First time buy LEEDS

tykesi

Charlotte09 wrote: »

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69647447.html

Do you think this property is fairly priced for location?

Yards from my house

In my opinion it's overpriced but it depends on the quality of the renovation. It doesn't look great to me (cheap carpets, kitched looks cheap).

Seems like someone's picked up a cheap house, spent as little as possible doing it up and thinking because of where it is some mug will pay £300k for it. It's £275k tops for me but if I was going for it I'd be looking to get it for £260-£265k. It's marketed as three bed so won't have building regs for that loft conversion to be habitable.

Charlotte09 wrote: »

The LS14 house; we saw another house just few doors down and the couple had sent their girl to “roundhay primary school”. Now they’ve suggested to us is that we ring the schools around if we’re interested and speak to them about the catchment first as well. I need to find out how that all works too

Roundhay School (not primary) has been around for donkeys years (I went there). They recently built and opened the primary you mention and if the high school is anything to go by (OFSTED outstanding for many years) the Primary will be a good one so will have a lot of people interested in sending their kids there. Friends of mine have just moved to Oakwood so should have been in the catchment area for Roundhay but have ended up with their kids at a school much further away. North Leeds being as popular as it is makes school places like rocking horse poo.

orangecrush

The Stainbeck house is overpriced... it’s a developer job and having looked at dozens of those we decided it was not worth paying the “newly decorated” premium, because half of the time the work was super shoddy; done to last max 1 year, til they sold it. So you have to prepare for doing work, even though it looks in great condition now.

Also it was only bought in May... some mortgage lenders are fussy about short turnarounds on sales. The area is great though!! Def worth seeing but don’t pay that price; Tykesi is spot on with the price guide; I’d pay max £270, and that would be only if it was all really high quality work. But as I said before, I would never pay a premium for a developer job. If it suits you, you’d def not lose on location.

LEJC

Charlotte09 wrote: »

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69647447.html

Do you think this property is fairly priced for location?

If you don't mind me jumping in charlotte...and I have no input on the area...but I have a little experience in renovations etc....

have a look at the set of pictures from when the house last sold 7 months ago...and from those think whether there has been £100k worth of work done on it....I think a lot of it was rip it all out and install something that is serviceable but not necessarily quality....
Its been done to a blank canvas so there is still probably quite a bit you could spend on it to get it to feel like a home...all money which at this point you probably wouldn't get back in a resale.

A little bit overpriced in my mind I think and you would need to be wary of that 4th occasional room as it probably doesnt come with building regs so is nothing more than a carpeted loft space.


http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=47155503&sale=5671909&country=england

sorry the link doesn't pick up the previous sale but if you look on the right hand side of the page and click on sold recently...its the last property listed.

Charlotte09

You are right LEJC. Taking your point on board we’ve just done a second view on LS14 house and noted that the finish was all low quality also and I’m sure it’s not worth the extra £60k as we’ve been told he’s professional builder and he renovates and sells regularly (he bought for £180k)

The LS17 house loft was not safe for sure. It just had normal step ladder attached and you had to climb up. I was too terrified of going up ha! So husband had to do it lol

As for LS14- Took all your guys points on and done research about area and schools thoroughly. So for anyone in future if they come across this thread; schools are a big problem. There is only two outstanding closeby and even they’ve said chances of getting in are very slim as post code is far off in school admission terms.

So back to square one lol but more sure it’s definitely North Leeds it is for the diversity and schools :-)

orangecrush

What's your attitude to doing work? You could probably get in under your budget in Alwoodley if you don't mind taking on an old-couple house. We very nearly bought one on the same street as this house:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60544993.html

...but there was a family dispute going on as the owner went into care, and we couldn't wait for them to sort it out. Downsides of that area: public transport not great, there isn't a neighbourhood centre as such, so it's no Chapel Allerton. On the plus side: it is a nice, quiet family area with excellent schools. There's an express bus from the park & ride on King Lane, or get the 36 from Harrogate road, both a bit of a walk away. Driving wise it's close enough to main routes into town. If you don't mind living with awful decor while you do it up something in that area could work?

orangecrush

P.S. If you prefer new build, some of the houses in Horsforth Vale development come under your budget. Downsides: it is a short bus ride from Horsforth town itself (there is a bus that goes directly from the development to the town and station), it is a new build estate, so landscaping and facilities are a bit... well... newly built lol. Upsides: lots of positive reviews from residents there, it seems to be a decent quality development, there is now a shop with plans to open more, its not far from lovely walks along the river and canal.

WeAreGhosts

Don't know if anyone's mentioned it, but ... Otley?
Something like this? http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-69027605.html#

Although, no train station, but plenty of buses. Or get the bus to Menston for the train.

Or Silsden. Lots of people commute to Leeds via train or car (traffic is also much better heading West out of Leeds)
You'd get a detached further out, eg:http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-59048386.html

orangecrush

Otley! Why didn't I think of Otley? Good shout, WeAreGhosts. I really like Otley, it has a market, nice cafes, decent shops, bars... yeah the lack of train station is a pain, but there's an express bus to Leeds city centre, and don't think the drive to Bradford would be too bad.

Darn, Charlotte, I have now spent the afternoon on Rightmove looking at houses, and have convinced myself I want to move lol.

daveyjp

Even the Express bus gets stuck in Headingley!

Its a short drive to stations with train services to Leeds and Bradford, driving to either is a pain at rush hour.

Charlotte09

A project house has to be a no-go and last resort I think. As we live in rented Flat at the moment, we would then be paying mortgage & renovation costs + rent while we wait for the house to be finished. If it was at a decent price, maybe, but most of the outdated properties are already on the top end of budgets. We’ve seen few renovation projections in desirable postcodes but so far it’s just put us off.

Sticking to North Leeds is definitely where we can see ourselves. Vibrant, mixed communities & easy to access to other places. Every weekend so far we’ve driven around various areas to try and get a feel of the places. Having lived in bradford for nearly 4 years, I’ve struggled to meet any like minded professionals like myself so I wouldn’t want to move somewhere where I’d be isolated and lonely again. Being originally from London deep down I want a “mini London” again. And Leeds for me definitely gives me that hope. Not to mention better opportunities for children in terms of education.

We’ve had progress so far as we finally decided to speak to a broker, who advised us that we can increase our budget to £300k. So hopefully in the new year that will help us have more choices.