shar46y

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-17519241.html

Me again... we have seen a house in Knighton that we quite like, asking price is £350K. Problem is that despite looking on Zoopla etc, not being Leicester locals we don't really have a 'feel' for the local market so we don't have an idea of how much to offer at least to open negotiations. I am still willing to STR if we can't secure a house at a price I am happy with, but at the same time as the reality looms am dreading the hassle of moving twice (have written a bit about it on another thread) and so it would suit us to find somewhere to buy and just get on with it. Any ideas from those of you more familiar with the Leicester market would be very much appreciated!

We are in a similar quandary. Need to relocate to another city for work reasons, start date sometime in the summer. So we put our flat on the market last week thinking it would take months to sell. Much to our surprise, we got a buyer very quickly and being a FTB (I thought they were extinct ) they want to complete quickly. Assuming it all goes through, we could be done and dusted within a couple of months. But then we are not ready to relocate and anyway haven't found anywhere to buy (plus hoping the market will fall further in our new location ). So it looks like we will be STR. The only downside is that we are dreading the hassle of moving twice with two toddlers and a cat. How do people do it? Do you put all your stuff into storage and pay for removals twice?

We first tried contacting the developer via their webpage, waited quite a while with no reply. Finally emailed the agents directly and they eventually responded. They have "had a lot of interest" and most of the houses are already reserved or sold. I'm a bit surprised given what I've read about the market in Leicester, but maybe it's because of the desirable location near some decent schools? Had been hoping we could get a good deal but not if they're apparently selling so well. Anyway they say all will be completed by next April (how often are developments finished on time???), this is a bit earlier than we were planning to move so will probably give up on this development. Leaning more towards STR as time goes on, at least until we get a clearer idea of the market and exactly where we want to live.

Thanks for the info! I thought the layout of the houses looks pretty good but was concerned about the size of the plots, so you have confirmed what I was thinking. The location is very good for us though, really want to end up near there. Our preference right now is 50-50% whether to buy or STR, so will definitely be looking at the rental options.

Mind if I hang around on this thread? We are likely to be relocating to Leicester within the next year for job reasons. We don't know anything about the market in Leicester so would like to learn more. Most likely we will STR, but maybe if we find a good deal we might buy?!! We are looking in Knighton and Stoneygate, saw this development: http://www.hazeltonhomes.com/homes/the_elms_16/list/

Hmm, I speak several other languages, but I also speak English. To play devil's advocate, how would you know that any of the m*f*ckers you hear on the street can't also speak English? And how do you know whether they are legal or illegal immigrants? Actually, I think that you're right - Britain is in a way, a victim of its own perceived "economic success". If this country was falling apart at the seams, nobody would want to come here. BTW, nobody has yet answered my question (just curious) - I am an immigrant, and an ethnic minority. I have a job, which presumably I have taken from a native-born Brit. I occupy a home, which I have taken from a native-born Brit. So, should I stay or should I go?

Whoops, I'd better pack my bags then. Should I leave my husband behind? Luckily we don't have kids yet, or we'd have to dissect out the offending genes

Wow, this topic really has brought out the worst in people. I regret to confess that I am an immigrant, and also that I don't have white skin. I came here to study, fell in love with an Englishman, and here I am. Whether some posters here would like me to leave, or whether they feel it is wrong for an Englishman to marry someone of a different race, is up to them. For my part I must say that I love this country, warts and all - people have mostly welcomed me and my contribution to society. I pay my taxes, obey the law, and actually think that immigration policy needs to be tightened and clarified from the opaque mess that it currently is. But if anyone feels I should leave, I am glad that we still (for now anyway) have freedom of speech, and they are welcome to tell me so.

A general plea to tenants everywhere: please please pay your bills! Otherwise you make life hell for the next tenant who moves in, not the landlord! The previous tenants in our flat paid nothing and ran up huge debts on credit cards, overdrafts etc. Then (they were foreign students) they skipped the country. Our landlord and agents did their best, at our request, to contact creditors and tell them these people had left. However, a lot of debt collection agencies are dodgy scum and continued sending demands to our address (which we always send back marked "no such person"). We even had a couple of visits from big hairy bailiffs. Of course we know our rights and sent them packing, but still it is a horrible experience. :angry: We have lived here for 18 months and we still get occasional letters, it's just not pleasant. We've had enough and are moving out this summer but feel sorry for the next tenants who will probably still have to deal with it.

As I mentioned on another thread, we've been viewing properties (to buy) in North London over the past couple of weeks, all FTB/BTL type stuff, i.e. 2 bed flats. Out of 15 places we've viewed so far, only 3 have been owner-occupied. All the rest were either tenanted, or were empty and according to the agents had previously been rented out. Does this signify BTL getting out?

I posted my experience this week in North London upthread, not because I am a bull, but rather because I am somewhat disappointed and depressed. The market hardly moved in London over the past 2 years, and now looks like it's picking up again - I hasten to add, I still think property is insanely overvalued - I really can't understand who is still buying at these crazy prices. Incidentally, we put in an offer on a flat 10% below the asking price and the agent practically laughed in our faces, or he would have done if it had been in person instead of over the phone. I shut him up by telling him that we looked on Nethouseprices before deciding on a fair figure. Anyway, he reluctantly agreed to pass on the offer (since he is legally required to) and it has now been rejected. Clearly, vendors in North London now expect to achieve near asking price. In self defence, I should probably explain that we had fully expected our offer to be rejected, after seeing the craziness going on. We figured we couldn't lose because if the offer was accepted, it was a decent figure that we could easily manage on one salary. Hopefully, our offer was at least a wake-up call to the vendor that they might have to accept less than they want.

What, to me? I feel quite flattered. I didn't say I was going to jump on the ladder because it's all going great, etc. We just signed up with a bunch of agents because we were curious, it doesn't change my belief that property is overvalued and overdue a big correction. Like I said above, I was depressed by the experience more than anything.

The slick kid definitely did look Asian. I was really annoyed when TimeOut marked out Wood Green as the new hotspot, we have been planning to move there for ages and were just biding our time. On the bright side, the recent Rightmove report said that asking prices in Haringey were down 2%.

We started flathunting this week, not sure what came over us but mainly it was curiousity - a very interesting and rather depressing experience. We are looking at the Harringay area (north London) and most agents had hardly anything to show us. We'd expected there would be lots of flats available from looking on Rightmove etc, but turns out that almost everything we'd seen went Under Offer within days. One property (Harringay Ladder) had just been put on the agent's website in the morning, by that evening it had had 8 viewings. The agent took us round in batches. One guy in our group was a young, slick, suited, shiny mobile phone type - we guessed a BTL wannabe. Another agent looked amazed when we said we were looking to buy a place to live and said "most people who buy in this area are investors looking to rent"! Looks like the "Spring Bounce" has hit the London BTL market, which is very annoying as these are exactly the same properties that we would like to live in :angry: