How is Eastern Stoke On Trent to live? (House buying question)

OpenToSuggestions

OpenToSuggestions

OpenToSuggestions

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Hey all.

I have a job starting soon in Cheadle. Home is Uttoxeter, but parents may be moving to Stafford.

I am going to be saving towards a house deposit. Uttoxeter is not as cheap as it should be imo.
Cheadle is cheaper and seems a nice balance between it having a Stoke On Trent address so the price is low, but is far enough from Stoke to prevent being a complete dump.
Meir has an awful reputation. I know little about Longton.
I have always been under the impression that Stoke On Trent is a bit like a mini Detroit - A run down city where the industry/coalmines have long gone leaving mass unemployment.
As a single person, I could afford a mortgage certainly no more than £650 per month, so I can afford £550 per month assuming a 4.5% interest rate, just in case the base rate increases. I intend to borrow circa £90000 with 10-15% deposit.

TLDR Version:
Which areas of Stoke are worth buying a house in? I intend to borrow £90000 and have a £10000-15000 deposit. I don't want to live in a craphole, but I am no high earner.
 
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Unfortunately don't know much about the areas, but what are your property expectations for that amount of money?

Likely to get a 1 or 2 bed flat/apartment in a decent enough area, or a 3 bed semi in a hole unless you strike it very lucky I think.
 
Pestilence said:
Unfortunately don't know much about the areas, but what are your property expectations for that amount of money?

Likely to get a 1 or 2 bed flat/apartment in a decent enough area, or a 3 bed semi in a hole unless you strike it very lucky I think.
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A 2 or 3 bed semi with a driveway is what I'd like. I don't mind if it needs some work doing to it, but whilst I am willing to try DIY I don't want a house with major damp issues or needs a new roof.

My parents bought a house in 1984 based on my Dad who was a graduate engineer. It was a house in a real state but was a 3 bedroomed detached house with a single garage. Assuming a 4% inflation rate the house would be £78000 today.
I really want to buy but I really have no idea what I can achieve on my own.
 
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OpenToSuggestions said:
I have a job starting soon in Cheadle. Home is Uttoxeter, but parents may be moving to Stafford.
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Have you tried the villages outside Uttoxeter? My stepbrother bought a house in Spath (near to Stramshall) that is just a couple of minutes from the A50 roundabout that was just under £100k for a three-bedroom end terrace with a garden. I grew up in Hollington that is very close to Cheadle, and also lived for a while in Tean - have you checked those places? I don't remember much as I was a child, but Tean was OK - the chip shop was excellent from what I remember!
 
Once you find an area that may be in budget, have you thought about temporarily renting to make sure you would be happy living there?

How long do you intend to stay there once you buy?

Are there other jobs in the area that you could get if you got stuck with the property and couldn't sell it?

What's the rental market like? That way if things got tight and you had to move home, could you rent the property out?

I don't know anything about the area, but in general my advice would be that good houses in good areas go quickly, even in difficult times. Properties in less desirable places can be very hard to get rid of at the moment.

This can be a good or a bad thing.

As a buyer it means you could get a very cheap deal in some areas, especially if the property's been on the market a long time. If you're prepared to stay there a good few years, then it's likely to work out well once the market picks up. But if you need to sell in the next year or two, then expect to have a hard time.
 
div0: In all honesty I cannot answer your questions as I haven't thought that far ahead!

I am leaving my postgrad studies for a graduate job. I will live with my parents for a while and I intend to save £600 per month towards a deposit, with the hope of having enough for a 15-20% deposit in 2014.
 
Then my only advice would be to save as best you can, but to keep an interest in houses in different areas and make notes on what your requirements are and which areas might allow you to afford, or compromise on certain things.

There's an awful lot to be said for Location, Location, Location. If you get that right, then even if you hit problems, you're not stuck in somewhere you hate.
 
I've lived in Stoke for most of my life and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else (except Luxor).
I live in a really nice street and the only bad neighbour eventually got evicted last year so the street is really peaceful now.
If you email me [email protected] I'll send you a Google Street link so you can walk up and down the area.
 
Dimple said:
I've lived in Stoke for most of my life and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else (except Luxor).
I live in a really nice street and the only bad neighbour eventually got evicted last year so the street is really peaceful now.
If you email me [email protected] I'll send you a Google Street link so you can walk up and down the area.
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Thanks I will do that :).
 
I have recently moved to Meir Hay just outside of Longton (not to be confused with Meir). In the 6 months i've been there it has been quiet, no issues what so ever, neighbours are nice and it seems to be an estate with mainly young families / old couples living on it.

For the money you are talking about you should get a nice house in a quiet area.

Just make sure you drive around the area at different times on different days and if you can try to speak to a neighbour if you can :)
 
Okamoor is very nice, not exactly jumping though.

Realistically stone, trentham, stockton brook are close enough to drive to cheadle so concentrating around longton/meir area shouldn't be necessary.

edit: or this http://www.findaproperty.com/for-sale/property-9797176, close to cheadle and perhaps you'd like to be closer to friends in uttoxeter than family in stafford? Bit of modernising for the diy and off-road parking, road looks like it might be busy though.
 
I am open to living in different areas but I don't want to be in a rough area and I would certainly want my own driveway.

I'm not buying a house in Cheadle just because I work there, as I've no idea what the future holds :p.
I am open to living in different areas within a 30 minute commute of work. Uttoxeter is expensive as it is a historic market town with a cattle market. The cattle market has now been built on so that heritage has gone down the toilet.

Black Dynamite: A school friend on mine bought a house in Meir Hay. How is it there? I agree that Meir is awful but is Meir Hay a very different place?
 
You'll have to learn Stokie of course first, such as:

Ant -Haven't/Hasn't

Eet - It

Inteet = Isn't it

Chickeen = Chicken

Sausagees = Sausages

and so on.
 
OpenToSuggestions said:
Black Dynamite: A school friend on mine bought a house in Meir Hay. How is it there? I agree that Meir is awful but is Meir Hay a very different place?
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Like I said above mate, it is an estate mainly of young families or retired couples. I live in a small street but my neighbours are all retired, apart from next door who is in his mid-thirties and I don't hear anything from him.

It isn't perfect but it is a damn site nicer than many areas in stoke and there are very few, for the price of property, that are better!

I think the best way to describe Stoke, I think, is that there are pockets of nice areas rather than nice towns!

Massive generalisation here and I don't mean it to be offensive, but the majority of families seem to work, look after their houses and are very pleasant ... something that in Meir is rare in some areas. The only thing in common is they share the name "Meir".

As Telescopi has mentioned I really like Trentham and if you could afford I would definitely look around there!
 
Black Dynamite said:
Snip
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The only thing I know about Trentham that place is that is has a garden centre that my Gran likes :p.

I will have a look online at that place :).

Stoke certainly has an awful rep, but I agree that there must be nicer places. I do worry that if I buy an ex-council house my neighbours are more likely to be a PITA compared to a privately owned street.
 
There are plenty of nice estates in Stoke and the surrounding areas.

For example, you say Meir has a bad reputation, well certain parts do but some pockets are rather nice. If you want to live fairly close to Cheadle then Meir Heath, Meir Hay, Meir Park, Park Hall, Caverswall and the surrounding villages should be concidered.

For example this isn't bad for a first buy (and there is a pub near by too!)....

Meir Heath Bungalow


Although if you finds somewhere great, in your budget, by the canal in Trentham and Stone, then go for it!

Stone Apartment

I appreciate that it's a retirement apartment, but, it's just an illustration!
 
OpenToSuggestions said:
I agree that Meir is awful but is Meir Hay a very different place?
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There are actually nice parts of Meir but you need to know where.
Meir Hay and Meir Heath are completely different places and not to be confused with Meir.

This is Meir Heath where I'll be going later - https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll=52.956957,-2.102659&spn=0.005946,0.009913&t=h&z=17

This is Meir Park also known as Creda City ( a lot of Creda/Hotpoint workers lived there) - https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll=52.964951,-2.098603&spn=0.01189,0.019827&t=h&z=16

This is Meir Hay - https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll=52.990546,-2.123623&spn=0.011883,0.019827&t=h&z=16

This is the part of Meir you stay out of and even I'm scared to visit relatives there - https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll=52.974733,-2.103227&spn=0.005944,0.009913&t=h&z=17
 
Thanks for that EndlessSky and Dimple :).
The Meir I was thinking of was definately the one Dimple linked to! I had the displeasure of working nights in 2008 at Meir Tesco and the surrounding area was foul. An employee was beaten up on the way to work one day!
 
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