Nice house in not great area

[MrsKeats]

We are having a nightmare trying to move. Now thinking of just staying put and doing improvements.
The question is would you stay in an not great area if you liked the house? Not a terrible area.

Depends what you mean by “not great” - do you like the area for its faults, even though others might not think it very nice; or does living there make you feel miserable? If the former, then I’d stay: other people’s opinions of your neighbourhood don’t matter. If the latter, there’s no point spending money to improve the inside, when every time you step outside you start feeling bad.

I lived in an ex-council flat on an estate in a part of London described pretty much unanimously as a cesspit whenever it’s mentioned on MN But for all that it “wasn’t great” objectively, I really liked living there, only left because I couldn’t find what I wanted to buy next, and still miss a lot of things about it. It never occurred to me to move because other people turned their noses up at it.

I like it as it's very near the city centre and its near to lots of amenities.
Occasional blue lights on the weekend etc but nothing terrible.

We also have no mortgage so could cut down on work a bit.

We bought a beautiful house in a crap area. I persuaded myself the area was ok and it was worth it to have that house.

It wasn’t. I never settled. After five years we sold up and got the hell out. It was such a relief; I love where we live now!

So for me, the old adage location location location was absolutely right. But everyone is different, and there’s always a compromise somewhere so it just depends if area is the compromise you are happy with. It is for a lot of people.

No way would I compromise on the location unless I absolutely had to. You can improve a house but not a location.