Moving to new area-need advice!

Peanut81

Hello,


I am hoping some people on here might be able to help me with a decision to move to Helsby in Cheshire. We live in south Liverpool at the moment and are relocating closer to where me and my boyfriend work. We have found a lovely house, 3 bedrooms, very spacious, nice garden, and this is an ex-council house, which is no worry, but we are concerned that some of the other houses on the street are still council owned.


We have had two viewings now and it was very quiet both times (viewed in the evening then in the day time) and we have also checked out the crime on the street and surrounding areas and that seems fine to. Should we be concerned about the council owned houses and who might move into these or are we just being snobby? (please feel free to tell me if I am!) It is the only thing stopping us from putting in an offer. We know that Helsby and Frodsham are both lovely places to live and it's just narrowing this down to the actual street we want to live on.


This is our first house and want to get this right!


Thanks in advance for any help and advice

tea-bag

Snobby! I live in a ex council house the rules are much stricter now and councils have more powers that they used to.

On our street is a mix of council and ex council the ones who gave the biggest problem around here was renting a ex council house privately! the the problem was only 16 year olds on a moped! which they grew out of in less that a year!

Peanut81

Thanks for your help! Do you live in the Helsby area?

Hoploz

I wouldn't worry about whether houses are technically council owned, housing assoc or private, I would worry about the general feel of the road/area. If the houses are maintained, the gardens are neat and there are cars in the driveways that's what I want of my neighbours. If there are a load of transit vans parked willy-nilly, old fridges chucked in the front gardens, noisy kids and toddlers roaming about unsupervised with nappies hanging down to their knees, piles of random rubbish all over the place, and rottweilers tied up on rope leads outside their houses that's when I would run for the hills.

Peanut81

Hey Hoploz! Thank you and this is a great help. We're going to have a drive over there again this week and have a walk around abit more and get a feel for the area. I suppose apart from the telltale signs you mention above, that's the only way to find out for sure!

bnegative

Peanut81 wrote: »

Hey Hoploz! Thank you and this is a great help. We're going to have a drive over there again this week and have a walk around abit more and get a feel for the area. I suppose apart from the telltale signs you mention above, that's the only way to find out for sure!

Best option available to you,park up and have a slow walk around the imediate area of the house your looking to buy.

Then pop back in the evening and repeat if still concernd.

We relocated within the UK and spent a fair few saturdays getting a feel for the area. The only issue we found which was not expected was on saturdays our road turns into a car park for a local football stadium.

jbainbridge

Helsby is quiet - maybe too quiet for some. I expect the crime figures will be low ... although the large bike shop was completely turned over a couple of weeks ago (very organised robbery - won't have been local).

Have a wander round. Walk up the hill. Hope you like it!

Peanut81

Hey, thanks for your advice and we definitely need to spend some more time just checking out the area. People keep saying to me that you should know straight away if the house is right for you and if we're taking too long then it not "the one". To be honest I'd rather go with my head than my heart on this!

jbainbridge

Join the Helsby and Frodsham facebook groups (both closed) ... then you can see what people moan about!!

Peanut81

That's a good idea! I'll look that up