Would you rather a flat in nice area or house in rough area?

[Weaselgoespop]

First time buyers, limited budget. Can get 2 bed flat in "nice" area however means no garden...

Alternatively, can get a 2 bed terrace with garden in less affluent area...

Interested to hear which others would choose? We have a 2 year old DC who I would prefer to have a garden but not sure if that's reasonable enough to risk the less nice area!?

I was in your position a few months ago and after a lot of research have decided to stretch to a small house but the house isn’t in as bad an area as the house you’re thinking of.

A freehold flat is a vastly better option than a leasehold one, but flats in general are tougher to resell than houses, so you could be stuck there for a long time. I have rented both flats and houses and having a garden or yard to hang out in the summer, and hanging out washing on the line are important to me, I now realise.

Have you thought about shared ownership?

Depends how rough it is! However, I would be wary of flats due to leasehold issues, service charges (and possibly cladding issues) - can be harder to sell too.

Rough as in muggings on the street and used syringes or 'rough' as in working class with mixed communities? DH and I bought our first house in a 'rough' area, surrounded by parks and canal walks. I loved it there.

lot of unkempt gardens, feral kids, alcohol and drug issues etc..

That kind of rough.

OP, have a look to see if other houses in the area have sold recently and how much they’ve gone down or up in value.

Less affluent doesn't always mean rough. I think you need to check out the area, go hang around in the evenings and see what people are up to! Try not to look dodgy!

Our flat hardly went up in value over 18 years and the management fees and ground rent were an additional burden. I would buy the house if I was in your position. There’s real benefit in opening a back door onto a garden for your little kiddy to run in and out as opposed to heading to the local park.

I plan ahead a lot so would be looking at primary schools … buy a property near a good school and it’s good for your child & good for resale.

What is the school situation? I would opt to the place that would be closer to the better school. Suspect that the nicer area would have a better school, but not sure how the "not so good area" is.

I’d go for the house but mainly because I never want to deal with management companies, service charges, etc again.

Given your DC, I’d go for the house with garden. Not just because of the garden but also because young DC in flats often tend to mean issues with complaints about the noise from neighbours. You don’t have those worries with a house.

If the flat is freehold, so has no punitive management fees, with a park on the doorstep, then I'd go for the flat, judging by the descriptions of the rough area. You don't want to raise a small child in an area that is dangerous and antisocial. I think resale value can be a slightly skewed way of making a decision. The most important thing is: where and how do you want to live, right now, and when you have a small child?

Flat definitely. I'd never live in a rough area.

Is it actually freehold or share of freehold? There’s a BIG difference. It’s very unusual for flats to be freehold. If it’s share of freehold that also means it’s leasehold as well as you own the leasehold AND a share of the freehold which means you still have service charges, ground rent etc.

As the Mum of a year old DC as well, I would go for the house with garden. Our garden is invaluable! Yes, parks are great and we use our local one a lot too, but it's so great for them to have their own outdoor space.

How's that worse than flats , even though I live in flats and all my neighbours loooove peace and quiet

I've gone flat and good area. Good schools, nice parks, got an allotment, loads of nice things to do in the immediate area. Kids are getting to the age where they can go and knock on for friends and play in the street. I wouldn't be happy for them to do that in other areas.

If you read all of OP’s posts, you’d know the house is in a properly rough area. I wouldn’t want to live in a shit hole - would you?

No, haven't read them. Will do, just popped in on here but asked the question yesterday

House

our road looks scruffy and not that great. But the neighbours inside are mostly really nice. Appearances don’t tell the whole picture.

Is there no way tho that you can move somewhere totally new to get a small house in a nice area?

I'm in a similar conundrum with two year old and can't make the decision so following this thread 😅

Flat for sure then.

I would definitely go for a flat. If it's freehold it will be easier to sell than a leasehold flat, too. I'd always go for the right area rather than the right property.

We went for flat in an okay area. The area massively changed and is now a naice area. I’m relived we didn’t move into a grotty area for a house (we are in London so it would’ve meant moving out quite far).

you normally get management fees with a flat and hard to resell with leasehold, I'd ho for house

Lots of people on Mumsnet hate flats but in cities like London - if you stay away from the new builds - they’re a good option.