Jump to content
House Price Crash Forum

janch

Members
  • Posts

    716
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by janch

  1. I agree........maybe a distressed seller which could work in your favour. I would look at comparable property recent sold prices on Rightmove to see if it is a bit of a bargain. If you buy now prices could fall further but if you're sick of renting and think this is a good property then maybe it is time to take the plunge and be prepared to sit tight whatever happens to prices.......... Try to find out the sellers circumstances from the EA as well eg does he need to move because of his job or is he getting divorced etc etc.
  2. This makes me mad..........my mother in her late 80s and not mobile enough to get into her garden has a gardener/cleaner etc most food delivered as she can't walk far/stair lift in a 5-bed house perfect for a family and wasted on someone her age. it's full of junk too and will require several skips when she does finally move out. All her neighbours are the same. It's the generation above the boomers (I am one) who are to blame. They went through the war and can't let anything go.
  3. I've been keeping an eye on places I know in Berkshire and I think we're on a bit of a 2nd leg down already. The first place (of the ones I look at ) was Sandhurst followed by Crowthorne and then Wokingham. Last time I looked after being flatish for a month there was another round of reductions in SandhurstIt seems when one reduces then more follow and then all similar properties are around the same price.........for a while..........until one breaks ranks.........then we're off again
  4. .......or they move to another agent and it's listed as normal at a reduced price even thought it had been reduced with the first agent and didn't sell. I've seen this a few times.......also "marketed by............" which also means "reduced" I believe
  5. Sellers are thinking twice because of the costs. I've just sold and bought at the bottom end of the market (because of an unbearable neighbour who made my life hell) and it's cost me around £6K.......EA/solicitors/stamp duty etc. I sold a 2 bed terrace and bought a 2 bed flat in SW. The process has become more complicated and chains are a nightmare. I nearly sold last summer but the buyer tried to "gazunder" a day before exchange of contracts after 2/3months of the process. There was even a moving date arranged. In the words of a famous politico I told him to "go whistle" and the sale fell through. The whole chain was broken.
  6. Sentiment.......... driven by the MSM (directed by government??) For ages the MSM was pushing HPI and "get on the ladder quick before prices rise any more and you'll be priced out" now replaced with "sell up quick or you'll lose your mad gainz" ie fear in either direction.
  7. This is what happened in the 70s and 80s. Inflation was high and rates kept rising. Every so often we got letters saying our monthly payments on our repayment mortgage was increasing which was quite worrying at the time but it was also a time when HPI was happening and by making the higher payments it was possible to climb the "ladder". The perceived wisdom was to take on the highest mortgage you could afford as prices were rising. This is where the current mind-set comes from as boomer parents pass on this bit of wisdom to their offspring. But it's different now and a lot having maxed out will find out the hard way it's not a sustainable way to live. I remember too people losing out big time in the early 90s with their houses being repossessed and prices fell then.
  8. Yes. I was a buyer in 1975 and after a few years what had seemed like a big debt didn't seem so bad. Our first house was a slum and cost approx £5K but was hell to live in and try to do up without any spare cash (such was the idealism of youth.....we were all naive hippy boomers and had no idea about such things as finance). HPI was rampant and we sold after 2.5 years for £8K (it was no longer a slum). The house we bought in 1980 was £18K and the mortgage was around £150pcm which seemed a lot at the time and was certainly the highest monthly bill. It was sold in 1994 for £95K and thereafter rose rapidly. It would be worth £400K+ today. This was a 3 storey 4 bed Victorian terrace (money pit) in Cardiff.
  9. They're waiting for the London exodus.........all those who sold up and decided to "retire" with their millions from the sale of their London property. Maybe some will strike it lucky..........
  10. Many will not be able to move at all when this happens and will be prisoners for years. Even if they can afford their current mortgage payments and think they might want to move "up the ladder" they will be hit with very high transaction costs (min is around £6K) plus have to take a hit on the sale price of the one they're selling.
  11. The full price is usually for a freehold property so a normal type of sale. Their scheme is based on how long they expect you to live and the price they quote you is according to your age (and health??) You live in it until you die/go into a nursing home. Then they get the property with either nothing to go to your heirs or a much reduced sum from the sale "value". It's a similar idea to equity release as far as I can see.
  12. Sorry CofN I should have said likely to hold relative value ie even if prices start to tank, Wokingham won't probably sink as low or as fast as say Bracknell.........
  13. It certainly makes you think seriously about the hours you work. I was a single parent years ago and worked 16 hours in my local post office on near enough min wage at the time which was doubled by FC (family credit) which was the equivalent benefit at the time. My co-worker was collecting her old age state pension which she doubled by working part-time too. The postmaster got 2 part-timers on the cheap knowing we were getting top-ups from the state. The difficulty comes when your kids reach 18 and you suddenly don't get it any more as by that stage you are totally dependent unless you've realised in advance and found a better job. No wonder some have children spread out and/or develop a disability.
  14. Crazy thing is that those Homewise prices were actual prices back in 2012 or so. Being over 60 and curious I phoned about one of these recently and basically you may "buy" one and they will quote a price dependent on your age but one of the options meant that you wouldn't be able to leave anything to your children as the whole property would become theirs when you pop your clogs. As I recall there was another option which enabled leaving a small amount to your heirs. All in all it seemed a poor/expensive option. The properties I've seen advertised like this are usually also advertised as normal with an ordinary EA at the "real" price. As far as I'm concerned they just make collating my stats hard as I try to discount them if the same place is advertised twice. Taking this into account it was 50% reduced in Sandhurst (Berks) this week. Homewise only seem to be active in the SE and Bath in the areas I'm following.
  15. Fair play to the Beeb on this one.....They've found the worst examples of the LL class and exposed them for what they are. OK on the programmes they (the LLs) cry a few crocodile tears and "see" the error of their ways but I doubt it will last very long. I hope someone from government/HMRC has been taking note as they need to be hit hard, probably harder than the government changes so far have impacted. Let's hope they're all highly leveraged at least The 2 young ones attempts at cooking were quite hilarious. I would urge them to invest in learning to cook as they may need that skill imminently
  16. Good luck. I know Wokingham well as I grew up in nearby Crowthorne and went to school in Wokingham. I agree Wokingham is likely to hold value as it's generally a nice place to live as is Crowthorne. I have been following the market for a while and it seems there are reductions but more so in the areas which aren't so nice eg Sandhurst where there seems to be a glut of exBTLs coming on and they're all leap-frogging each other with their reductions. The prices are still sky-high eg £260K for the cheapest 2-bed terrace (cheapest last week was £270K). A year ago the cheapest was £300K plus. In a downturn or HPC area will be crucial I expect and doing a place up will be a hedge against falling prices plus going for your ideal place as your forever home is probably a good idea. The costs of moving are horrendous.
  17. Where supply has suddenly increased I think it's because people have suddenly realised that maybe prices don't go up for ever and are all rushing for the exit. This has definitely happened in parts of London (SW8?). (I've been following the London thread since Damik started it.) In places I've been following some have also thought they would be one of the first to get out eg Sandhurst (Berks) where there is a glut of BTL coming on (2/3 bed terraces) and I've been looking at asking prices falling from about £300K for a 2-bed which is now down to £270K for the cheapest with further to go I would think. The tidal wave hasn't hit everywhere yet so this effect isn't so obvious everywhere. I would expect Anglesey would be one of the last places to be hit, sorry Nome. Before the rush for the exits there seems to be a bit of stasis where the grim reality sinks in so low volume. A lot of people will have a shock when they see how much the cost of moving actually is. I've just sold a very ordinary 2-bed terrace and am downsizing to a flat (to live in not BTL) and the total for both sale and purchase seems to be around £6K.
  18. I'm looking forward to having my cash earning handsomely when it all crashes, inflation ratchets up and they have to raise IRs......15% anyone? You never know......... or perhaps I'm dreaming
  19. What's the betting he waits a few months and then evicts her as he thought she wouldn't look after a refurb and the area is gentrifying so then they can put in a young professional and raise the rent (innit). Would be good if the beeb go back in a year's time to see what happened next..............
  20. As someone who was forced to sell a house I liked by "neighbours from hell" I can also attest the property owning dream is sometimes not all it's cracked up to be. It's cost me dear in terms of paying rent since moving out and selling costs plus more costs if/when I buy again. The house I sold was a new-build so there were next to no maintenance costs but unfortunately you have no idea who your neighbours will be when you buy a new-build. Also I was lucky it sold quickly. If it had taken a while to sell I would have been a gibbering wreck whereas with a rented property it's relatively easy to move on.
  21. Strakers auction results for June 2017 quote from the horses mouth.....some unsold lots from a smallish auction held in Bath but properties in Wilts
  22. I've been doing a similar exercise off and on for different locations and one of them (Crowthorne, Berks) had approx 50% reductions about 2 months back. Now it's only about 40% I think there are waves to this HPC. We had the first one when PCL dropped a bit.....now it's spreading outwards and at each drop in London there's a bit of a leg down in the surrounding areas. It's reached the home counties and I've a hunch it's jumped to Bath (but I need to do a count). People move to Bath from London so I would expect that......... The normal market seems to have approx 1/3 reductions and some sneaky people take the propery off the market and then re-list at a cheaper price. I've also seen "marketed by....." in the place where it usually says "reduced". I suppose when everyone is reducing it doesn't draw so much attention to the fact the price has been lowered
  23. I just voted in the ES poll on the page linked to by the OP and there was a clear majority (64%) against an amnesty. Good. If there are unexplained dead bodies they'll have to try to identify them by other means eg dental records/DNA etc
  24. In the places I'm following I think supply is increasing (although I'm unsure how supply compares with previous years). I'm looking at places along the M4 and also in Herts. I have a feeling people are testing the water so to speak and realising prices are turning so they may as well try to sell and crystallize their "mad gainz" while the going is good especially if they are in a position to downsize/move further away from London etc. Some places have a glut of ex BTLs eg Sandhurst in Berkshire and I've watched the price reduce from £300K+ for a 2 bed terrace to £270K for the cheapest in the past few weeks..........still way overpriced but it's a start. Also look at the number of 3 bed semis in Croxley Green (Herts) for people moving out of London..........only about £550K.....what bargains!! I wonder how many will actually sell though unless the prices come down
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information