Would you rather live....?

[Bathsheba]

1. In a nice house in a dodgy (crime, noise) suburb.

OR

2. In a very basic, almost dodgy house in a blue chip suburb?

Let's see who manages to find this thread in a very little-used area of BB. LOL

Oh and please don't say that you would like to live in a nice house in a nice suburb... it's one or the other :P

[AnyDream]

I *actually* had this choice. I chose very basic, almost dodgy house in better suburb. Reason - you can work on improving the house, but if you're in an awful area, not much you can do about it!

[MrsFabuloso]

Yep, I'm the same marydean, I'd rather live in a nicer suburb and be safe, with nicer amenities, etc...than live in a dangerous/crime ridden/dodgy suburb.

Hehe, Bath by checking new posts, I find the most interesting posts...I have only discovered it recently... I'm not very computer savvy you see...

[The[cookie]Doctor]

I'm not so fussed if its for a relatively short term rental (like less than two years), and especially while bubby is little and won't have the necessity to play with children in the neighborhood, so in this case, nice house in a dodgy suburb (although im sure this will change once jb gets older). Which we've sort of had to revert to anyway because we've had such issues getting a rental.
But in terms of buying/mortgage/investment property, i'd say a 'lesser house' in a nicer suburb. I'm right into renovations and interior design as well, so a dodgy house would suit me fine! It's just the reno costs that we'd have to account for later.

[Visitor7]

Definitely number 2. Like marydean said, you can improve your house. But you can't change the suburb.

[{sarah}]

I'm not sure what you mean by "blue chip suburb"

But I think I would prefer to live in a dodgy house in a nice suburb, you can do up a house but you can't really fix a neighbourhood.

[PinkPalace]

i would say nice home in dodgy area.

Just because the expensive areas have the high crime! cause there is stuff worth stealing - so i wouldnt want to be in an expensive area with a crappy house as mine would be the first one targeted!

so my hot big, rich, security house in the dodgy area would be safer and the groceries would be cheaper! lol

[Phteven]

The blue chips are the most expensive ones at a casino Sarah.

I guess it depends what you mean by dodgy. I've lived in some areas that are considered dodgy and I've loved them and I find some expensive suburbs depressingly boring.

I'd probably prefer a doer upper in an area I liked over living in an area I didn't like.

ETA - funnily enough basic groceries are often cheaper in more expensive areas because the shoppers there tend to be more savvy and also more confident in demanding what they want.

[rolymogs]

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[Bathsheba]

Well done everyone finding this thread LOL (I don't usually check "new posts").

Interesting responses, I agree with most of you: basic house in good suburb.

Sarah: Blue chip means "expensive" ie one of the top 5 suburbs of a major city in terms of average property price. The average property price of a blue chip suburb in Melbourne would be about a million $.

Thanks, I just wanted to sanity check myself LOL We've been living in a house that is one of the most run down i've ever lived in... it's like a farm house... for the past 4 years. It drives me nuts. BUT we're in a very good suburb and it's so beautiful and safe! Princess Mya: nah, not much crime here. Our friends in dodgy suburbs have more experiences of crime than we do. Touch wood!

Anyhow, thanks, i just wonder why we are doing this when we could easily choose to buy a nice house in a dodgy suburb but I just don't want to live in fear. My kids are outdoorsy kids too and I know that they are safe playing anywhere in our neighbourhood... they can walk to the shops around the corner too. Pretty important to me... more important than old crappy tiles in the bathroom etc! I have to keep telling myself this! LOL

[Trillian]

I would go for the crappy house in the flash suburb too. But mind you, I wouldn't bother with the reno's because you would have to deal with all the NIMBY's (not in my backyard-ers) complaining about your noise on the weekends and that your house wouldn't fit in with the style of the area

[rolymogs]

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[{sarah}]

Thanks for clearing that up!!

Chloe I agree with you on that point, I'd rather live in an area I like (ours can be seen as dodgy too) and the house doesn't matter.

[Bathsheba]

Chloe: I know what you mean, some "dodgy" suburbs can be full of character/interesting... i used to live in Fitzroy her in inner Melbourne before it became yuppified. It was fun and the best 2 years of my life....but sadly I wouldn't feel safe there and it was kinda filthy with needles in the gutter etc but suburbs like that do have lots of character.... it depends on what stage of life you are at. There's no perfect suburb, you've just gotta match the right one to the stage of life you're at. Main priority ATM here is safety.

[Bathsheba]

By nice house I mean really nice, worth at least a mill, maybe a few mill. Indoor pool, the works. Top of the range security system etc. But when you open the front door you're likely to find a drunk asleep there... would it still be worth it?

ETA: oh and if he was a nice drunk I'd give him a cup of coffee LOL but just for arguments sake, lets make him not nice!

[Phteven]

By nice house I mean really nice, worth at least a mill, maybe a few mill. Indoor pool, the works. Top of the range security system etc. But when you open the front door you're likely to find a drunk asleep there... would it still be worth it?

ETA: oh and if he was a nice drunk I'd give him a cup of coffee LOL but just for arguments sake, lets make him not nice!

That sounds like the scenario close to the city in lots of cities. London, New York Sydney, Madrid; they've all got bums sleeping on the footpath outside multi-million dollar real estate.

The thing is that I've found is that expensive suburbs can often be less child friendly than scruffier ones.
My suburb makes the news occasionally for drive-by shootings and the like but if one of my children does the bolt at the super-market or post office they're always stopped before they reach the door and returned to me. If people see me waiting to cross the road they stop their cars so I can go. When we visit the 'blue chip' suburbs no-one stops my little bolters and no-one has ever stopped so that we can cross a road.
One of my friends recently moved from one of the posher suburbs in London to a scruffy suburb and she's found the exact same thing. Her children are safer and happier in the dodgy suburb.

ETA - I think there's a happy medium between living in a suburb where people don't want your children to ride their bike on the street in case they ride to close to their car and scratch it and a suburb where you have to wear a bullet-proof vest to hang out the washing (and let's face it none of us live in Iraq so we don't really need the kevlar vest)

ETA 2 - why would you give a bum a cup of coffee? They would probably prefer a beer.

[~StarBright~]

Sorry i havent read all responses- and i think my example is a little different to what you are talking about- but the favourite "house" i lived in was a shack/shed with no running HOT water (we had running COLD water)- no loo inside- no real ceiling- no real anything- but it was at the top of a mountain and i could see for miles in either direction- i had ocean views, Morning Sunrises that were amazingly beautiful and the peace and tranquility of the bush...

So i guess thats the crap house in the "nice" suburb- but i wouldnt live in a suburb at all really- give me wide open spaces any day!!! What ever i have to live in to get it!!!

StarBright

[Emma1979]

would rather live in a nice house in a nice town, and not have a massive mortgage.... hehehe im a city girl that has recently gone country and haven't looked back

ps no traffic either