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Housing Market

edited November 2007 in Not Sports Related
Anyone else buying/selling at the moment? Just interested in your experiences. My partner and i are selling her two bedroom flat in Forest Hill and buying a house half a mile further south. I was really surprised how little interest we got on her place (nice mansion block/good road) and eventually we had to take an offer which was a fair bit under asking price. The real eye opener was when it came to finding the new place, vendors were falling over themselves, eventually got a beautiful house for a very big discount, fixtures and fittings thrown in. I know it's anacdotal but i seems that 10% under asking price is shifting property at the moment. To me market falls are neither here no there really because we have an 80%+ deposit but i'd be extremely worried if i was buying with a small deposit or had indulged in equity release . Anyone seeing the same thing or got a different perspective?

S.
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Comments

  • My missus wants to get a mortgage but wth two kids and wanting to live in a house, realistically I think we are going to be looking at £230k minimum. I havent tried hard to get a mortgage but I know there are 'ways', anybody on here have a clue about them or know how I could get one? I would probably be able to afford about £1100 max per month repayments, any help/advice would be useful
  • speak to Stanmore CPL
  • 10% below asking price. Is that a drop or was the asking price realistic? Surely a drop is when a house goes for less than you paid for it? Forgive me if I've misunderstood.
  • [cite]Posted By: razil[/cite]10% below asking price. Is that a drop or was the asking price realistic? Surely a drop is when a house goes for less than you paid for it? Forgive me if I've misunderstood.


    Agreed. In my experience most houses go on the market for more than they're worth so when you offer less and think you're getting a good deal, you're actually getting the houses real worth.
  • From what I can gather it's always about supply and demand in terms of some areas are always in demand and there is a short supply of property, pushing prices up - other areas it's the opposite.
  • OK Razil point taken, all i can say is that 6/9 months ago we looked around but people weren't budging on price now people seem extremely keen to sell, just wondering if other peoples experiences reflect this?
  • just had mine valued and am tentatively looking around, currently live in Eltham and am probably looking out to Falconwood/Welling way....need to be no more than a 10 mins walk to a station though really.

    Currently got a 3 bed and want a 4 bed....there are some good deals to be had if you search hard.
  • had ours valued, Erith but Barnehurst border. Can't decide whether to move or not. Don't really need to but fancy a change. Tentatively looking around Etchingham, Burwash & Battle.
  • [quote][cite]Posted By: Eltham_addick[/cite]just had mine valued and am tentatively looking around, currently live in Eltham and am probably looking out to Falconwood/Welling way....need to be no more than a 10 mins walk to a station though really.

    Currently got a 3 bed and want a 4 bed....there are some good deals to be had if you search hard.[/quote]

    thats where were looking to buy, we are moving and renting closer to the area but me boy goes to Westwood so need to be as close as poss when my daughter goes there.
  • My mate owns an estate agent in the blackfen area - said that he's struggling at the moment!

    Although i'm not sure if that just means he will have to buy a porche boxter rather than a 911!!
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  • Sold my house back at Easter - 2 bedroomed town house in Vanbrugh Hill. Went on the market at 10am, first person round at midday, offer accepted at 2pm (£2k off asking price only). Similarly when buying somewhere (again, Vanbrugh Hill, 3 bed this time tho), I saw it on the Friday morning before I put mine on the market (was first person to see it) and deal done by end of day, after getting in to bidding war with person who saw it after me - I ended up paying £35k over the asking price (think it was undervalued at the time - altho have just spent a further £85k rennovating it and now move in in 2 weeks time).

    Spoke to estate agent last week (Peter James at B'heath Std) as they want to come round and see what we did...they said the mkt still bouyant in Westcombe Park - recently sold 4 bed on Humber Rd for £650k and no sign of slowing down.... So I guess it all about location.
  • edited November 2007
    My upstairs neighbours here in Charlton ended up taking a couple of weeks to sell their flat - and the estate agents (also Peter James) chopped £15,000 off the price too. Mind you, I thought it was over-valued in the first place.
  • flat next door to us, with a new kitchen, but otherwise identical went for 20k more than we bought ours for, and we only bought ours 6 months ago.

    when we were looking 6 months ago at our type of flats, they were on the market and off again within hours.
  • FAO eltham

    give this lot a bell ask for Dave tell him Barnie recommended him, he's one of the less shifty agents I've dealt with. He sold me one near Falconwood which I am currently doing up, I think there are lots of conversion to 4 bed dotted around there, not sure about deals though.

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/action/ShowBranch?ag_u=16040
  • It seems a lot of these replies are about estate agent valuations which from my experience are meaningless or transactions from a few months ago. As i said i think you'd be surprised how shaky the market is at the £250-300k level.
  • isn't that more to do with the fact of stamp duty being set at 250?
  • get a decent house below £250k and it will get snapped up!

    my place has gone up £50k since i bought it in May but i did do some work to it.
  • [cite]Posted By: razil[/cite]FAO eltham

    give this lot a bell ask for Dave tell him Barnie recommended him, he's one of the less shifty agents I've dealt with. He sold me one near Falconwood which I am currently doing up, I think there are lots of conversion to 4 bed dotted around there, not sure about deals though.

    http://www.rightmove.co.uk/action/ShowBranch?ag_u=16040

    Cheers...
  • It's all relative, mine is allegedly worth 30k more than it was when I bought it just over a year ago. And that's just on the location, totally forgetting the new bathroom, kitchen and decoration. And estate agents opinions are not worth jack. Some of the most odious individuals I have ever had to deal with. If a few go to the wall then good, perhaps they can find real jobs.
  • [cite]Posted By: suzisausage[/cite]isn't that more to do with the fact of stamp duty being set at 250?

    Exactly Suzi..
    [cite]Posted By: SE10Addick[/cite]get a decent house below £250k and it will get snapped up!

    my place has gone up £50k since i bought it in May but i did do some work to it.

    Trouble is that if you buy below £250k and do work, you may not get your money back because of the tripling of stamp duty if it takes it over the £250k threshold


    But, always remember that, first and foremost, your primary residence will be your home, not just an investment
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  • [cite]Posted By: Chris_from_Sidcup[/cite]
    [cite]Posted By: razil[/cite]10% below asking price. Is that a drop or was the asking price realistic? Surely a drop is when a house goes for less than you paid for it? Forgive me if I've misunderstood.


    Agreed. In my experience most houses go on the market for more than they're worth so when you offer less and think you're getting a good deal, you're actually getting the houses real worth.

    Agreed. The estate agent said my house was worth £410,000 so I put it on the market for £425,000. Got an offer at £400,000 but settled for....£410,000.
  • basically. stamp duty screws the whole thing up.
  • The housing market is dying/dead and I live in "buoyant" Hove.

    A lot of landlords here selling up, no developers at Auctions, Auction guide prices not being met, been advised not to buy anywhere at present.

    Went to see a flat out of interest yesterday (prices are crazy here) for £249,000, the EA told me I could get it for £205, that's nearly 20% below asking.
  • Well who wants to live in Hove anyway - must be pretty grim down there in the winter!!

    decent houses in desirable parts of London are still booming - simply due to supply and demand

    I moved across the border to NW5 last year and it's booming - begging letters from estate agents through the door each week asking us to sell up

    Of course it helps that Eurostar and the world's longest champagne bar have conviniently popped up 5 mins down the road...
  • Stanmore - you pay stamp duty on the house you are buying, not the one you are selling, so if you do work and your value goes up, you will keep the profit..
  • [cite]Posted By: Charlton Charlie[/cite]Stanmore - you pay stamp duty on the house you are buying, not the one you are selling, so if you do work and your value goes up, you will keep the profit..

    But then lose that profit on the next place you buy
  • I guess so, but if you want to move to a bigger / more expensive house, then you've got more money to put towards it (altho yes, you still have stamp duty to pay - I tried to see it as a part of the asking price for the house). I guess the trick is to make sure that your improvements etc add more than the increase in stamp duty that is going to be incurred by buying a bigger place.. Or - as I have done and will continue to do so whenever possible - buy houses that are cheaper than the one I have just sold and then add value through rennovation / extensions etc.
  • edited November 2007
    [cite]Posted By: Charlton Charlie[/cite]Stanmore - you pay stamp duty on the house you are buying, not the one you are selling, so if you do work and your value goes up, you will keep the profit..

    I'm do know that,

    wasn't clear in my explanation.

    Lets say, like a lot of people you aim to my at £230-£240K

    Say you spend £20-30K in "improve" the place.

    You have to sell at £250k-£260k to break even.

    Will someone be prepared to pay the extra £5k (approx) stamp duty payable when they buy your property???


    Edit afetr reading CC's later post- agree with your bracketed sentance totally, although it's amazing the number of people who don't, just like some lender's whopping arrangement fees that they just add to their mortgage
  • [cite]Posted By: Charlton Charlie[/cite]I guess so, but if you want to move to a bigger / more expensive house, then you've got more money to put towards it (altho yes, you still have stamp duty to pay - I tried to see it as a part of the asking price for the house). I guess the trick is to make sure that your improvements etc add more than the increase in stamp duty that is going to be incurred by buying a bigger place.. Or - as I have done and will continue to do so whenever possible - buy houses that are cheaper than the one I have just sold and then add value through rennovation / extensions etc.

    In that case you should, as you say, be in pocket as long as you can keep the progression going in terms of buying for less and trousering a profit as well as still making after renovation costs have been taken out.
  • Ah, good point, sorry.

    My personal opinion is that if someone likes your house they will buy it, regardless of stamp duty, as it's only a small part of the overall expenditure that they are about incur. Obviously if it's a toss up between yours and another similar, but cheaper property, then they may well choose that one, but I think that there is always someone who will buy your place.
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