Buying a house in the wrong post code.

[Abby23]

Hello

My sister and hubby are moving to MK for a while. Hubby is a doctor taking up rotation.

To the point, they have have found a BEAUTIFUL house on the Woolstone/Spingfield border. They are going through purchase. If you know MK, Woolstone is one of the best areas and Springfield is not. I don’t think it’s terrible, but I am only re iterating what my sister tells me. To get to the house on the ‘better’ part, you drive through areas that are’t so affluent.

Should they continue with purchase as the post code is in the less affluent part?. Even though, proximity wise, it is closer to Woolstone?. Due to this, the house is cheaper but it is still expensive by most standards.

To put into context, For those of you based in west London, It’s a bit like buying on the Queen’s Park, Kilburn, Harrow Road, Maida Vale borders. Up until recently, Maida Vale was the only sought after location. The rest were questionable.

I would appreciate your OBJECTIVE comments please.. Especially so if you know MK. I can’t advise my sister as I don’t know MK plus when I have been there it does not seem rough to me when I compare with parts of London where people are still paying £650k plus for a flat!

thank you and please don’t think we are being snobby,

@JacquesHarlow
@Kirova

This is not a question about London thank you. I was only trying to put context to a question I was asked.

if it was a question about those areas of London, I wouldn’t be asking. I know them inside out and have done for 30 plus years….

I live in a village between 2 cities. Would take be 15 minutes to get into the centre of each and their boarders are only a few minutes away. One city is very desirable and the other run down. I pay my council tax to the desirable city so get their amenities, which is mikes better. But my postcode is the less desirable.

this means I have a lovely house that costs £30k less than one a few streets away as they have the desirable postcode. Postcodes don’t mater

this means I have a lovely house that costs £30k less than one a few streets away as they have the desirable postcode. Postcodes don’t mater

So postcodes do matter, by 30k according to you.

This is stunning. I forget so easily how nice houses are out of London for relatively low prices!! I think a house like this, unless it’s slap bang in the middle of a dismal looking estate, will keep its value. Of course it would be more expensive in a more expensive area and vice versa. But the postcode has already dictated the value so it’s not worth worrying about.

I don't know Milton Keynes OR London.

Does postcode matter? Well maybe. If you're talking about catchment areas for school then clearly it does. Or if you want to be in a particular postcode because neighbouring postcodes are too rural and it helps narrow a search on Rightmove.

OP you need to let your sister and her husband make their own decisions. This might not be a "forever" move for them, it might be 2-3 years until his next move and they are just considering it on that basis. Or maybe they're just not bothered about being in the most expensive area. What was important to us as a young couple (commuting times, proximity to bars, station, shops) was not what was important to use the next time we moved with 2 small children (schools, green spaces, other families at a similar stage).

Postcodes matter in many many areas, whether people like it or not.

Should they matter is another question.

In a ‘forever’ home, if the buyers love the house and area etc, then it would be silly to let postcode sway you for the ‘prestige’ of the postcode alone.

If it’s an interim house or flat for only a couple/few years then it could be wise to take pause – consider the price your paying, how much money you might need to put into the property and its projected resale value.

Kirsty and Phil always say the worst house in a better area is worth more than the best house in a worse area!

To be honest, I've always thought of MK as a shithole, 1960s new town with concrete cows, great!

They have found a home they believe is beautiful. Your job as a sibling at this point is to be supportive, not to start picking holes when she anxiously asks if you think it's probably OK despite the postcode. You don't know the area, and nobody here knows your sister, so ask her what she likes and dislikes about it. Tell her to have faith in her own judgement about how the area appears TO THEM.

I loved living in an area of London that could be a bit ropey if you wandered certain areas waving a phone around (I didn't) and had awful schools (pre DS so didn't matter). When the area no longer suited, I moved.

She asked your opinion, so say you don’t have one - you don’t know the area well enough.

Postcode only matters if it has an actual impact on your life in the property.

Does the postcode limit access to a particular school?

Does the postcode current limit potential house value? (Which might not matter given that the house costs less to start with)

It’s up to the purchaser to consider if these types of issues apply in this case and if so are they acceptable.

The desirability of a postcode can also change overtime with further development of an area.

If the question is about whether it’s ok to buy a house solely due to a perceived reduced social cachet then that depends on how valuable social cachet is to the purchaser.

I bought a flat a street away from the most desirable suburb in my city. It was still in one of the nicest parts of town** but wasn't the coveted area. Oddly enough, the council randomly moved the boundaries a while ago and I now live in said neighbourhood and didn't even need to move 😂Of course in reality it makes no difference.

The supermarket near by is in a rough area. It's supposed to be the worst part of the city. I walk to the supermarket and pass through the neighbourhood a couple of times a week. I wouldn't want to live there but it never feels like it lives up to it's reputation. I don't know MK or London but is the neighbourhood she'd drive through particularly dangerous? If it's just a bit rough and ready, I wouldn't worry about it.

**not a stealth brag. I bought a shared ownership shoebox 20yr ago and still can't afford anything bigger. Who cares, I have all I need.😁

Why can’t you just give her your opinion then? Postcode only matters if it matters to you, not to random strangers. Plus if they could afford as nice of a house in the ‘nicer’ postcode they’d probably be buying that one if we’re honest.

You keep saying you only want objective responses OP. Maybe you're not getting the responses you want because objective doesn't mean whatever you think it means. Property buying and good/bad areas will always be inherently subjective. Also people have given you info on this thread that you've totally ignored e.g. the person who posted the property link who explained the two areas are separated by a river so there is no crossover.

I don’t think MK is as postcode conscious as other areas. If they like the house and the location, then they should buy it.

Have they actually asked for your opinion?

If they were really worried about postcode, they’d be moving further up the A5 to Harpenden . No concrete cows and far fewer roundabouts there. Much more prestigious address, and only a 30 minute drive.

I live in MK. Woolstone is lovely. Springfield is by no means the ‘worst’ (very subjective obviously) area. Not sure what the problem is with driving through it really. If it’s a nice house and they’re happy with the road it’s in, I’d go for it.

I’ve got a flat in what one might call a better area of west London, but you have to drive through the rougher areas like Hammersmith and Chiswick to get there 😂 I don’t think it affects its value or saleability. Likewise, though I don’t know the intricacies of the property market there, I don’t suppose that Milton Keynes is that postcode sensitive…

I grew up in a village that cared deeply about its postcode. It was, like a pp described upthread, equidistantly inbetween a very desirable city and a very undesirable one. Our phone number and council tax were the nice city, our postcode the crap one.

People there were constantly trying to get the postcode changed to the nice city. It never happened.

I recently joined the FB group for the village, as I was trying to find something out for a family member who is still there, and it amused me to discover that there are still campaigns being waged to change the postcode, thirty years since I left. People really do care.

I live in MK. I know exactly the area you are talking about. It is nice, and your sister will like it. The different estates don't instantly start being different or awful/ lovely. Even the 'bad name' areas have nice parts to them.

Does your sister have children? I don’t know if it’s all schools in MK but some have Priority Admissions Areas which include nice and not so nice areas. The “right” postcode may boil down to which school you’re likely to get if your child is applying to start school this year.