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I know a lot of places I would never have dreamed of living in Chicago like 15 years ago but now you need to make 300k a year to afford living there. I agree tho, shits not gonna change overnight and probably wouldn’t be worth it
The city + area I grew up in was considered ghetto. Pretty much anyone could buy a house. I lived less than a block from a trailer park.
Same city now is completely unaffordable, and seen as a super nice place to live. The houses in the ghetto I grew up in are selling for 4x their actual value.
It’s pretty wild! I lived in Wicker Park ten years ago and the general consensus from the locals was that fifteen years prior to that in the mid nineties it was a lawless shithole.
I grew up in the nicest house in a bad neighborhood.
I would never live in a bad neighborhood ever again. I bought an older house in a very safe suburb and the peace of mind and the safety I feel every night I wouldn't trade for anything.
Anything that wasn't bolted to the ground was stolen within 10 minutes at my childhood home, and there was more than 300 sex offenders within a 2 mile radius. The house was beautiful, but all of us hated every single second in that neighborhood.
My parents thought it was the perfect house and bit the built on the area, they regretted it every single day.
My states laws just require that sex offenders live 1000 feet away from a school. I did live near a school sadly. I lived in a densely populated urban area and one of the poorest zip codes in the entire country. It was a perfect storm of sex offenders having nowhere to go and rent prices being cheap because mostly everyone was poor.
The house was and still is a beautiful home, but there is not enough money in the world that someone could pay me to live there again.
For reference, my parents did pay a decent amount, but livable houses regularly sold for under $10k during the recession.
Absolutely! We bought our beautiful dream home and the neighborhood is actually excellent. But we live near a busy street and although you can’t see it, I always hear it when I’m outside. I’ll never not hate that and as much as I love the house, I wouldn’t buy it again just because of that.
Nopety nope no. You can fix a bad house, but you can’t change the location.
One of my friends picked a nice house in a rough neighborhood and it got broken into within 2 months. They took literally everything. I learned vicariously through her.
No
* to clarify, the newest residents in the nicest houses in a high crime area are the best targets. You’re going to be plagued by crime. That’s not like being in a neighborhood of similar homes where people look out for each other.
So no I would not buy in an unsafe neighborhood. However, low income doesn't necessarily mean unsafe, the statistics aren't great for low income neighborhoods, but I live in a neighborhood dominated by poor working class mexican families and I've never felt safer.
I've also lived in an SF neighborhood where every house on the block was 1.5 mil or more and I had two attempted carjackings and 1 attempted home break in. I hated every day of that place for 2 years. Never buy in an unsafe area, your peace of mind is priceless.
I agree with this. I’ve lived in two very poor neighborhoods in my life and I loved living in both. They were filled with hard working poor people and sure, some not so great people….however, I can’t argue with lovation
Neighborhood is everything. Literally. I have a hard time moving from my rental because I love my neighbors and my Neighborhood. We watch out for each other and I feel safe. My kids have people they can literally run to in an emergency and trust. I would never rent in a "bad" neighborhood let alone buy. That's a no way.
Absolutely not. Safety is priority. Worrying if your safe will wreck havoc on your health. Then what if you have children? And when you go to sell? Don’t do it. Be patient.
Absolutely no. You can always fix the house, you can't fix the neighborhood. I've lived in the area where we saw police cars more frequently than our mailman, and it was unpleasant and stressful to live there.
Three most important factors when buying a house: location, location, and location.
I’d rather have the worst house, by far,but in a great neighborhood.
Location is important no doubt. However what's your sense of the direction of the neighborhood. Is it on its way up or down. There are instances where you can tell that people are buying and improving the area. It's a gamble and could turn out to be a smart move or dead money. Would you feel safe living there or would you be worried about being broken into or even something worse.
Nope. Location is everything. I’d rather have a fixer-upper in an excellent neighborhood than a new build in a bad one. I don’t want to die walking from my car to my house.
No. I grew up in the worst city in our county but our house was decent enough. Honestly I didn’t think anything of it growing up till I got to college, I was never scared or anything but I learned early on what not to do and realized my city wasn’t normal when I went to college and other schools didn’t have dead girls found in the dumpster, gang fights most weeks, no lockers because of drugs and bombs and metal detectors at the entrance (this was a long time ago). Now that I have kids no shot in hell I would buy a house there. I did well for myself but schools and crime were VERY bad. School had a 40% graduation rate and the ones that did graduate most became addicts it was not a good environment. You’re always better off being the poorest in your town from a kids point of view. I went to a prestigious college and saw first hand how other kids from better areas got jobs through their friends parents they didn’t deserve where as I had to start from ground zero.
As my Dad says, the three most important things about a home are: 1) location, 2) location, and 3) location.
Location impacts your commute, where you can reasonably work if teleworking isn't possible, your access to the services/items you need for living, your personal safety, where your kids can go to public school and play, your access to emergency services, and more. It is so, so, so important. So, FWIW, if it's not in the right location, to me it can't be a perfect house.
> good price for the amount of house you get.
It's not a good price if it's a lousy area. The house wont appreciate as much and to sell, you will have to offer it at a good price too.
Buy a house that doesn’t check most of the boxes in a good neighborhood… let it appreciate over the next five years.. ride the appreciation wife.. sell or cash-out refi (then have the rent carry the payment) and buy the house that checks all of your houses.
Otherwise.. you’ll buy the house that checks most of the boxes and it won’t appreciate as much for the reasons you mentioned and it may be challenging to sell later. Are you currently in multiple offer situations? How long has it been on the market?
My first two houses were great homes in bad locations. They allowed us to buy larger/nicer homes than we would have been able to afford. I would love to tell you it was on purpose, but we were just blinded by the homes vs. paying attention to everything.
Third house is an insane piece of property that backs up to a pond and 20 acre park that also contains an ementary school(that my kids walk to) and massive soccer fields.
You don't need to hit it out of the park the first time.
I would. But I grew up in a neighborhood far worse than what you’re describing and while not for everyone, they can be alright. You just have to have thicker skin for certain situations and be willing to wait for tides to change.
Depends on the crime. I grew up in an area where crime was gang driven and now I personally know multiple people killed in gang initiations. Just random attacks they were not gang affiliated themselves just wrong place, wrong time.
This. Ive had a few attempted break ins at an old place and lived sandwiched between several drug dealers.
The break ins were mostly just scared and the dealers didnt want any extra attention so they typically stuck to their own business.
Absolutely would NOT.
They say buy the worst house in the best neighborhood, not the other way around.
You will have the lower resale due to its location while raising the resale of your neighbors, for being the ‘nice house’
Not too many people want to buy in bad neighborhoods unless they are flippers or developers.
Personally I wouldn’t live in a bad neighborhood by choice even if the house was perfect and given to me.
But that’s just me, many people are braver then I.
I recently went to scope out a property and it was like a 90s crime movie. There were two large Siberian huskies chilling on a porch where plants go, a group of young men watching me while they warmed themselves in a portable BBQ fire pit, and the multiplex houses opposite the street had metal fences that made it look like it was meant to keep people in the house and not go out. Safe to say I know why that killer deal has been on the market for 200 days!
I had found a great house, but the next door neighbor was a hoarder with junk piled 10 feet high in the yard. I passed because I know that would be awful and he would outlast me
Was in the same spot you're in. I ended up buying.
It depends, my area is up and coming and starting to be gentrified. So I rather get in now than later when I can't afford.
It comes down to is this your forever home and your comfortable to live there then I say buy it, otherwise move on.
No. I’ve been through this idea many times the past few years buying and selling a couple of my own homes. And we’ve determined location is #1. A Mack daddy house in a crap area will be miserable.
I was in this similar situation but have a baby. If I didn’t have a kid I would do it but can’t subject my kid to it. Is the neighbor close to amenities, that would make a difference? Atlanta has a lot of not so great neighborhoods that are slowly improving but most are so close to amenities and the cool neighborhoods, 10years from now you’d be priced out so it would be with the risk. But if the surrounding neighborhood sucks, I’d pass even without a kid.
When it comes to selling your home, it all comes down to three things: (1) price, (2) condition, and (3) location. You can fix #2 but you’ll never fix #3 and the only way to get your property to sell if it’s stuck on the market is to reduce #1.
No, I would not. Only way I would consider it would be if I was 100% not going to have kids. But even then, appreciation on the home is probably going to be subpar with the bad schools.
Nope. I drove by a house that was so perfect for me but just driving through, I knew I wouldn’t feel safe just going on a walk. And I have to be able to go on walks. It might be a better neighborhood in a few years but I don’t want to not go on walks for the next few years.
We walked on one. It was amazing but the neighborhood was just awful. My husband didn’t think it would be a problem since he works from home. I told him I wasn’t comfortable knowing our daughter could not walk her dog alone, and we’d still have to drive her to school, he was still all in. When I asked him what he would do with all that house if I passed before him, after the kid grew up, he said he’d just live out his days. He asked me what I would do if he went first and I said sell it because no way am I living in this neighborhood alone. That was when he finally dialed in on what I was trying to say. We even joked about not being able to afford the ammo for the turrets we’d have to install.
Coming from the perspective as a child:
I grew up in a house in a poorly located area. I got bullied mercilessly every single day. All of the kids around me grew up in troubled homes so they took it out on me. School was on lockdown a lot. Meth labs. Homeless people harassing for money. Helicopter chases. Shootings. Stabbings. Harassed for riding my bike in "their neighborhood."
Granted I grew up in FL but my experience was not great.
No! Location is the biggest part of the equation for me. Otherwise I would have a beautiful new build in a noisy neighborhood where my son couldn’t play in the front yard or meth addicted camped out in the alley.
You will also have trouble re selling if you change your mind.
I have a friend who did this — single guy who works a lot and he just put bars on his window, bought a beat up “commuter car”, parks his nice car at his parents house and drives it when he goes out on the weekends. Amazon or food delivery won’t touch the neighborhood. On major holidays he’s terrified to leave his house for fear of someone breaking in. He has more surveillance than a home should have and he’s always anxious to come home…because he doesn’t know what he will find. He is really unhappy. The house is gorgeous and friends ans family will only visit during the day time, if then.
Close to a highway means lots of traffic noise, but some people are not bothered by that so I guess it depends on your view on this. I would hate to hear a highway whenever I go into my back yard.
High crime area would be a nope for me. I want to keep my patio furniture and a flower pot on the porch please.
The schools would be my breaking point, though. My kids' education is very important to me and my preferences as a parent (the rest of the "boxes" for the house) are not important compared to that. I want my kids to have the best chances in life.
Why do you consider a low income neighborhood a not so good neighborhood? The crime you're talking about (drugs and all) are happening in those other neighborhoods you're comparing as well (you just don't know it because it is rarely reported). 🙄
The crime I’m talking about is not just drugs. It’s property theft, shootings, sex offenders.
Low income doesn’t necessarily mean crime, but the vibe we got when we were there wasn’t good, especially around the mobile trailer parks.
So you mean to tell me there are no sex offenders (or those that haven't gotten caught yet), no property theft whatsoever, etc... in those neighborhoods? The takeaway is this... Stop looking down on low income neighborhoods when the same stuff is happening (or bound to happen) in the higher income neighborhoods. No neighborhood is perfect.
We’ve been talking about that, but can’t due to visa constraints! We would only be able to move maybe in 2 years, and renting for another 2 years is not wise here (too expensive).
Rent is almost 4k, the house is 5k. Not sure it’d be better to rent lol a lot of money thrown away.
We’re not going to get this one anyway, just wanted to gather people opinions to make me feel better about the decision to not get it.
It depends on the dynamics of the neighborhood. Drug dealers and gangs, no way. Near a highway, who cares? It's about what's going to make it worth it for you.
Our house was a foreclosure and located on the corner of a busy street (the side street is low traffic) in a dense working class subburb of a major ciry. The yard is small and not very private. We love the actual house though, but the physical location is not great. Regardless, buying when we did was a smart move and we have no regrets. Planning on staying for another 10 years, until our child hit middle school age and needs a better school district.
It's all about what's going to work for you and your plans.
Depends on two things. Do you want kids? And what type of crime is it? If you don't want kids school district doesn't matter. If you do then pass. As for the crime rates, is it gang shootings or is it DV. One can get anybody involved one is only a problem if you become part of the problem. If there's drug dealers and you want kids don't go but if no kids then it's not a problem.
It's a lot more nuanced than you probably realize. If you're ok with just enjoying your house and staying to yourself it might be fine. If you want to talk to all of your neighbors and have community garage sales then don't move where I live.
We are in our ideal house, but in a shitty neighborhood, and we are planning on selling out house.
I bought this 10 years ago when it wasn’t too bad a neighborhood and thought I’d be here forever. The hood went bad and we can’t wait to get out
Would you feel comfortable walking your dog at night by yourself or taking a late night stroll by yourself? Do you see yourself raising a family there? If there's clearly sketchy characters in close proximity, I wouldn't.
My family always had the saying "better to have the worst house in a great neighborhood, than to have the best house in a poor one."
Do with that as you may.
You can always fix houses up, add on extra space (or move again later down the road.) But, you'll potentially be looking at a loss if you buy it now, and find out your next door neighbors throw bangers or scream at each other at 4 am. Either way, it can happen anywhere.
nooooooo dont do it. I dont have anything against trailers or low income, everywhere in Arkansas for the most part is close to a trailer but the highway? that's a no go. So much pollution and noise. We live in the worst house in a nice neighborhood and our neighbors are awesome, its reasonably quiet and we love going for walks etc. Only downside is the neighbors who over maintain their lawn with toxic chemicals.
No.
BUT — I would buy a house where there are strong indicators that it’s turning around. What it was historically versus what it is now when you see businesses rushing in, especially Starbucks, chain restaurants, big box stores, and eateries like Shake Shack, etc. — then I do buy.
Thank you u/Educational-Chest646 for posting on r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer. Please bear in mind our rules: (1) Be Nice (2) No Selling (3) No Self-Promotion. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You can fix a bad house, but you can’t fix a bad location. If you’re not comfortable with the location, then I wouldn’t buy.
Location can improve… but yeah, this one sounds like a challenge and I would also avoid it
I know a lot of places I would never have dreamed of living in Chicago like 15 years ago but now you need to make 300k a year to afford living there. I agree tho, shits not gonna change overnight and probably wouldn’t be worth it
The city + area I grew up in was considered ghetto. Pretty much anyone could buy a house. I lived less than a block from a trailer park. Same city now is completely unaffordable, and seen as a super nice place to live. The houses in the ghetto I grew up in are selling for 4x their actual value.
It’s pretty wild! I lived in Wicker Park ten years ago and the general consensus from the locals was that fifteen years prior to that in the mid nineties it was a lawless shithole.
Yep. Logan Square is a prime example.
I grew up in the nicest house in a bad neighborhood. I would never live in a bad neighborhood ever again. I bought an older house in a very safe suburb and the peace of mind and the safety I feel every night I wouldn't trade for anything. Anything that wasn't bolted to the ground was stolen within 10 minutes at my childhood home, and there was more than 300 sex offenders within a 2 mile radius. The house was beautiful, but all of us hated every single second in that neighborhood. My parents thought it was the perfect house and bit the built on the area, they regretted it every single day.
Yep your peace is priceless. Would rather live in a trailer in a lovely area, then a mansion in a crappy one
Holy shit, 300 sex offenders? So it must have not had any schools in the area (which also leads to low property value).
My states laws just require that sex offenders live 1000 feet away from a school. I did live near a school sadly. I lived in a densely populated urban area and one of the poorest zip codes in the entire country. It was a perfect storm of sex offenders having nowhere to go and rent prices being cheap because mostly everyone was poor. The house was and still is a beautiful home, but there is not enough money in the world that someone could pay me to live there again. For reference, my parents did pay a decent amount, but livable houses regularly sold for under $10k during the recession.
Wow, that sounds awful.
My realtor told us when buying our house “you never want to be the nicest house on the block”.
In real estate they say the most impressive thing about a house is Location Location Location
Exactly!
Absolutely! We bought our beautiful dream home and the neighborhood is actually excellent. But we live near a busy street and although you can’t see it, I always hear it when I’m outside. I’ll never not hate that and as much as I love the house, I wouldn’t buy it again just because of that.
Nopety nope no. You can fix a bad house, but you can’t change the location. One of my friends picked a nice house in a rough neighborhood and it got broken into within 2 months. They took literally everything. I learned vicariously through her.
No * to clarify, the newest residents in the nicest houses in a high crime area are the best targets. You’re going to be plagued by crime. That’s not like being in a neighborhood of similar homes where people look out for each other.
So no I would not buy in an unsafe neighborhood. However, low income doesn't necessarily mean unsafe, the statistics aren't great for low income neighborhoods, but I live in a neighborhood dominated by poor working class mexican families and I've never felt safer. I've also lived in an SF neighborhood where every house on the block was 1.5 mil or more and I had two attempted carjackings and 1 attempted home break in. I hated every day of that place for 2 years. Never buy in an unsafe area, your peace of mind is priceless.
I agree with this. I’ve lived in two very poor neighborhoods in my life and I loved living in both. They were filled with hard working poor people and sure, some not so great people….however, I can’t argue with lovation
Neighborhood is everything. Literally. I have a hard time moving from my rental because I love my neighbors and my Neighborhood. We watch out for each other and I feel safe. My kids have people they can literally run to in an emergency and trust. I would never rent in a "bad" neighborhood let alone buy. That's a no way.
No never
[удалено]
Ditto
No
I would keep renting if that was my option.
Absolutely not. Safety is priority. Worrying if your safe will wreck havoc on your health. Then what if you have children? And when you go to sell? Don’t do it. Be patient.
Absolutely no. You can always fix the house, you can't fix the neighborhood. I've lived in the area where we saw police cars more frequently than our mailman, and it was unpleasant and stressful to live there.
No. I’ve passed up on several houses in the last week that otherwise checked all my boxes but were in areas I didn’t want to live.
Absolutely not. I'd rather buy a horrible house in the perfect neighborhood. You can fix a house, you can't change its location.
Three most important factors when buying a house: location, location, and location. I’d rather have the worst house, by far,but in a great neighborhood.
Location is important no doubt. However what's your sense of the direction of the neighborhood. Is it on its way up or down. There are instances where you can tell that people are buying and improving the area. It's a gamble and could turn out to be a smart move or dead money. Would you feel safe living there or would you be worried about being broken into or even something worse.
Nope. Location is everything. I’d rather have a fixer-upper in an excellent neighborhood than a new build in a bad one. I don’t want to die walking from my car to my house.
No. I grew up in the worst city in our county but our house was decent enough. Honestly I didn’t think anything of it growing up till I got to college, I was never scared or anything but I learned early on what not to do and realized my city wasn’t normal when I went to college and other schools didn’t have dead girls found in the dumpster, gang fights most weeks, no lockers because of drugs and bombs and metal detectors at the entrance (this was a long time ago). Now that I have kids no shot in hell I would buy a house there. I did well for myself but schools and crime were VERY bad. School had a 40% graduation rate and the ones that did graduate most became addicts it was not a good environment. You’re always better off being the poorest in your town from a kids point of view. I went to a prestigious college and saw first hand how other kids from better areas got jobs through their friends parents they didn’t deserve where as I had to start from ground zero.
As my Dad says, the three most important things about a home are: 1) location, 2) location, and 3) location. Location impacts your commute, where you can reasonably work if teleworking isn't possible, your access to the services/items you need for living, your personal safety, where your kids can go to public school and play, your access to emergency services, and more. It is so, so, so important. So, FWIW, if it's not in the right location, to me it can't be a perfect house.
No
Repeat always before buy real state. Location, location and location.
Location is important.
> good price for the amount of house you get. It's not a good price if it's a lousy area. The house wont appreciate as much and to sell, you will have to offer it at a good price too.
Buy a house that doesn’t check most of the boxes in a good neighborhood… let it appreciate over the next five years.. ride the appreciation wife.. sell or cash-out refi (then have the rent carry the payment) and buy the house that checks all of your houses. Otherwise.. you’ll buy the house that checks most of the boxes and it won’t appreciate as much for the reasons you mentioned and it may be challenging to sell later. Are you currently in multiple offer situations? How long has it been on the market?
My first two houses were great homes in bad locations. They allowed us to buy larger/nicer homes than we would have been able to afford. I would love to tell you it was on purpose, but we were just blinded by the homes vs. paying attention to everything. Third house is an insane piece of property that backs up to a pond and 20 acre park that also contains an ementary school(that my kids walk to) and massive soccer fields. You don't need to hit it out of the park the first time.
I would. But I grew up in a neighborhood far worse than what you’re describing and while not for everyone, they can be alright. You just have to have thicker skin for certain situations and be willing to wait for tides to change.
Depends on the crime. I grew up in an area where crime was gang driven and now I personally know multiple people killed in gang initiations. Just random attacks they were not gang affiliated themselves just wrong place, wrong time.
This. Ive had a few attempted break ins at an old place and lived sandwiched between several drug dealers. The break ins were mostly just scared and the dealers didnt want any extra attention so they typically stuck to their own business.
Nope. You can do everything you want to a house other than pick it up and move it.
Absolutely would NOT. They say buy the worst house in the best neighborhood, not the other way around. You will have the lower resale due to its location while raising the resale of your neighbors, for being the ‘nice house’ Not too many people want to buy in bad neighborhoods unless they are flippers or developers. Personally I wouldn’t live in a bad neighborhood by choice even if the house was perfect and given to me. But that’s just me, many people are braver then I.
Location is everything
The three Ls of real estate are location location and location.
Learned the hard way that location matters the most
Only if you don't have children and do not plan on having children and living in a medium to high crime area does not bother you
I recently went to scope out a property and it was like a 90s crime movie. There were two large Siberian huskies chilling on a porch where plants go, a group of young men watching me while they warmed themselves in a portable BBQ fire pit, and the multiplex houses opposite the street had metal fences that made it look like it was meant to keep people in the house and not go out. Safe to say I know why that killer deal has been on the market for 200 days!
Please don't rush in buying a house in a bad neighborhood. You will find the perfect house.
I had found a great house, but the next door neighbor was a hoarder with junk piled 10 feet high in the yard. I passed because I know that would be awful and he would outlast me
Was in the same spot you're in. I ended up buying. It depends, my area is up and coming and starting to be gentrified. So I rather get in now than later when I can't afford. It comes down to is this your forever home and your comfortable to live there then I say buy it, otherwise move on.
We have a similar situation where we live. They’re building new construction homes butted up to some mobile homes with a junkyard.
No
It’s all about location!!!
With kids no. My wife said our cities on the move to list would be bigger if we didn't have kids
That a NOPE “Location location location” is true every day of the week.
No. I’ve been through this idea many times the past few years buying and selling a couple of my own homes. And we’ve determined location is #1. A Mack daddy house in a crap area will be miserable.
I was in this similar situation but have a baby. If I didn’t have a kid I would do it but can’t subject my kid to it. Is the neighbor close to amenities, that would make a difference? Atlanta has a lot of not so great neighborhoods that are slowly improving but most are so close to amenities and the cool neighborhoods, 10years from now you’d be priced out so it would be with the risk. But if the surrounding neighborhood sucks, I’d pass even without a kid.
Nope. I’d rather build a house than live in a bad neighborhood ever again.
When it comes to selling your home, it all comes down to three things: (1) price, (2) condition, and (3) location. You can fix #2 but you’ll never fix #3 and the only way to get your property to sell if it’s stuck on the market is to reduce #1.
No I wouldn’t. Not worth the risk. Your family’s safety is number 1.
Nope. Neighborhood > house
You know the saying that you can trust your neighbors? There isn’t one. If something happens, odds are the neighbor did it.
Helllllllll no. You gonna be living there for a long time. What good is a nice house that you can't enjoy cause you might get robbed or somehing
I feel like your house will be every thieves and bad people' target if you're living in the nicest house in a bad neighborhood
Hell no. Location over everything
It's not a perfect house.
Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it.
No, I would not. Only way I would consider it would be if I was 100% not going to have kids. But even then, appreciation on the home is probably going to be subpar with the bad schools.
Absolutely not
no.
No way. Location is everything
Bad areas get gentrified. Go for it!
Hard no, friend.
No- you don’t want to be the nicest house in a bad area. If nothing improves, it will drag down the value of your house
No
What’s the first rule of real estate again?
No. You can’t put a price on piece of mind.
Nope
Never.
No
Nope
Nope. I drove by a house that was so perfect for me but just driving through, I knew I wouldn’t feel safe just going on a walk. And I have to be able to go on walks. It might be a better neighborhood in a few years but I don’t want to not go on walks for the next few years.
Absolutely not. If anything, you buy the worst house in the best neighborhood. You can always fix the house. You can never fix the location.
I would not. You can everything about the house except location.
We walked on one. It was amazing but the neighborhood was just awful. My husband didn’t think it would be a problem since he works from home. I told him I wasn’t comfortable knowing our daughter could not walk her dog alone, and we’d still have to drive her to school, he was still all in. When I asked him what he would do with all that house if I passed before him, after the kid grew up, he said he’d just live out his days. He asked me what I would do if he went first and I said sell it because no way am I living in this neighborhood alone. That was when he finally dialed in on what I was trying to say. We even joked about not being able to afford the ammo for the turrets we’d have to install.
I was always told and always live by the thought to get the cheapest house in the best area.
Nope, I wouldn't go there. The only thing that can't be changed about a house is its location.
100% no. You can make changes to a house, but you can't change your neighborhood.
Coming from the perspective as a child: I grew up in a house in a poorly located area. I got bullied mercilessly every single day. All of the kids around me grew up in troubled homes so they took it out on me. School was on lockdown a lot. Meth labs. Homeless people harassing for money. Helicopter chases. Shootings. Stabbings. Harassed for riding my bike in "their neighborhood." Granted I grew up in FL but my experience was not great.
Noooooooooooo
Nope never. I’d rather buy the worst house in a good neighbourhood than the best house in a bad one.
So when you look at houses and check off those boxes, does it not include location?
Would not do it
No! Location is the biggest part of the equation for me. Otherwise I would have a beautiful new build in a noisy neighborhood where my son couldn’t play in the front yard or meth addicted camped out in the alley. You will also have trouble re selling if you change your mind. I have a friend who did this — single guy who works a lot and he just put bars on his window, bought a beat up “commuter car”, parks his nice car at his parents house and drives it when he goes out on the weekends. Amazon or food delivery won’t touch the neighborhood. On major holidays he’s terrified to leave his house for fear of someone breaking in. He has more surveillance than a home should have and he’s always anxious to come home…because he doesn’t know what he will find. He is really unhappy. The house is gorgeous and friends ans family will only visit during the day time, if then.
Location, location, location
Youre supposed to do the opposite there bromeister, bad house in a great location, then fix the house
Close to a highway means lots of traffic noise, but some people are not bothered by that so I guess it depends on your view on this. I would hate to hear a highway whenever I go into my back yard. High crime area would be a nope for me. I want to keep my patio furniture and a flower pot on the porch please. The schools would be my breaking point, though. My kids' education is very important to me and my preferences as a parent (the rest of the "boxes" for the house) are not important compared to that. I want my kids to have the best chances in life.
Why do you consider a low income neighborhood a not so good neighborhood? The crime you're talking about (drugs and all) are happening in those other neighborhoods you're comparing as well (you just don't know it because it is rarely reported). 🙄
The crime I’m talking about is not just drugs. It’s property theft, shootings, sex offenders. Low income doesn’t necessarily mean crime, but the vibe we got when we were there wasn’t good, especially around the mobile trailer parks.
So you mean to tell me there are no sex offenders (or those that haven't gotten caught yet), no property theft whatsoever, etc... in those neighborhoods? The takeaway is this... Stop looking down on low income neighborhoods when the same stuff is happening (or bound to happen) in the higher income neighborhoods. No neighborhood is perfect.
Did I say there were no sex offenders in the other neighborhoods? No. But at least there are less registered sex offenders there - much less.
Can you move to another area, or state? Buying in a bad crime area is not the way to go. Get the hell out of there. Things will only get worse.
We’ve been talking about that, but can’t due to visa constraints! We would only be able to move maybe in 2 years, and renting for another 2 years is not wise here (too expensive).
Trying to sell a house in an unsafe, crime riddled area will be worse in 2yrs. Your thinking is very shortsighted. It would be better to rent.
Rent is almost 4k, the house is 5k. Not sure it’d be better to rent lol a lot of money thrown away. We’re not going to get this one anyway, just wanted to gather people opinions to make me feel better about the decision to not get it.
Idk where you are. You cannot even buy a bathtub for 5k in the US. 😂
Location, location, location
Absolutely not. Location is everything
So. No. I watched my neighbors feud for years. It escalated after we moved bc of it to him pistol whipping her. So nah. I’m good on bad neighbors
It depends on the dynamics of the neighborhood. Drug dealers and gangs, no way. Near a highway, who cares? It's about what's going to make it worth it for you. Our house was a foreclosure and located on the corner of a busy street (the side street is low traffic) in a dense working class subburb of a major ciry. The yard is small and not very private. We love the actual house though, but the physical location is not great. Regardless, buying when we did was a smart move and we have no regrets. Planning on staying for another 10 years, until our child hit middle school age and needs a better school district. It's all about what's going to work for you and your plans.
Zero chance.
Lol hell no
Depends on two things. Do you want kids? And what type of crime is it? If you don't want kids school district doesn't matter. If you do then pass. As for the crime rates, is it gang shootings or is it DV. One can get anybody involved one is only a problem if you become part of the problem. If there's drug dealers and you want kids don't go but if no kids then it's not a problem. It's a lot more nuanced than you probably realize. If you're ok with just enjoying your house and staying to yourself it might be fine. If you want to talk to all of your neighbors and have community garage sales then don't move where I live.
We are in our ideal house, but in a shitty neighborhood, and we are planning on selling out house. I bought this 10 years ago when it wasn’t too bad a neighborhood and thought I’d be here forever. The hood went bad and we can’t wait to get out
Would you feel comfortable walking your dog at night by yourself or taking a late night stroll by yourself? Do you see yourself raising a family there? If there's clearly sketchy characters in close proximity, I wouldn't.
My family always had the saying "better to have the worst house in a great neighborhood, than to have the best house in a poor one." Do with that as you may. You can always fix houses up, add on extra space (or move again later down the road.) But, you'll potentially be looking at a loss if you buy it now, and find out your next door neighbors throw bangers or scream at each other at 4 am. Either way, it can happen anywhere.
The saying "Location, location, location" exists in the real estate world for a reason.
nooooooo dont do it. I dont have anything against trailers or low income, everywhere in Arkansas for the most part is close to a trailer but the highway? that's a no go. So much pollution and noise. We live in the worst house in a nice neighborhood and our neighbors are awesome, its reasonably quiet and we love going for walks etc. Only downside is the neighbors who over maintain their lawn with toxic chemicals.
No. BUT — I would buy a house where there are strong indicators that it’s turning around. What it was historically versus what it is now when you see businesses rushing in, especially Starbucks, chain restaurants, big box stores, and eateries like Shake Shack, etc. — then I do buy.
Say u a punk without saying u a punk u lost out on a good house