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

KievLover

UnderOffer said:

If the new development goes ahead, you may find your house is less attractive as why would anyone want your old house, compared to a shiny new one at the bottom of your garden. Staying 3 years and reselling is a very short time, I’d really try and find a home in your preferred area, go smaller and compromise, then climb the ladder in the area you like. It’s easier to move being happy but compromised on space then utterly miserable in a community you don’t feel great about. 

That's such a good point. Why would they buy 25 years old when they can buy slick, modern and new with a 10 year builders' guarantee?

[Deleted User]

UnderOffer said:

If the new development goes ahead, you may find your house is less attractive as why would anyone want your old house, compared to a shiny new one at the bottom of your garden. Staying 3 years and reselling is a very short time, I’d really try and find a home in your preferred area, go smaller and compromise, then climb the ladder in the area you like. It’s easier to move being happy but compromised on space then utterly miserable in a community you don’t feel great about. 

Have you seen new builds? They are microscopic. Hamsters would feel claustrophobic. They are often of poor quality too. A lot of people prefer older houses because they are an almost decent size.

On the other hand, if the LA forces them to have proper parking available and the older houses don't, that could be a major issue.

KievLover

Sistergold said:

KievLover said:

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.

Those crime reports might not be from next door. Most women who are in abusive relationships don’t report it unless they are now ready to leave. The fact that they are still together makes me wonder if this is a different crime that happened on the street. I am not saying the vendors are lying but they probably thought it might be the explanation? Best discount next door and take it it’s other crime and decide if that’s okay for you. 

There is a good chance that since you are planning to sell in 2-3yrs the dumpsite will continue being that until after you have sold? 

I would not buy near a disused land which has turned into a dumpster. If the crime rate is not too much that will not be a problem for me. Problem neighbor would put me off more than general isolated crime. Domestic abuse can be noisy and unsettling as you will feel for the abused who is not taking a stand to leave. 

A little patience might be all it will take to get a house you can afford. 

Yeah, they're making assumptions about the neighbour because they hear them shouting, but you're right, the crime is unknown. 

Copy paste from another reply:

I've look up their previous developments (small, local company). It took 4 years for them to sell 17 homes on the street, then a few years later, took the same amount of time to build/sell 12 homes on an adjacent street. Companies House tell me their net profit was 1.8m last year, so there's no way 140 homes are going to go up in the space of time we're talking about. Not a hope in hell.

We can't afford patience, the house we are in is making me sick, but we can look at downsizing options; I didn't want the possibility of the OH working on his lap in the lounge for six months whilst we wait ages for a sparky to wire a home office in the garden, but he's prepared to do that rather than us move to the wrong house in an area we don't like in the first place.

KievLover

Emmia said:

If you're hesitant, then the people you plan to sell to in 3 years time, are likely to be also hesitant - and you'll have to sell it, to get to the area you want...

Emmia said:

If you're hesitant, then the people you plan to sell to in 3 years time, are likely to be also hesitant - and you'll have to sell it, to get to the area you want...

This has been playing on my mind a lot. A massive, 4 bedroom, detached family home in decent condition hasn't received a single offer before us, when large houses are going within 24 hours, and they've had 16 viewings. There's something seriously wrong with that picture, and that I'm already worried about selling before buying is not a good sign.

KievLover

walwyn1978 said:

If they haven’t even started yet and unless I’ve missed it in the thread in which case apologies there’s not panning approval for the new estate at the back yet , there’s a small but possible chance that in 3 years you’ll be trying to sell a house whilst there’s construction/plant/noise/etc going on behind your garden, which might make selling your house harder. 

Copy paste from several other replies:

I've look up their previous developments (small, local company). It took 4 years for them to sell 17 homes on the street, then a few years later, took the same amount of time to build/sell 12 homes on an adjacent street. Companies House tell me their net profit was 1.8m last year, so there's no way 140 homes are going to go up in the space of time we're talking about. Not a hope in hell.

KievLover

[Deleted User] said:

UnderOffer said:

If the new development goes ahead, you may find your house is less attractive as why would anyone want your old house, compared to a shiny new one at the bottom of your garden. Staying 3 years and reselling is a very short time, I’d really try and find a home in your preferred area, go smaller and compromise, then climb the ladder in the area you like. It’s easier to move being happy but compromised on space then utterly miserable in a community you don’t feel great about. 

Have you seen new builds? They are microscopic. Hamsters would feel claustrophobic. They are often of poor quality too. A lot of people prefer older houses because they are an almost decent size.

On the other hand, if the LA forces them to have proper parking available and the older houses don't, that could be a major issue.

You've hit on the house's USP here. We've looked at loads of 1300-1500 sq ft houses and they bung so much into them these days that none of the rooms are big. You'd typically get them putting 5 beds in, a dining room, a utility room, two bathrooms and a WC and maybe study too. The result is: nothing is spacious. The house in question has four genuine double beds bigger than 10 x 10 with one being about 10 x 17, and a 16 x 15ft lounge. It's virtually unheard of in house builds these days. 

That said, we've decided not to go with this house. The dumping ground and the potential of many years of house building behind is just too much of a liability.

KievLover

gwynlas said:

Look at all options of housing such as a 3 bed and a  garden office for your husband, We revently converted a stand alone garage to an annex but an integral garage could be a ground floor bedroom, office or extra reception room. The new houses with incentives might make this house look like poor value for money.

We looked into the home office thing a while back, and whilst we made calls and found lead times for delivery of said home office are fine, getting a sparky to wire electrics and a heating engineer to put heating in is no laughing matter at the mo. Availability is dire.

I've been fighting the OH who's been saying for three months 'I'll work on the sofa if I need to' because he has ADHD and finds it a nightmare to focus at the best of times, but I think I'll give up that fight now. If the alternative is moving into a house that's potentially a liability, we'll just have to put up and shut up for a while. 

We have seen quite a few 3 beds with conservatories that he could feasibly use during summer, with winter obviously being a bit more problematic as they're usually poorly constructed and freezing. But the alternatives seem to be far worse, so I think we'll simply have to find a way.

KievLover

Swipe said:

IMO bad areas can attract bad types of people. You never know who could move in next door. I'd look for a better area if you can.

Swipe said:

IMO bad areas can attract bad types of people. You never know who could move in next door. I'd look for a better area if you can.

We already know he has domestic violence on his doorstep and that his deceased next door neighbour was an alcoholic who caused noise issues, so you're right.

We're best off going for what we are able to tolerate for 2-3 years in a much better area, I think.

KievLover

MysteryMe said:

"Other" than the house with the domestic violence issues there appears to be little to suggest the locality is a crime hotspot from the information given. I would hope that particular issue would resolve itself in the short term with one or other leaving the house or the husband going inside. There is not a high churn in house sales, so this just sounds like a very unfortunate occurrence which could happen anywhere, including your desired area. 

Derelict land being used as a local tip is not as desirable as a new housing estate so in that respect I agree with the vendor. The issue is not knowing when the development will commence so with such a short term timescale you may not see the benefit of the improvement.

The bottom line is, if you don't have much positivity towards the property there is no point considering it but other than the ground you stand on, there are few constants in life. Nice neighbours can move out, not so nice move in. 

Your last paragraph is really powerful and has led me to think really carefully about what we need - thank you.

KievLover

theartfullodger said:

KievLover said:

theartfullodger said:

Depends how much of a gambler you are.  ....

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

£30k drop more than likely when market drops anyway (it will, it will, there's always downs as well as ups, regardless of what the Daily Wail prints...).

I kind of feel like that's a possibility, too. What do you think is likely to happen? It's a bit of a crystal ball, but I'm interested in your opinion.

I wonder how many folks go on what Rightmove tells them re: house price increases in areas they're thinking of moving to. Some of the nicer areas we were looking at 3 months ago were showing rises of 10,11% over the last year, and I can only assume Rightmove have just had a massive data dump from the Land Registry, as they're now showing at 3%.

(LR are currently running at 9 months or more for uploading info).