House value: waste ground to rear, violent neighbours two doors down - wwyd?

KievLover

Hi all, 

This is probably theoretical because we've gone off this house quite a bit since Saturday, but I just wanted to sense check our thinking with folks who have actually bought houses in the past. 


We've found a house that's the right size for us. We don't care passionately about it, but we can't get to the area we want at the moment because it's a seller's market, it's far away and tough for me to travel with current pain levels, and really we need more money in the bank to get a lovely home there too*. Somewhat surprisingly we discovered that it has a massive, disused field behind it that's become a dumping ground for concrete, overgrown hedges, some bin bags. It's a disused sports field that a developer has just bought from the council and is planning to build 140 houses on it, and is currently a nasty eyesore. When, we don't know - no details on the developer's site yet (other than 'coming soon' with no details) and no planning that I can find. The second thing is I looked up crime in the area and there are 7 incidents of violent/sexual assault in the close in the last year, and when we quizzed the owners, they said it must be domestic violence by the next door neighbour but one.

Obviously these two things are quite off-putting. They've had 16 viewings and no offers (it's also in moderate need of modernisation and the area isn't exactly a delight, although the close itself is fine). 

Our plan would only be to live there 3 years before moving to actual county we want to live in (yes, we are aware of what it costs to move twice, that's financially fine). 

My worry is that a) the land isn't built on within the timeframe we want to move and we have just as many problems selling it as they're having and b) other folks look up crime rates and feel the same about an abusive neighbour as we do. Vendor seems to think new houses will increase the value, but I can't find any concrete evidence of that. I worry that they might not get the houses up in time, or that they start at the other end and are building right outside our garden exactly when we want to move.

I think the wasteground, as it stands, should decrease the value by a fair bit, but I'm not sure how much. There's also very scant data on how much a crime hot spot decreases house value too.

It's very tricky for us to find the size of house we need at the moment, otherwise I'd just abandon the idea of this house entirely and keep looking.

Vendors seem to be sticking firm on asking price and are going to 'spend a few days thinking' about us refusing to up our offer, which we don't really care about,  but we could increase it if needs be. We're not in a tight financial position, we just don't want to overpay a huge amount and find ourselves 30k + down for dream home in 3 years' time.

Your thoughts will be very much appreciated.

Kiev

*our current rental is dreadful and we really don't want to rent again: cats, many issues with prior landlords, we just don't want out of frying pan and into fire, which is why 'interim' home is our preferred method at the moment

user1977

I don't see the relevance of the crime figures, unless it's antisocial behaviour which would actually affect you. Several offences by one person (if that's what it is) doesn't really make somewhere a "crime hotspot".

theartfullodger

Depends how much of a gambler you are.  If you've enough ££££ to be able to afford a significant loss and are happy with high risk, fine.  If not, walk away.

(I've bought a house as a gamble: Happened to work out, but if it hadn't I could carry on through a total loss...)

KievLover

user1977 said:

I don't see the relevance of the crime figures, unless it's antisocial behaviour which would actually affect you. Several offences by one person (if that's what it is) doesn't really make somewhere a "crime hotspot".

Higher crime areas reduce a property's value, crime rates lowering increases them. That's pretty much all they've been able to find.

I'd call it a hot spot if it's repeated and ongoing, but maybe that's just me. It's so easy to find this information these days.

KievLover

theartfullodger said:

Depends how much of a gambler you are.  If you've enough ££££ to be able to afford a significant loss and are happy with high risk, fine.  If not, walk away.

(I've bought a house as a gamble: Happened to work out, but if it hadn't I could carry on through a total loss...)

Moderately risk adverse. Can afford to lose some money but more than 30k would annoy me. Also, need a home!

lookstraightahead

I always choose the nicest area and buy what I can afford in it. My first house was the smallest terrace on a street of massive houses but I was in a lovely spot.

For me, the inside of a house soon loses its appeal and then it's the outside atmosphere that matters. When this house loses its excitement will you enjoy the outside? 

KievLover

lookstraightahead said:

I always choose the nicest area and buy what I can afford in it. My first house was the smallest terrace on a street of massive houses but I was in a lovely spot.

For me, the inside of a house soon loses its appeal and then it's the outside atmosphere that matters. When this house loses its excitement will you enjoy the outside? 

I really wish we could do that. We could walk into a 2 bed terraced in our ideal area tomorrow and have a ton of cash to spare. Unfortunately, due to the OH permanently WFH and me having a disability that requires a lot of space, we need a 4 bed or a large 3 bed with 2 reception rooms, which really limits our options.

The garden is fine but a bit plain and naff, plus the potential of houses being built at the back of it, so the answer is probably 'no.'

propertyhunter

I would not live there. The crime rate is an issue. Are the vendors being truthful about it being domestic abuse and not a general problem with the area? Domestic abuse is horrendous enough in my book.

It sounds like the vendor is trying to offload a ball and chain, and saying whatever is needed to sell it. 

I think it's risky to buy a house with a plan to sell it in 3 years. The property market could teeter off the edge of a cliff any time now and the area you are talking about doesn't seem like it would be the first one to recover. The risk is less if you were to stay for longer, but it sounds like a depressing place to live. I'd avoid.

Find another compromise. 

KievLover

Crime isn't great in the area, but it's lower than the national average, by a little bit. There are pockets in the one mile surrounding the house that I'm not best pleased about. 

I do think they're being honest. They're just older folk who didn't even know you could look up crime rates online and I think are a bit blinkered. They were honest enough to admit that next-door-but-one beats up his wife, and were shocked when I told them those incidents had actually been put into police systems and the November and December investigations are still ongoing. 

Their actual next door neighbour was a loud alcoholic who caused them noise issues and died just before xmas.

So, you're right about the area. It doesn't exactly fill me with joy.

Of course they'd say new homes will increase the property's value. They're buying a vacant place off mates and are desperate to move. They've also got a property developer who lives in the close who has convinced them the asking price is spot on. Clearly not considering the dumping ground behind and local crime rates.

I wish we could find another compromise. I just can't think of what that should be, because we've wracked our brains for everything I can think of.

Noted re: market, we have considered that risk. If it drops 10% in 3 years it's not going to devastate our finances, the house doesn't cost enough in the first place to do so. I am just wary of adding to that risk with the above-mentioned things; we want to be able to sell the bloody thing!

Very much appreciate your input, thank you.

propertyhunter

So the question is really, do you see yourself being happy there having made those compromises?

Sometimes you walk into a place and just get the right feeling - did you get that with this house?

What does Zoopla/Rightmove tell you about the turnover in the area? Have your current vendors lived there for years? What about the problem neighbours? Is there an association between them arriving and other neighbours selling up? 

KievLover

propertyhunter said:

So the question is really, do you see yourself being happy there having made those compromises?

Sometimes you walk into a place and just get the right feeling - did you get that with this house?

What does Zoopla/Rightmove tell you about the turnover in the area? Have your current vendors lived there for years? What about the problem neighbours? Is there an association between them arriving and other neighbours selling up? 

I... I just don't know. I worry.  A lot. 

I didn't get any feeling whatsoever, I feel completely ambivalent about the place. It feels more like a house than a home to me.

There's been very little turnover in the 15 years since 17 houses were built; 3 or 4 sales. It looks as though the problem neighbours have probably been there for years, with something kicking off between them last year. "I'm not sure if those two will stay together, I think they've got a six year old."

I think you're right about compromise. I've just discussed with the fiance sacrificing a bedroom and losing a dining room to office space instead, eating on our laps for a few years, getting to the area that we want to actually be in immediately (we're getting a new car next month, travel will be less painful) and buying a terraced in the right area, for now, with a view to dream home after a two year fixed term mortgage ending. I've just found said-described place in an okay area for 25k less than the other house we're talking about.  The concession being it being terraced instead of detached, and 300 square foot smaller.