Buying a House behind a school / shopping village

[wildfire]

My partner and I have a fond liking to a house it is across the road from a primary school (at the rear near teachers car park) and is about 300 meters to the rear of a shopping village which will include safeway and cafe's / medical centre / child care center and offices.

The house we have been told we can get at a great price, it is brand new (not yet completed) as the builder has 6 houses in building stage and needs to sell one to get things rolling.

The school is complete however the shopping village will not start until 2009 march and completed in 2009 december

Straight away the REA said if we wanted to rent we would get $350 + a week for the property considering it's location near a school.

The road the house is on is not a main road, it is at the back of the school. The drop off for kids is on the opposite side of the school. As for the shopping village we are 300 meters away from the back of the planned site and no where near the car park entrance.

Just wanting to hear/read opinions

Thanks

 

[wylie]

Go and sit outside the house during school drop off and pick up times to gauge for how much traffic it gets. Our local primary school is busy on every road around the school. People (including me) pick up in the nearby streets to avoid the busier spots right outside the school.

Is the back of the shopping centre going to be plug-ugly? If so, it could be a turn off. Otherwise, it could be a plus..... close, but not too close.

 

[Aimjoy]

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't do it wildfire.

2 reasons: Noise during the construction process of the shopping centre
and all the vermin that hang around them once built.

I'm talking cockroaches and mouse/rats - a street away from any shopping area at night and have a look around.

 

[LynnH]

Friends of ours owned a lovely PPOR which backed onto a secondary school - the school buildings were right over 'the other side' with sports ovals and trees etc between the school buildings and their home. Guess where all the students spent their recess/lunchtime - yep, hanging around the fence making a huge amount of noise. Even building a 2 metre high fence could not keep the noise down. Needless to say, they sold and moved (to a different town) within a short period of time.

Personally, I wouldn't do it - even for an IP - as you may well have trouble attracting tenants. OTOH, there would be some tenants who would see the proximity to school as a bonus. But I prefer to eliminate the negatives to ensure that an IP is as attractive to tenants as possible - so why take on a potential 'problem'.

Cheers
LynnH

 

[wildfire]

Go and sit outside the house during school drop off and pick up times to gauge for how much traffic it gets. Our local primary school is busy on every road around the school. People (including me) pick up in the nearby streets to avoid the busier spots right outside the school.

Is the back of the shopping center going to be plug-ugly? If so, it could be a turn off. Otherwise, it could be a plus..... close, but not too close.

Unfortunately this is not an option because the school is not open yet....

As for the shop - great point!

 

[wildfire]

even though this is a primary school, I think we will give this one a miss and we will opt for another property.

Thanks for your suggestions!