To want to sell up and buy this house by the sea?

[caramara]

Lockdown boredom has set in and started looking for somewhere to buy with what I could roughly have in equity if I sold my house.

I know Jaywick is a bit rough (I'm the opposite side of Essex currently so know the area a little) but still, can it really be that bad? The idea of being mortgage free is quite appealing, and the house looks like it requires no work at all, plus I love the kitchen.

And I could walk to the beach!

the house

Please tell me I'm BU/ point out all the faults with my plan!

You know that adage about buying the best house on the worst street?!!

Maybe spend a weekend there first.

£140k??? God, those were the days!!

I've found a house I love, could live mortgage free. It's in the Scottish highlands I so want to go

Jaywick is horrendous. Huge drug & crime problems.

I actually can not get over how cheap it is op, so can see why you were lured into thinking this would be a good next chapter, but the price always equates desirability - and so that says it all. It would be a bad investment until the area has serious investment. Lets face it, that isn't going to happen after CoVid for a quite a while.

Have you thought about the Kent coast? Easy to get to London and slightly more upmarket and vibrant.

Yeah, walking on the beach won't be so pretty OP when you're stepping on used needle/syringes... It is more dodgy than Basildon!

copycopypaste Scottish Highlands is my runaway dream. Plenty of amazing places if you want to live truly rurally and don't mind not being on the gas lines. Its all the more tempting now we're not allowed out anyway!

I live in a mid terrace now, I really would like something at least a semi, or ideally detached so I can't hear my neighbours switching their kettle on 20 times a day like I can now!

I take the point about Jaywick generally but I still think the house is really nice, I know it wouldn't work for a family but for 2 adults I think it would be pretty comfortable.

I would really like to be near the sea though. I thought this might be ok. Or is Mablethorpe the Jaywick of Lincolnshire? (probably, knowing my luck!)

You might even feature in one of the documentaries filmed there op on the upside five minutes of fame ticked off the bucket list

A few years ago I lived in an affluent part of Essex and had the same thought as you. I came across few detached properties online which sounded amazing, near the beach at Jaywick and half the price of a studio flat in my local area. I’d never even heard of it before. Next time I took my kids to the beach I decided to do a detour into Jaywick and check out the area. OMG! I had barely entered the town when I realised why the area was so cheap. Suffice to say I did a big U turn in the middle of the road and couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Since then I’ve seen the documentary about the town. Shocking! Apologies to anyone who lives there, but don’t do it OP!

I think the phrase that comes to mind here is "You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter"

It's a nice looking place, but it's effectively glittered turd given the area.
Sorry OP, I know that might not be what you want to hear but it really is cheap for a reason.

A bit off topic, but why would anyone (2nd house) have curtains in the bathroom which drape over the loo cistern - yuck!!!

@airedailleurs have PM'd you

So what's stopping you?

Jay wick is full of crack heads.

OP, why do you need a house?

Why not a 2 bed apartment somewhere actually worth moving to?

Have you considered possibly going abroad?

The house/challet that I looked at buying got burned to the ground 2 years later....so I was kind of relieved to have been talked out of it.

Jaywick is SO bad. A literal shanty town.

You might want to look at the northern end of Great Yarmouth for that budget - towards Caister. GY also suffers from large pockets of deprivation and a bad reputation but nowhere near as bad as Jaywick and it varies across town. It has actual amenities, various beaches, and is just half an hour drive from Norwich which has even more shopping, museums, a uni and an art college plus an arts/culture scene.

I sped read to apologies if it’s been asked but what is your work situation/industry?

No idea about the area but I don't like the house at all. Weird lay out, pokey rooms, needs updating and ugly yard. You can get nicer houses elsewhere. What about work? Friends?

@caramara Mablethorpe isn't anywhere near as bad as Jaywick. But it's similar to a lot of seaside towns in that it's bustling during tourist season and there's not much going on at any other time. It wouldn't be somewhere i'd move to personally, mostly because of the touristy vibe.

I relocated from Essex to Lincs last year. If you are open to relocating and not being right on top of a beach, there are affordable places that are a bit nicer (area wise) and short drives from gorgeous beaches.

By the time you've watched that tv documentary on Jaywick you will soon run for the hills

@caramara - the Lincs East Coast is grim (IMO) and amongst the countries most deprived areas It would take considerably longer than 2 hours to get to London.

Your best bet for something that close is one of the smaller towns on the east coast mainline. Doncaster is probably just under 2 hours, Newark probs 1.20-30

Though on a main road, this looks ok for a new(ish) build

Moorgate, Retford
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64419813.html

I like the Morgue Drawer Kitchen Units - are they all seperate or are they tall cupboards designed to give you the 'Silent Witness' look in your own kitchenette?

The film documentary linked was depressing in extreme - I know these programmes are heavily edited but that poor woman at the start . Saying they wouldn't survive another Winter there

The house in the OP would most likely be sold for rental , it seems there's a lot of Private Landlord/Social Renting there . If they can rent it as a 4 bed , they will do .

I take the point about Jaywick generally but I still think the house is really nice, I know it wouldn't work for a family but for 2 adults I think it would be pretty comfortable.

It's not just about the house, though. You need to think of the area you're going to be living in. If this is going to be your forever home, do you really want to be living somewhere like Jaywick in your eighties?

Hint - no, you don't.