue for a year and agree with everything said in the above post.

Another place to consider is the Bloomfield area of east Belfast. I have lived here for two years and it is excellent for retail and shopping with Connswater and also Bloomfield shops on Beersbridge and Bloomfield Avenue. Is an up-and-coming area and you can walk to the city centre in about half an hour, should it be that you enjoy walking. There are also great bus links from that area, along Albertbridge Road & Beersbridge Road. . .

I have friends who bought in Bloomfield as they couldn't afford Ormeau/Stranmillis during the boom, and boy do they bitterly regret it. It's not as great an area as the EAs make out, and they can't walk home of an evening. Wouldn't fancy it myself. You have to go through some v. dodgy areas to get into town or home. :eek: OP - ever heard of the Short Strand?