"Nice" Road Premium and getting people "in the door"

jodiepoke

Side note: I've just purchased a 3 bed "semi" (end of terraced) on the "wrong side of the river" in Eynesbury.

I would say location does add value, if you look in Huntingdon the prices are completely different if you look at "oxmoor" and Hartford. But me personally wouldn't see much different for St Neots because it is generally at nice area all around.

lincroft1710

I would think most towns have a road or area which is more sought after and will command higher prices. Sometimes one road in the sought after area will be even higher priced.

Eaton Socon could also attract Cambridge commuters, who may pay a higher price for the right house.

A 10% uplift does not seem excessive.

JP08

jodiepoke wrote: »

Side note: I've just purchased a 3 bed "semi" (end of terraced) on the "wrong side of the river" in Eynesbury.

And that's exactly what I mean about "at the risk of appearing snobbish" :silenced:
Sorry.:(

jodiepoke wrote: »

But me personally wouldn't see much different for St Neots because it is generally at nice area all around.

Even in St Neots, there's a big variation - nose round the 70's estate near the A1 on the Eatons side compared to Eaton Ford green or Eaton Socon green / Rivermill areas or, or (risky this one in the light of the above I know !) the Duck Lane - used to have a fearsome reputation - area of Eynesbury and "old" Eynesbury ...

Cakeguts wrote: »

In order to get people to view you have to make them feel that the price is fair. It is overpriced they won't view.

- so (assuming a fair price for the location premium), if the area is the price differential how do you get the people to view to find the price is fair ? Or, if you like, how do you judge an area before you visit ?

HiToAll

Slinky wrote: »

The houses on the other side of the river are not your 'competition' if your area is as nice as you say it is. We're looking at moving to a town which has a population of about 10,000 people. We're looking at a very specific area, 4 or 5 streets, probably about 200 homes of different types in total. These properties are in a price bracket of their own when they come up as they don't generally hang around for long. People looking for a 3 bed house, say, in this area, aren't looking at the other parts of town IMO as prices are upwards of £100K higher than the rest of the area.

The EAs refer to the area we're looking at as the Golden Triangle. It's a different market to the rest of the town.

I wouldnt put too much on a name given to an area. There is a golden triangle in Edinburgh too.........three streets filled with a lot of lap dancing pubs and bars. Nice area if you like living in that sort of place. It has other names too depending on who you ask.

ratechaser

Slinky wrote: »

Where we're looking, people don't need to be persuaded to go and have a look, anything that comes up there's a stampede of people who are waiting to pounce.

I share your pain. In my area, it's barely a day or two between an ambulance carting off one set of residents, to a Sold board going up outside the house. We had to make major compromises on what we were originally looking for versus what actually came up as available. And that was 10 years ago.

Tragic isn't it? All for the sake of getting into a good state school. And we're not even in London...

lessonlearned

Location is everything.

In our city You can take two similar Victorian mews type terrace properties and one will be 5 times more expensive than the other....purely down to where it is.

Most cities will have the equivalent of a "Golden Triangle" and even on the same street there can be large variations.

A house at The top or head of a cul de sac will be worth more than identical property at the lower end where there is likely to be more traffic and less privacy. A house with a south or west facing rear garden will fetch more than one with a north facing garden.

A house next to a busy road, railway line, cemetery, chip shop, petrol station, pub or near pylons will fetch less than one further down the same road.

And yes being in the right catchment area for the best state schools will also add value.

You can add a premium if you have a nice view of rolling countryside. If it's a front line sea view you will be beating off potential buyers with a stick.

So in answer to your question, location is key. Buy the best location you can afford.

Remember the maxim......worst house, best street.

moneyistooshorttomention

LessonLearned certainly has a point re location. I can think of two adjacent streets of terrace houses in my home city and one of them costs £30k odd more than the other the last time I looked.

I can follow her reasoning even within the same street. On the face of it - a neighbours house should fetch more than mine (as they have a garage and I haven't) but.....they are less than "200 metres from the nearest watercourse" (quoting insurance company language) and I'm not, mine is a lot more private than theirs, mine has possibilities regarding the plot that theirs doesnt and theirs has responsibilities mine doesnt. Even just down to the "feel factor" of it does rather feel like one of the houses is a bit "overpowering" over the other with the way the road got set up - and theirs is the one that feels rather "dominated" by the set-up. End result - I doubt theirs is worth more than mine and it might possibly go in the reverse direction.

Catchment areas for schools are also another thing. I gather that, in the most overcrowded areas even one street difference can make a difference as to whether "little John and Jane" will get into the desired school. I thought the catchment area of my last house would be an advantage when I came to sell it - it was and I believe it was the reason my buyer bought my average condition house, rather than the "competitor house" (which was both better condition and cheaper and all round much preferable in comparison to mine - if one just looked at the house alone).

silvercar

Our area has a 30% mark up compared to the other side of the bridge.

Just a fact that some people choose location over other factors and some don't.

moneyistooshorttomention

I would have thought the only reason why someone might ignore location as a factor would be - no concerns about location because of having to do a job or find schools for children. Also not a "visual" person - so it didnt matter what the location looked like and not a "social" person (ie they just intended to stay in all the time anyway).

All round - that would mean it was only the minority of people that wouldnt be concerned with location for one reason or another.