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Original poster

Location Location Location

36 replies

Sorrento · 12/04/2009 00:42

If a house gave you everything you needed in the town you wanted but was "the wrong end" of town, how much would that bother you ?

Never in a million years could we afford the size house we need now in the right spot so could you compromise on the location in the right postcode for space ?
Or would we regret that in the long term ?

OP posts:
lalalonglegs · 12/04/2009 08:29

I did that and regretted it hugely - we fell in love with a house in a quite down-at-heel neighbourhood on the outskirts of London. We now live in a flat rather than a house but in an area that is much nicer and we would never go back.

I suppose it depends how big your town is and how cut off you would feel from your established network of friends etc and whether the area you are considering is just a bit scruffy or has major disadvantages (our old area did).

noddyholder · 12/04/2009 08:31

Well we compromised on location very slightly by one street actually!I have complained but I did want a big project and to be mortgage free and I knew that if I bought elsewhere it would end up costing a lot more.I have got used to it now and it is still in a lovely road just not as chi chi iykwim.I would check out the feel of the area a few times and if you like it you can love the house.If you don't you never will.It is only by people moving into an area and improving the houses that they become more desirable. We have just finished our garden and i am starting to love this house but it has taken a few months.The space here is very seductive esp if like me you love fiddling with design

noddyholder · 12/04/2009 08:33

Didn't see wrong end bit sorry!I am in right end just wrong road.We did like lala amd moved back but I know some people who moved out and love it/

brettgirl2 · 12/04/2009 08:55

I think it depends on what you mean. If you are talking about 'less fashionable' then that is one thing. I live in an unfashionable part of town, because when we bought it is what we could afford. I don't, however live in an area that is very bad - that is different.

TBH round here the most upmarket residential area is on low groung right by a river, so I don't actually intend moving there anyway!

noddyholder · 12/04/2009 08:57

Agree with brett too rough is different to just unfashionable.fashion doesn't bother me if I love the house.Its about a home reall y and what you need.

MarthaFarquhar · 12/04/2009 09:12

we have just moved out of a "rough" area. it was fine living there when we were a young childless couple, but harder with children (although despite being a rather infamous area nationally it was never quite as bad as the media would have you believe).

I now live in an "unfashionable" area 200 miles away, and love it. Great schools, great connections to the city centre, nice and quiet, plenty of other young families, just on the "wrong" side of town for all the fashionable folk.

cat64 · 12/04/2009 09:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
Sorrento · 12/04/2009 12:43

It's fine to go out and about, certainly safe, just not pretty, by an industrial estate and a train line runs quite close by. But if you were in the fashionable/desirable part of this town you have the drunks coming out of the pubs/restaurants and parking is murder.

I wouldn't love the house at, I'd put my stamp on it but the actual house is practical rather than attractive, but again I wonder how important that is once you shut the front door.

Thank you for your input so far, food for thought.

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biffandchip · 12/04/2009 13:19

Unless I have misread this it sounds like you are compromising on the house 'I wouldn't love the house' and on the location. I think you could get away with compromising one but I don't think I could compromise on both.

navyeyelasH · 12/04/2009 13:28

sorrento - are you ill or something?

Original poster
Sorrento · 12/04/2009 13:32

I know it's a nightmare, shall I post a link and tell me what you think of it
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-17399090.html?backToListURL=%2Fuser%2Fshortlist.html% 3Ftype%3DBUYING

The trouble at the moment we live in a lovely country area which is very sweet and I am bored senseless.
The house linked is in an area I love and have some contacts, but to buy anything pretty within walking distance of town you're looking at £500k and we would never be able to afford that.
However once MIL no longer needs the annex I'm thinking we could move to something nicer/smaller for the same money.

OP posts:
Original poster
Sorrento · 12/04/2009 13:33

I think I might be Navy, I don't want to bloody move at all, unfortunately DH is going off his dial not working

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Original poster
Sorrento · 12/04/2009 13:36

The stupid thing is we used to own one exactly like this www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-12354933.html?locationIdentifier=POSTCODE%5E1047077&r adius=0.25&pageNumber=2&backToListURL=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2Ffind.html%3FlocationIdentifier%3DPOSTCO DE%255E1047077%26radius%3D0.25%26index%3D10
but moved ooop north for his job

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noddyholder · 12/04/2009 13:38

if you like period houses you will have to adjust to new build.But it looks spacious and light and is probably suburban but safe and family friendly.Are you waiting for prices to fall in the hope of buying something else?

Original poster
Sorrento · 12/04/2009 13:45

I wish we could wait because I firmly believe prices will continue falling and there's a long way to go but no our problem is DH is out of work right now, I'd like to be closer to family and there may be an opportunity to move to Stratford which would tick both boxes.
The next "problem" is that MIL follows us where ever we go and she wants to give us all her money and us to buy a property with an annex for her, all very well and good but the amount of money she would be giving us doesn't cover the additional cost of the annex in my opinion and equally she could never afford to buy a flat or retirement property where we want to live.
So I am compromising on so many levels.
We're also in the middle of IVF and MIL will hit the fcuking roof when she hears of that, none of her business if she doesn't live with us but if she does she'll ruin the whole experience for us, like she did last time

OP posts:
noddyholder · 12/04/2009 13:52

Does she have to live with you?
Would you consider a maisonette in a nicer area if it was spacious and had a garden?Thats what i did to get area and then eventually house

Original poster
Sorrento · 12/04/2009 14:01

She couldn't afford a tent in Stratford lol
In all honesty that is the most worrying part because I am convinced if she gets dementia or whatever the bum wiping falls to me

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Heated · 12/04/2009 14:08

Do you need all the bedrooms or will you knock them through to give you bigger down-stairs space?

Being away from the tourist hub-bub in S-u-A is an advantage.

Original poster
Sorrento · 12/04/2009 14:41

I think i'd turn one of the garages into a kitchen diner for her, claim one of the downstairs rooms for me and him and then the children would all have a room upstairs each.
Stratford is a heck of a lot bigger now with all the new developments since we lived there so that makes anywhere close to town ok I guess.

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NorbertDentressangle · 12/04/2009 14:54

They do say that you should buy the smallest/worst house in the best street/area rather than the biggest/best house in a poor street/ area.

I presume thats because if its a "nice" area people will always want to be there and will pay accordingly whereas no matter how nice a house, if its not a nice area, people are less likely to want to live there.

lalalonglegs · 12/04/2009 15:56

Gosh, it's very big and there is certainly annexe potential but you don't like the area, you're not mad about the house and you don't want your mother-in-law living with you so it seems to the right house for all the wrong reasons. Might it not be better to rent and wait - to see if your husband's job works out; to see if you can sell your other home and to see if prices fall so you can tick a couple of things on your list?

brettgirl2 · 12/04/2009 16:52

It's not exactly in a dodgy area is it Sorrento? It's also really near to Shottery etc which is really nice.

I think the town centre is overrated anyway with all the bloody traffic jams in the summer. I'd choose to live in the outskirts if I was going to live in Stratford but that's just me!

Original poster
Sorrento · 12/04/2009 17:37

I suspect unless I can find a good reason for it MIL will be living with us whether I like it or not. It's just case of making it as painless as possible for me.
I did suggest that we rent the current house to MIL whilst we sort ourselves out down there and rent a little place. She has students singing and shouting at 4am by her flat so would solve her problems short term too. The old bat said she didn't want the maintenance of a 4 bed house, no pleasing some people

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Original poster
Sorrento · 12/04/2009 17:38

I never said it was dodgy, but it's hardly picturesque either is ? The other side of the railway is the most desirable road in the whole area, but where that house is, is very close to the big industrial estate.

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crescent · 12/04/2009 18:11

Sorrento,
I wouldn't say it was a very 'industrial' industrial estate, if you know what I mean. There is some engineering, but a lot of it is more office type stuff.
There still isn't much selling in the area, so maybe you could really haggle on the price.