Where to buy a house for 40k

[SundayRoastt]

Where in the country can you buy a house with at least 2 bedrooms and a garden in a half decent area for a max of 40k, ideally 35k.
There's quite a lot on zoopla but some of the areas I've heard are questionable so if anyone lives in an area where this is possible it would be great to hear from you.
I know the further north, the better value for money house-wise but I've never been further north than Nottingham and im not able to travel the country to look at all the areas so I need to narrow it down. So far I've researched Sheffield, Grimsby and Middlesbrough but they all sound too rough. Darlington sounds good from the little I've heard but possibly too much compromise with a tiny property. That's as far as I've got, so if anyone can suggest an area or a house they know of I'd be grateful!

What do you mean by 'half-decent area'? Safe or near to jobs/transport/amenities? In the NE there are some tucked away places in former industrial areas that have very cheap housing but since whatever employer left there isn't much else. Can you explain more what you need? Is there a reason to buy when you can't afford more than 40k?

There are some places where you could get a 'park home' i.e. caravan/prefab for that much, but you'd have annual fees on top.

Sorry for slow reply. I'll be cash buyer but not keen on auctions, don't want to be paying for surveys on houses that end up selling over budget.
It's to live in with my 1 year old.
The area must just be somewhere that I can walk to the shops and back even in winter when it's dark without fear of getting attacked. And have a children's centre with activities we can go to. I don't mind a bit of verbal abuse from a distance as long as I'm not going to get people coming up to me. Not fussed on schools because hopefully I'll be able to move by the time we get to thinking about that.
I do need some form of garden for my dog but don't mind a small one.
I saw a nice house in port Clarence Middlesbrough on zoopla but on researching the area everyone apart from those that live there say it is too rough. But it doesn't look like there's anything there apart from a few houses so I'd be driving into the town to go out anyway other than walking my dog but he's not one that people would be getting close to so I'm not really worried about that.
Just not readable for me to travel to all the different places to check out the areas

So ideally what part of the country are you looking at?

Barrow in Furness.

Not hugely salubrious, but the Lake District National Park is a 10 minute drive away.

You can't, in Morecambe. Flats only. There's a single house in Heysham on RM for £50k. Morecambe is on its way up!

Millom in Cumbria has quite a choice, and it's not a bad place to live. Bit isolated but I've quite a few colleagues who live there and like it.

Shared ownership flat, 2 bedrooms, Heptonstall, West Yorks £22.5k.
Lovely area.

Probably no dogs allowed though.

I'm with @thebear1, Live in Middlesbrough, about to buy a £240k house. The ones at £40k are not anywhere you'd really choose to live unless really needed to.

DO NOT touch Port Clarence with a Barge Pole! You would not be safe walking around there at all.

Cheapest here in a not great but not terrible area with a few decent schools around is this one www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-72497147.html

Houghton Le Spring, DH4
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67243060.html

You could live in Houghton quite happily!

Coatbridge airdrie hamilyin

Small terrace not too far from Whitehaven on the west coast of Cumbria?

The only problem with temporarily buying a cheap house is that you might struggle to sell it later, especially in a rough area.

Please could you explain your reasons a bit more? Is it that you have £40k cash but no income and just want somewhere to live for the next few years, without renting?

I'd probably buy a flat abroad.

Are you able to get a mortgage and use your £40K as a deposit? You can get what you are looking for in a nice area in the North for £100k and get a small mortgage (£60k) on the rest?

To be fair, fellswoop, we looked at extending our mortgage and I was truly horrified at how much repayments were on 20K, never mind 60.

I'm in the NW and if you were lucky you could find a dooer upper for about 45k, but it would be a 2 bed terrace with a back yard, not in a prosperous area but not too bad.

Done up, terraces are about 70k here for the above.
We are not in a particularly good area, just of the East lancs.

@millimat just over £100/month for 20k over 25 years at 4%... not exactly a horrifying amount!

£315 on a £60k mortgage.

Your child is going to school in either 3 or 4 years depending on when they turned 1. Personally I think that's too short a timescale to buy somewhere then sell it and buy somewhere else. It's possible but you can't guarantee it, especially if you're buying something in a less desirable area so I would definitely take schools into account.

You might WANT a 2 bed house with a garden OP, but what you have to spend is very, very little.

Change your expectations to a one bedroom flat and you will be able to get something in a semi-decent area.

You are coming across as very unrealistic both in terms of what you can get for your budget and how easy it's going to be to sell or trade up in a couple of years.

Another one saying do NOT touch Port Clarence.
Bits of Boro and surrounding areas are lovely. But you need to spend more than 40k. I can find a few in that area around 65k (Norton) where I nearly bought, but that's way over budget.

Agree that cheap house in a bad area will be hard to sell again in such a short period of time if you need to move for schools.
Likely that it will be old, need expensive refurbishment initially and then expensive issues might surface over time.

I would go for quality of area over quantity of space every time. As PP have said a quality 1 bed S/O might be a much better lifestyle choice. Buying and selling costs are just dead money lost.

If you do decide on an area - road test it - renting for 6 months or a few weeks airBnB would be money well spent.

I would imagine that renting is these areas would be really cheap.

I don't agree that it is harder to sell a cheap house in a cheap area.
There will always be people who need cheap houses, and not everyone can afford to live in good areas, or even feel at home in the area they grew up, and want to stay there.
Also, we have never had any problem selling these type of houses.

Search Blaenau Gwent +20miles on Rightmove but don't expect nice houses... Cheapest place to buy in the UK though.

What anout shared ownership? There's some nice two and three beds in Preston and around blackpool for £40k for 25% or 30%.