needle
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Posts posted by needle
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Anyone got any idea which Alty estate agent is going under?
Which one has run through all their money and is running on fumes?
Well....I do, but thats not the point, is it?
Do any of you?
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I'm gonna stick with my recent theme of 'the pips squeaking' in the wealthy quarters.
***I DONT KNOW IF THIS IS TRUE*** But I've heard recently from more than one source that River Island and Next are vacating their premises in Alty. However another person connected to the Chamber of commerce has denied it.
This would be a hammer blow to Alty and clearly sign the direction and value of local property.
I am also hearing that rate reviews are being delayed by the council in order to inflate revenues and this is pushing businesses to the brink.
Rates, incidentally, are based on rents. The last review was in 2006 at the top of the market.
Now that businesses are closing (the chipper opposite the train station closed down due to attempted rent increases - the asking rent was between 40k and 60k, I heard. Insane. Should be closer to 10k for that location and type of business.
Another tale of woe is of one landlord announcing that the rent was to be upped by 3k per month. The tenant was about to ask for a large reduction and was gobsmacked by the increase demand. They are now leaving the premises (although the landlord doesnt know it yet).
The opinion was that the LLs are living in 'cloud cuckoo land'. Apparently another source tells me that the LL is in 'deep doo-doo' and desperately needs the money as his own business is sinking.
I noticed last night that the Sabor Do Brasil (sp?) restraunt has gone under with a notice pinned to the window on behalf of the LL claiming reposession for unpaid rent or somesuch.
In addition I am told that empty premises no longer qualify as paying only 30% of due rates and must pay full rates. Cant be long before these 'investments' become very serious liabilities.
Still no movement on the Altin homes mini-site.
Hearing rumours that the AltAir development on the Carpark (near Tescos) is about to start. I'll believe that when I see it.
In short, people, the upper crust is starting to get burnt. There will be carnage before this is over.
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Heres a house I notice recently went sold STC. - Alstone drive in Alty (down near the narrow bridge/ post office) far end of Oldfield road.
Viewed the house years ago, it was very small and asking £270k in June 2010 with Bridgfords!!!!
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-16366725.html
Delisted from Bridgfords and moved to Thornley Groves after gradually declining to £211k until march 2011
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-17742654.html
relisted by TG in May 2012 at 200k
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37828064.html
and seems to have sold for 190k in Feb 2013
Nice round 30% drop right there from beginning (6/10) to sale (2/13).
These people wasted close to 3 years of their lives before they got 70% of their original asking price.
I think we considered an offer higher than the sale price but lower than the then asking price and were told that the buyer wouldnt take below £X. Too bad. Very, very glad we didnt buy that one.
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Seems that the law's being followed, and some people don't like it.
With Parliament unable to elect a new President, they compromised on re-electing the old one (constitutionally entitled to unlimited terms, but none has ever been re-elected). Once sworn in for a second term, Napolitano will be able to dissolve Parliament and call new elections (he couldn't dissolve Parliament in the last 6 months of his term in office, and the gridlock by different parties having majorities in the upper and lower houses was blocking the formation of a government).
At its lowest level, Grillo's time in the spotlight may soon be over, and he's trying to put that moment off as long as he can. Of course, new elections may bring fresh hell, but he can't rely on that.
Excellent post and remarkably well informed on the minutiae of Italian electoral politics.
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Anybody who believes anything written in this 'magazine' deserves to be fleeced.
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Agree. 10 % or so of total stock over 1 weekend looked obviously wrong even by EA standards.
From your Budenberg link. With the rather hopeful caption 'kitchen'. Depressing.
Depressing though it may be you must stick to the rules my friend.
Henceforth it isnt Budenburg, its Bunburger.
You should give it all the respect the name implies!!!!
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I notice that a few new places are on the market in the Bunburger complex.
Both under 100k....
1 bed at 92k - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-25689834.html
2 bed at 99k - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-26621421.html
Interestingly enough I have noticed quite a few sales falling through in Alty recently, I'm sure you have too.
Waterstones in particular seem to be updating their properties en masse.
(I noticed it recently on a Saturday morning, clearly the kid minding the shop was tasked with it then).
I told you a few posts back that the pips were beginning to squeak in the leafier areas.
I stand by that. I know it to be true.
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Get it in writing.
Next time you make a query do it by email.
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Good topic.
There are many attributes that are important when buying a house but they vary with the buyer and the location.
For example, before we had kids, a small back yard for drinks and BBQs was important as long as it was low maintainence.
Now however, a garden is vital.
Here are a quick few of mine -
Terraced house - make sure you have your own 'down pipe' from the roof gutters.
If not, you are relying on your neighbours to keep their gutters clear to prevent flooding/overflow on your property.
End terrace houses - it is vital to get the outer walled and roof structure checked.
The reason for this is that the weight of the whole terraces roof is resting on your outer wall - not just your own roof.
Watch for neighbours who have new roofs because they may have more modern and heavier tiles that the original building was not designed for. This can cause structural problems for you.
New build houses 1970s/80s on - many of these houses have shared drains/sewerage that often run through an individual property before they enter the public system. As a result if this junction occurs under your property and the neighbour decides to flush concrete down the drain you are liable to have it cleaned as its on your property. Also the drains/sewerage on these houses is a very small diameter so a big neighbour eating a lot of Christmas pudding can caused a neighbourhood blockage. Again you could be liable. The most common cause of this incidentally is baby wipes being flushed down the toilet.
Aspect - what way the house faces. Most people prefer a north facing aspect because the sun shines on the rear of the house for most of the day. Personally I have found an East facing aspect to be better as I only get to use the garden in the evening.
Location, near a train station is good but this causes massive vibrations that unsettle the foundations and can cause subsidence.
Trees are nice but they too cause subsidence - a big tree can drink 200 litres of water from the soil per day. Trees in the garden - within 10 metres of the house - are a big 'no-no'.
more later.
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I've got a few contacts myself, in debt recovery, restructuring, insolvency. All the problems I hear about, and I've heard a few, never seem to come to anything in terms of lower house prices. I'm thinking supply has at least ticked up a bit lately though, although still quite barren a market. The authorities might just prefer to keep them off the market, into UKAR, or something else to stop price discovery of assets they have exposure to.
I'm talking about private individuals here, not corporate property magnets.
Solicitors, lawyers, doctors, small business owners, that sort of thing. They made huge money during the boom years, far more than they needed. The excess was put into property, pension funds etc....
Now, cash reserves have been run down - they are out of cash - and they have to start liquidating assets to maintain appearences and/or keep their businesses afloat.
Maybe the types of people you refer to are being slowly grinded down. Low rates are fuelling malinvestment . People are drawing down their capital looking elsewhere for yield, capital should become more valuable.The types of people I'm talking about have already been ground down. They are the asset 'rich'/cash poor crowd.
Whats happening now is that when they need to liquidate assets they are finding that their properties (comm and res) are worth a lot less than they thought. They need prices to stay high but they also need to be able to sell.
Some are in very, very deep trouble - they literally have no money and cannot sell their 'assets' at levels that will leave them any cash.
It is these people who will suffer the most in the coming year.
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Hello fellow Hale/Alty/Timperley HPC'ers havent posted in a while but have been checking in periodically.....
Just read through the thread from end of last year onwards. Noticed a lot of despondancy with regard to prices not falling.
Cant say too much here but I am fairly convinced that prices will continue to fall especially in the more upmarket areas.
The reason for this is that I have a very indiscreet friend who works in finance and knows about the various investments of the wealthy who are generally concentrated in these areas.
These people are heavily invested in property commercial and residential and are basically broke.
From what I understand their businesses have been savaged over the past 4-5 years - as you'd expect, I suppose.
However, believing the recession was a 'normal' recession (it isnt) they drew down all their cash (pensions, savings, bonds) and pumped it into their companies to keep them afloat in the interim. Unfortunately the 'interim' has turned into the long term and now, devoid of liquidity, they are either closing their businesses or desperately trying to sell commercial property.
Take a drive from Alty to Manchester city centre and you'll run out of numbers before you run out of For Sale or To Let signs.
And thats just on one road.
For example was told of one architectural practice where the turnover is down 90% and the owner is at his wits end.
I've heard rumours of another Hale based 'pillar of the community' who is planning to leg-it abroad and drop everything - thats just hairdresser-womens coffee morning chat though.
Be in no doubt whatsoever the pips are very definitely starting to squeak. As are some very expensive wives......
The problem is that these commercial properties may now be converted to residential therefore removing a cohort from the buying market, further reducing demand just when it is needed.
bbl - time to put the kids to bed...
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I use it all the time it used to work great for me but not it shows most properties as finding entrys that day when the properties been listed for weeks / months usually.
Don't know if something's funny with my version - Its still pretty handy to have but I've found it alot less reliable lately.
Try changing some of the options under 'Styles' and 'Filters' you (or someone else) may simply have turned some of the options off.
The only issue I'm having is it no longer displaying on the search results page like it used to, this was handy for quickly skimming through results without having to go in to every listing. It actually still does this when i view property listed in my favourites page just no longer on the search results page.
Is this on Rightmove or Property News?
Have you checked the 'Styles' and 'Filters' options to see if anyone has changed your settings?
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Okay peeps, what exactly are you experiencing?
Firstly, on Propertynews, you have to click on the actual property before you see the PB output.
It doesnt display on the front page like Rightmove.
Secondly, PB is a plugin for firefox, there shouldnt be any need to un/reinstall Firefox to get it working.
Can you let me know (here) what version of FF you have and when you updated everything.
I'll help as much as I can, PB is a brilliant resource and HPC'ers shouldnt be without it.
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Really? Why do they keep saying that volumes are way down on the boom then?
Maybe it should be "As financial prices soar, volumes plummet, unless.... there is lots of easy and cheap credit."?
Because, as I said waaayyy back in 2008.....
http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=67982&view=findpost&p=965318
...houses prices are a function of credit.
Horsesh!t artists who claim that credit is a function of house prices are outright liars.
Anyone, any professional, any economist who says otherwise should be jailed.
http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=67982&view=findpost&p=965318
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Hi,
I'm wanting to see if there are any recent for sale prices online for an area in which I'm looking at a property. Does Property Bee hold this information or how could I find this out?
Do I need to keep a log of prices locally, or does the Bee do this for me?
Hi ravedave,
PropertyBee us an addon for the Firefox web browser.
If you have it installed, once you look at property on certain websites (Rightmove is the main one but others including some Scottish and NI sites) the property details are recorded and stored on your computer.
The idea is that next time you view a property any changes (prices, details, etc..) will be highlighted.
Thus you can keep track of properties and price changes.
If you opt to 'Work in a bee' this means that your information is shared and others information is shared with you.
So if I first looked at a house last year and you see it for the first time today, you will see all of the history that I have gathered.
Go here http://property-bee.com/ to download the plugin.
Its well worth it!
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Meant to put this up for the last while - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33717502.html
Read the description and weep giggle.
A remarkable opportunity to acquire one of the finest homes in Hale at an extremely competitive price. Woodcroft was valued at over £5m at the peak of the housing market in 2007. It first came to the market at what all agents considered to be a very realistic £3.75m in 2010. The house was withdrawn from the market because of the inactivity in the market and the vendors postponed their move. In Spring 2012, we were instructed to remarket the property at what we believed to be a very realistic price of just under £3m. Having failed to attract a buyer by mid August 2012, the vendors have decided to adopt an extremely innovative way of marketing by inviting best offers over £2m by 31/10/2012. The sale of Woodcroft is by no means a 'fire sale'; however, getting on with their life is more important to the owners than waiting for a premium price. As they purchased the property over 15 years ago, when house prices were generally much lower, the price achieved today doesn't really matter so long as they can be satisfied they have achieved the best price possible in today's market. By any measure, this has to represent exceptional value; this could be an opportunity to buy what we genuinely believe to be one of the finest homes in Hale, on one of the best roads, in one of the largest gardens currently available. Only once in 30 years has Woodcroft come to the market. The current owners have maintained and improved the house in complete sympathy with its original features. The pressures to carve up the land and hive off a building plot in the heady days of the last decade were resisted, making this a truly rare opportunity to acquire a substantial home in large, very private grounds of just over an acre. Please refer to the separate addendum with these sales particulars for guidance on the offer submission process. -
On a lighter note, anyone care to recommend a pub for dinner tomorrow. Us and 2 very young kids, late afternoon.
Looking for somewhere new but have previously been to, Rope & Anchor (nice but pricey and always rammed), the griffin (never again), swan with 2 nicks (deeply unimpressed), axe & cleaver/romper inn (really?)
Anyone know the Smoker Inn in Plumley? We like that although only go every year or so.
Is it worth trying somewhere like the Vic in Alty? Or what about any along the route to Wilmslow?
Whenever I have the kids, its Frankie and Bennys
Avoid Francs in Alty, its bloody awful.
Theres that new Thai place I havent tried yet on Regent Street.
You could try that and let us know what its like!
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According to Property Bee
this one http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33475003.html?premiumA=true has the following text
15 April 2012Brief Description changed: An established ex-local authority third floor flat situated William H Brown are now in receipt of an offer for the north of sum of £64,000 for 53 Lefroy Road, Norwich City centre. The property benefits from as central heating, double glazing and external brick storage shed. The property is offered with no onward chain and early viewing is highly recommended. NR3 2NX. Anyone wishing to place an offer on this property should contact William H Brown, 5 Bank Plain NR2 4SF. Tel: 01603 760044, before exchange of contracts.
While this one http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38959409.html reads as follows
20 September 2012Brief Description changed: Howards Estate Agents are no now in receipt of an offer for the sum of £55,000 for 53 Lefroy Road, Norwich. NR3 2NX. Anyone wishing to place an offer on this property should contact Howards Estate Agents, 165 Plumstead Road, Norwich. NR1 4AB on 01603 612664 before exchange of contracts.
Clearly the first offer fell through.
This is the power of the Bee.
If you dont have it, youre a mug.
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Very interesting point about the number of downsizers. The bad thing is that downsizers have no interest in lower prices, even if they are mortgage free. They're the "not giving it away" crowd.
A property tax would sort them out quick sharp.
Sitting on an underused asset should be penalised, not rewarded.
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Thoughts from The Jury on this one?
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35083453.html
Sure, needs work, but picked up for just over £300k (say), seems to be undercutting it's competition by quite a margin (plus, if you did it up, it would be to your own tastes.)
(Just thought I'd give you something to do during that boring Olympics stuff.
)I cant believe that anyone would countenance paying even 300k for that house.
Youre fkn deluded. That house is 'worth' about 200k. End of.
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Then we've got other sellers in this zombified market seeking new peak asking prices and seemingly getting buyers
That ones back on now with another 10k off @ £429k. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37962635.html
Bowdon Vale used to be considered the 'poor relative' but the quality of the two primary schools and Grammar catchment have pulled it up.
Ehh... Grammars dont have a 'catchment'. Thats sorta the point.
Some crazy prices around atm.
Loads of stock and nothing shifting as far as I can see.
Noticed the other day an EA has shut up shop on The Downs.....
PS - best to use the google cache URL
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I'd definately put that in the 'more modest' and 'bijou' segment.
Scraping the bottom of the petrol tank there fellas.
I knew this and thought 'wtf?' when I saw the Altin homes hoarding.
They cant be serious about putting 14 houses on this site, can they?
Its gotta be flats, surely?
Anyone got a link to the PP application?
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Not a terrible place and given the buoyancy in the local market, I'm surprised its lasted that long.
But personally, not big enough without big loft or cellar space nor plot space to extend. My wife doesn't like conservatories either.
I concur 100%.
The value of that house on that site (its South facing so it gets sod all sun, its on a busy road junction) is in the region of 150-180k, depending on inspection of its condition.
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And the sales volumes were.......?
Altrincham/hale/halebarns
in England - North West
Posted
You are correct, this is not who I am referring to.
Unfortunately I couldnt tell you even if you did guess right.
But I stand by my previous assertions that there is a lot more deep doo-doo around than people suspect.
Lotsa new cars around too, no?
Place is stuffed with new 5 series, noticed that?
Big mouth, big ego, 'businessmen' doing well for themselves?
Well, no.
Ever wonder how many of these cars are bought on the never-never?
Then when the contract ends if the owner cant afford the 'final payment' they have no option but to roll into a new 3 year contract or lose their 'equity'. Sound familiar?
Poor little rich men getting trapped in their gilded cages......