Moving to Bradford-opinions?

Moving to Bradford-opinions?

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sat1983

Original Poster:

1,252 posts

183 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
Bradford gets a bad reputation and I have to admit that I do, to an extent, understand why.
We are originally from Sheffield and moved to Leeds last year for work reasons. We currently live in Leeds city centre and pay a fortune in rent (£775PCM). At the age of 31, we now feel it is time to buy a house.
We have managed to save a small deposit and it stretches to this help to buy scheme the government is doing.
So we're looking at new builds. That in itself is a bit scary, as you do hear horror stories about them, but what with our small deposit we feel we have little choice.
I suppose the other thing is that a brand new house, hopefully, should be ok for at least a little while as we don't have a ton of money to start repairing roofs, boilers and other things an older house can come up with. They also appear to be very energy efficient which we feel is important.
Anyhow, most new builds appear to be built near not so fantastic areas. Presumably cheap land for the company... We have found a fantastic townhouse in Bradford, literally a couple of streets away from an LS postcode.

Must admit if we bought it, we are buying purely for the house, anything outside of it is utterly soulless and a bit rough but what can you do? We need something to start with but is Bradford pushing it a bit too far?

Mannginger

9,032 posts

256 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
Odd decision making process IMO: "I must buy a house, in order to do so I'll need to live somewhere I don't want to, but hey, at least I'm on the ladder!"

If you're desperate to get on to that ladder can you buy a place to let it out and still rent somewhere you want to live?

Personally, regardless of Bradford or not, I wouldn't move to a poor location just to get into my own property.

sat1983

Original Poster:

1,252 posts

183 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
Mannginger said:
Odd decision making process IMO: "I must buy a house, in order to do so I'll need to live somewhere I don't want to, but hey, at least I'm on the ladder!"

If you're desperate to get on to that ladder can you buy a place to let it out and still rent somewhere you want to live?

Personally, regardless of Bradford or not, I wouldn't move to a poor location just to get into my own property.
I've worded things rather poorly I admit. I mean the house itself can't be beaten- new, rather large 4 bedrooms for £160,000. We entertain quite often and living dining kitchen is fantastic. The very same house in Leeds is up for £200,000. We are about to start a family so do need the space.

V8 Fettler

7,019 posts

131 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
I visited the film museum in Bradford a few years ago, large rats running in the streets, makes Barnsley look appealing. Don't.

lambysdad

939 posts

238 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
Why not rent outside the City Centre for a while?
The rented house would be bigger than what you get in the city.
The rent would be less.
You can save more and see if you like living in suburbia.
If it all goes well, after a couple of years you will have more money for a deposit and should be able to afford to live in a nicer location....which is more important than living in a nicer house IMO.

HenryJM

6,315 posts

128 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
A downside of buying new is that your property is very hard to sell until everything on the whole development has been sold. Almost whatever you pay your new property may fall in value a little until that happens. After all many people looking will buy a different new one than your second hand one.

andy-xr

13,204 posts

203 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
I've owned a house before. It was OK, nothing special. Sold it thinking I was moving to the US. Now I'm back in a position where I'd like to buy again (nest egg more likely) but we cant afford to buy the house we'd like to live in and bring up a family in.

What we're thinking is buying a smaller house on either a BTL or with/for family and renting the house we want to live in instead.

sat1983

Original Poster:

1,252 posts

183 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
All of what has been said so far is not wrong. Thing is though it will a long while until we can afford to live in North Leeds/Harrogate. We just don't know what to do, one side of us is thinking' what the hell are we even debating about- we can't live here' and the next it's 'but what else'?

g3org3y

20,606 posts

190 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
sat1983 said:
I've worded things rather poorly I admit. I mean the house itself can't be beaten- new, rather large 4 bedrooms for £160,000. We entertain quite often and living dining kitchen is fantastic. The very same house in Leeds is up for £200,000. We are about to start a family so do need the space.
That's amazing value (my reference is London prices)!

Remember, location location location.


Schermerhorn

4,342 posts

188 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
Is it the Pudsey area? That area is quite OK.

HTP99

22,443 posts

139 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
g3org3y said:
sat1983 said:
I've worded things rather poorly I admit. I mean the house itself can't be beaten- new, rather large 4 bedrooms for £160,000. We entertain quite often and living dining kitchen is fantastic. The very same house in Leeds is up for £200,000. We are about to start a family so do need the space.
That's amazing value (my reference is London prices)!

Remember, location location location.
Thinking the same here, makes my two bed 60's built semi in Surrey seem a right bargain at £265,000.

sat1983

Original Poster:

1,252 posts

183 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
Schermerhorn said:
Is it the Pudsey area? That area is quite OK.
They classify it as Pudsey. BD3 postcode- near the Odeon Cinema.

dazwalsh

6,095 posts

140 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
Where abouts in Bradford is it?

Bradford inner city is a bit ropey but on the flipside some of the most sought after locations in Yorkshire have a BD postcode so don't let the gross generalisations about it being a sthole put you off. I live in baildon which is a BD postcode and it beats the pants off any of the LS postcodes I have lived in.

If your on the leeds Bradford border you should be okay ish location wise though.

For 160 I'm guessing either the huge miller homes development or somewhere near the pudsey Bradford border?

dazwalsh

6,095 posts

140 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
sat1983 said:
They classify it as Pudsey. BD3 postcode- near the Odeon Cinema.
It's not going to win any location awards and the traffic is Mental in rush hour but you can't argue at the price.



sat1983

Original Poster:

1,252 posts

183 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
dazwalsh said:
It's not going to win any location awards and the traffic is Mental in rush hour but you can't argue at the price.
How bad is it? Really!

Council Baby

19,741 posts

189 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
Sorry...

£775 PCM is a fortune?

I'd strongly suggest Bradford is a good move in that case, your balls would shrivel up and the blood would drain from your face if you made it South of Watford.

I'm almost tempted to move north reading this thumbup

Phil Dicky

7,162 posts

262 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
You mention you about to start a family and this would be my biggest concern. You need to look at the local schools and see what ofsred has to say about them. It's ok have a nice home at a good price if the schools are st. You need to give your children as good a startling life as possible.

dazwalsh

6,095 posts

140 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
I would live there no problem. It's not in a bad area more like on the very edge of what is perceived to be a grim area, a lot of Asians as you go from thornbury roundabout down into the city centre which is why it's got such a bad rep.

Some damn fine curry houses though so I wouldn't be put off by any of that.

For me the rush hour traffic would be a sticking point. I can only advise to give the place a test run at 5:30 one evening and see for yourself.

sat1983

Original Poster:

1,252 posts

183 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
hora said:
I'd rather have a 3bed house in a decent area than a 4bed house in a compromise area OP. Seriously, I know friends (and us) - as soon as we bought a house mrsH went from normal/lets go out to sudden 'I WANT A BABY'.
Again, not wrong at all. We would have a 3 bed but it doesn't change things hugely to be honest. Not up here at least.

sat1983

Original Poster:

1,252 posts

183 months

Thursday 11th December 2014
quotequote all
dazwalsh said:
I would live there no problem. It's not in a bad area more like on the very edge of what is perceived to be a grim area, a lot of Asians as you go from thornbury roundabout down into the city centre which is why it's got such a bad rep.

Some damn fine curry houses though so I wouldn't be put off by any of that.

For me the rush hour traffic would be a sticking point. I can only advise to give the place a test run at 5:30 one evening and see for yourself.
Thank you. That is very helpful and I'll give it a test run sometime next week.