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.

Always go for best street. You can do up the house but you can't make the neighborhood nicer.

The location is more important.

Depends how bad the street really is and there’s more to it then just the street… in my city the nice new houses they built over the last 20 years were all on not so great patches of land that were sort of leftover: near a busy motorway, near heavy industry. I wouldn’t want to live there, no matter how nice the house is. So now we live in a cheaper area… but it really is the nicest house in the street.

@Girasoli is literally saying the same thing as you.

Worst house OP.
We've done that before and so much has to be said for location.

No point living in a beautiful house where you can't freely use the garden or walk safely after dark.

All depends on what worst means though.

For some the worst would be no great local amenities, no park, not good public transport, not having beautiful walks straight out the gate etc whereas other's would be crime related.

We bought one of the smaller houses on a road with bigger nicer houses. We love it here and would say buy on a better location every time!

Better to have a nicer view out of your windows than looking at a s* hole 😀

Depends on the span between worst and best. In some places I’ve lived, the worst street is still leafy and lovely, whereas in others the worst street is a dangerous place. You could improve a bad house on a good street, but can you stand to live there while you do, and do you have the resources?

A liveable house on a medium desirability street 🫣

Location. Location. Location.

it is only an investment if you can sell it. Otherwise it is only a financial gouffre.

In general the worst house on the best street... almost anything can be 'fixed' but you also need to allow time, knowledge and money to do that. We are happy to take on a doer up, I have builder knowledge but there are houses even I have said no too because there is so much work you would basically have to gut absoloutly everything even the roof, floors and parts of the walls and thats just not worth it to me.

The best house on the worst street is always worth fuck all... no one is going to live in a dangerous nightmare hellhole with anti-social neighbors even if it has a really pretty house.

Really most normal people aim for a decent house on a decent street.

Some people take a punt on a house on an up and coming street, if you can get one you might be laughing down the line but theres also the risk it might fail and not 'rise'.

It depends where the bad location is. Is it near a good location so very soon could be "up and coming"? Our house doubled in value overnight when they built an M&S and Waitrose round the corner. But it could easily have been consumed by the town to the south which would have meant the value remained stagnant.
It also depends on what you need - are the schools good now and do you need them now. In 5 years the schools may have changed.

Location every time. You can improve a house you can’t improve the area

Yes, bad neighbors can have a terrible effect on your property value. At least you’ll have something to work towards in the dilapidated house on the “good street”

You can always remodel the house, but you can't move it. Location, location, location.

Best street

I know the former is more sensible but as someone prone to just shutting the world out, I really couldn't care what it's like outside. It's outside and I'm inside. And if it makes the house cheaper because its a bit rough outside, great.

So I'm actually voting, better house.

Blimey that's pretty definitive answers there op
Yes definitely go with location

You can alter a house a lot easier than improving an area.....course it depends how good Vs how bad and if you can see a trend.

I think that desirable locations do change over ten years though.
We bought a spacious house twenty four years ago in a less desirable street price equivalent to a smaller meaner house in a more sought after area. The price differential for these two areas remains but we've lived in a perfectly pleasant area for 24 years now and it's getting more and more desirable, precisely because it IS cheaper than the nearby smart location.
Okay we wouldn't make such a profit if we sold compared to uplift on other house, but that's 24 years of our life we've enjoyed this pleasant house in this ordinary street compared to the shoebox in the other elegant location.
There is a middle ground.

Problem is the outside comes in in bad areas.

My mam bought the best house (locals use to call in the mansion, big detached historic listed building that stood as the focal point in the center of town) on the worst street (high street that constantly attracted trouble, the house being 'stand out' really attracted trouble from the locals but really the whole town was rough). It cost her a fortune and lost her loads.

Windows regularly smashed, countless burglaries/thefts, constant vandalism, death threats, fires set outside to burn out stolen cars, car races/crashing, fights, drug users... people have literally DIED right outside (fights and crashes) on the front garden and we have been attacked and hospitalized in our own house before. When living there it became a prison, we had to pay for security and bar up the windows etc...

It basically destroyed our lives, its now an unsalable burden just rotting away, we had it valued after she died for the estate/probate and its literally worth next to nothing.

She was a very smart woman in general but it was the worst decision she ever made. We had had a lovely house/life before moving there in a modest 60s house on a council estate.

Our house was done up before we bought it, to some extent. We rejected others that cost the same but were smaller and needed work in a smarter area.

But if they had been the same size facilities garden style and same price maybe this adage would be true. But most houses aren't identical anyway. A house with a 60 ft garden and original features might trump a small concrete box in a better location.

For me, anyway.

Next to nothing huh?

How's a grand sound, chuck me the keys xD

Exactly. I could live in the next town in a bigger place but the area is nowhere near as nice .

Well house and car insurance will be much higher in a rougher area and you will be paying that year on year

Take the bus and skip the contents insurance. Marie Kondo the place, it'll be fine xD

Worst in best of course!