Best house on a bad street

Kayalana99

Hi guys,

We are looking at buying a property potentially to turn to a B2L 2-3 years down the line after living in it first.

Background we could potentially buy a property up to the value of 220k, but we'd be working to live in this situation.

We've found a house that's not OTT away from our really nice area we are currently renting in, but it's a run down area where houses are a bit 70/30...30% being really nice looking houses and maj look quite rough. Researching area crime doesn't seem too bad, but where we are now is practically nothing and there is a few things cropping up...car thefts..burglaries.. (although if you pull the police crime report up most areas have this so it's not a major turn off)

Attached neighbour property unf is quite run down, this is a issue for me as even if the street overall isn't great, it's the direct neighbour that in my head, would more likely to cause issues.

The house is a lovely 3 bed, and is only 120k. The kitchen / bathroom look new and the garden is a good size for kids. House not to far away for 100k which is a 3 bed but needs a lot of work to it and the outside brick / appearance looks quite run down compared to this one.

We'd be looking at around 160k for a 3 bed for properties in our current area and most would need work for that price 180k seems to be going rate for a 'ready to go' house.

We do have kids but we'd be able to keep them in same school, would need to drive but for what we would save in mortgage to rent (£275 cheaper in rent to mortgage) it makes it worth it for the price of house.

Have I missed any pitfalls? We've lived in bad areas, perhaps slightly rougher and not had any issues. It's not the sort of street where kids would hang out directly outside the house.

My thinking is we can get a decent house for a cheap price, give the kids a good quality of living as they would still be in decent school + more spare money for holidays and future.

I don't think there would be much problem renting it out either as the market is very limited and properties get snapped up + the house really has it's 'wow' factors for the money...


But the golden rule seems to be buy the worst house on the best street rather then the other way around?

JoJo1978

Have you been a landlord before? If not I'd start with the guides on here and make sure you still want to do it. If you're uncertain enough to be asking a forum if it's an area you should consider what makes you think it will be easy to rent? Quite often a very suitable BTL is not a suitable family residence for your circumstances and vice versa.

Crashy_Time

https://www.property118.com/section-24-forced/92078/

Kayalana99

JoJo1978 wrote: »

Have you been a landlord before? If not I'd start with the guides on here and make sure you still want to do it. If you're uncertain enough to be asking a forum if it's an area you should consider what makes you think it will be easy to rent? Quite often a very suitable BTL is not a suitable family residence for your circumstances and vice versa.

Becoming a LL and having B2L is a no brainer with me, doesn't concern me and I was already aware of the changes to legislation for the 2nd poster.

I guess my biggest problem it feels like a step backwards as we are in position to get quite a nicer house, and currently are in a nice area with a (although small) nice house but from a business point of view seems a no brainer. I guess it's a fight of heart vrs head...head is saying yes and heart is saying no but also wondering if there is anything I haven't thought about.

We have seen the house now and Husband says he is happy to go for it at least.

Pixie5740

Since the plan is to turn the property into a BTL within a couple of years which would give the best rental yield, best house on the worst street or the worst house on the best street, or are you banking on capital appreciation to make BTL a “no-brainer?”

Kayalana99

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Since the plan is to turn the property into a BTL within a couple of years which would give the best rental yield, best house on the worst street or the worst house on the best street, or are you banking on capital appreciation to make BTL a “no-brainer?”

"No-brainer" is reference to me personally becoming a LL, I have no qualms with it and understand the pitfalls etc.

That question entirely depends on the situation of each indv house I would imagine, but based on capital appreciation then it would make more sense to buy the worst house on the best street but that requires time and money to also improve it which we are very short on the time aspect to be taking on a project anyway. (but that being said that house doesn't exist directly where I'm looking)

Pixie5740

Ah, so you haven’t actually crunched any numbers to find out if BTL is even worth it never mind a no-brainer. I take it you haven’t researched which type of property would be the best to let either then.

Kayalana99

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Ah, so you haven’t actually crunched any numbers to find out if BTL is even worth it never mind a no-brainer. I take it you haven’t researched which type of property would be the best to let either then.

I have for this house of course, I was just explaining what I meant by what I said as you misinterpted it (As you did this also it seems?) Not sure where you got that from.

I have every every faith this would work as a B2L which is why we are considering it in the first place but as I say, it's head vrs heart.

I guess this thread has become a bit useless now since it's been derailed...

Cakeguts

When becoming a landlord 20 odd years ago we decided that we would like the best choice of tenants and the least amount of hassle. So the house you are thinking of letting wouldn't be one that we would buy to let. We would go with one of the more expensive houses you are talking about. That way you get the pick of tenants. The rents don't have much difference between them so in theory with a cheaper house in a not such good area you might think that you get a better return but it usually evens out because you are likely to get more hassle and more damage.

What we are looking for in rental property is one where we can choose the tenant, have as few times when the property is vacant and tenants that look after the property not ones who break everything.

What you are likely to get in a rental are the tenants that the landlords in better areas won't let to. Do you think that this is good business model? If you get it wrong you can end up losing a lot of money.

If you buy the cheaper house in the cheaper area you won't want to spend a lot of money on it because you won't get it back. It is the area that makes the house cheap not whether it needs updating or not.

Pixie5740

Kayalana99 wrote: »

I have for this house of course, I was just explaining what I meant by what I said as you misinterpted it (As you did this also it seems?) Not sure where you got that from.

I have every every faith this would work as a B2L which is why we are considering it in the first place but as I say, it's head vrs heart.

I guess this thread has become a bit useless now since it's been derailed...

No I think it's just another case of you not articulating yourself clearly and drip feeding information like you did on the thread about wanting a mortgage without a high enough income. If you are buying the property as a future investment and have crunched the numbers then you ought to know which kind of property and in what location you should buy without the input of some strangers on the internet with only part of the story.

Kayalana99

Pixie5740 wrote: »

No I think it's just another case of you not articulating yourself clearly and drip feeding information like you did on the thread about wanting a mortgage without a high enough income. If you are buying the property as a future investment and have crunched the numbers then you ought to know which kind of property and in what location you should buy without the input of some strangers on the internet with only part of the story.

Then asking questions if you are unsure is the best way to go, not making silly assumptions as you continue to have done so... honestly my question about pitfalls of a bad area is a reasonable question to hear others experiences.

It's not really my fault that you decided to poke at things that weren't a problem in the first place, bit strange to call it 'drip feeding' when the information you are asking has nothing to do with the original question :cool: