Has anyone ever applied to change their house number from 13 to 12A etc?

Slinky

My dad wouldn't have another green car after he got hit in the side driving down a country lane and somebody pulled out and hit him - sorry mate, didn't see you. Dad was of the opinion that green can merge into the background colours more easily than the white car he bought next.

eddddy

Zoopla claim that houses numbered 13 sell for about £9k less than other similar houses, on average.
see: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/press/releases/superstitious-househunters-avoid-unlucky-number/

So if you don't mind living at number 13, you can get a house for about about £9k less than your neighbours paid.

(But you'd need to expect to eventually sell for £9k less as well, or equivalent.)


Personally, I think changing the number to 11a or 12a would have an even worse effect on house value. To me, that address makes it sound like it might be a less impressive property - like an annex, or a sub-divided house, or a flat, or an in-fill house.

youth_leader

I do agree eddddy, I'm not going to try and change it.  I had just let my Dad's nonsense get to me.  I'd forgotten about the umbrella superstition he had as well, we could never dry ours indoors.

Murphybear

We live in an over 60s community of 33 flats.  There is no 13.  They were built by the British Legion in the 80s, maybe the BL is superstitious.  

we lived in a flat once where the address was “the flat above the pharmacy”.  Getting people to find us was difficult, including the local council.  They couldn’t send us a council tax bill because they said the property didn’t exist . The utilities were included in the rent as there were no separate supplies.

ps the council finally decided we did exist and sent us a backdated bill

Gavin83

eddddy said:

Zoopla claim that houses numbered 13 sell for about £9k less than other similar houses, on average.
see: https://www.zoopla.co.uk/press/releases/superstitious-househunters-avoid-unlucky-number/

So if you don't mind living at number 13, you can get a house for about about £9k less than your neighbours paid.

(But you'd need to expect to eventually sell for £9k less as well, or equivalent.)


Personally, I think changing the number to 11a or 12a would have an even worse effect on house value. To me, that address makes it sound like it might be a less impressive property - like an annex, or a sub-divided house, or a flat, or an in-fill house.

The thing is it's a self fulfilling prophecy, like a lot of things house buying related. Honestly the vast majority really don't care about the idea of living at no13 but they worry about what future buyers might think, so they avoid or offer less. It's stupid really.

I mentioned this thread to my wife and told her we didn't have a no13 in our road. She told me she knows someone who bought a house for £20k less than the surrounding houses because of the no13 door number. I just find it all insane.

It does explain why roads often skip the number though. Why would a developer bother to put it in if they'll make less money and it's just as easy to skip it? Maybe they'll become such a rarity at some point they might attract a premium, who knows!

I also suspect that no1 of any road attracts a premium too but this is nothing more than a hunch based on the stupidity of people.

DevilsAdvocate1

The phrase is "unlucky for some" so I've always presumed its "lucky for most".

Abbafan1972

My first childhood home was a house numbered 13.  The house is still standing.

The road I live on now doesn't have a 13, it goes 11,15. 

Abbafan1972

You could have the same discussion about very long roads where the house numbers go into the hundreds, would you change a house number that is 666?

eddddy

Gavin83 said:

The thing is it's a self fulfilling prophecy, like a lot of things house buying related. Honestly the vast majority really don't care about the idea of living at no13 but they worry about what future buyers might think, so they avoid or offer less. It's stupid really.

I'm not convinced that's the reason.

When people buy a property - I think they care about what their address will be . So they're thinking about themselves, not about future saleability.

The Zoopla article confirms that house numbers 1 and 100 tend to sell for more. (Although number 1 is likely to be a corner plot, which might be more of an influence.)

There's also research that suggests that properties with 'interesting' or impressive street names, or 'interesting' village or area names sell for more.

And in some areas, the postcode will impact the property price.

And some people use incorrect information in their address, to make it seem more impressive. (For example, in London, adding 'Clapham' in your address, when officially your property is in 'Brixton'.)

Gavin83

eddddy said:

Gavin83 said:

The thing is it's a self fulfilling prophecy, like a lot of things house buying related. Honestly the vast majority really don't care about the idea of living at no13 but they worry about what future buyers might think, so they avoid or offer less. It's stupid really.

I'm not convinced that's the reason.

When people buy a property - I think they care about what their address will be . So they're thinking about themselves, not about future saleability.

The Zoopla article confirms that house numbers 1 and 100 tend to sell for more. (Although number 1 is likely to be a corner plot, which might be more of an influence.)

There's also research that suggests that properties with 'interesting' or impressive street names, or 'interesting' village or area names sell for more.

And in some areas, the postcode will impact the property price.

And some people use incorrect information in their address, to make it seem more impressive. (For example, in London, adding 'Clapham' in your address, when officially your property is in 'Brixton'.)

I do think there's a lot of snobbery at play here. It's the reason why I said in my post that I reckon that no1 attracts a premium (thanks for confirming this) as people like being no1 as in some weird logic that makes them feel like they're the best. Same reason rich people get funny about wanting to sit in seat number 1A on a flight.

I don't think that applies to no13 though as from that perspective it's no different to any other number. I also don't believe there's a significant number of people who are superstitious enough to influence the price. That's why I believe that people get put off of no13 because they're concerned what other people will think when they come to sell. Future salability is an important part of most peoples property purchasing decisions and it's often raised on here as a consideration.

I could be wrong of course but it's an interesting debate.