Buying House! Dilemma on the area. Please advise

csgohan4

Rough areas in my books are crack heads and dealers, reminds of the old Hulme area in Manchester 30 years ago


But general rule, buy the worst house in the best area if you can't stretch your budget, the best house in the worst area may not be so desirable, I went with the primary and never looked back

noh

Cakeguts wrote: »

The first thing I always look at are the windows.


https://www.google.com/maps/@51.9015674,-2.1021128,3a,75y,260.28h,95.97t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMWGRhzdfI-ef3cD_PFsFhA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656



If you see window where there is a glazing bar at the top and then also glazing bars at the bottom of the window it is nearly always in a council house. Only councils use that style of glazing. Then there is the fact that there are roads and road of terraced houses and semi-detached houses that all look the same. If you want to find out which ones are still owned by the council look for ones with these windows and front doors that are the same on each house.

Those houses also look like they are of "Wimpey no-fines" concrete construction. A non traditional method used for local authority housing post war.
Mentioned here:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowanfield

some more info here:-

https://surveyorsnearme.com/houses-non-traditional-construction/

https://www.google.com/search?q=wimpey+no+fines&rlz=1C1AVNE_enGB699GB699&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBtp321vviAhUQesAKHY6FC5kQ_AUIECgB&cshid=1561158267831321&biw=1366&bih=625

TornSoldier

All,

Really appreciate all the responses. To further throw spanners in the work, the independent building survey I had got done has valued the property £10k lower. I still have not got the valuation back from the lender yet. Are they going to be different from the RCIS certified surveyor? The surveyor also mentioned lot of minor issues (around 20) that will need repair.

I am further divided now on the property. The selling agent has had it way overpriced. The mortgage broker claims the lender valuation will be true and it might be different/better than the surveyor. Worst case you can renegotiate, reappeal etc.

Our problem is we are going from rental to house but now we are last week of rental and this house we still have not 100% confidence on. Wondering if we should go in next rental and take another 6 months to select a place.

Property is one of the new builds from 2002.

Cakeguts

TornSoldier wrote: »

All,

Really appreciate all the responses. To further throw spanners in the work, the independent building survey I had got done has valued the property £10k lower. I still have not got the valuation back from the lender yet. Are they going to be different from the RCIS certified surveyor? The surveyor also mentioned lot of minor issues (around 20) that will need repair.

I am further divided now on the property. The selling agent has had it way overpriced. The mortgage broker claims the lender valuation will be true and it might be different/better than the surveyor. Worst case you can renegotiate, reappeal etc.

Our problem is we are going from rental to house but now we are last week of rental and this house we still have not 100% confidence on. Wondering if we should go in next rental and take another 6 months to select a place.

Property is one of the new builds from 2002.

So you now have the problem of the house being on the market for possibly £10k more than you can afford due to how much you can borrow? So although this house appeared to be cheap for what it was it wasn't cheap enough for the area it is in.



It is possible that it has reduced in value while the vendors have owned it? Unpopular houses in undesirable areas reduce in value if new houses in better areas have been built in the same town.

TornSoldier

The valuation is from a 3rd-party surveyor. Mortgage lender is booked for next week. I am thinking if
1. Mortgage lender values it at asking price, I will only ask for sharing the repair cost
2. However, if the lender values it to a lower price (5-10k), I will ask the lender to come down to the same price

If he disagrees, we will walk away.

I suppose its low valued based on area because as such property by itself is nice and spacious. If it was in our current area, i would have taken without thinking twice

Hoping to get a bit of clarity somehow

TornSoldier

The valuation is from a 3rd-party surveyor. Mortgage lender is booked for next week. I am thinking if
1. Mortgage lender values it at asking price, I will only ask for sharing the repair cost
2. However, if the lender values it to a lower price (5-10k), I will ask the lender to come down to the same price

If he disagrees, we will walk away.

I suppose its low valued based on area because as such property by itself is nice and spacious. If it was in our current area, i would have taken without thinking twice

Hoping to get a bit of clarity somehow

Cakeguts

TornSoldier wrote: »

The valuation is from a 3rd-party surveyor. Mortgage lender is booked for next week. I am thinking if
1. Mortgage lender values it at asking price, I will only ask for sharing the repair cost
2. However, if the lender values it to a lower price (5-10k), I will ask the lender to come down to the same price

If he disagrees, we will walk away.

I suppose its low valued based on area because as such property by itself is nice and spacious. If it was in our current area, i would have taken without thinking twice

Hoping to get a bit of clarity somehow

It is an example of how an area can affect the value of a house. The less desirable the area the cheaper the prices. The prices are cheaper because fewer people want to buy a house there so in order to sell them they have to be cheap.



If this house had not been an ex council house on a council estate it would have been much more expensive than it is.

KatieDee

I honestly think the area is the most important aspect to consider when purchasing a house.

I have previously owned the most beautiful, spacious house, on a wonderful street but in an awful area. It was very deprived, the crime was high (I was burgled three times in the space of a year) and I never settled there. My biggest regret is not doing my research and assuming that a nice looking house would trump everything else. It definitely did not.

It took me almost two years to find my current property and I'm still nervous about making such a big commitment due to my previous experiences. I cannot describe just how much living in a rubbish area affected my mental health.

TornSoldier

All (Especially Katie),

That's exactly the problem. Talking to everyone we could and no one calls it a rough area but ok area and close to Hesters way, which has been deemed rough area in the past. The school next to the house has outstanding rating but 1 other nearby has "require improvement"

We drove through the area multiple times and streets have been fairly quiet. Last night, my Mrs walked across one of the streets and did not feel uneasy (She really likes the house so I am not sure how much of the bias that adds to).

In a summary, the area sits between a good and so called not good area. The surveyor also said the area is OK (its not the best and not the worst). So this middle/average response/feedback is keeping us hanging in the middle.

Since I have not had the mortgage company value yet, I am not sure if they would value it lower as well. I have just asked the EA to confirm if the vendor will be willing to reduce if the mortgage company values it lower than the asking price. If he says NO, we move on. If he says YES, we are still in double minds.

Please note the double mindedness kicked in when we told our colleagues about the area, I think they are doing us a favour but reaching to a clear cut decision has become harder. Previously, we never thought Cheltenham has a bad area.

Lastly, regarding saleability/tenancy, I think its in a decent/Ok area and next to a school (outstanding for primary), so it should get better. The risk would be greater if I put in money in a posh area and there are not any buyers.

Not sure how the Brexit would take the market forward. Would Boris/No Deal further sink everything down or brighter days are ahead. I am again going mental thinking. There is a possibility we might have to go abroad for work middle of next year. Hence, I am thinking of the rental potential.

We have to leave the rental next week, the seller had agreed to let us live for a temporary rental until sale completes. The agreement says I can leave if sale does not go through for whatever reason. I have secured a rental as one. So, its still the same confusion - live on rent for a month and walk out, if things do not feel right or just go to another rental and start all over again with picking area first instead of the house and how far it is away from DD's nursery.

I have been told moving address too quickly affects negatively on credit score. So if I move as a rental in the home and decide to call it quit and leave, its makes my file worse.

Any more suggestions/guidance would be most welcome

TornSoldier

Asked the EA clarity and plan forward on the valuation and he has come back with following words

In regards to the survey you had done, I am shocked that someone has advised you to have a full building survey on a property of that age, these are only required for properties that are over 100 years old. Up to that date of property, the only survey that one would need would be a Homebuyer Survey.

Naturally if you have paid £1000 for a survey, the surveyor is always going to find something wrong with the property but of course, do send me a copy of the report once you receive it and I can discuss the findings with my client, although as you can appreciate, there has already been a £20,000 reduction on the asking price and he has agreed for you to rent the property for the next two months at a discounted rate to help you out as you are soon to be homeless.

In regards to the value of the property, I have nearly 20 years’ experience in valuing property and can say that in my career, I have only ever had a handful of properties down valued in this time and all of them being individual properties, rather than standard four bedroom detached homes.

Lastly, in EA analysis, they have taken 1mile radius and 3 years of sales history to estimate the price while the surveyor has used a radius of 500mts (0.3miles) . Am I being too hung up or the building survey report is indeed inflated? A colleague of mine suggested to get it done as FTB for peace of mind.