How did you choose the area you live? (Paranoid about moving to a bad area)

Soprano

Simple question really. Why did you choose the location you live at?

My reason for asking is I shudder when I read thread about people who have bought a place only to have been targeted by chav scum types or noisey neighbours. My stomach goes in knotts at the thought of it and I really feel sorry for people who have this problem.

Does moving to a place advertised 'non estate location' really the best chance you have of keeping away chav-scum?

I realise you won't really know until you move, but I am one of those who expect house prices to continue to fall for the next few years and don't want to be trapped in a place which will be worth less than I paid should I need to move due to a bad location.

Lotus-eater

Its really hard, you've got two problems, one is your immediate neighbours and the other is the general area.
The first you can sort out by visiting them before you make an offer, that should give you a good idea, just say you are thinking of making an offer and wanted to say hello.
The other, ask everyone you know who knows the area and road and drive there alot, walk there alot, go in the local pub, maybe ask in there if you get the right person, although they may all say its ok.
Look through local paper archives online.

You cannot take too much trouble when choosing where to live, but you still may be shafted when someone else moves in after you, its still a gamble.

trudiha

Ofstead reports; they all have an socioeconomic breakdown of the school's catchment area at the beginning. Then I visited the areas on my short list, looking for graffiti, litter and evidence of spitting. Then I bought the local papers and discounted any areas without reference to cake baking competitions.

I'm going to have to start looking again because it's a bloody long drive from my place of work to West Cork.

otter1_2

We're buying a flat one minute's walk from where we have been renting for the past three and a half years. We originally chose the area as it was close to work and centrally located (we live in London and have no children).

I think any feedback you can get from friends, family, etc., about an area is helpful, but the most helpful thing of all is to live there in rented first, without the huge financial commitment of buying somewhere.

sarah_elton

Don't only go for non-estate positions. Most towns have a mixture of really nice estates and deeply unpleasant ones - don't judge them all.

If you're moving to a town, or a part of a city you don't know at all, I would strongly advise you to rent first. I did that in my town as I knew the high street for shopping/work but not the residential areas at all. Looking at a map gives you no clue as to where's "nice", and doesn't always give you an accurate feel for where has best transport links to town centre/cut through paths etc. I ended up buying in the road next to the one I rented in because I happened to fall on a nice area.

If you're looking at a specific town post it here, and odds are someone will be able to give advice on areas to avoid.

You have to distinguish between bad areas and bad neighbours. Bad areas you can suss out in advance with experience in the town. Bad neighbours can turn up anywhere. Unless you're buying a remote detached house, you can't avoid that risk, though obviously it's lower in 'nice' parts.

sarah_elton

And check http://www.chavtowns.co.uk/

barnaby-bear

Soprano wrote: »

Simple question really. Why did you choose the location you live at?.

Basically couldn't afford much so had to move out of area, went for a 60/70s *private* estate built before [STRIKE]social-engineering[/STRIKE] affordable housing policies came in... if you don't work you basically don't get to live on our estate as you have to pay rent or mortgage, LLs not very interested in maintaining that age of house so very few BTLers.... Avoid social/affordable housing areas the *minority* of bad eggs have disproportionate effect, you only need one deliquent firestarter in a class or street to attract more and create chaos.

vivatifosi

Agree on OFSTED reports. I also drive around the areas in the day when people are at work, in the evenings and at the weekend to get an idea of who is about. Talk to people and ask them what they think. Finally, I get the postcodes for all the houses that I'm looking at and put them into https://www.upmystreet.com and read the Neighbourhood Profile. This data was taken from the 2001 census but it is still fairly accurate and it on a really small-scale (ie postcode) level.

Sola

We knew the area pretty well anyway and moved here to be closer to two sets of friends. And then they moved

merlinthehappypig

You can't tell, unfortunately. You can minimise the risk by including some of the suggestions from people on here, but nothing that you can do will prevent these problems completely.

Even if the area is great, there is nothing to stop someone moving in.

We lived in a small village in Suffolk and had awful problems with gangs of teenagers. They were all local, and probably bored, but that's no excuse.

When we lived in Scotland a family from hell moved up from Liverpool. They had fallen out with everyone wherever they lived, we later learned.

The kids were appalling. Driving cars around the roads from the age of 14, the 11 year old regularly road a motorbike in the area. Swearing, arguments, teenage pregnancies -all the stereotypes and more.

Both times this was the main reason we moved.

It's a sad reflection on the way things have gone.

pinkshoes

1) Look at the gardens - home owners tend to keep their gardens much neater than those properties that have a turnover of rented tenants.

2) Type the postcode into www.upmystreet.com and see what it says in the "neighbourhood profile". It's only a vague overview of a "typical population", but it's often uncannily accurate! They use the ACORN classification of area.

3) Visit during the day, then on a friday/saturday night. Drive through just after midnight and see if there's lots of yobs/people/chavs who walk through the area on their way home from the pub.

4) Speak to people in the street who live there.

5) Graffiti? Damage to cars? (new registration cars parked on the street is a sign that there isn't too much vandelism)

You'll never know exactly if it's a good area or not, but the above should give you a good idea!