Location location location?

[cjo1]

Im buying for the first time and i had set my heart on lovely flat that was in a nice area and 10K under budget. The only problem is it is really small.

Yesterday I saw an amazing, massive, two bed, two reception room flat at a bargain price albeit at the very top end of the budget. The only problem is the area doesnt look great. There is nothing actually wrong with it, low crime, good primary school etc but it was built as a council estate so very little money was spent on it and it looks really tatty. The vendor admitted that other viewers said this put them off. The communal area was grim as well, dingy, concrete steps, bad smell etc.

It doesnt bother me so much but what about when i try to sell it on? Is location really that important?

I would go with the smaller one.

Unless the 2 bed one is in an area that has signs of imminent gentrification, I would not go for that. If the current owner has problems selling because of location, you will too.

If I had children, I would go for the one bed flat in the better location. I think location generally trumps size.

It depends.

Is the small one too small for you or was it fine but now you're just been a bit swayed by the thought of extra space?

Are you planning on having kids....if so you'll be selling a one bed flat soon.

But if no kids on the horizon and small flat is big enough for you then get that one.

I dunno...to me it sounds like neither are right. I'd definitely be put off buying somewhere that is too small, especially if 10k under budget because you could potentially get somewhere bigger within budget if you wait/look around more. 1 bed is pretty small, and you will instantly run out of space if you have kids/want a spare room for people staying etc etc...
Second one sounds more promising - apart from the problems with communal areas. That would put me off. I'd say keep looking and don't rush.

Dh and I bought a house that we knew was not in a particularly desirable road - it was the reason that it was in our price bracket. The only council road on an estate - we heard that the arrangement with the land/builders was that they had to build a certain amount of council properties. The road certainly looked run down compared to the rest of the estate - some clapped out old cars, a boarded up window, untended front gardens. We lived there for 9 years and I was happy with the house and had no trouble with the road or the people that lived in it.

But selling it on when we needed a bigger house was difficult. People judge by what they see of the area and you can tell them how nice the people are and that you've had no trouble living here but they will be thinking that you would say anything because you want to sell the house. You would have to wait for a buyer like you or myself who is willing to take that chance because it gives them more house for their money - there aren't that many of us! We ended up doing a part exchange and buying a new build after our house had been on the market for 6 months (this was a few years ago when houses in our area were selling within a month or so of going on the market)