location verses house - your opinion please!

adindas

Location, location, location. It is not a rocket science.

An extreme case choose between

"Palace, in the middle of nowhere, the jungle" No access to transportation, no shopping center. No pub/bar night club, no restaurant.

Or

Ordinary house in the city center

Which one do you choose ??

You could refurbish your house but you will not be able to change your neighborhood.

robatwork

adindas wrote: »

Location, location, location. It is not a rocket science.

"Palace, in the middle of nowhere, the jungle" No access to transportation, no shopping center. No pub/bar night club, no restaurant.

Or

Ordinary house in the city center

Not such a clear choice.... no bar/night club/restaurant may sound intolerable to you, to others it's exactly what they are looking for

hcb42

i normally say location location location, but those houses are poles apart, the new one is faceless, go for the old one!

londonlydia

The thing is with location though is that it's a personal thing. Don't buy a house based on who you will sell it to in 10 years if it's going to be your home for years. Base location on you, what you need and what would make you happy. Many people dream their whole lives of living in a detached cottage with beams in the middle of nowhere, to me that's absolute hell!

Maybe if you go to view these properties (again), why not ask the owners about their neighbours? If they talk openly, it may indicate a thriving neighbourhood. Maybe even ask about any local clubs etc.

For those asking about the house price, I'm guessing it's cheap because it's in the NE. Shocking when you compare to the SE isn't it?

mqandy

I think it depends a bit on your situation...

We bought our flat because we realised we could and it beats renting... We probably won't stay here more than a few years, so the area didn't seem too important to us.

In actual fact, while the flat itself is probably the nicest property we've ever seen in our price range, after being here a year, being in a less brilliant area is starting to bug us a bit more.

We don't feel like joining in community type events, walking around the town, etc, as much as we might have done in a less nice property somewhere else.

So lesson learnt for next time; any time you want to stick around and fully settle, get the nicest area you can!

mqandy

Crumbs, I've just realised your huge 4 bed properties are about the same price as my 2 bed flat down here in the rural South...

adindas

mqandy wrote: »

Crumbs, I've just realised your huge 4 bed properties are about the same price as my 2 bed flat down here in the rural South...

Yeep. That is again because of location, location, location. If you could buy a property in the third worlds you could even get a Mansion for that price.

littlesaint

It is a difficult one. I am from the north east originally and know Stockton a little, though not terribly well. I do prefer the larger house, it is gorgeous! And I wouldn't really be happy on a new build estate.

My advice would be to find out more about the area around the bigger one. But also be aware that things can change. Maybe in a few years time someone might spend money in the area, the LA estate might be demolished. The local school might get turned around. If you and your OH have some spare time then maybe you could get involved as governors or in reading programmes to support the school (with the added bonus that it could help with its league table position).

Maybe in that area there is a sense of community that you wouldn't find in a housing estate - don't forget criminals often target nice areas well away from where they actually live. In Newcastle there are loads of burglaries in Jesmond many of which are carried out by people from other areas.

jackieb

Location for me. You can change and improve your house but you can't change its location.

I've just done a u-turn! Just looked at the links to the houses and much prefer the older one! The new one seems to be squeezed in amongst its neighbours.

littlesaint

Looking again, I would definitely go for the first one. Doesn't look a bad area at all. Street full of semis, respectable housing. It looks closer to the town centre and on the new build estate you would be reliant on your car.