How do I find a 'nice' area?

Titania777

Please can anyone give me some advice?

I have to sell my house in the next 6 months due to my debt problems.

Basically I will have to move away from the London area and buy something a lot cheaper so that I can clear my debts and have a bit over (hopefully).

My house is worth about £250k and I have about £40k left on the mortgage but only want to spend a maximum of about £150k on a new place.

Have found a few houses on the internet that seem to be suitable but other than visiting (and spending loads on travel) does anyone have any ideas how I can find out if the areas are decent?

I don't have a car and was wondering are there any websites that could give me the true feel for an area before I decide to visit (and possibly waste time and money).

I know it's a bit of a daft question but I'm petrified of buying somewhere that is in a dodgy area and ending up worse off than I am at the moment!

Doozergirl

You can put the postcode in on http://www.upmystreet.com/enter-location/local/my-neighbours/l/ and you can see the general profile of your immediate neighbours. It's very accurate - profiles will change from street to street even, depending on the housing stock etc.

At the bottom of this article, there's a section called 'Is it a nice place to be' which lists some other sites you can use. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/free-house-prices

And you can ask directly about the area here too, there seems to be someone everywhere!

carpetbelly

Do you need to be commuteable of london? what sort of size property are you after? How many bedrooms are you after?

I mean, £150k could get you something nearly anywhere outside of london, just depends on what you're after. I mean, I live in Milton Keynes, commuteable to London and got myself a large 2bed for £125k.

I've got friends who still live in brighton who've spent £150k on nice 1bed properties. And Brighton is lovely

Generali

Try http://www.upmystreet.com/ (no connection) for initial research. It has stuff like demographics, crime rates, schools and all that stuff.

Once you've found an area that's a possible, ask back on here and people will give an opinion of what they think.

Titania777

I don't need to commute to London so distance isn't a major problem.

The main problem is that my sister is going to move in with me. She lives in a council property at the moment and has had terrible probs with the neighbours for the last 7 years. It is now making her very ill so I thought if I sold up, cleared the debts and moved we could have a fresh start.

We were trying to find a detached house (worried about noisy neighbours) and with at least 3 bedrooms (we are both in our 40's and although downsizing a bit really don't wan't to throw everything away - too many memories). Also need a garden for my two dogs (and others that I take in from time to time).

My sister doesn't want to be more than about 4 hours from London as my niece is still at Uni but I'm sure we are not going to find something that ticks all the boxes so will have to compromise.

The main worry is that we could end up in a rough area, which neither of us is up to anymore, as we have had various family bereavements and there is only me, my sister and my niece left. Just want a bit of a quiet life and as I can work from home via net. The location will be the main worry (God we sound such frightened cowards now - he he he).

Titania777

Thanks to all who mentioned upmystreet. Will have a look! Very good idea to ask people on here too as some will obviously live in the area. Don't think my brain is functioning too well with the stress of selling a house my family has been in for the last 84 years still needs must!

Doozergirl

I'm not sure how likely you are to find what you want in a good area! Should be interesting to hear from posters where you can find it.

Three bed detached for £150,000 within 4 hours of London. I suspect you'll be looking way North or at an area with a depressed ecomony. £150,000 will get squeeze you a two bed terrace where I am in the Midlands. It might get you a half decent 3 bed semi somewhere like Blackpool which is really pushing the 4 hour thing.

You said you had found a few possibles. Where are they?

Titania777

They are in Cambridgeshire, a couple in the Wisbech area (but they are under offer so we've missed those) but just looked at Wisbech on upmystreet and you are right, it doesn't seem such a great area. I really think we will have to go further afield within the UK

dmg24

You should be able to get something in some areas of Nottingham or Sheffield?

If you want more info on Nottingham feel free to PM me x

tucbiscuit

I can tell you which are the nice bit in manchester or liverpool if you would consider living in these cities.

area I live is what I would class as 'very nice' and I got a decent 2 bed terrace for £140,000 (in liverpool btw.)

DKLS

You will find bad areas in all towns and cities, you'd get a better reponse if you posted up areas you are interested in, then members who live there can let you know.
E.g I know West yorkshire very well, and can answer questions about bad areas there.