Would this put you off a house?

[beardotdo]

We’re currently in the process of selling our house, and therefore looking for a new one.

We’ve found a house that ticks every single box: detached, 3 bedrooms, lots of living space, off road parking and garage and it’s an older house which is what we want. The only off putting thing is the location. Well, the exact street to be specific.
It’s on a road which is predominately old terraced houses, with cars parked on both sides of the street. Opposite are some housing association flats, which doesn’t put me off entirely, but I have a sneaking suspicion they are used to house ex-offenders leaving prison. Not 100% on this. I’ve driven past at various times of the day/night and never seen anything untoward, but I’m just not sold on the street. Apart from that it is perfect, a 10 minute walk into town, schools are all good and most importantly it’s in budget.

Wise mumsnetters, what would you do?!

Flats = lots of people coming and going = security.

Go over to the flats and get chatting to someone and get an instinct for it.

I used to live next door to a halfway house. When I locked my keys in my car with 6 month old DS inside it was brilliant - I just knocked and asked if someone could break into my car. Problem solved in 20 seconds. They were good neighbours, actually. A bit scary looking sometimes, but I took the attitude that if I gave them a chance, I could make my own judgements. They helped with a broken fence and when I was struggling with heavy stuff and 2 DCs.

I rented for 6 months in lovely Georgian flat next to short term housing for homeless. I thought well homeless doesn’t necessarily mean they’re problematic. It wasnt nice. Loads of people hanging about Drunk and doing drugs and starting fights at all hours. There may well have been plenty of decent folks in there too but as a resident if there’s a few people like that it’s not pleasant. I was living with my boyfriend no kids and we moved out as soon as we could, would be very unhappy if there now with a child. I wish I had visited at different times of the day and evening, which I would do now with any house

@JulyAphrodite totally agree

On the other hand many people who post here who live in areas with owner-occupied or privately rented housing seem to have neighbours they don't get on with. There are disputes about extensions, pets, children playing in the garden, the noise from washing machines, music practice, selfish parking.

I don't think you should automatically assume that because people are ex-offenders they'll be bad neighbours. A lot would depend on how well managed the property is by the Housing Association - who might well be more responsive than a private landlord or a antisocial neighbour.

If you aren't sold on the street then don't buy the house, it's too big a purchase to be unhappy with the road and if you are then your future purchasers might be too.

The on street parking would be the deal breaker for me. Even if it's ok at the moment, competition for spaces will only get worse and some CF will soon be obstructing your driveway going by the number of threads on mumsnet

i would visit late evening to what parking in the street looks like when everyone’s home from work. Access to the garage might be difficult if people are using every inch of parking space.

If you’re worried about the residents opposite, ask the neighbours what they think. Plus it’s a good way of finding out who you’ll be living next door to. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this it’s probably not the house for you.

Go with your gut. The house might be perfect but you need to be happy with the street too or else you will probably never settle in it.

I’d keep looking OP. Off road parking is great but if the street is as crowded as you say think ahead. Parties and multiple guests, online grocery deliveries, your drive being blocked by inconsiderate neighbours etc. etc.

You could ask a neighbour. I've had someone knock on my door and ask about our street.

Are you in England? If so you can look at crimes by address which might help you decide about that aspect.

I think the location is more important than the house. You can always compromise on number of bedrooms if there's an option to extend or if you need a study have a shed in the garden and run electricity to it -
just a couple of examples. Or if you actually wanted a period property but a modern house ticks every other box, or vice versa.

But you can't change the location.

I have been in my current house since 2003. I've never been sold on the actual house, but the location is good. Nice wide road, quiet, near very good schools, less than 10 mins' walk to town centre and less than 25 to railway station.

As others have said, go with your gut feel. But also as others have said, "naice" neighbours are not necessarily nice!

If this is all that is available it seems to tick a lot of boxes so go ahead. My son bought in a street with difficult parking but then they make it residents parking only on the street and it's a bit better (in your case anyway you have off street parking so sounds easier).

If you do have a choice I would go for a different street even if a bigger walk to shops and station. On the other hand my children have moaned about this house - not that close to stuff but I like the peace of it.

My friend lives in the next street from a halfway house. The nightly disturbances with regular visits from the police is still very stressful. I stayed with her one night and honestly, I'd rather opt for a hotel next time as I got virtually no sleep. Lots of yelling and car noise from residents refused access for being intoxicated.

Try and drive nearby about 10pm at night and sit in the car for an hour. Do it a few times before you make your final decision. It could be perfectly fine but if you don't check it out properly, you won't know until you're living there.

We skipped on one house because there were drug rehab places down the road, with kids hanging around aimlessly on the street all day (ok, we didn't have to think about that one too much because the house was a money pit too).

We skipped on another two because they were on chocka-parked up roads, though you have parking, so you'll be out of the madness to a certain extent. What I didn't like about those roads was the claustrophobia - the houses were very narrow, there were only small front gardens, and the parking was dense, so it felt densely packed, so even though the roads were quiet, it felt oppressive.

What we did choose is a 'main' road (but not actually very busy, 20mph limit), which only had houses on one side facing the park and the sheltered grounds of a grammar school. Our house has a drive, so we're set back from any traffic. The houses are all larger, and more separated. It feels a lot more prosperous, and there are £1m homes on our row, so the 'busier' road clearly isn't hitting house prices.

You are not even sure it is a halfway house - you are not sold on the street. If you don’t like the area I’d give it a miss - however lovely the house. It’s the one thing you can do nothing about and you’ll have to live with it every single day. No one on here can you give you an honest assessment of the area - only you know where it is and what’s it is like - go with your gut instinct.

We had a homeless help centre then a halfway house open in the next street wasn't great tbh. I lived there thirty years and moved was driven out after repeated fighting in the street, being woken up at all hours, unable to use local convenience store without escort, repeatedly getting drug paraphernalia in my front garden. This was in Brighton though when they did the clean rooms initiative and problems rocketed.

I'm a bit of a snob so would rather live a bit further out in a street of other detached family homes.

I live in a small cul de sac of modern terraced houses and on the corner are 4 studio flats. I found out after I moved in that they are rented to young people in drug rehab. I don’t plan to move as it’s fairly ok, but might have rethought if I had known before buying.
When the rehab is not going well for one of them, there is an awful lot of noise, coming and going of dealers and the police are often called. The outside of the properties are not well cared for and often the bins are left upturned for days on end.
It is not constant though, many of the tenants seem to be getting their lives back on track which is good.

Also, I agree with another poster who said other suitable houses will come up

In a similar ish situation in that we are looking at a flat in a block (London) that has some signs up saying that there is antisocial behaviour going on in corridors, to be careful about who you let in and the police are aware.

Other than that is perfect...

Well it depends-are the HA flats ugly? If so yes. If they look nice I wouldn't really care unless there were problems-why not knock on sone if the neighbour's doors to ask?

Could you afford the house if it was located in a better area? If so don’t buy it and wait for a similar house in a better location, but if the reason you can afford it is because of the area then only you can make that decision if you can put up with the many downsides.