Great house right near horrible estate

[Legalwomble]

I wouldn’t normally ask strangers, but this is going to be a house bought with divorce money, can only afford to move once, so unless I downsize at some point, this is it! There’s a lot riding on me making the right decision.

Great house, good price, but it’s 200 m or so from a notoriously lousy housing estate. It’s Council (which isn’t the problem) but it’s one of the really old, unloved Council estates where there is just no money spent on it, the whole thing is really dingy and horrible tbh.
The Estate Agent has said the houses affordability is because it’s by the Estate, which I do agree with.

Im in two minds, I really like it, and it isn’t like I can see it out of my window, but it is literally at the end of the road and if that troubles me then I guess it will trouble anyone else if I ever try to sell it. They have already apparently rejected two offers around what I would have offered, so I would have to offer more than I had planned to, but it’s so nice!! It ticks nearly all my boxes.

So I’m a bit torn.

I wouldn’t.

What's the crime rate? I wouldn't buy it. I'd always go for a smaller house/flat in a better area.

Is it just the cosmetics of this 'horrible estate' you don't like

Or?

How long do you think you’ll live there?

Nope

location, location, location.

Is it just the way the estate looks or is it due to crime and anti social behaviour? If the latter I would t go anywhere near it to be honest.

as the saying goes “better to have the worst house on the best street than the best house on the worst street”

I wouldn’t. Do you have kids? Would you want them growing up there?

Rather a hovel in X than a castle in Y.... sums up my view, reason being you can always do things to your house and plot, not so much the surroundings

I'd drive past a few times at different times of the day, particularly the evening, to see what the street and surrounding streets are like in terms of loitering, antisocial behaviour etc.

I wouldn’t - our last house was not too far from a similar area, which was mostly fine, but the knife crime has massively increased in the past couple of years around there including a child being knifed outside the local secondary school. I’m really glad we moved from there now. Crime rate is definitely more of a consideration that aesthetics, but I can only see it going up as the cost of living crisis increases.

No way would I buy it. Very likely you’ll be exposed to antisocial behaviour & will be hard to sell on.

What would it be like coming home on your own late at night? Where would you park your car? Is it safe to pop out to the local shop in the evening? What’s the local park like at different times of the day? Is there a pub? Local shop? Are there groups hanging around?

Based on what you say, I wouldn’t tbh.

No. We did similar. We had a problem when we wanted to sell. Quite a few potential buyers were definitely put off by the location.

Well I wouldn't want to live somewhere near a rough estate (if that's what's happening there apart from it looking tired), as a single woman or as a mum. Particularly if this would affect my children's school too. I am not sure if you'd ever be happy enough for it to be your forever home and you'd definitely struggle to sell or make any profit on it.

I wouldn't. You can change most things you don't like about a house EXCEPT the location.

"They have already apparently rejected two offers around what I would have offered, so I would have to offer more than I had planned to"
On that basis alone, I would pass.

Keep looking, there will be another house that fits.

House value and future saleability...location, location and finally, location

Don't buy it...the estate will only get worse

Location is everything.

No, having lived near a bad estate because the house was nice I would say never do it. The location is so important, I used to hate going for a walk with rubbish everywhere and people from the estate started to rent on our street and so our quiet house on the edge of a bad estate became surrounded by all night parties and slanging matches and drug deals. We hated it and couldn't even enjoy our nice house anymore.
Don't do it.

Don't they say to buy the worse house on the best street ?
You can change a house but not the location.

No. location, location, location.

My gut would say no.

Drive to the estate at night - a Friday or Saturday night, and see how it feels.

Best road you can afford. Compromise on space not location.

I would walk around at different times of the day. You have a different perspective when you walk than if you drive.

Nope. location, location, location.
I agree. I did actually downsize when I was younger from a 3 bed with huge garden and garage to a 2 bed with smaller garden and no garage purely because I preferred the area.