Would you sell a nice house (that no longer suits your needs) in a nice location/area and buy a property outright (we would be mortgage free) that does suit your needs but its in a not so nice area?

Potential property is in its own grounds (its a mill with a walled yard area) so is potentially a little oasis!

How much does location matter?

Location, Location. Location. Does it matter?

Only to you.

(genuine reply)

If you can get planning permission for a moat I’d say go for it.

Does which location matter to who?
I’ve lived in locations that are a matter of minutes walk from the city centre, one of them is a quite a notorious drug area full of ne’er do wells according to people who’ve never lived there. It was, and still is, a great little area that’s full of characters.
I liked being able to walk home after a few pints in town too.

Good question. We tend not to “use” the local area as such. So long as we don’t fear getting burgled and the wife feels comfortable walking the dog in the dark, then the area is okay.

We don’t have kids so see no point in paying a premium for schools.

Need more info, location is important but it’s different for different people – some only care about an area being populated by ‘PLUs’ the first sight of something they think is below them and they’re off. Some people care about how close to work, some people care about School catchment areas etc.

Personally disposable income is important to me, I’ve been ‘broke’ for 5 years, even though I’m debt free and earn more money than ever. The idea of living mortgage free sounds like heaven, but I’d only move to an area in the catchment for the schools we want the kids to go to, everything else is secondary.

We could move to any of the neighbouring villages and get either a bigger house or a smaller mortgage.

BUT we like it here: the local school is good, the pubs are nice, transport is good, there are cycle paths almost from our door, the people are great and there is a very strong sense of community.

So yeah, location, location for me!

Depends how much “not so nice” it is tbh.
Are we talking a bit rough, or south central La rough.

Would you sell a nice house (that no longer suits your needs) in a nice location/area and buy a property outright (we would be mortgage free) that does suit your needs but its in a not so nice area?

Yes.

Bit facile, but if an “oasis” is what you want, a walled garden might give you that, but not if there’s a pub on one side and a set of swings where the kids get drunk and shout til 1 in the morning on the other.

It all depends! And there are waaaayyy too many variables for anyone to give you answer you need on here. Hopefully you’ll get some useful hints here, but you might need to be more specific to get them.

my commute would drop from 7 miles to less than a mile, wifes a few miles longer but nothing major.

We don’t have children so schools aren’t/wont be a problem.

We live in a small village in the Rossendale valley and have lived in the village all my life. You forget how nice the Rossendale valley is at any time of year. My folks live in the opposite side of the village, great neighbours etc,

But we bought the house as our first family house and a do-er upperer, then Mother Nature decided the children thing wasn’t for us and we went a different path in life and unfortunately our little cottage doesn’t work for a large van, Volvo estate, and two rented storage units worth of stuff and landrovers in bits.

The building we’re interested in has loads of work and living space but its next to a regional train track and is in a poor/deprived Lancashire mill town.

I work in the town so know it pretty well and it sounds snobbish but its not a cultured place, there aren’t any nice pubs or restaurants-its a charity shop/pound land place, but the building would give us financial security (no mortgage) and space, albeit after a few years work on it.

I think location is one of the most important aspects to a degree. We live in a rural market town in North Yorks, still have a small mortgage but there’s no way on gods earth I’d go mortgage free & live in a city. (I could do debt free & live in a caravan!)

Do what you want to do innit.

Will the location affect the re-sale value?

It’s all well and good canvasing views on here but it’s one of those questions that only you can answer. Personally i would rather live in a nice location with less space than a not so nice location with more space but your priorities may well be different.

Location matters but not necessarily geography. Wherever feels comfortable is usually good.

We had a choice between:

a small house in a nice but quite dense part of town with high taxes, good schools and within walking distance of Madame’s job, the station, the centre, MTB trails and a heated outdoor pool.

a flash house with a swimming pool in a generous garden on a hill top with great mountain views, almost no neighbours and low taxes. But no local sixth form, no public transport, a car trip to town, a few kms to anything at all.

I couldn’t face all the traveling involved in the second option. We timed the runs and realised we’d be spending too much time in a car.

Location doesn’t matter if you like the location and you intend to die in the house.

Otherwise it is imperative to house buying

My parents have been trying to sell there house during the time I have moved twice, 3 years. They reduced by 50k, I made 50k

Location is my first requirement now. I have just bought a wreck to renovate as I couldn’t find what I actually wanted.

Location may not matter to you but it may matter massively to potential buyers in the future.
It’s much easier to make a property more suitable for you needs than it is to improve it’s location.
Your money, your choice though.

I think things like short / no commute are worth their weight in gold as they really add to quality of life.