DONTDOITMAN

It appears you have an exit strategy which is great! however when I was working in London and I would say have to go to the south coast and be at waterloo station at 6.15am and see hundreds of 50+years olds in their suits coming off the overground and onto the tube makes me wonder what kind of life they are having. Don't lose sight of the end goal and beware chasing the salary( easily done in London) and you should make it out of the circus in one piece!

Don't agreee mate. Everyone has choices in life. There are tow types of people. Those that the enviroment control them and the others that control the enviroment. Zombies in London really have no life and they should think whether this is worth the extra £

This is a message for all Londoners! Just stop for a minute! Get a life and stop wasting your money and your time on commuting in crammed conditions so you can buy an overpriced box! Why pay over £4,000 year and c1.5- 3 hours a day standing on zombie trains. There really is more to life. I lived in London for 10 years and ended up leaving after my office moved and I had to take the tube for 20 minutes to the offices. I couldn't stand it. Previously I could walk to work - 20 mins as lived in zone one and although paid more in rent, didn't have to pay for a season ticket and saved the time so thought it was worth it. Now live outside london in a rural area and takes 10 mins ( when bad) to dirve to work! and have more time for golf, shopping, family and life in general. All those that are doing the crazy crazy commute will just look back in their life and regret, but some people don't and won't understand until it is too late. If this is you, just stop and think is this really how you want to remember your life? . you only have one life so start enoying it and not just commuting? Just my thoughts but wonder if others think the same?

That's exactly right. The asking price was £435,000 but had been on the market for a year and was empty (Ex BTL property). my frst offer was £360,000, EA/vendor said no. Next and "final offer" of £375,000 with furnishing ( Kitchen appliances, small bits of furniture etc) after explaining all its faults e.g Lounge is a little small for that asking price etc. EA asked how quickly I could move, I said very quickly .i.e 4 weeks. EA phoned back and confimed the sale to be done in 4 weeks. Surveyor went in 2 days later and no major issues. I phone EA to say all was fine and that I was wanting to proceed quickly. EA said that the vendor would be "very happy with this as looking to sort his finances out"...he also went on to explain about his other BTL properties emphasising how keen they were to sell. Lawyers do their work and day prior to completion told the vendor I was not happy to proceed as they/tenants have ovbviously not looked after the property and that I was not confident of the property market. Vendor agreed on £35,000 reduction condition that I would complete tomorrow and job done. Another thing I learnt was that although I hate EA's schmusing them for information ( especially in this current climate ) as they are keen on the sale can pay dividends. My first few appointments of viewing properties with other EA's I didn't treat/acknoledge them well and my MRS wasn't impressed, but actually if you treat them better they may tell more than we give them credit for. There is a small risk of failure with the above strategy but if you can afford to lose c.£1,500 go for it. if it doesn't work then you can always pay what you agreed....that's if they are still talking to you...but in the current climate we have the power!

My logic is a house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Me and the Mrs had put in several "cheeky offers" to several other properties which had all been declined, until this one. Once we had our original offer accepted the Estate agent said they wanted it sold ASAP and we were to move quickly. On probing further the EA said they were in financial difficulties having other BTL properties and were heavily leveraged and needed to raise cash. I knew that they had bought this property for £225,000 in 2001 and have been renting it out since and so they had done pretty well from this one. ....Basically we took advantage of the situation, the property had been sitting empty for a year and not one penny spent on it since 2001...but it was no wreck ....just needed some TLC. When I put in the reduced offer I knew that they could have said NO and we could have lost the house but I just felt they were right for taking advantage of, after all they still made ove £120,000 in ten years plus rental income...which isn't bad for doing nothing! I have to thank HPC for this and reading other people situations. If I can pass on any words of wisdom.....there is so much property on the market and it is difficult finding a property that is suitable and realistic/desperate sellers, but if you are looking and do come across this situation.....you must take advantage of the situation as you have nothing to lose....Also don't listen to anything the EA says when you put your "cheeky offer" in, it is just noise and they can't help making it.

I confess, I am a bear and completed last week on a 4 bed detached house, nice rural location and garden - This was done for two reasons. 1) I have a young family, and another one on the way ...the MRS was nagging and we have never owned a home becuase I would always have sad for the last 7/8 years....."wait till prices have come down 40%" and " prices have to come down, they are way too expensive"...... I still believe this, but money isn't everything. 2) I was concerned about the cash balances in the bank account and risk of further financial implosion and thus losing everything......although I don't own a tin hat I must confess that I was very scared the banks would implode prior to house completion....Paranoid or what! Personally I stll believe houses have to come back in value by 25/30% and I can absorb this should it happen......in fact I really do hope it happens for everyone so people in my generation (I am 31) can buy something and get on with life. I agree the older generatons are killing us but what can we do...they are our parents after all! Also before I recieve lots of insults, the house I bought was on for £435,000, and we agreed £375,000 ....and then a day before completion knocked off another "35,000 just because I knew we were in a strong position making up I didn't like the state of how the house was looked after. ....I hope I have done HPC proud. Now bring on the abuse! P.S I am still bear!

Nope but it has a MacDonalds!! Still nothing selling and more and more coming onto the market. Prices edging down slowly! ( but not quick enough for my liking!)

Yep, You have all the say.

The problem with your plan of "only Saturday Viewings" is do you really want to leave your pad every saturday which happens to be the most popular day for viewings, and not get a sleep in, lounge around the TV etc. As part of our agreement we did ban Saturday viewings as well, but was happy to let them in midweek ( but not after 5pm) after they gave the rent concession. I do sympathise as I was also well p*ssed off, but unfortunately that comes with renting. If the LL is a good bloke then I recon you will be able to come to an agreement that suits both parties. If it is a good property and at a good price it may sell so you may want to start now looking for a good place, otherwise you don't want to be rushed into something you don't like and will inevitable have to move on again.

This happened to me about 2 years ago. Landlord put flat on property 2 weeks after I moved in! I was fuming as moved from previous property for same reason. Basically, legally, unless it is in your contract to show the property to buyers then the landlord has to get your agreement otherwise he can't show the property to potential buyers and will have to wait till your contract expires. Your rental agreement will say something about having to let him in for maintenance and to check the upkeep, but it doesn't mean he can show people round and therefore would be breaching contract if he did. It wasn't written in our contract to show buyers around but what we agreed was that the LL give us a 10% discount on the rent for the inconvience, and the landlord had to give 24 hours notice of viewing ( and no less as the EA did try to do it) and we promised to keep it tidy for a viewing but not super neat. We also agreed to reduce our notice period from 2 months to 1 month, but the LL notice period for eviction for us was still 2 months. Basically we ended up moving after we found the right property but found the above agreement worked well for both parties. Remember you have the power ( legally) so don't give into them until you at least you get something out of it. If the LL is playing hardball, tell them no viewings and they will have to wait until you leave.

I have recently moved to the Island and there is a huge oversupply of property for sale on the Isle of Man. 2010 sales are again down from 2009 and that was a very slow year. Flats – in short there are too many of them and with the annual maintenance charges etc buyers are really put off buying these. Flats sellers are really struggling to sell Houses in general are on the market at over inflated prices. Good priced property is selling the rest is just stagnant – Some property has been on the market for over 2 years with not a hope in selling. Also some property is soo overly priced I would imagine it will take them 5-10 years to sell. Why would you want someone in your house viewing every weekend? Such a waste of money. I note the very lower end of the market is selling much more than the higher end of the market. i.e houses less than <£250,000 I also notice that many properties are SSTC but when investigating they are in large incomplete chains….I expect many of these to collapse over the summer months. Any houses that actually do sell are having to take offers of around 5-10% off asking I firmly believe that due to oversupply and upcoming public sector redundancies that the market is only going one way and that is downward, It wont be like the UK as there wont be many distressed sellers, but property prices aren’t going anywhere fast! Also the lack of people coming from the UK, will also slow houseprices….not many people are moving over due to work permit issues with employment and expensive housing will deter others from coming. Let the House Price Crash begin in the Isle of Man!

From what I hear, the housing market does appear to have held up OK but there has been a marginal decline in prices, with sellers having to accept offers to complete with a sale. The top end of the market is strong as those looking to protect their milllions but the lower to mid range is just stagnant. I have been following some IOM estate agents sites and there does appear to be a lot of property available. would anyone agree or disagree? Even if there is over supply I don't see prices going down much nor do I see them racing away in the next couple of years. Decent deposits are still required and with 20% loss of earnings to the IOM revenues will result in public sector cuts and marginal tax increases - however I think those on the Island will be able to afford it.

I went to UCL....and am disgusted Cambridge and Oxford nerds even think they can compete!! Mummy and Daddies boys!! p00fters!

Does anyone have a template of a letter. I know it has to say "subject to contract". can you put a timescale on it for them to think about? Anyother important stuff that needs to be included. DONTDOITMAN

Just to clarify as think there is a bit of confusion. House was valued at £350,000 in estate agents window, property Bee said it is reduced from £430,000. I put in offer of £250,000. Estate agents said seller wouldn't accept it for another 4-6 months. What I took from that was that if it doesn't sell in the spring bounce then they may consider the £250,000. I recon they would accept £325,000 in current market today, which would account for a 75K(c20%) drop in 6 months if we got it for £250,000. Will keep you all posted.

Congratulations! I tried this yesterday. Put an offer in on a £350,000 house ( was priced at 430,000) for £250,000 in St Albans 4 bed semi. Estate agents wasn't impressed but said that the vendor wouldn't consider the offer for another 4-6 months........which I said I was happy to wait. However if he meant what he said about considering it in 4-6 months then surely this crash is moving at light speed!! When he comes back and says they will accept £250,000 then I will do the HPC tickytac - "MY OFFER IS NOW £240,000!!!!" Can't wait to give this a try! Will let you all know the result!

Well I put the offer in and I don't think the EA was impressed!! I'll expect he will be coming back to me in the new year! I'll keep you all posted! DONTDOITMAN

Pricing has been one of the difficult things to work out. Of the semi's in the area it is one of the nicer ones and larger and better build, and so likely command a higher price and also has had a loft conversion and conservatory, which I feel (but don't know) the others don't. Looking on house prices on the road and beside, they do vary significantly: On the road only two houses have sold at c£280,000 in March 2007 and February 2005, the rest have been under £250,000 On the connecting road there have been houses that have sold for between £270,000 - £360,000 in July 2007 peak, but everything had been over £250,000 since December 2003 I must admit that I don't know the area particulary well but my wife know if we could get it for £250,000 then we would move. Thoughts appreicated DONTDOITMAN

Am I mad. What do you think. Am considering on putting an offer on a propoerty in St Albans at £250,000, currenlty on the market at £350,000 reduced from £430,000. It is a 4 bedroom semi about 2 miles from the station. Is there any point in putting in this offer? Surely we are just wasting our time and the estate agents may not like us any more. The house has been on the market for 7 months. We never intended in seeing this property at the time, but another one was sold so the agent shoewd us this one. There are big flaws with the porperty, as no direct access to the back garden and awfully small bathroom which we will have to make significant changes to the property to get it idea. I envisage we would need to spend £30,000-£35,000 to get it the way we want it - i.e ensuite bathroom, build on top of extension and convert the C*appy bathroom into a shower room, otherwise it is a very good build and could easily live there. We could easily move in now and then over a few years do what we wish. Me and the wife have a newborn now so am pretty desperate to buy a house and be settled. I am a FTB with deposit. I was thinking of putting the offer in, knowing it would be not accepted and then the spring bouce won't happen, as there will be mass redundancies after xmas, hopeing the agent may come back to us and say they accept £250,000. We don't want to spend any more than this. We know they are desperate to sell but don't have to. What you think? Think my strategy might work? DONTDOITMAN

-22.2%

I wouldn't if I was you. There is a long way to fall in the IOM. It has just started. When they have no immigration of people onto the island - prices will fall. Think about this. How can the island survive, when house prices are going up and this is becuase of immigratio?. How can the island survive when those workers moved to the island for a better quality of life can't buy a property? How can the island survive when immigration stops as those in the UK can't sell/move and workers say that there isn't the quality of life. Me and the Mrs nearly bought a property last year. 3 bed terraced in doublas for about £210,000 but decided to pull out becuase the "credit crunch" happened. We thought we would rent it out and then move across in a fews years for a better quality of life. In the end we are glad we didn't buy it as the rental wouldn't have covered the mortgage, and we have no debt so are free to move anywhere we want. I also work in financial services so looks like there would be less jobs there. All in all - I do think it is a nice little island, but expect property prices to fall by the same percentages as we see in the UK. Radders - As for your comment about "lower end of the market". Does that mean you are eligible for the grant? This grant has also helped fuel property prices. Well this and the Stupid Estate agents on the island!

Absolutely agreed. Manx offer no security for your money. What i have come to realise that Manx house prices are dependent on retiree people wishing to move over there. Prices are expensive even for those who work in the financial sector. When this immigration stops ( and it may have already ) then I fear the island could really implode! After all if poeple are worried about there money and security they aint going to leave it in the isle of man. No Money in banks of isle of man= No finance sector! Still if there is a big crash....I will consider buying there maybe in about 10 years as it is a relaxed little island!

Yipeeeeee!!! 1.5% decline!!! The crash has started there. Me and my wife nearly bought a place there a year ago, but as it coincided with the "credit crunch" but decided not to do it. Prices did go up a little after that, but I can easily see them falling a long way now!!! With the financial sector there taking a big hit....I can only see doom and gloom for them! Yipppeeeeeeeeeee!!

OK - Very interesting. I can't wait for all these Gimp's to lose all their jobs in the coming recession. Surely the current system can't continue given everyones hatred of estate agents? However unfortunately in the short term I can't see an alternative for these cowboys??!!

I'm glad we all agree they are C**Ts ( and no real surprice given the forum we are in!!!) ...........but who is it worse for. The sellers or the buyers? I think it worse for the buyers but I have no experience of them when it comes to buying/selling a property as have been outpriced for many a year! and so haven't even bothered looking.