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Original poster

Would you buy a great house in a great area but a really not great road?

28 replies

Frenchblue · 18/01/2021 07:13

We’ve wanted to live in a particular town as long as I can remember, now our house has finally sold and we have the opportunity to buy in the place we love.

The house we’ve found is really lovely and in a great spot near all the things we want - shops, bars, park etc. However the actual road is awful!

It’s a small turning off a main road so quite tricky to get in and out. The surface is in very bad condition. The houses on the side we’d be are fine but opposite are some really unattractive flats and the area outside our house just has a generally rough and uncared for look about it.

The town is very popular and properties there are always more expensive than elsewhere locally so I know we will have to compromise in some way to get something within our budget. I just can’t decide if this is a compromise too far. We’ve been looking for so long that I’ve lost all perspective - am I being daft about a road I won’t really see once I’m in my house or will it always be an issue?

OP posts:
LillianGish · 18/01/2021 07:26

It’s a small turning off a main road so quite tricky to get in and out. The surface is in very bad condition...opposite are some really unattractive flats and the area outside our house just has a generally rough and uncared for look about it. Just be aware that these are all things you can do nothing about so you need to be sure you can live with them (unlike say artex on a ceiling, an avocado bathroom suite or whatever internal horror you would find unacceptable). Only you can say whether your heart will sink every time you turn (with difficulty) into the road.

SuperHighway · 18/01/2021 07:31

My daughter and son in law bought the nicest house on a bad road in a desirable area 3 years ago. They hate it. DD says they should have bought the worst house on a nice road. At least then they could have improved the house. They can't improve the street.

delilahbucket · 18/01/2021 07:32

Is the road adopted or private? If it's adopted you've got a chance of repairs. If not I wouldn't buy it as it will drive you insane very quickly.

Flickoffboris · 18/01/2021 07:34

I'd avoid it, as pp says you can't change any of it.
Could be that the block of flats will cause untold troubles if it's used as a halfway house or whatever, keep looking for something else.

INeedNewShoes · 18/01/2021 07:36

My hunch is that you'd get used to the tricky turning in and out.

The road surface wouldn't bother me either.

The other things might. My house is on the market. One of the main reasons I want to move is that I am hemmed in on an (mostly ex) local authority estate. It's perfectly fine living there and I like my neighbours and feel safe but I don't like having nothing nice to look at out of the window. We're just surrounded by identi-kit houses.

My criteria for my new house includes there being something reasonably pleasant to see out of the windows (even if it's just a nice street with people passing by).

skankingpiglet · 18/01/2021 07:37

This is what we have done. You always have to compromise somewhere, and our non-negotiables were the general location, good nearby school (we didn't have DCs when we moved but were planning them), 3+ bed, not a new build, good sized garden, not on a busy road, and off road parking. We have lived here happily for over 10yrs, but are beginning to get itchy feet now.
In that time the road has improved as more new people have moved in and spent a bit of care and money on their houses. It definitely looks tidier than it did, but there are a couple of families that have been here some time, will never move, and really don't care about keeping the place looking presentable (I sound like Hyacinth Bucket here, but my standards really aren't that high - I just don't want them to eg dump a big pile of sand and another of hardcore on the verges and leave it for 9 months and counting... the sand is now full of cat shit). Also, although we have an excellent primary which the DCs attend, all of the local secondaries are awful. It was never going to be our forever home, but it has done us very well in the meantime. By the time we move on in a couple of years, we will have built up a decent chunk of equity and will be able (hopefully!) to buy something similar to what we have now but in a nicer road with better secondaries.

GemmeFatale · 18/01/2021 07:40

When you say unattractive flats are we talking in terms of it’s an ugly 60s monstrosity (or whatever) or are we talking graffiti/litter/socially unattractive? It’s a big difference. I could easily accept ugly architecture but not bad neighbours.

Original poster
Frenchblue · 18/01/2021 07:45

Hmm not sounding hopeful! The flats are ugly as a building but also have glass patio type doors and balconies on the front so the occupants obviously open the doors or spend time on the balconies. I drove over to have a look yesterday and as it was a nice day several had the doors open and music playing - not unacceptably loud but just something that made my heart sink. I’m aware I probably sound a complete snob but I’ve lived with bad neighbours before and it was awful (not that these would necessarily be bad).

OP posts:
cherrypiepie · 18/01/2021 07:53

I would avoid. My Experiance is that I had issues when I lived in an area with lots of rental properties in the same road. Like PP said it or to a point where my heart sank turning into the road and then took ages to sell.

I think from your last post too, with the annoying music and how you felt, you know you it's not right.

PickAChew · 18/01/2021 07:56

If you have misgivings, then don't do it.

If access is a pain for you, then it will be for deliveries, as well. They'll be constantly finding an excuse not to bother.

Our compromise was being on a main road, which can also be a pain for deliveries, but at least most of them can find us.

cushioncovers · 18/01/2021 07:57

No I wouldn't

Fizbosshoes · 18/01/2021 08:07

The saying goes you should buy the worst house on a nice road (with the theory that you can only improve your own house) ...but often in really nice roads hardly anything comes up for sale, so you probably do have to compromise somewhere.

Clettercletterthatsbetter · 18/01/2021 09:42

I wouldn’t - it would be a compromise too far for me.

We bought our house off plan so I didn’t realise until we moved in that our view is someone else’s garage and bins! It makes me feel sad every time I look out the window.

FManc · 18/01/2021 09:55

Nope I couldn’t do it but then kerb appeal/street scene is quite important to us. If the surrounding streets/area are lovely I’d feel very meh turning onto a road that’s not great.

Mykittensmittens · 18/01/2021 09:59

The flats would worry me but just in terms of density of people - as you’ve already noticed there may be audible noise - especially so in summer - but also more coming and going with the greater number of people living around you.

Also this is lockdown so people aren’t ‘in and out’ as much, but that may also increase.

I’d also feel somewhat peered upon if the balconies face you. While you face the flats, they face you, and it might feel a bit ‘goldfish bowl’?

Original poster
Frenchblue · 18/01/2021 10:03

I’ve just found out through googling that the flats are social housing, I’ve no idea what this means in practical terms though.

OP posts:
sbplanet · 18/01/2021 10:13

Don't waste any more of your time on this property - move on! You seem to have convinced yourself that there is only one area you can live it that will make you happy? It could be (is!) that that is wrong.
New Year, new thinking - change your priorities, consider unthought of options. Things change all the time, who knows where you might be next year, who guessed where we'd 'be' this year!
Think outside the box. Good luck. :)

Covidcovid · 18/01/2021 10:18

If your heart is sinking already then run away.

The neighbors playing music outside would be a big turn off for me. It's unsocial and likely to be worse in the summer. Would you want to be in bed late on a summer night listening to people playing music on balconies.

mumdone · 19/01/2021 18:49

I did. It was awful. We moved

dancemom · 19/01/2021 19:13

Worst house on the best road rather than the other way

Starseeking · 19/01/2021 20:03

I wouldn't if I were you, as you can't change anything an out the road, or the neighbours.

Keep looking, ideally for the worst house in the best road, then you will have control over improvements you choose to make.

ZaraCarmichaelshighheels · 20/01/2021 01:04

You know what will happen OP if you buy this house and move in, immediately the perfect house in a better street will come on the market at a price you can afford, you will torture yourself forever in “here’s what you could have won” way, you are already have doubts, don’t do it, wait for a better location.

LeeMiller · 20/01/2021 07:56

You have to compromise on something, so not a great road as in too much traffic, annoying parking, or unattractive architecture I would compromise on. Anti-social neighbours -if it’s loud now think of the summer - definitely not, bad neighbours ruin even the best house/street so I wouldn’t knowingly move somewhere that has them.

Linguaphile · 20/01/2021 07:56

I think it would be a no for me, just because you really can’t change the road. Houses you can fix up/extend/etc but a road is something you can’t do anything about, and if the road feels rough and unloved it may also make the house hard to sell later on.

joystir59 · 20/01/2021 08:04

The main thing to think about is what the behaviour of other residents on that road is like. I live in a beautiful part of a small coastal town but two streets down from me us where all the drug dealing and anti social behaviour is. My street- very peaceful and I hear owls hooting at night. Two minute walk away- music blaring from flat windows all day, littering, unsavoury comings and goings.