Anybody got anything positive to say about house over location?

Brie

There is a lot to be said for an easy commute! 

Try driving the roads between 7 and 9 and see how easy it is.  Or between 4 & 6.  I can drive to work in about 15 minutes from where I live.  But that's at 7 am.  If I leave just after 8 I'm lucky to be there before 9.  Fortunately I'm able to work flexibly and am currently leaving home 9 ish and can be at my desk by 9:30 even if I have to stop to pick up milk for everyone's cuppa.

lookstraightahead

The first house I could afford was either a 3 bed detached on a newish estate, or a 2 bed tiny mid terraced house on the most expensive road in the town. A no brainier. The terrace. 

Davesnave

lookstraightahead said:

The first house I could afford was either a 3 bed detached on a newish estate, or a 2 bed tiny mid terraced house on the most expensive road in the town. A no brainier. The terrace. 

 I'm confused. Earlier on you said:
"I wish I had rented in my twenties as i lost so much money buying. Throw in a divorce abs negative equity and it's not always the best bet."

lookstraightahead

Davesnave said:

lookstraightahead said:

The first house I could afford was either a 3 bed detached on a newish estate, or a 2 bed tiny mid terraced house on the most expensive road in the town. A no brainier. The terrace. 

 I'm confused. Earlier on you said:
"I wish I had rented in my twenties as i lost so much money buying. Throw in a divorce abs negative equity and it's not always the best bet."

Yes sorry, it was a flat I bought in my twenties - 22 to be precise. 

I made money on the terraced house and upgraded to a cottage - then lost a lot of money by having to sell because of divorce etc.

so my experience was that I lost money on the flat, made money on the terrace, lost money on the "family home" through negative equity/crash/divorce

theoretica

I think I personally compromised a bit on most things - further from work than would my ideal, I would like a larger garden, a scullery sink, country walks on my doorstep.  But the distance between country walks and work made this rather a problem... 

Thinking back, I think for everything I had a series of absolute boundaries - maximum cost, minimum size, some outdoor space, not on a main road, commute length... and then tried to juggle exceeding these - looking at what properties were advertised.  I didn't push any one criteria at the expense of all the others - I got everything a bit above my minimum and nothing vastly above it.

seven-day-weekend

When we downsized we were willing to compromise on the style/size of house to get the area we wanted.  Ideally we wanted a bungalow, but didn't think we could afford one, so looked at houses.  We were actually able to get a bungalow in our desired area and compromised by it having less rooms  than we would ideally have liked (we would have liked an extra small room, or preferably two, for study and/or utility,)  and being a fixer-upper.  Location was key for us.

sheramber

Only you decide which is more important to you - location or house.

Can you build outside storage for your bikes- a garage type building' Cars worth more than £30k are kept in garages.

You can even put a burglar alarm on the garage.

I would not recommend wooden storage. My son's bike was secured to side of his solid shed by a strong padlock and the door of the shed had similar. Thieves took a pick to the back of the shed to force entry and sawed off the padlock. 

This was  a terraced house in a town with gardens on each side.

He was on holiday  at the time.

Anyanka1

It really is a juggling act and only you can decide which exact compromise you will be happiest with.

When we lost our dream house in our dream location it was, pretty much, a no-brainer:  We could either buy a three bed semi in a crappy area, roughly 70 miles from our home town or we could try to buy a one-bedroom flat in the worst area of where we already were.  Sheer logistics dictated that choice:  We could not fit into a flat and, having lived in them for years, I think I would rather die than do so again so we upped sticks.

We now live in a very unpleasant area in a place we had never heard of, with limited facilities (but there is a big T-supermarket here)  For our budget, I doubt we were ever going to get nice neighbours and, for all we have had to compromise on space to a significant extent, we can still just about fit all our stuff in and OH still has a viable garden for what he wants...

Could I go back in time and aim lower than the dream house to one I could hang on to, I absolutely would have done so; we hate this area but it is so easy to be clever with hindsight, is it not?

Please just do your research, OP, if you can.  Visit your intended areas at different times of day on different days; knock on neighbours' doors and try to pick their brains.  Perhaps, now, visit local amenities and engage in conversations with other visitors.

I wish you all the best and a better outcome than we have.

Crashy_Time

Buying a house in an area that you might hate in a year or so at these bubble prices would be total folly IMO, at least rent in the area first, just because you don`t go out much in a city doesn`t mean that the tumbleweed evenings of a small town will be easy to adapt to after the feel of being in a more alive place.

firebubble

It's been interesting reading everyone's views. 

It seems that the 'gamble' you would be taking is whether you like the area (albeit it seems to be a bit bland) whilst you're living there, and also that the property will (roughly) hold its value until you want to move.

What about trying to rent a house on the bland estate for a year? That way you get to see what it's like to live there (I can't help thinking if it's good for car commuters, it might not be so pleasant for cyclists unless you're prepared to drive your bikes somewhere).

At the very least, if you like going for evening walks, could you drive to the estate, park there and go for a wander a few times?