How much does the street bother you?

gazfocus

When looking at buying a house, how much notice do you pay to the other houses on the street? I mean, would you not buy a house if the house itself was perfect but further down the street was not so well looked after (in terms of old rusty cars, really untidy fronts etc)?

mi-key

It would put me off if it was the only house in good condition in the street. You sometimes get the odd overgrown garden etc... if elderly people live there who cant manage it, but if most of the other houses are rough then I would think twice.

If you look at any 'nice' area the houses will be recently painted, front gardens tidied and lawns cut etc...

lookstraightahead

I choose area over house. I once bought the smallest house on a road as the area was lovely. 

MalMonroe

I would always choose area over property. I'd never buy a house in a street that looked neglected.

I once bought a lovely cottage type house in a rural area and thought it was going to be my forever home. Until, unfortunately, new neighbours moved in down the road and the vandals started ruining my peace. Never again. I hate to say it, as I now live in a lovely council flat in a nice area but the house was ex-council and some were still council properties and some (but not all) neighbours were very unruly indeed. 

Location's now very important to me and I'd always go for the best street, even if I had the worst house. Houses can always be refurbished, renovated, enhanced. Neighbours, not so much.

gazfocus

Thanks. I seem to see a lot of streets where one side of the street is very well kept and the other side is not so well kept. 

The house I've seen that my wife and I both like is relatively well kept (though not perfect by any stretch) and the other 5 houses on the same stretch are nicely kept (lots of beautiful flowers, well kept lawn, painted windows, etc). Immediately opposite are 3 houses, 2 of which are nicely kept, 1 is a bit unloved. Go just round the bend and about 50% of the houses look unloved. There's also a patch of grass that's overgrown with a caravan parked there, and looks as though it's often used to park cars.

I will say that the cul-de-sac end of the street is quite tight so completely understand the need to park somewhere.

I always try to think though of the potential saleability of a house for when I come to sell...afterall, I don't want to be left with a house that won't sell becuase of the neighbours haha.

YoungBlueEyes

Location for us too. Ignore the neighbours/surrounding area at your peril.

This house seems to be 'one step forward two steps back, but you know what - when you're sat looking out the window with a brew at the end of the day, it's still on a lovely street.

Brie

Unloved houses could be

1. quiet elderly or otherwise unable to maintain
2. rented with a useless landlord
3. student housing

I wouldn't mind the first and I was very happy to move because of the third. 

Students in my opinion make some of the worst neighbours.  Some years they would be fine, others a complete nightmare.  Trying to get them to shut up at 2 am on a Tuesday when you have to get up for work at 7 is dreadful.  My OH asked "don't you have classes to go to in the morning?" and apparently they all had the next day off of lectures so that was their weekly party night.  Fridays were quieter as they either went home to get their parents (aka their mom) to do their laundry or they were working or had to be at work first thing on Saturday.  Not helped either by the number of cars they had - a two bedroom terrace house a couple of doors down was converted into a 6 bedroom student house which meant that there could be at least 6 cars parked on the road (no off road parking).  Not helped when some of their boy/girlfriends moved in as well.

housebuyer143

Street and area and top top top of my list. If I saw that I would probably not buy it honestly. 

Brie

Sorry - meant to add - the thing I would want to do with any house I was buying, and particularly if the neighbours might not be perfect  - would be to go and drive by a few times.  On a Saturday morning, a Sunday afternoon, a Thurs/Friday evening.  

eidand

I always checked the areas, different days, different hours, morning, evenings, weekends. 
The area and the people are very important. I used to live in a "problematic" area and well, never again ...

GDB2222

I totally agree with choosing a good area, unless you want to gamble that a rough area will improve in the future. Parts of the East End of London have gone from very run down to very sought after in just a few years.