Buying an ex-council house: Is this a good deal?

Where they'll all have burglar alarms, lock the windows and doors when they go out and have insurance. Oh and stuff worse stealing.

A bargain would be less than the 2004 price. You have had a good look on rightmove for property prices (It's got a nice by postcode bit - then by street - just put in the first bit of postcode.)

How many council and how many owned? Troublesome teen from which council or private? How many owned by private landlords. how many sold in the last 2 years? What's it like on a friday evening between 5-10pm? Are there any alleys? Waste land? Areas where youths congregate? Do you know people on the street? What are the neighbours like? Are they noisy? Do they get up at 3AM to have a fight with each other?

Why is the person selling?

I bought an ex-council house in 2006 and for the time being I'm happy where I live now. It was pretty much the only area we looked at where our standards coincided with our budget. Although most of the houses in the area are still council houses, it's not a large estate and the area beyond that is reasonably affluent. Chavs are thankfully rare here, far more common on some private estates in other towns. There's even a parade of shops just across the road, teenagers sometimes congregate outside there at certain times of the year but they seem to mind their own business. So it's perfectly possible that your area would be a good choice too.

Seems fair enough, but how does it compare to recent purchase prices for other similar houses, if there are any?

Based on my previous experiences of crime and anecdoes from friends etc I'm not sure logic like this always applies. As well as the value of goods available burglars would also consider how easily they could conceal themselves or flee if disturbed (are there footpaths nearby?), and how quickly they could enter a typical home. You might be able to guess the burglary rates by counting what proportion of houses have burglar alarms, given that people often install them after actual or attempted burglaries.

Joe

Is it of standard construction ? Some council houses weren't and are difficult to mortgage.

What have comparable houses sold for ? The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that prices, *on average*, are 26% above thier fair value.

Any neighbour disputes (should be revealed on the sellers property information form), ASBOs issued in the area (I don't know how much info. the police can give) ?

Having just had one of the largest credit fueled booms in history, this is not the time to risk capital for potential profit even less so if you do not have the capital and require a loan.

Be aware that, depending upon the furture price falls, prospective future buyers may leapfrog such houses to something more attractive as occured in the '90s recession.

Buy the worst house in the best location, because it's far easier to improve the house than to improve the location.

It sounds like you're taking a chance. The time to take chances is at the end of a downturn when signs of improvement are evident and there has been 4 quarters of quarter on quarter GDP growth.

Any potential future buyer of the property is going to have the same concerns as you.

Over the next 5 years, do you think that you will have made money or lost it ? Why ?

As far as I'm concerned, to quote Winston Churchill, this is merely 'the end of the beginning' of the credit crisis. Waiting is a risk free option.

"Daytona" wrote

Eh? That'd be well *after* the "end of the downturn", not " *at* the end of the downturn", wouldn't it?

BTW - have you decided yet whether you *really* believe that "Escalating annuities are a waste of space"?

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"Tim" wrote

"Tim" wrote

I read something in new scientist recently about the areas prone to crime - it tends to be areas that criminals use regularly and they just do the job when the opportunity comes up. For example, on a busy road you`ll have them walking past regularly so they know the area, know how to get away etc. On a small cul-de-sac where they don`t walk, they`ll have to make a special trip there, don`t know the area etc. It seemed to make sense - obviously not the whole picture mind you.

I read something in new scientist recently about the areas prone to crime - it tends to be areas that criminals use regularly and they just do the job when the opportunity comes up. For example, on a busy road you`ll have them walking past regularly so they know the area, know how to get away etc. On a small cul-de-sac where they don`t walk, they`ll have to make a special trip there, don`t know the area etc. It seemed to make sense - obviously not the whole picture mind you.

Most burglaries are through unlocked and open windows. So I guess the chance of being burgled increases if you have the tendency to leave windows open and to have lots of people walking by.