Would this put you off buying a house? Please be honest

[ButIGetUpAgain]

Hello

I say "please be honest", because this could potentially be seen as a bit snobby or even elitist, but I'd still really appreciate honesty under the circumstances.

So we've (hopefully 🤞) sold our house after a long time on the market. It's been tough, as we've been desperate to move for 18 months!

Anyway, location was top of our list and we've found somewhere almost perfect, in a nice local village, 4 bed, end of terrace,
large living room and large kitchen/diner. However, at the back of this road, there are several large blocks of flats and I can't lie, it's giving me second thoughts on putting in an offer, which we were almost certainly going to do. At best, it's an eye sore, at worst, it's SH for ex offenders etc. I don't know how/if I can find this out.

I desperately don't want to offend anyone and I know how this could sound. Overall, I don't think I have a problem with it. I have driven round that road several times and I haven't seen anything worrying. I think I'm concerned more about selling it on, as this is a 3-5 year house, ideally, which is why I'm asking the question, would this put you off?...Honestly.

TIA

It would put me off putting in an offer until I had more info... I think you need to do some research first. It would also put me off if this was a short-term investment (which you say it is) as I'd be concerned that future potential buyers may have the same worries and I'll be stuck living somewhere that wasn't right for my needs in 3-5 years time. If I was planning on moving there and staying put for the foreseeable future, that would be less of a worry, but I'd want to get more information on the flats for my own peace of mind. I personally wouldn't buy it due to your plan to only stay there short term... Imagine if you can't sell it when you need to? And the reason people give for not persuing, is the flats, that's not something you will ever be able to change or minimise.

Yes, it would put me off hugely.

I've no idea how the 'don't buy next to renters' would get on in student cities, where 90% of housing that is affordable for normal people is student housing or in the middle of student housing.

I wouldn’t buy it either. A bad area/neighbours can make any home hell!

You can't see them from the garden. I am gobsmacked at the amount of people on here who would find this an issue. I really didn't expect to see this amount of snobbery.

We live in a very expensive town in Surrey, in the much cheaper part that the posh people avoid because (gasp) it has a council estate. Guess what? It's brilliant here and my kids are growing up in a mix of nice normal people. Some of the people on the estate are arseholes. Some of the posh people are arseholes too. But most people are just people.

I've spent years working in deprived communities, sometimes with ex-offenders but mostly with families. They know how 'other' people look at them, avoid them. They feel it every day.

You can try checkmystreet.co.uk or streetcheck.co.uk for an idea of crime stats.
Google the flats name to bring up newspaper articles?

@Zaphodsotherhead, this was my original point, not the social housing or the high rise flats - the not buying next to renters. Literally never heard of that. And just so we're clear, I live in social housing now (in the town that I come from) but I have lived in nicer places in London and in Edinburgh and lived with /next to/even married to home owners and none of them would ever think such a thing.

If everything else was what I wanted, then I dont think that would be a dealbreaker.

I wouldn't want to stare at blocks of flats out of my windows, so yes, it would put me off. Not sure how you can find out who is living there, but if they are council-owned then yes they could be housing ex-offenders.

It would definitely put me off . A lovely family living next door to a relatively low rise old folks home moved in the end - leaving their dream house - when a developer successfully obtained change of use to a shared house of occupation for 37 residents. Our DD was renting in the same street and at a public meeting he assured everyone that it was for young professionals - strange that as the only cooking facilities were communal . It’s completely ruined what was a great residential area . Unfortunately though people have to live somewhere a concentration of ex offenders well away from the centre of a town and without transport or resources does change the dynamic . I’m sure I’ll get shot down in flames but it’s a sad fact of life .

@Doingtheboxerbeat - yes, and to say nothing of the fact that you can't legislate for change of use of the houses around you! You may buy a house in the middle of an area of owners, but there's nothing to stop them all moving out and renting out their houses!

What a stunningly awful- but illuminating- thread

I drove round with my DD last night (12) and she asked why I was specifically driving down that road, as that's not where we would be living. I tried to explain why, but she snapped at me with "people just live here mum. What's your problem?"

I love the OP’s grounded daughter!

No.

I would investigate the area in general, flats or no. (But to be honest if I was buying I'd probably only be able to afford a "rough" area anyway.)

I have done a lot of research and had a look on Streetcheck. I was shocked at the amount of monthly crime, in the general area tbh! I googled the street name, but incidents were showing within a mile and were never actually on that road.

I don't know what the average is, but violent or sexual offences (which come under the same category) was an average of 4 every month. General crime was about 7. Every month?! This can't be normal! I've spoken to a few locals about it and they were shocked and said they have never thought of it as a high crime area.

I'm a bit thrown now.

I love the OP’s grounded daughter!

You think grounded, I think naive and unworldly which I would expect as she’s only twelve.

Always go with your gut

Oh dear. It would worry me if they were particularly ugly flats to look at. I don't think it would cross my mind that they'd be some sort of halfway house unless I knew that's what they were used for.

Compare your current area on Streetcheck OP. A mile is quite a wide radius and will be picking up other areas. For example my postcode also brings up 4 violent and sexual offences, but if you scroll down it names the streets each crime was on and mine picks up a recreation area and supermarket. My street is really quiet and safe, we've never known of or experienced any crimes in the years we've lived here.

Moving house is stressful at best.
Adding this into the mix before you start isn’t helping.

Well we've decided to walk away.

Drove round again last night and just didn't get a good feeling at all. Genuinely gutted, as I honestly haven't walked into a house and felt 'this could be home' so much before. It really was perfect. Already felt like ours in a weird way.

There is nothing around atm though. I'm worried we'll lose our buyer and we'll be back to square one again.

There is one other contender, but it's over budget and the village doesn't even have a shop. It's a beautiful place and has a gorgeous pub, but everything else you'd have to hop in the car for.

Does no shop need to be a dealbreaker if everything else is perfect?

@jamhanihash, not a complete deal breaker, but it was on my list. If it was just the two of us, I wouldn't mind so much, but it would be nice for my DD to have a bit more freedom and be able to walk to the shops. Where we are at the minute, that's not possible.

I’ve lived in my house for 44 years love it and the area but if you took the whole area into consideration of about 5000 houses, you’d see lots of crime reported and it’s a nice area but we border a not so nice area
Yet drive around it and there’s no problem.
Maybe an insurance check might give you a better idea or a car insurance check..ours are quite low

I wouldn’t let that put me off to be fair.
A big old house behind us was turned into flats . There were addicts in there but it’s been very quite over the last few years..you just never know when it could all spark off again.
There no guarantees sadly. My area was quite sparsely populated when I moved in but since then the gardens beside me were sold to make way for 7 detached homes.
Another nursery garden at the other side became 3 detached homes.
At the bottom of the street another nursery garden became 4 blocks of flats and an office building was demolished and goodness knows how many more houses they built there. I’m talking of an area no more than three streets wide.
Oh and a children’s home was demolished and another slew of executive housing was built.
It’s a green leafy area..I moan about the leaves we have to pick up in our garden but it keeps the area nice.

The council should be able to tell you about the occupancy of the flats

@ButIGetUpAgain I'm sorry this house didn't work out. It won't feel like it now but there will be another. I felt absolutely gutted about a house we wanted and miss out on (Long story - short version we got screwed over by the EA). It worked out in the end. Trust your gut. You want a safe place to live and give your DD freedom. If you get a strange vibe you won't relax there.
Fwiw a shop nearby is very useful. How far is the nearest shop/pub/cafe/restaurant? It's awkward if you run out of essentials and need to drive a long distance to buy.