Streetcheck - has anyone used this to influence buying choices?

KateySW · 17 May 2017 at 1:05PM

Hi all,

I was just wondering if anyone had used https://www.streetcheck.co.uk to check out the road and area that they wanted to buy a house in, and if it influenced their decision in buying/living there at all?

I think my partner seems to think I'm a bit overly anxious because whenever I've checked it (only done it a few times) I can sometimes get a tad panicky about it. It's never been anything too major but I've had a few wobbles - "oh no, there was at least one violent crime a month near our road for three months, should we be worried?!" etc - even though I absolutely love the area itself when I've been there and it seems great... But I guess as I'm still relatively new to the city as a whole (only moved last summer) and I don't know it incredibly well, I might have a bit of fear of the unknown in a way. Or just general FTB nerves!

Also, the area we're buying in is close to a city centre, but I grew up out in the sticks where literally nothing exciting ever happened - that's probably why I can be a little taken aback by stats like that :eek:

Does anyone else get worried, or has got worried, about this sort of stuff?

hazyjo · 17 May 2017 at 1:13PM

Not really - it basically takes stuff from the police.uk site. People were a bit fascinated with it when it first came out, but it soon got forgotten. I have checked it lots, but there's nothing that would put me off. It might be helpful to see if there's regularly probs near say an alley, or park, etc if they're close.

Compare it against an area (where you lived in the sticks and maybe somewhere near that's considered an upmarket posh area?) to see the difference.

Jx

ReadingTim · 17 May 2017 at 1:21PM

If you believe everything you read on the internet you'll end up living in a cave wrapped in cotton wool and wearing a tin foil hat.

Seriously, have a word with yourself.

00ec25 · 17 May 2017 at 1:24PM

KateySW wrote: »

Also, the area we're buying in is close to a city centre, but I grew up out in the sticks where literally nothing exciting ever happened - that's probably why I can be a little taken aback by stats like that :eek:

have you never lived anywhere else besides "the sticks"?

look up an area you are familiar with and see if streetcheck's take correlates with your own knowledge of the area. The general comments made by the website are based on the national census so a) out of date and b) so broad brush they are at best merely an indicator

Crime stats are somewhat broad brush, for example "anti social behaviour" is the top for my area but I could not tell you a single incident I have even heard about second hand let alone know what they actually were despite there being double digits numbers of them in a month

Celesse · 17 May 2017 at 1:35PM

Looks like on our street there's a "violent or sexual" offence reported every other month or so. I've never heard anything happening at all, and none of neighbours have ever said they have either. Never seen a police car in our street and ours is the type where everyone would go gather and have a look if something was happening. So I'd say it looks scarier than it is.

Davesnave · 17 May 2017 at 1:49PM

Even in the city, there will be enclaves which are quiet and those where trouble always seems to occur.

We lived in easy walking distance from the centre of our small city, but missed all of the bother that used to happen along the main route out, just 200m away.

When I last looked at Police UK, our old road still had 0 crimes in 18months. In the 21 years we lived there, very little of a criminal nature happened, and then it was low-level, very like the small village where I live now.

So, I'd say it's certainly worth looking at where stuff happens statistically, but nothing beats personal mystery shopping, by just parking-up at different times in your target location, watching and listening.

Davesnave · 17 May 2017 at 1:52PM

00ec25 wrote: »

Crime stats are somewhat broad brush, for example "anti social behaviour" is the top for my area but I could not tell you a single incident I have even heard about second hand let alone know what they actually were despite there being double digits numbers of them in a month

I'd imagine that many of these will be 'domestics,' still recorded if the police attend.

kathrynha · 17 May 2017 at 1:59PM

Celesse wrote: »

Looks like on our street there's a "violent or sexual" offence reported every other month or so. I've never heard anything happening at all, and none of neighbours have ever said they have either. Never seen a police car in our street and ours is the type where everyone would go gather and have a look if something was happening. So I'd say it looks scarier than it is.

Our street is the same, apart we have seen police cars and ambulances. It's basically a domestic that always happens at the same house, it doesn't interfere with the rest of the street, and we never hear anything, although the immediate neighbours possibly do.

KateySW · 17 May 2017 at 2:43PM

ReadingTim wrote: »

If you believe everything you read on the internet you'll end up living in a cave wrapped in cotton wool and wearing a tin foil hat.

Seriously, have a word with yourself.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to write a snarky comment Reading Tim, knockout stuff. Give yourself a pat on the back and I'll head back to my apocalypse shelter in the garden and "have a word" with myself...

To clarify: I don't believe everything I read on the internet or take it too literally, and it's not made me scared to go to the area or move or anything ridiculous. I was just generally curious about how much attention people pay to things like that website and crime stats when they are looking to buy or move to an area, especially one they don't know very well. And as I said, FTB nerves probably mean I was wondering how much heed I should pay to this sort of thing.

For everyone else, thanks for the actual helpful comments and experiences. I'll definitely take what it says on there with a pinch of salt and in terms of day-to-day life, I'm sure it won't be an issue. As I said, I've not really lived in a city (not permanently anyway) so the comparison with my old neck of the woods didn't help too much. Will compare to other nice areas nearby though and see what happens. Will be interesting if nothing else. Cheers

bertiewhite · 17 May 2017 at 3:09PM

Celesse wrote: »

Looks like on our street there's a "violent or sexual" offence reported every other month or so. I've never heard anything happening at all, and none of neighbours have ever said they have either. Never seen a police car in our street and ours is the type where everyone would go gather and have a look if something was happening. So I'd say it looks scarier than it is.

I'm glad it's not just me then - we also have drugs offences on our lane at the rate of 2 per month on average and there's only 5 houses :eek:

westv · 17 May 2017 at 5:13PM

I think this is more useful

http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/imd/idmap.html

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Streetcheck - has anyone used this to influence buying choices?

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