Anyone moved to a 'less nice' neighbourhood for a better house? Any regrets? Thoughts?

[beereyt]

We currently live in a a lovely little town with a great community and amenities. However, the house does not have all the room we want and the estate is not the best. We've seen a fab house in a lovely estate but it's in a 'not as nice' area and there isn't as much of a community vibe. There is basic amenities and it's a 15 min drive to a city. It's a dilemma, and i just wondered what others had done in a similar boat and how did you feel after either moving or staying. Thanks.

Depends what makes it less nice.

Id consider it if it had....
Less character.
Less shops and bars.
Less green space.

Id not consider it if it had...
Less safety/more crime.
Less quality schooling.
Less unemployment/more empty houses/damaged or derelict homes.

Less employment.

I did that. To be honest, I still don’t like the neighbourhood, maybe never will, but the house is worth the trade off for me. Its not a bad neighbourhood, just a lot less nice than where I used to live.

Maybe not the same because it's London 🙄, but we bought a house we could afford less than 20 mins to London Vic on train as commute for dh was really good and everyone said don't.

7 years later it has improved and we seriously couldn't afford to buy our house now. So sometimes a less desirable area with a good commute can pay off.

We are relocating soon and will aim for the same. But then I don't really like fancy shmancy and I didn't buy thinking it would improve although I'm attached to my costa now ☺

How you describe where you are considering moving to sounds perfectly pleasant just not as convenient as where you live now, if you can’t afford a bigger house in your current location and the extra space is essential then I don’t think it would be a bad move as you will still be living in a nice area.

We did and I don't regret it as we have a much nicer house that we could afford where we previously lived and that impacts our quality of life more. However, where we have moved is fine, quiet, good schools, parks close by and walking distance from town, it's just a new town and not the beautiful river village we lived in before!

Your post is very timely for me Bella we have a gorgeous house that I love in a pleasant location, we have seriously considered moving to a gorgeous chocolate box village, but the house although lovely was tiny in comparison to what we have now and would change our way of life significantly, decided I just could not give my lovely house up to move to the village. However if I lived in a dumpsville location I would swap it for a much smaller house in a better location.

We did and it was a big mistake

We did it and don’t regret it. Moved from a large tenement flat in Glasgow to a big house in the ‘burbs but not a salubrious area. Big house, decent schools, town centre - no regrets. But now the DC have grown up, we’re thinking of moving back into the city.

Depends what the "less nice" is. Lived very contentedly in a house in a mining village with a great community vibe but nothing there for 14 years. Have moved on now the boys are secondary school age, though. Used the cheapness of the house to save up a good deposit for a bigger house also in a more vibrant area with a lot more amenities.

I've lived in some shitholes in the past, though. Would never buy a house in them. Partly because it would be hard to sell again and partly because I never felt safe.

The mining village house did have one drawback, mind - decent room sizes which meant that most houses we looked at were still too bloody small because they had a lot more rooms squeezed into barely any more space!

We moved from the lovely, historic university quarter of a big city to suburban blandness. We swapped a tine 2 bedroom house for a 5 bedroom one with money left over

Best decision ever.

I would always try to buy the worst house in the best neighbourhood with the best schools. You can add value to a house much more easily than waiting for the neighbourhood to improve, which might never happen unless you deliberately bought a house in an area that you thought was rapidly gentrifying. Location is everything.

Thanks so much for all your comments. We are going to look at it again next week and see how we feel.

Sorry in answer to question... 'less nice' means, less funky cafes, less pretty, a few more empty buildings. Schools still good. When i say i live where i live now people say 'arh that's so nice there'!

I hate the exterior of my house, purely bought it for the layout/ location. You cannot believe how much easier and less stressful life is with more space. What’s inside the home is far more important than what’s outside it imo

Id stay where you are I think. I like the cafes/community thing - for me it's really important. I'd hate to be in an area without all that stuff.

I did move (within London) to a rougher area for a bigger house. I love my house and couldn't afford it elsewhere. But I'm still on the edge of the area that I love, with all the cafes, shops etc . Because I love my house so much, and being in it, I don't mind that it's in a rougher area. I couldn't afford to buy it now, 3 or so years later.

Depends if your lifestyle might change, maybe if you have a growing family the cafes may become less important and affordable bigger house more so

It depends on what you mean by 'less nice' and what your priorities are. We lived in a very posh, chocolate-box bit of outer London where we had a tiny house with only one full-sized bedroom and no garden.

We moved to somewhere three times larger and near to DH's work, close to a park, and with a gym and shops within five minutes walk.

The area we now live is much more socially and economically mixed, and I prefer not living in a social ghetto. Reported crime rates are higher, but I come originally from one of the poorest cities in the UK, so don't notice in practice.

We save a lot of money because everything (childcare, shops, building work) is cheaper - they had loads of gymwear shops in my old suburb, but I used to have to cycle or take a train to buy sensibly-priced running gear.

I wouldn't move to a less nice area if it was a dump (e.g. regular break-ins and stabbings in daylight, suitcase stolen if you leave it outside for few seconds), if it had fewer amenities or a worse commute, or required a huge lifestyle change. We looked at another area, further out of London but, although nice, it would have meant using a car for everything.

We made a similar move to what you're considering. Used to live in an upmarket bit of London. We could have afforded a pretty big house in the area but I felt the pricing was just silly + the space (e.g. big garden) just wasn't available and larger houses were built over 3-4 levels.

So we searched high and low for months until we found the place we live in now. The local shops are more Next + some pound shops rather than LK Bennett or Max Mara and there are fewer funky cafes and restaurants. It's super safe, green and the schools are fab + we got all the space we wanted inside and outside the house. And paid 1/3 of what the same size house would have cost in the last location. We really like it here and don't intend to move for another 20-25 years.

So I'd say go for it as long as the new area is 'good enough'. I wouldn't move to an armpit though (e.g. Somewhere unsafe or run down/dirty).

I moved from an uber cool flat in an uber cool central area... to a nice house in a scruffy zone 3 area.

Do I miss the area? Yes. A lot. Am I glad I have a house over a 1 bed flat? Also yes.

Yes, we made the move a year ago and I'm so glad we did - I love our new area and we have a much better quality of life here. I have absolutely no regrets.

We lived in a very nice suburban neighbourhood North of Birmingham but could only afford a flat there - we wanted a house with a proper garden so looked south of the city which is traditionally cheaper and less suburban. Everyone thought we were making a mistake - we took a family member to view the house before we exchanged and she actually said 'I don't know why you want to move there'. Even my partner wasn't sure when I first took him to the area and thought it looked rough.

But now we've moved, everyone thinks we made the right choice and we love where we live. Yes the area isn't as posh as where we used to live - there's a slightly dodgy pub on the corner instead of a fancy gastro-pub and I occasionally get asked for my spare change but it isn't dangerous. There's also more of a community here than in our old neighbourhood, with plenty of things to do. I definitely feel we made the right choice and I would 100% do it again if I had the chance.

Thanks again for comments. After another viewing and lots of thinking and discussions... we are going to put an offer on it!

Best of luck!

Hi , Myself my Brother, and my two cats currently rent a two Bedroom House in Newton Abbot Devon but l want to move back to Torquay as l don't know if anyone knows Newton Abbot but it's sooo Boring it's got far too many charity shops, the problem is trying to find the right place for us. we wouldn't be able to afford to rent a House again not in Torquay as the rent would be a bit more expensive, so we would have to downsize to maybe a flat we would probably have to get rid of some of our furniture, so l am just asking anyone want they would do themselves? Are we silly to give up a nice spacious House for a flat or Apartment? I really love Torquay the Town is much better now and l love the thought of living near the Beach. Sarah.

Paignton might be a bit cheaper 5040tb I’m not keen on the town centre but the sea front is nice enough and very close to Torquay. I’m not a fan of Torquay myself but you can get some very spacious flats in Torquay as it’s a Victorian town so you may not be downsizing as much as you think. I have to agree with you Newton Abbot would not be not my first choice of Devon towns to live in and you sound unhappy so in your position I would go for an apartment somewhere you really like.