Buying a house near Chorlton

[jt333]

My girlfriend and I are first time buyers and have had an offer accepted on a house near Chorlton. However after having read some of the reviews of the area online we are starting to become a bit worried that the area we are buying in is not the nicest.

The house is situated on Riverside Avenue, tucked in behind Caldervale Avenue and backing onto the Parkway Playing Fields.

Could anyone provide us with an updated review of the area?

We absolutely love the house but don’t want to end up making a massive mistake by buying in an area where we are going to have trouble.

[ginettajoe]

jt333 said:

My girlfriend and I are first time buyers and have had an offer accepted on a house near Chorlton. However after having read some of the reviews of the area online we are starting to become a bit worried that the area we are buying in is not the nicest.

The house is situated on Riverside Avenue, tucked in behind Caldervale Avenue and backing onto the Parkway Playing Fields.

Could anyone provide us with an updated review of the area?

We absolutely love the house but don’t want to end up making a massive mistake by buying in an area where we are going to have trouble.

..... in my honest opinion, Chorlton is a grossly overpriced cesspit! Where do you currently live, and where else have you looked?

[tsinc]

ginettajoe said:

..... in my honest opinion, Chorlton is a grossly overpriced cesspit! Where do you currently live, and where else have you looked?

Grossly overpriced…yes. But a cesspit? Bit over the top. There are many worse places you could live and without knowing the exact area you’re looking to buy I couldn’t comment but I would never describe Chorlton (on the whole) as a cesspit.

[ginettajoe]

tsinc said:

ginettajoe said:

..... in my honest opinion, Chorlton is a grossly overpriced cesspit! Where do you currently live, and where else have you looked?

Grossly overpriced…yes. But a cesspit? Bit over the top. There are many worse places you could live and without knowing the exact area you’re looking to buy I couldn’t comment but I would never describe Chorlton (on the whole) as a cesspit.

......... that would depend upon what quality of life you expect!! In my opinion, it is a cesspit!! An expensive cesspit, and I don't understand why!!

[j4ckos mate]

ive not bernround there for years,
we used to go to the water pak on our bikes,

looking where it is i would be worried about flooding and also traffic noise and pollution,
st ambrose school was on the telll recenty about it andits not far in a straight line,
dont know about crime etc etc, its not didsbury or chorltonville,

have you thought about northenden?

[Blown2CV]

chorlton is a cool place with loads of great bars and restaurants etc but it's still very gritty and fairly minging in places. Yes there are whole streets of houses which are £500k+ and as such are fairly gentrified, but there are enough really dodgy areas within a couple of miles that it's a bit of a magnet for TWOCers and muggers. Personally I live the in the country and travel in to meet mates when i want, but then I don't get out as much as I used to since kids etc!!

[Ray100]

I'm a Manchester lad born & bred & wild horses wouldn't drag me back to live in Manchester. If they did then Chorlton would be towards the bottom of my preferred list of places,have a look at; www.police.uk/greater-manchester/EC23/crime

If you click onto the numbers within the circles you can see the REPORTED crimes & then click onto the crime to view the outcome.
Around Caldervale Ave there has been 2 anti social reports,5 violence/sexual assaults,1 criminal damage /arson,1 burglary & 1drugs reported just in November last year. You also have the option of viewing crimes historically as well.

As others above have suggested you may like to consider other areas with a lower crime rate.

Edited by Ray100 on Monday 28th January 00:57

[BobSaunders]

No. That specific area/bit/zone/etc. is well known to not be great.

Stolen items are regularly found in this area.

I live over on Nell Lane. We accept the problems, due to the accessibility of west didsbury shops and bars, town etc.

Edited by BobSaunders on Sunday 3rd February 16:51

[Blown2CV]

BobSaunders said:

No. That specific area/bit/zone/etc. is well known to not be great.

Stolen items are regularly found in this area.

I live over on Nell Lane. We accept the problems, due to the accessibility of west didsbury shops and bars, town etc.

Edited by BobSaunders on Sunday 3rd February 16:51

well, i think the whole south manchester suburb thing is quite similar. People accept the risk for the proximity to lots of cool shops, bars, restaurants, yoga studios, posh coffee shops etc. In fact anything is always a balance of risk/reward. The people that can live with it are the ones that understand both sides.

[ThorB]

Blown2CV said:

BobSaunders said:

No. That specific area/bit/zone/etc. is well known to not be great.

Stolen items are regularly found in this area.

I live over on Nell Lane. We accept the problems, due to the accessibility of west didsbury shops and bars, town etc.

Edited by BobSaunders on Sunday 3rd February 16:51

well, i think the whole south manchester suburb thing is quite similar. People accept the risk for the proximity to lots of cool shops, bars, restaurants, yoga studios, posh coffee shops etc. In fact anything is always a balance of risk/reward. The people that can live with it are the ones that understand both sides.

There's a significant difference between living in an area where crime exists, which is the whole of Greater Manchester in reality, and living in the area where the perpetrators of those crimes actually live and thereby experiencing the type of anti-social behaviour such people perpetrate.

Answering the OP's question, knowing that particular location I wouldn't want to live there. However, I've never lived there and it could just be snobbery on my part. I have spent time there though.

OP are you not local? Could you not spend a bit of time in the area and make a judgement for yourself? Drive down there for a couple of evenings and just walk round the local streets.

[Blown2CV]

ThorB said:

Blown2CV said:

BobSaunders said:

No. That specific area/bit/zone/etc. is well known to not be great.

Stolen items are regularly found in this area.

I live over on Nell Lane. We accept the problems, due to the accessibility of west didsbury shops and bars, town etc.

Edited by BobSaunders on Sunday 3rd February 16:51

well, i think the whole south manchester suburb thing is quite similar. People accept the risk for the proximity to lots of cool shops, bars, restaurants, yoga studios, posh coffee shops etc. In fact anything is always a balance of risk/reward. The people that can live with it are the ones that understand both sides.

There's a significant difference between living in an area where crime exists, which is the whole of Greater Manchester in reality, and living in the area where the perpetrators of those crimes actually live and thereby experiencing the type of anti-social behaviour such people perpetrate.

Answering the OP's question, knowing that particular location I wouldn't want to live there. However, I've never lived there and it could just be snobbery on my part. I have spent time there though.

OP are you not local? Could you not spend a bit of time in the area and make a judgement for yourself? Drive down there for a couple of evenings and just walk round the local streets.

there are 'nice' areas which are very close to 'st' areas, and therefore get battered with opportunistic crime. There are also 'nice' areas which get targeted by more organised criminals, attempting more serious crimes with more serious impact to the victim. South Manchester is both really. It isn't just the case that if you might only expect to be the victim of crime if you live somewhere criminals live.

[ThorB]

Blown2CV said:

ThorB said:

Blown2CV said:

BobSaunders said:

No. That specific area/bit/zone/etc. is well known to not be great.

Stolen items are regularly found in this area.

I live over on Nell Lane. We accept the problems, due to the accessibility of west didsbury shops and bars, town etc.

Edited by BobSaunders on Sunday 3rd February 16:51

well, i think the whole south manchester suburb thing is quite similar. People accept the risk for the proximity to lots of cool shops, bars, restaurants, yoga studios, posh coffee shops etc. In fact anything is always a balance of risk/reward. The people that can live with it are the ones that understand both sides.

There's a significant difference between living in an area where crime exists, which is the whole of Greater Manchester in reality, and living in the area where the perpetrators of those crimes actually live and thereby experiencing the type of anti-social behaviour such people perpetrate.

Answering the OP's question, knowing that particular location I wouldn't want to live there. However, I've never lived there and it could just be snobbery on my part. I have spent time there though.

OP are you not local? Could you not spend a bit of time in the area and make a judgement for yourself? Drive down there for a couple of evenings and just walk round the local streets.

there are 'nice' areas which are very close to 'st' areas, and therefore get battered with opportunistic crime. There are also 'nice' areas which get targeted by more organised criminals, attempting more serious crimes with more serious impact to the victim. South Manchester is both really. It isn't just the case that if you might only expect to be the victim of crime if you live somewhere criminals live.

But we're not talking about "South Manchester", we're talking about the Merseybank Housing Estate which doesn't fit either of your definitions above. What are your specific thoughts of that location - that's what's being asked?


As said above I've spent a bit of time on the estate having been involved the City Of Trees project on Parkway and it's not somewhere I'd like to live, but I would imagine house prices are considerably cheaper than the adjacent West Dids and Chorlton which may be a factor. Plus it's next to the water park. OP, if you still keen on the location might also be worth checking home many of the houses on the estate remain in the ownership of the Housing Trust, I suspect many may have now been sold which may have improved the demographics of the locals.

OP - what are your requirements, someone might be able to offer some alternatives based on what you need?

[NorthDave]

I wouldn't want to live there and I think you are quite some distance from any decent shops or pubs (the bits that might attract you to the area!).

There are lots of other places I would go before there. What is your budget and requirements? Maybe look at Stretford or Levenshulme?

[jt333]

Thanks for all your help guys. We absolutely loved the house and the view out the front onto fields and the Mersey and the accessibility to Chorlton Water Park. Obviously the price was a lot cheaper due to it being in the Merseybank Council Estate area which was a big factor too, getting the pluses of Chorlton and Didsbury without the price.

However we have decided to withdraw our offer due to too many doubts about the area.

We have also realised that the reason we liked it so much was because we were living in a city but had the view of living in the country. We are both from much smaller, rural areas so we loved this. Work was keeping us in Manchester but we have decided that work isn’t worth staying somewhere we don’t really want to be. Therefore we’ve decided to look at smaller towns outside Manchester.

Does anyone have any recommendations of towns outside of Manchester that would be nice to live in? As I’m not from England I’d like to be close to the airport so that it’s easily accessible to home so south of Manchester is where we are looking.

Altrincham or Wilmslow would be ideal but far too pricey. We are currently looking at Northwich and have started looking at houses around that area. Does anybody know what the Northwhich area is like to live?

By the way, all of your thoughts and comments have been very much appreciated.

[J4CKO]

Have a look at,

Cheadle
Sale
Heald Green
Gatley
Handforth
Timperley

If you dont mind being a bit further out ,

Chelford
Macclesfield
Congleton

[ThorB]

Gatley is a good shout, has a great village feel and a lovely community spirit. However house prices are rising due to the school and it's location. School has just been announced as the best in Greater Manchester https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/great...

Commuter hotspot - https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/great...

Alternatively if you still want to live in a village how about following the trainline out of Piccadilly into Derbyshire - Hope, Hathersage, Edale. They look miles from Manchester on map, but 40 mins commute on the train mean you can get into town quicker than most places in the burbs of Manchester at rush hour but are living well and truly in the countryside.

Where are you living now OP?

[j4ckos mate]

I quite like gatley
New bars opening
Not too many charity shops
Shame the cinema went though

[jt333]

We are currently renting on Nell Lane. It has a bad name but we’ve really enjoyed it there but we are fed up of renting now and want to get on the property ladder. Thanks for all your suggestions. I will have a look into Gatley. The ones towards Derbyshire look lovely but probably further away from the airport than I would like.

Has anybody any knowledge about the Northwich area? We went for a look last Sunday and had a walk around and it looked really nice there and the houses are really affordable.

[dhutch]

Some of my cousin's live in South Manchester and like it, sister has literally just moved to Chorlton near the library, have been through Sale/Timperley on the narrowboat, went to school in Northwich. Always take a places reputation with a pitch of salt. If your unsure maybe walk around one evening?

Daniel

[ThorB]

jt333 said:

Has anybody any knowledge about the Northwich area? We went for a look last Sunday and had a walk around and it looked really nice there and the houses are really affordable.

I don’t know about living there, but check your commute time if you’re working in Manchester City Centre. My PA lived there and ended up quitting as the commute became too painful. 60 to 90 mins each way eats into your free time. She would drive to Altrincham and then get the tram into town.

I suspect it is a nice place to live, she loved living there. Similar distance from Manchester is Stockton Heath, Warrington which is like Didsbury but nicer. Might be worth a look, lots of wine bars and independent eateries.

How about Knutsford?