Buying a house near a planned gypsy site

sxp842

I know this is a bit of a sensitive issue, but it would be helpful to get some opinions on it. We are close to exchanging on a house, but have just found out that the council has given permission for a gypsy site at the end of our road (about 5min walk from the house).

I’m not actually that worried about living there, but I am really concerned about the value of the house. We are already paying over the asking price. The site hasn’t actually been built yet, so I don’t think house prices have fallen in the area yet. But, if the site went ahead, would the house likely get devalued? (No one can say for certain, but balance of probabilities). Am I mad to even be considering?

Thanks!

SG27

Having lived near one previously. For me personally I would never live near one again not if you paid me.

However they are not all bad and theres nothing to say the one near you will caise any problems.

sxp842

Really, was it that bad?

I grew up in a house quite close to a gypsy camp. They generally kept themselves to themselves and I never really saw them, but there were a few occasions over the years where we came back from holiday to find our house burgled.

Has it made it harder to sell properties in your area, or affected house values?

moneyistooshorttomention

sxp842 wrote: »

Really, was it that bad?

I grew up in a house quite close to a gypsy camp. They generally kept themselves to themselves and I never really saw them, but there were a few occasions over the years where we came back from holiday to find our house burgled.

Has it made it harder to sell properties in your area, or affected house values?

Mind-boggled at the way that's just come over to me of "Oh well...only burgled a few times...nothing much bad then":cool:

Even one burglary and, if I thought that was the reason, it would be one burglary too many and the house would be on the market.

"A few" burglaries would be translated as "OMG - bad bad bad area (for whatever reason) and I've gotta move right now to get things back to normal (ie no burglaries ever)".

**********

On original question - the whole combination of things (ie you're paying over the odds anyway - errrr...why?) and the value of the place is likely to go down anyway (because that's what new houses do I gather - once they start coming up for sale as "secondhand"). Then this comes into the equation...

I'd be livid at all that time and money wasted - but would "cut my losses" and stop buying the place right now and look for another one instead personally.

sxp842

Lol ok I can see how that came across strange! I was talking about my parents house where I!!!8217;ve lived for the past 20 to 25 years, and over that time we!!!8217;ve had 2 or 3 break ins. But yeah, it wasn!!!8217;t really my call to put my parents house on the market!

Well, the house was advertised as !!!8216;offers in excess off!!!8217; so we offered £7k over. It!!!8217;s in the suburbs of London.

Sorry, I!!!8217;m not too sure what you mean by !!!8216;secondhand!!!8217;? The house is a 1920!!!8217;s mid-terrace, not new build.

We really like the house, and if we don!!!8217;t buy now it!!!8217;s unlikely we!!!8217;ll be able to afford something like this again. But I!!!8217;m struggling to justify buying a property that is most likely going to go down in value! Unless, the camp doesn!!!8217;t go ahead or doesn!!!8217;t bring down local house values.

Its helpful to know that you would walk away from it straight off.

[Deleted User]

I used to live 1.5 miles away from one and yes, it did reduce the value of the surrounding houses.

sxp842

Thanks catsacor, do you have any idea roughly how much it reduced the value by?

Davesnave

The rather obvious answer is that house prices in the immediate area will probably take a hit for a time, while the longer term will be much harder to predict. Things could go either way.

If the site is well-run and local residents find no great problems, then, in time, it might become accepted, like the refuse transfer station the council built within 5 mins walk of our house. When that was mooted, my wife and I refused to sign or support a petition against it and received abuse, but the dire warnings of house prices plummeting proved as false as the grounds on which objections were based. However, we were already residents, not considering moving to the location.

The devil will be in the detail, like the size of the site and the local geography. You would do well to look at case studies from similar ventures, but it may be hard to find unbiased sources. It's such a hot potato, even the Telegraph doesn't list it as one of the '10 things that may devalue your home!'

Money's reaction above will be fairly typical, I suspect.

sxp842

Thanks very much for your response. I think if we were already living in the area it would not bother me that much. But I am trying to figure out if it is ridiculous to buy a house (at £x price) when I know there are plans in place for something that could potentially devalue it. If it is going to devalue it by say £10k, that is very different to say a £50k devalue.

The site is big enough for 20 pitches - I don!!!8217;t know if that is big or small in the grand scheme of things? It is going to be located in what is currently a waste and recycling depot. It will be quite close to a busy main road with lots of buses etc.

But you could be right, over time things might calm down and be fine

A_Nice_Englishman

As others have said, it's impossible to say how the site may affect prices in the medium or long term. Is a gypsy site a better or worse thing to live near than a waste depot? :think:

Are you confident that you will be staying there for the long term (even if the gypsys or others turn out to be bad neighbours)? Suffering a loss when selling is a lot more likely and painful after three years than after after thirty.

If the house or garden are larger than you could afford elsewhere will you actually use that extra space?

Personally, I'd assume the worst and make a rock bottom offer to minimise my risk if I was absolutely sure I wanted the property.

victoriavictorious

I know there are good and bad gypsy sites but sorry, I'm with Money on this.
Imo it wouldn't be worth the punt and you are finding it affordable for a reason....