Buying question: overlooked by big high rise social housing block - a bad buy?

annetheman

Albermarle said:

 You wouldn't tell that I am a private-school educated high earner from looking at all. I sort of just fit in in this area where the hipster couple did look out of place

If you are a high earner, then the obvious question is why not look somewhere a bit nicer/more expensive?

Ok if for now this is all you can afford, but why is this the plan. 

I intend to stay for many years hopefully, and reselling is not on the horizon .

If you do move in I would shy away from spending much money on it. as the location will set the selling price.

The usual phrase is buy the worst house in the best street and do it up. Not the opposite.

I did - on Friday, I viewed 2 flats in the nicer areas (actually by sqm the most expensive area in Europe, so you can imagine how tiny and horrendous the flats were in order for them to be in my budget -- absolutely lovely street, though!).

After viewing those, I went to the other side of the city and viewed freehold (this is key for me) houses for the same amount. That solidified what I already knew, which is that space indoors and freehold tenure is more important to me than lovely local area; what I cannot do is afford both a nice area and a freehold house, so compromise is required. 

Yes! I've heard that phrase, and actually noted in my own family's experiences - worst house in the best street will always give you better resale value later on.

I know that I will spend money on doing it up, and because it's just for me, I am likely not to limit myself to "not beyond resale limits" - I planned to put triple glazed laminate bifold doors vs white uPVC factory French doors - not because I want to sell it, because I love them. 

I'm putting really low importance on resale value though; as mentioned I have no interest in making £10,000s profit from it. If I get back the equity I've put in by paying my mortgage over hopefully many years, that's good enough for me.

I hope that makes sense!

annetheman

ProDave said:

So this house is available for £60K to 100K less than houses in a better position.

So you need not worry about re sale so much.  It will sell for less than better ones but you bought it for less than better ones.

There are plenty of other reasons I would not personally buy it but that is outside the discussion.

That's for sure, I think this is right - it already is and there is every indication therefore it will do in the future, too. Can I ask whether the overlooking tower specifically though is a factor for you (if you look at the photo?)

annetheman

elsien said:

I live in a rundown area. Which has probably become more rundown since I moved in because a lot of owner occupiers have sold up and the buy to  let/more rundown have moved in. 

It’s still fine. It’s safe enough and there’s always going to be people like me who can’t afford to buy better areas. Maybe it will take longer to sell in the future, but you if liked it enough to buy then someone else will as well. 

I do have to smile sometimes at the posts saying look for something in a better area, because for my price range this was the better area, even though it’s not great on the face of it.

Oh I can relate to that 100%! Honestly, the tower being ugly is the only thing that is somewhat bothering me, the crime and demographics I honestly put much lower on my concern list. I've grown up in gated suburbia in South Africa and lived in stabbing central type poor areas in south London - felt safe and happy in both.

This is a very small sample pool but from the replies so far, you and I are way more rare than I thought in being prepared to make that sacrifice lol

Would you specifically be offput by the tower? Saying you know nothing else about the area that I shared in my following posts), just looking at the photo of the view from the front door, would those blocks put you off?

user1977

I wouldn't be bothered about the tower block. It looks like a fairly typical inner-city view, and the tower isn't the biggest or next door.

markin

Unless its a forever home the next buyer will be concerned about crime. Is this the only place still up after 6m?

ManuelG

Blimey, I've been out of London a fair while if Peckham has upgraded to rough but charming. Even the bus journey was an excitement when I went there!

Anyway, I digress. The tower block looks far enough away to not necessarily be an issue, I'd be more concerned about the general ambience tbh.

And when you say you intend to stay a while, if this is London then areas wax and wane don't they, so I wouldn't necessarily worry about the sale in the future if you genuinely mean a while, more if you're happy with somewhere.

And of course if it's rough but rough, the price probably reflects that whether you're buying or selling!

Albermarle

I planned to put triple glazed laminate bifold doors vs white uPVC factory French doors - not because I want to sell it, because I love them. 

I would not bother with triple glazing. Advantage over double glazing is small for the significant extra cost.

lika_86

When you said overlooking, I assumed you meant across the road, not a fair few streets away. Wouldn't bother me as a long time resident of East London, you get these in all areas. The thing that always surprises me about London is how close very nice areas of London are to some very grotty looking buildings. If you're happy with everything else, I'd go for it. What would concern me is why it's sat on the market for a while and why it's on for less without interest.

theartfullodger

I've always found council tenants much more pleasant neighbours than owner occupiers: (who in my experience winge on too much about property prices and latest daily wail speculation..).

Probably 12+ properties owned at various times ..

Best wishes to all.

annetheman

markin said:

Unless its a forever home the next buyer will be concerned about crime. Is this the only place still up after 6m?

Ah I hadn't thought to check this before, thank you! So just now I have seen 3 since May 2023, of around 25 comparable properties in the area. But they're not within viewing distance or near the offensive tower so must be other reasons (1 has had series of reductions, the other only 1 reduction)... Maybe the area?

ManuelG said:

Blimey, I've been out of London a fair while if Peckham has upgraded to rough but charming. Even the bus journey was an excitement when I went there!

Anyway, I digress. The tower block looks far enough away to not necessarily be an issue, I'd be more concerned about the general ambience tbh.

And when you say you intend to stay a while, if this is London then areas wax and wane don't they, so I wouldn't necessarily worry about the sale in the future if you genuinely mean a while, more if you're happy with somewhere.

And of course if it's rough but rough, the price probably reflects that whether you're buying or selling!

Okay I definitely overstated by saying charming ! Maybe 'trendy in parts' is more accurate - Hackney or Brixton or Leytonstone type of once-rough-but-trendy and now super expensive, with period properties and rich cultural mix. You're right though, there's no saying how this area will evolve. Time will tell and it's important I'm happy there while it does, I think I could be!

lika_86 said:

When you said overlooking, I assumed you meant across the road, not a fair few streets away. Wouldn't bother me as a long time resident of East London, you get these in all areas. The thing that always surprises me about London is how close very nice areas of London are to some very grotty looking buildings. If you're happy with everything else, I'd go for it. What would concern me is why it's sat on the market for a while and why it's on for less without interest.

You know what now I look at the photo again, it doesn't look that close. Maybe it felt more significant in person because otherwise the street is quite nice-looking to the right and beyond, so it really feels like this is one of the 4-6 corner houses near the social blocks surrounded by litter that got the short end of the stick as it were! I think the mix of types of people is actually something I really like about these types of areas in big cities. theartfullodger said:

I've always found council tenants much more pleasant neighbours than owner occupiers: (who in my experience winge on too much about property prices and latest daily wail speculation..).

Probably 12+ properties owned at various times ..

Best wishes to all.

Yes, you are quite right I definitely in no way meant to imply that social housing tenants are undesirable, to be clear! Just that the tower is an eyesore (to me - I know there are some people who actually love brutalist architecture, but they wouldn't be interested in this Victorian house!). It's hard to miss and the area around it is shabby especially compared to the tree-lined streets adjacent.

--

Thank you all for the different viewpoints, it's really interesting and helpful. I'm going to go for it and put the offer in - it might be rejected anyway. Fingers crossed... If it's not meant to be, I will cry a little, but at least I won't have to see the blocks again (haha!)

--

Edit to add: 

If anyone was interested here is an article on the crimes per capita rates of London's top 15 most dangerous boroughs

https://www.churchillsupportservices.com/resources/news-insights/top-15-most-dangerous-areas-in-london/

I don't want to give the location away but it's not even near the top. I also noticed many houses have security bars on their doors and windows;I've not really seen this anywhere else - even in the places in the top 10.