Any tips for a first time buyer home near Manchester City Centre?

[Gregorianchant]

The budget is £80k-£100k, but could maybe stretch a bit for the right property. Would like 2 beds and a safe area not too far from the centre ie walking distance or near to good public transport links. There seem to be a number of 2 up 2 down on Zoopla etc from £55k upwards, but I have no idea what is a good place to buy. The house is intended for 2-3 years for a couple, no DC involved so schools not important.

All suggestions welcome!

There are properties on the market within the OP's price range which don't need the work that one does though!

Just a word of warning OP, DH bought a one bed flat before we met and we lived there together for a few years. He bought it for £85K. We had to move 3 1/2 years ago as I was pregnant with ds and there was absolutely no space for a baby in there. The apartment has been on the market since and we just can not sell it, we are now asking for offers over £70K... As a result we are renting as we do not want to have 2 mortgages. We are lucky enough to have tenants in our apartment and the rent has always been paid on time, but I really would not recommend buying unless you are looking at staying somewhere long term, as you might end up in a dead end if the market crashes!

Also meant to say for that budget you will definitely have to compromise on location...

To be blunt you're not going to get what you want for your budget in Manchester. You need to wait until you can stretch to 150k+ really.

Petallic, the house you posted on south grove, that address is longsight, the agent calling it 'chorlton upon medlock' is window dressing at best. longsight isn't good at all, I'd prefer M7. Does seem to have some pretty serious damp issues especially on Front wall, paint on outside is pointless and will be trapping rain in the bricks, which is making the inside wall damp.

The only sensible thing I can think to do with that budget is either save it for a deposit for when you can get a mortgage, or find a 1 bed flat in a naice part of south Manchester. At least then you'd have half a chance of renting it out in future, or possibly selling it.

There's enough uncertainty about prices at the moment that I'd be a bit wary of entering the super-budget end of the market. I'm not predicting a crash, but the low value houses can suffer in a slowdown.

I'd save it for deposit later on.

Apologies if this assessment offends anyone.

^The only sensible thing I can think to do with that budget is either save it for a deposit for when you can get a mortgage, or find a 1 bed flat in a naice part of south Manchester. At least then you'd have half a chance of renting it out in future, or possibly selling it.

There's enough uncertainty about prices at the moment that I'd be a bit wary of entering the super-budget end of the market. I'm not predicting a crash, but the low value houses can suffer in a slowdown.^

Totally agree with this. If you are determined to buy now, please do consider your chance of selling it on/renting it out.

This www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34516180.html

Or this www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32483004.html (Levenshulme is on the up… it has a deli…)

Stretford. Whalley Range. Levenshulme. Hulme. Much safer bets IMO.

Cheese, where would you recommend in South Manchester?

I am paying £8k for the rent this year in Fallowfield so, on the basis that my boyfriend will be paying the same, if we use it for 2 years, that's £32k in rent. The property would therefore need to drop about a third in value for us to be worse off. I don't believe that will happen - if anything Manchester is well positioned to increase, when you consider how crazy London prices are. It is the second city, with loads going for it, and we could walk to the centre from the house in M7 or it would be a short, cheap taxi ride, so I can't believe it would be a disaster. Having said that, we are not ruling out other areas, we just haven't found anything else yet that ticks the boxes.

I know we can't be too picky on our budget, and we will have a survey carried out first, wherever we buy.

I like that house in Levenshulme Sophie - how far is it from the centre, do you know if the transport links are ok?

house I used to live in the next street along - all my post was addressed chorlton upon medlock. Not that I think that's a swanky address either by any means!

But agree, the house I posted does have a damp prob that needs fixing. But the houses in that small triangle that are terraced and not ex-la all rent v. Well and are well connected location wise.

Longsight and Levenshulme are also ok area wise but less studenty (lived there too as well as Moss Side) but look at houses just off the main connecting roads like the A6.

I'd stick to the city centre or south manchester - levenshulme is walkable at a push, the fringes of chorlton/ withington if you can get anything in budget - not East Manchester or Salford.

The rule with Manchester generally is go south. The other option is to go much further out, parts of Stockport or even further like New Mills or Glossop, good train links but you'll have to factor in travel costs.

You could definitely rent a house between you for far less than the rental figures you've stated.

Well, I don't actually believe that prices will plummet, but it isn't beyond the realm of possibility. I paid £150k for my house in 2011 (it did need a lot of work), the house next door had been bought for £220k in 2007… Houses on the road are now going for around £190k/£200k…

Levenshulme is walkable to town, at a push, but has trains & buses. Good cycling distance actually.

You could rent a house for £7000 a year though.

Those rental figures are way out. You must be paying a premium to student landlords for living in the Fallowfield area.

I'm not tech savy enough to do a link on my phone but you can rent 1-2 bedroom flats in the new developments in West Didsbury (excellent transport links via buses on Princess Parkway, Yew Tree Road route or Wilmslow Road, plus the newish Metro line) for £625/£700 per month. I've had lots of friends that have lived in the Cavendish House type developments and the flats are nice.

I've also had friends that have bought small flats in Manchester straight after graduating and have really struggled to sell them when they've wanted to make the next step up the ladder. Several have lost money and these have been properties in supposedly much more 'desirable' postcodes than M7.

Petallic South grove is in one of those areas that has a postal address of just 'Manchester' Chorlton upon Medlock is an old area name from 1870-ish, which extended upto the Uni's/edge of the mancunian way, I guess the name has come into use again to disassociate from Longsight. It doesn't exist on modern maps or Rightmove though. You can put any place name you want on your mail as long as the street name and postcode is correct .

I'm not suggesting Blackley (transport not great), but it is a good example of a place where you can get a good condition modern 2 bed house on a quiet street with no LA tenants, low crime, stable values for £100k - So it must be possible in other area's around Manchester, i.e. M7 or somewhere near your chosen area if you pick carefully. You'll pay more for the more 'trendy' area's in the south close to the centre, better value available elsewhere, just depends what you want.

What about areas like Cheetham Hills, Harpurhey and Miles Platting? Since OP is driving, these places are just 5-10mins drive from city centre but I've seen some nice houses in these areas and within the budget. Just my two cents :)

house, what LA tenants?

There will be a lot of additional costs when you sell/buy again as its short term (solicitors, estate agents, etc etc).

I really would find a flat you both like to rent for year or two - also giving you time to work out what areas you'd like to buy in. With such a HUGE deposit when you get a mortgage you can get somewhere amazing.

We've lived in Hulme for 10yrs and I personally think it's much better than most places in Salford, Cheetham Hill, Longsight, Chorlton-upon-Medlock etc.
Crime figures much lower than the desired areas of Chorlton/whalley range etc.
Short walk to the university, castlefield etc. Quite lively in an artistic, hippy way...it's got a arts and theatre venue, a couple of nice cafes and restuarants. It's not that studently (yet...there is a large new MMU extention, so that might effect things...might be better for rental opportunity in the future though).
You'd be struggling to find a house in that price bracket though, although maybe could get a 1 or 2 bed flat.

Cheese, where would you recommend in South Manchester?

If you do a RightMove search up to £100K in M21 (Chorlton), you get a few hits. Any of those. Haven't looked at Didsbury because I'm pessimistic that you'd find anything. Whalley Range could give you a bit more choice. All these areas have really fast moving rental markets and no shortage of potential buyers.

You're getting good advice from everyone on this thread. There's a reason the M7 house has been sat on the market for 3/4 of a year. Don't blow such a massive potential advantage as your £100k on a hovel in, effectively, the Chatsworth estate. Location advice aside, I'd still hang on to it until you can get a mortgage. In this price range even adding a £50k mortgage would give you thousands more choices about where to live.

Having now outed myself as a snob I'll move on...

I think you'd struggle to find anything for that amount. I think I'd advise you to rent for six months and have a good look round. And see what areas appeal to you and which don't.

Thanks, I do appreciate the advice and I know that if we were working and could get a mortgage, we would have much more choice. It's just that we can't get a mortgage for about 18 months and we see rent as money thrown away. Will check out Chorlton. I know we can't afford Didsbury.

Urmston or Flixton. Not near town by foot by 10 mins on train to Oxford Road. It is not a students area but is a family area. Nice parks, safe, a nice supermarket and library and a few nice bars and cafes are cropping up.

My Sil lives there. Really handy for uni on the train.

Btw would avoid Salford and Longsight.