Need opinions on Great Oakley NN18

[league67]

Thinking of making an offer on a house. Currently in London, went to see property today and it looks ok (garden a bit on a small side). New(ish) development (2004).

Whole area is your typical development and seems fairly quiet, and doesn't look too shaby. A lot of new developments about mile-two away. House is up for 250k which is what it sold for in 2004. We are thinking of making starting offer of 220k and going from there. We have mortgage in principle agreed and have deposit ready so we can move at a very short notice (keeping property in London, so nothing to sell).

Thanks in advance. Any questions, fire away.

[DamienB]

Great Oakley? So basically Corby then?

220K? By 'small garden' do you mean there is room for only a mile long avenue of trees and 4 or 5 Olympic sized swimming pools? Seriously, that must buy a mansion round there!

[league67]

Yes, and no.
It's tiny. It's less than tiny. It's what micro tiny used to be before diet, It's like 10 by 4 meters. Properties in that particular cul-de-scuk seem to be more expensive than The Grange (Desbo). Location is pretty much set around Kettering as we need to access to Northampton, Kettering, Pboro and Leicester on regular basis with ocassional trip to MK.

Any suggestion for around that kind of money would be highly appreciated.

[Tyre Tread]

Only just seen this.

£250K in Great Oakley should buy better than a tiny house.

Close friend (Dolf on here) lives in Gt Oakley and I tease him about it being Corby.

For that sort of money I'd be looking nearby - Middleton or a bi further away from Corby.

Drop me a PM if you want some more local info.

[crazy about cars]

As long as it's Great Oakley and not Oakley Vale you are fine. It is an old school "well-to-do" area of Corby. Relatively quiet and nice area - close to a pub too

There are a few properties in Gt. Oakley with big gardens so do look around. Corby generally is an ok place to live (not as glamorous as London of course) and very commutable around the midlands.

Edited by crazy about cars on Monday 19th August 20:45

[Tyre Tread]

Some of it has seen some 'interesting development' recently so it depends upon where in Gt Oakley.

[The_Burg]

In all honesty Corby isn't as bad as we think.
Compared to London, you are unlikely to be burgled or murdered more than once a year.

Compared to the local area it's rough, compared to a city it's paradise.
Plenty of cockerneys from work have made the move and love it.

[league67]

Tyre Tread said:

Only just seen this.

£250K in Great Oakley should buy better than a tiny house.

Close friend (Dolf on here) lives in Gt Oakley and I tease him about it being Corby.

For that sort of money I'd be looking nearby - Middleton or a bi further away from Corby.

Drop me a PM if you want some more local info.

Hi,

Thanks for reply, when I said Gt Oakley, it was actually Oakley Vale.

This WAS house in question http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...

But, after looking at local schools and our offer of 220K rejected with note 'it needs to be over 240k' we decided to look elsewhere. We got our offer accepted on a house in Daventry, with much better school. House is not as big (slightly smaller) garden about the same

[league67]

crazy about cars said:

As long as it's Great Oakley and not Oakley Vale you are fine. It is an old school "well-to-do" area of Corby. Relatively quiet and nice area - close to a pub too

There are a few properties in Gt. Oakley with big gardens so do look around. Corby generally is an ok place to live (not as glamorous as London of course) and very commutable around the midlands.

Edited by crazy about cars on Monday 19th August 20:45

As above, it was Oakley Vale. The street was good, but as soon as you exit the street it was not as good. If local Morrisons was anything to judge by (and we did), it was pretty grim.

[league67]

The_Burg said:

In all honesty Corby isn't as bad as we think.
Compared to London, you are unlikely to be burgled or murdered more than once a year.

Compared to the local area it's rough, compared to a city it's paradise.
Plenty of cockerneys from work have made the move and love it.

As above, offer accepted (subject to survey and few other bits) in Daventry (Lang Farm). After driving there at least 10 times (different times of day/week), area does seem much nicer than Oakley Vale.
Ideally we wanted somewhere more rural, but on our budget it's not going to happen.

[crazy about cars]

league67 said:

As above, it was Oakley Vale. The street was good, but as soon as you exit the street it was not as good. If local Morrisons was anything to judge by (and we did), it was pretty grim.

Oakley Vale used to be ok but there are a lot of council housing there now. £250k will net you decent place in Great Oakley - it's nearby but is an older more established area. Have a look on Rightmove.

There are nicer areas outside of Corby around the countryside but prices are much higher.

Corby used to be a rough place but things have progressed a lot in recent years. It's not perfect but it's also not as bad as you would imagine.

edit: Sorry OP just read about your offer being rejected on that house which strikes me as odd. A mate lives opposite and that house is on the market for a long time now.

Daventry is good too More "country living" style.

Edited by crazy about cars on Tuesday 20th August 07:33

[league67]

crazy about cars said:

Oakley Vale used to be ok but there are a lot of council housing there now. £250k will net you decent place in Great Oakley - it's nearby but is an older more established area. Have a look on Rightmove.

There are nicer areas outside of Corby around the countryside but prices are much higher.

Corby used to be a rough place but things have progressed a lot in recent years. It's not perfect but it's also not as bad as you would imagine.

edit: Sorry OP just read about your offer being rejected on that house which strikes me as odd. A mate lives opposite and that house is on the market for a long time now.

Daventry is good too More "country living" style.

Edited by crazy about cars on Tuesday 20th August 07:33

Hi,

I wasn't surprised that 220 was rejected, I was surprised that they want no less than 240 and thats it. According to estate agent, no flexibility there. Which is fine. Even at 220, I now think, that it would be probably wrong house for us. Daventry place is slightly smaller, but location, seems at least, infinitely better. And most importantly, catchment area for a school that's in top 10% of all schools in UK. With a class size of 17.

The only issue is existing owners are still waiting for their house to be completed (new build) so that we can jump into this one . But fingers crossed.

[crazy about cars]

league67 said:

Hi,

I wasn't surprised that 220 was rejected, I was surprised that they want no less than 240 and thats it. According to estate agent, no flexibility there. Which is fine. Even at 220, I now think, that it would be probably wrong house for us. Daventry place is slightly smaller, but location, seems at least, infinitely better. And most importantly, catchment area for a school that's in top 10% of all schools in UK. With a class size of 17.

The only issue is existing owners are still waiting for their house to be completed (new build) so that we can jump into this one . But fingers crossed.

ah I see There's a decent college in Oakley Vale (CTC) for most of the primary schools are not that good compared to Daventry Welcome to Northants matey!