Bramblepicker

I live in a row of Victorian terraces, so the houses are all very similar. There was a murder a few doors down (domestic, ex boyfriend with issues) and we bought our house the same year that the murder house was up for sale. I knew about the case because I had a friend in the same road and so didn't even consider looking at the house. In the end it sold for £209k and we paid £217k for ours. Both houses in similar condition (from what I could see on the EA details anyway). House next to ours also sold for £217k the same year so it's surprising that they only got £10k off. Yes, people die all the time in houses, but when it's at the hands of another there is a rather sinister feel about it, even if it doesn't make any material difference to a house.

That is such a beautiful house though - the original features are amazing. I think the kitchen is far more interesting as it is rather than having some nasty modern units over it. Although obviously it needs work... Despite all this it's still such a lot of money.

Hunter, I'm not sure there should be a premium included on resale for what you spend doing it up plus a nominal 10 or 20% ... isn't one of the things that got us into this mess? As a little anecdote, we recently 'missed out' on a refurb project. A lovely Victorian terrace in a mid Herts town on the market for £210, which we estimated need about £25-£35k doing to it. So we offered asking. We thought that was more than enough as the end terrace sold for £195k late last year, although that was in a worse state. Two others offered asking too, so it went to sealed bids. Bearing in mind the ceiling on this road for those style houses is about £260k, we decided to go up to £220k, which I really felt was possibly too much, but it allowed for the extra we'd need to spend, and hopefully get back the same on resale if we had to sell soon after (not the plan by the way). Well, we were told we didn't win, and that someone else bid 'significantly more'. May be EA BS, but I do wonder what some people are on!

I'd have to say I've seen similar around Herts. Ones which need a good £30-£50k doing on them on the market for not much less than show home condition ones. I think some people are in love with the doing up a wreck / renovation dream... although I'm sure it comes with plenty of headache!

This isn't really a home (although we've seen recently how people have started to convert garages into spare rooms...). However, I had been down to Swiss Cottage at the weekend to see a film at the IMAX so we parked in one of the nearby residential roads. Very nice area, was wondering what we could afford for the budget we've got right now. Well, this is all that appeared in the area we looked for parking... My link What kind of car you'd want to be storing for that price, I don't know, but nothing is worth paying that much to store, surely.

I cynically sniggered too. Just shows they are panicking about the future for young people I guess. I had an idea the other day that in order to get more of the young into work they should actually lower the retirement age (someone else on here has probably suggested this in the past, so forgive me if so). Surely it's going to be more productive to get them going on their careers and the oldies wouldn't mind retiring early? I know there's other complications like the cost / benefit, but did I hear right that those who were unemployed in the 70's took ages to catch up if ever?

The problem is, in order to get this country back on a sustainable track, lots of people (mainly boomers) will have to take some pain - there's no way a politician who is properly honest about this will be voted in. Unfortunately this may only happen if the younger generation end up feeling even more desperate, thus forcing the issue. It's going to be an interesting 5-10 years to come. I agree that none of the political parties speak to me on any relevant level - quite depressing that I'm unlikely to vote next election...

Yes, we'll see if it actually materialises. TBH it was priced fairly reasonably against its competition (if you can say that on HPC!).

Well, that house we liked has now been snapped up by someone who offered in the 270's according to the agent. Was more than we were prepared to offer if we'd gone back so will keep looking. Shocked people are getting so close to asking!

I understand the pain of trying the buy in the SE. We got well and truly stung on our first home. Just sold it for £20k less than we paid... in 2003! Admittedly it was overpriced back then but we were desperate for a home and naive. Anyway, we're chain free now, and only have a small depost so need to come in under £250k to avoid the higher stamp duty. Found somewhere we love in south herts and put an offer in of £249,999 today for an asking price of £279,999. It was refused, and the agent asked whether we could afford more, when I'd already told her it was our first and final as we aren't in the habit of mucking someone around. We'll see if anything happens, but I thought it a fair offer and we were upfront about it being our limit. Perhaps they're testing us, but we'll see. As we all know, 10% is the average accepted offer reduction. There's many more fish in the sea! Trying to not let my heart rule my head and use the leverage of a falling market and chain free status, but the SE does seem pretty immune. Issue of lack of stock on the market is artificially inflating things too.

We bought a new build 1 bed flat in 2003 for £141k (although they 'gave' use £7k deposit, so really £134k). Hoping to exchange today after accepting £120k which was our bottom dollar level. Just relieved to get out with a little bit of equity. This was in Herts, in a very nice village. Very strange - everyone in the road has lost money on the flats, but the 4 bed town houses have rocketed from £260-290k when off plan to £330k at the peak. There's an idiot trying to sell for £425k at the moment - so greedy! We are licking our wounds and do want to buy just to be settled, but so scared of making the same mistake.

Here in central Herts there don't seem to be many drops. The main issue is that there's hardly anything on the market, so anything which is remotely pretty (victorian etc) still sells within a month or two provided it's not stupidly overpriced. There is a fair bit of ugly tat that has gone through 10-15% drops according to Bee, but I can see why nobody wants them. I think the time of people buying any old house is gone. I'd say they've come down by 10% over all, but it depends on the type of property. Those near train stations, period build, non-ex council don't seem to have suffered at all. We're begginning to think that they probably won't come down by much more, despite how out of kilter the prices still are against average earnings, even in Herts. Not all of us work in the City! If it wasn't for my elderly mother's poor health, I think we'd consider moving away from the south east, as much as I love it. Just so stupidly over-priced, and there aren't many attractive properties either. I do live in hope that we've sold at the right time (exchange tomorrow hopefully) and will be in a strong position to wait and see during 2012 (moving in with parents...)

The people on this programme are making me sick!!!! If the property price boom hadn't happened, these people wouldn't have 'made' their wealth. Entrepreneurs indeed!

I don't think many of you know Harpenden. I'm certainly not surprised at the price on that house. Not withstanding the recent slight decrease in prices, just do a Right Move search for that town and you'll see some of the most overinflated housing stock in the country. It's part of the St Albans effect - good schools, good train links, good road networks and lots of old houses. Plus a huge dose of SNOBBERY!

Empirical Bear, although I have a dislike for Shapps, I do have to agree with you (I think!). His post does seem to be a poisoned challice. I remember jogging past him a few years ago, and only realising who it was later. I think he lives near me, I'm certainly in his constituency. What can you do when our patch has asking prices like this... http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32698685.html What a joke! I'm still waiting for HPC to afflict Hertfordshire...