Buying first home - cold feet about area

Gigervamp

What about a houseshare or lodging?

It doesn't sound like this is a good buy. You're already overpaying for it due to paying over the asking price and having all the furniture and white goods included. You won't get the money back for those.

If the vendors were having trouble selling it, even with it looking all lovely, then you have to consider whether you will also have trouble in future and you may end up being stuck there for a lot longer than a few years.

ETA, you need to be careful using your mum's motorbility car for your own use. The rules state that it's only to be used for the benefit of the disabled person, ie taking them out, or picking up shopping or prescriptions for them, not for you to use going to work.

Cakeguts

I would suggest that you work through all of this again from the beginning.

1 You want to move out.

2 You can't justify using your mother's car to drive to work if you don't live with her.

3 You have absorbed too much of the hype about owning a property rather than renting.

Lets start with 3 first. There is an awful lot of money wasted when you own a property. a) the mortgage has interest just like any other loan. You don't get anything for that interest money it is wasted. b) Even houses in really good condition don't stay like it for ever and need repairs. Those repairs don't increase the value of the property they are just repairs. That money is wasted on repairs you don't get anything back for it except that if you don't keep doing them the house will lose money.

2 You can't use your mothers car if you are not living with her. You shouldn't really be using it now.


Now we get to number 1 which is what made you start all this. Your mum's mental illness is extremely difficult to deal with especially if she doesn't take her medication/ go to the doctor's for it. If she does take her medication she will have a lot of side effects which will affect her behaviour.

So lets consider how to get you what you want.

You want to move out. You need to start from where you work because you won't have a car. So where do you work? Now you need to look for property to rent to start with either on a bus route or close to a train station so that you can get to work without having a car. The reason why you have to rent to start with is because that gives you the time to look for a small property like a 1 bed flat to buy close to work and on a bus route or close to a train station. You won't have time to do this if all you do is drive into work and then drive home.

So plan of action.

1 Withdraw offer from the house in Skem. You can't get to work from there because you don't have a car and you cannot use your mum's. The people selling will find someone else to sell to.

2 Get a bus map.

3 Get a train map.

4 Start looking for a flat to rent using the bus map and the train map so that you can get to work without using a car.

5 Rent the flat on the bus or train route.

6 When ready start to look for a flat or house to buy on the bus or train route.

You will save money by not having to use a car and you can rent somewhere that has no parking because you won't need it.

Red-Squirrel_2

Don't buy this house. You're overpaying and you're going to get stuck on that estate.

Where do you work? If you work (or could get a job) in either Manchester or Liverpool then there are definitely better places for you to buy, and not much more expensive. In one of the cities you could manage without a car too.

I feel for you in the situation you're in at home, but a desperate desire to run away can lead to bad decisions made in haste.

boliston

Gigervamp wrote: »

What about a houseshare or lodging?....

I was thinking of a halfway house of buying a flat - I doubt many first time buyers can go straight from living with partents to owning a house and that flat is far more usual for a first time buy as a sole owner.

This would probably mean you can buy into a better area for the same price as a house in a not so good area.

hazyjo

Always buy the worst property on the best street/in the best location.


Never buy the best house on the worst street/location.


Sounds like a mistake - take note of this line below, and many other warnings in posts above.

walwyn1978 wrote: »

Remember that when you come to sell it again, all the 'new' things they've put in won't be 'new' any more so will carry no extra weight with the next buyer - you won't see any return on your 'investment' in those.

penguingirl

I would never buy in Skem. Yes it's handy for m58, but lack of station would put me off. As would everything else about it. Plus think of your right hand side tyres negotiating all the roundabouts! I don't know which direction you work in, but we used to live in Standish and it was a great base for the motorway. Also lived in Ashton in Makerfield for a bit which I didn't like as much, but was cheaper. I would seriously look at areas on the west of Wigan- not hugely glamorous but much better than Skem! And fwiw I really enjoyed my 7 years of living in Wigan.

penguingirl

boliston wrote: »

I was thinking of a halfway house of buying a flat - I doubt many first time buyers can go straight from living with partents to owning a house and that flat is far more usual for a first time buy as a sole owner.

This would probably mean you can buy into a better area for the same price as a house in a not so good area.

My experience in the area (Wigan not Skem) is that there aren't loads of flats around- and they were overpriced as often newer. There are lots of Victorian terraces about which can be presented to a good standard and are good starter homes.

penguingirl

Searching within 5 miles of Orrell (basically m6/m58 junction) there are 205 2+ bedroom houses (not flats) that are £80k-£90k.

Some quick examples http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64766804.html
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65756162.html

Both of those are preferable locations to Skem. If you work more Liverpool way then I'd be looking into St Helens.

What are the areas you preferred but decided you can't afford? Ormskirk is probably the obvious one, but tbh I can't think of any other nice areas around the m58

cloo

Resale issues should always be considered for somewhere not a 'forever' home.

I guess one thing that might help is to find out whether there are any big developments planned that might make the area less Tumbleweed Central? An out-of-town mall, a shopping outlet, town centre redevelopment, a major employer moving into the area for example. If one of these is underway it could improve matters... if it's just being 'discussed', then that could be never, especially if the economy slides in the near future.

It sounds to me like the loveliness of the house is not a good reason to go for it and you would find hard to sell unless there is a major turnaround in the area within a few years.

AlexMac

Lots of good advice above; so all I can add is...

visit the area on a variety of times of the day and week; including latish on a Saturday night. Mooch around til midnght now the weather's improving. (maybe stick the estate agent's prospectus or memorandum of sale in your pocket in case the Cops are called out to nab you as some weirdo casing the area!).

Look out for anyone you wouldn't be able to cope with as future neighbours; feral kids, drunken parties, drug dealers, people who order pizza, wife-beating neighbours, people practicing the trumpet or petty bourgeous Neighbourhood Watchers who call the cops when they see someone like you stalking their manor (or any other demographics which offend your sensibilities).

But most people usually get the response they deserve from their fellow citizens; waht are you like to live with?