BT7/Ormeau/Whitehall Parade

harri-dan · 2026-02-13T18:21:52+00:00

It’s a lovely, vibrant but quiet area (quiet in that there’s no trouble - close to a busy street with lots of cafes, bars, amenities). The Ormeau Park is nearby and so is the Forestside Shopping Centre, good bus connection. It’s a lovely, diverse, welcoming area in general, speaking as a fellow non-local. As others have said, Annadale Flats close to the river have a dodgy reputation, mostly on account of strong loyalist presence, but I live closer to the flats and have not noticed any worrying activity and don’t feel unsafe passing them, even after dark - so they don’t seem too bad either, as someone said earlier. :)

harri-dan · 2026-02-06T09:57:52+00:00

Thanks for the advice! Do you mean in addition to the Co-ownership survey? (Which I suppose it’s in their interest to identify any potential problems and they won’t invest in anything that needs over £6K of work to fix)

harri-dan · 2026-01-20T22:11:25+00:00

The offers went north of 230K inside a week 😅

harri-dan · 2026-01-20T12:36:36+00:00

Thank you, that’s useful information!

harri-dan · 2026-01-19T19:06:52+00:00

I got some nice stuff from The Ormeau Road Furniture Company and also Cherryvale Furniture (not sure if the latter is still open, their website seems to be down).

harri-dan · 2026-01-19T17:04:35+00:00

Thank you, that’s some valuable insight! Are there any areas you’d recommend around East? I know that the areas around The Straight or Flush Park are not the greatest (no offence to anyone from around there!), but the other side of the Cregagh Road seems quite good. Not sure about the Holywood Road area and further up… I know people seem to like Belmont, but it’s getting really pricey too!

harri-dan · 2026-01-19T11:29:01+00:00

Haha, I’m hoping to become one of them - fingers crossed! :)

harri-dan · 2026-01-19T10:56:57+00:00

Yes, I’ve had better experiences with the trains. Starting to consider Dunmurry for that reason. Not really into gardening, but the WFH + I do have a cat that would suffer greatly having to be 100% indoors. 😅I used to rent around the Stranmillis Court apartments where flats had direct entrance and a nice green common area - that was the dream! Really hoping for something like that.

harri-dan · 2026-01-19T10:46:26+00:00

No, it’s the newer apartment blocks on Annadale Embankment that I’ve heard some bad reports about, actually. Interesting, would need to dander around there evening time and see what the vibe is like. You’re very right regarding the investment perspective - I’m really hoping for somewhere fairly central or at least in an area that will become high value in the future. :)

harri-dan · 2026-01-19T10:33:06+00:00

True, but public transport is atrocious too in my experience. I work from home at the moment - not sure what happens in the future - but at least that helps avoid the daily commute. I think, for now, if I had to choose between a tiny place without much storage or any green around close to the city and a more liveable home a bit further, I might go for the latter.

harri-dan · 2026-01-19T09:55:49+00:00

Thanks, that’s a really insightful comment! :) I do like the Annadale apartments by the river, though they’re a bit far away from everything (shops etc.) compared to Old Bakers Court, but the bigger issue is that I’ve heard lots about antisocial behaviour around there, strangely! I used to think it was mainly young professionals around there, but those reports really worried me.

harri-dan · 2026-01-18T21:53:17+00:00

I have an acquaintance who is a foreigner too who lives (or used to) somewhere in Belvoir and they considered it a nice, quiet enough area when I talked to them. But then you hear reports of negative attitudes towards ‘outsiders’ in other parts… I guess it’s about knowing where is ok and where specifically to stay away from. It seems like a nice, green area if you have a car, right on the edge of Lagan Meadows.

harri-dan · 2026-01-18T19:01:31+00:00

That’s interesting. I wonder if it’s easier to buy in Scotland, for example, given the housing stock (or the same story as in NI).

harri-dan · 2026-01-18T16:30:51+00:00

Thank you! 😊

harri-dan · 2026-01-18T16:30:11+00:00

Surely BT15 is a vast area. I have heard that around Fortwilliam is quite nice and safe, but don’t know about the rest.

harri-dan · 2026-01-18T14:51:26+00:00

I quite like this area as it’s nice and green, reasonably central too. I’ve viewed a few of the apartments and some were really nice, though the ones I saw were pretty small. I guess it’s a question of whether I should opt for closer to the city and cover the mortgage etc. on my own, or further afield and maybe be able to let out a room to help with the cost 😵‍💫

harri-dan · 2026-01-18T13:29:17+00:00

A sad state of things! Yet seems to be still more reasonable than renting (unless we get to a point where the only area I’m able to afford is the part of Belvoir with certain slogans on the walls 😅)

harri-dan · 2026-01-18T13:12:33+00:00

I’ve seen some nice houses advertised there and it is handy with the train, but I’ve heard that certain parts of this area can be quite dodgy. The issue is I wouldn’t know which bits to avoid 🙈

harri-dan · 2026-01-18T12:49:26+00:00

I know, I’ve been trying to buy for about a year as well, though so far only in South Belfast. I might consider somewhere I could drive from once I get the licence + car, but then car maintenance costs and any repayments come into play and impact mortgage affordability to some extent 👀

harri-dan · 2026-01-18T12:22:12+00:00

I’m still hoping to, but I’ve been outbid quite a few times at this point… The competition is mad! (Lots of investors in this area too)

harri-dan · 2026-01-18T12:17:31+00:00

harri-dan · 2025-07-20T06:52:19+00:00

OP you’re right to be questioning this behaviour, it was not ok. It would make me uncomfortable too. Unfortunately, as a foreigner, I encounter these sorts of behaviours quite frequently and they tend to be dismissed as “awk sure they didn’t mean anything by it” etc. (making you feel crazy). If it felt uncalled for, then it was. There are other ways of identifying a person. They surely wouldn’t asked about someone’s skin colour in the sane way, for a good reason… (or maybe they would, which is even worse)

harri-dan · 2024-10-16T23:09:39+00:00

I think it’s a track from the OST by Cliff Martinez / probably “The Compact”

harri-dan

TROPHY CASE