To ask if it’s better to buy the worst house in the best street or the best house in the worst street?

[BluntLilacGuide]

I’m currently house hunting and I’ve come across two very different options. One is a not-so-great house in a highly desirable area, and the other is a beautiful, well-maintained home but in a not-so-great area. I’ve heard the phrase ‘buy the worst house in the best street’ so many times, but does that always make sense?

AIBU to wonder whether it’s better to invest in the location even if the house needs a lot of work, or to go for the nicer house in a less desirable area? Would love to hear your thoughts or experiences on this kind of decision.

It's so difficult to say. Like how bad is bad? Is it on the up? I've lived in genuinely bad and also moved to a farmhouse in a wasteland that needed doing up. Also bad. But now it's amazing.

What constitutes as bad? I'd be inclined to go for location, but what sort of bad do you mean?

The worst house on the best street definitely needs a lot of work. It’s structurally sound but would require major renovations (kitchen, bathrooms, etc.). I’m not handy myself, so I’d have to pay for most of the work, which makes me wonder if it’s worth the long-term investment.

The best house on the worst street is move-in ready, but the area is a bit sketchy. I’m wondering if that trade-off would impact quality of life or resale value down the line. I’m leaning towards waiting for something in between but it’s tough!

Like Karl Pilkington said, 'better to be in a cave looking at Petra, than in Petra looking at a cave'.

Worst house, best street.

We bought the worst house on the best street, renovated as we lived in it and when we needed to move for family reasons it sold in 24 hours. Bought another ready done house where we didn’t have any work to do, it was lovely, that wasn’t the best street by any measure, but it was in a top performing state school catchment, so a few years later had to sell for work relocation and it too sold in hours, thanks to the catchment that secured the deal, so it can work both ways.

It's not that straightforward as you might need a particular amount of space which you just can not afford in the best area, even in a doer upper. So it's a trade off. What is the minimum space you need and where can you afford that to be.

Worst house in the best area. Trust me.

We used to live in a very shabby house in a brilliant area. A couple of years we got fed up with the shabbiness and bought a beautiful house in a not-so-good area and it's been miserable. We've had so many problems and we're looking at selling up already. I desperately wish I could pick up the house and move it to where we used to live.

Thanks all! The comments are all the same haha so I’ll go for location and eliminate the best house option!

Absolutely. You can improve the house but not the location.

Location always.

Everyone has different levels of what they can do and what they are prepared to pay for. If this is a house you can see yourself in for a long time, I would say kitchens and bathrooms aren’t a deal breaker. I didn’t want anything that would need central heating installing, rewiring, structural, new boiler, new roof. I would also probably say no if it was an adapted wet room that needed converting to a bathroom.

Are you buying by yourself as that will make it harder to save for a new kitchen or bathroom. The advantage is with major renovations is you can get the house exactly as you want it. The disadvantage is you have to save and it takes years and years. The advantage of a recently renovated house is that everything is done. The disadvantage is that something might not quite be to your choosing, so you might not have picked those counter tops but they aren’t so bad you want to replace them. The other disadvantage is that you are trusting the other person has done these renovations properly, if you do you know you have and when they were done.

The walk in house is already at the best price it can be. You can't add value.

The one that needs work will increase in value as you improve it but it will be a hassle.

I think better area, but also understand convience might be more important to some people. Depends on stage of life and other commitments you have.

Go for the best location.

You can always improve the house but there I nothing you can do to make a dodgy area better...

Location. And that doesn't necessarily have to be the best street. I bought a house in the worst street in a great area - my street doesn't have the big houses that can be found a couple of minutes' walk away, but we share the same local amenities including schools and that also makes a huge difference to our lives.

Best location. Less likely to have dickish neighbours and more likely to have good school catchments

I've literally just bought the "worst" house on the best street. (Maybe not worst but elderly last owner and a massive fixer upper, 80s kitchen, artex ceilings in bath and cloak etc) It is a massive chore especially with a 4 year old in tow and hardly any renovation budget as we used every penny we had to get through the door (although we have 50% equity so not too squeaky bum), but this is our forever home and we could never have bought a "done up" (or even just half decent) home in the area/street we are on now.

In 5-8 years we will have transformed it to be amazing I'm sure and it will be exactly to our tastes in a location that is probably a little out of our league. I feel really privileged to have scooped it.

So yes location, location, location, and as a PP said you can improve a house but you can't improve a street. Xx

Location, location, location!

I would say it depends on the reasons why the worst house on the best street is bad. If it needs a full internal renovation and looks like someone died in it, but is essentially an attractive house, then I'd say go for it. If it is a really ugly house or is something that would have been a stunning victorian town house if only someone hadn't rendered over all the beautiful external features, added an ugly porch and removed the bay window then I would say avoid. Those things will be very very expensive to rectify so you probably won't end up bothering. I've recently bought a house so have done a lot of looking at rightmove and the ones in the second category are the ones that hang around for aaggeees and keep getting reduced. A house like that would be very hard to sell on again.

Worst house on the best street every time — you can change most things about a house but not it’s location

Always always location

Always always always buy the best location you can afford.

Location every time

There was a beautiful house on the property boards a while ago, absolutely stunning and the owner wanted to know why it wasn't selling. People in the local area came on and it emerged the house was on a rotten street in a grim part of town, it was a loss maker.

We had this dilemma and went for the best street. It’ll probably take us until we retire to get everything we need done to the house but we’re happy here and love th location.

Location, location, location.

YANBU definitely the worst house on the street, for example: if it’s a shit street and you likely to get burgled what’s the point in having a great house with nice belongings if they are going to get nicked.