Buying - small flat in nice area or bigger house in not-so-nice area?

Purleygirl

We had the same choice several years ago and decided to buy bigger in rough area. Big mistake, you can't enjoy a nice big house when you're afraid to walk down the street, have litter knee deep outside your garden, your fence kicked in, drunken louts screaming at night time and waking you up, have eggs thrown at your window, your car keyed, your cat terrorized, your dustbins strewn over the road. It happened to us in Merseyside, I don't exaggerate, we moved away as quickly as we could. Quality over quantity every time...

abankerbutnotafatcat

As others have said, surely there is middle-ground, a compromise between good area and bad area. Where I live it is a safe but not particularly fashionable (a more family-friendly area) so I can walk home safely from the train station but if I want to sip cocktails in a trendy bar I have to go to the neighbouring fashionable and much more expensive suburb which is c1.5 miles away. We do have good wholesome local pubs just not the hip factor.

For the best investment for your future I'd recommend sticking to good fundamentals: two double bedrooms, good transport, area where you feel comfortable walking home from transport and a local shop or two would be a bonus.

Basically, compromising on safety etc isn't a good idea but compromising on having the 'right' postcode could get you space for a lodger and after all areas change - I'm not that old but I remember when Hoxton was a virtual no-go area and when Balham was distinctly a cheap option for those priced out of more expensive SW postcodes.

tim123456789

simplymegreg wrote: »

I am having a similar debate really... Is it best to buy a 1 bed flat in zone 3 of London or a 2 bed flat in zone 4 of London which is commutable by national rail? Surely the 2 bed wins hands down as the potential of a lodger paying c450pm would be very welcome in contributing to mortgage re-payments, especially considering that either properties would cost a similar amount and therefore mortgage would be similar.

No you have an entirely different problem

You have to decide if you want to trade off a longer commute for a bigger house.

This is completely different to "should I live in a nice area or a sh*t-hole one"

tim

mumps

tim123456789 wrote: »

No you have an entirely different problem

You have to decide if you want to trade off a longer commute for a bigger house.

This is completely different to "should I live in a nice area or a sh*t-hole one"

tim

Aren't there any nice areas in Luton, most towns and cities have good and bad areas.

ognum

Location is key!

bluebeary

smaller place in a nice area, every time, did the other a few years and and it was a nightmare

thequant

having had this quandry recently (I live in london), I settled on going for a house, for three reasons.

1) flats are leasehold which brings a load of issues in itself, but a major one is the ever increasing service charges. In london theres loads of problems with the new builds. Some people are paying more in services charges than others are paying in social rents, there's people in shared equity schemes who are paying more in charges than their rent element. Even then it is a substandard "service". In a world of ever tightening budgets, this is going to have an impact on prices.

2) In London houses are in short supply, considering the land shortage in London, very few houses (if any) are ever going to be ever built in the future. Considering the amount of "first steppers" who are in flats, at some point (probably happening now) these people are going to want houses and this pressure will feed through on prices eventually.

3) recent history shows that for london, that todays sh|thole is tommorows "up and coming" area.

Although, these considerations are only really apply if considering the various locations in London, the OP situation is different as they are considering completely different towns.

robatwork

And Jimmy Savile is from Leeds.

Your point is?

thequant

robatwork wrote: »

And Jimmy Savile is from Leeds.

Your point is?

I think the point is that if you are a white family with young girls, you would avoid both Leeds and Luton!

warehouse

St Albans all day long. Luton is going downhill, St Albans will always be desirable to buy in. There is no choice whatsoever.