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calm-on-the-surface

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Posts posted by calm-on-the-surface

  1. Agents on the whole are weasels. The transactional nature of their business makes them inherently dishonest. Most of them just want you to pay as much as possible so their percentage cut is worth more. If you really want the property and are ok with the price then we'll done.

    If you are having doubts for any reason then contact the agent and tell them that based on what you now know you are withdrawing your asking price offer (in this case to have metal bars fitted to all windows and doors and to buy a bullet proof vest) but that you would stand by the previous one for a week to give the vendor time to think about it. That shows that you are prepared to walk away from the house and also that you are being rational. Asking about other viewing similar priced properties once you offer expires would help sure up your negotiating position.

    If you go down that route then ask your solicitor to pause work on your file in case it doesn't work out.

    The vendors might be pissed off but if they are rational they ought to seriously consider a reasoned change of offer.

    Viewing the area at varying time of day/night is a must. Certain crimes are much more likely when it is dark and quiet. Feral Kids are more likely to be kicking a ball against cars/walls/houses in early evening etc

  2. Only rules written into the leases (covenants) can be enforced. New rules are not allowed to be thrown in 'ad hoc' to suit changing circumstances. That is why leasehold is not a choice I would take again unless the lease is worded to cover all eventualities, includes share of freehold and there is an owner run management company. Freehold is a much safer and wiser choice if funds allow.

  3. The new regs here sadly don't give or require a specific, or min U value for walls, floor etc. You perform a SAP cal and basically come up with what you need to obtain the overall result. You can go for fabric (which I would) or compensate heavily with a renewable heat system or a bit or both.

    The fabric 'U' values are easily achieved as long as you are prepared to spend and increase the thickness of walls, floors and glazing (and reduce glazing size). doing this however will increase the £ per sq' foot. It is still recommendable up to a certain stage where the return on money is not realy achieved and indeed living in the house can become uncomfortable.

    By this I mean solar gain can become uncomfortable and its also nice to light a fire in a house in a winter night. even at current standards both can become a problem.

    Indeed, I would only opt for a house that meets the minimum target via fabric alone. If it had renewables then it would need a sap score in the A range to interest me, as mid B can be achieved by fabric alone and gives a much better indication of what you are getting regards actual heating costs. The whole trade off thing is a crock and is only there to appease big builders who can't be bothered to move with the times because it impacts on floor area vs footprint.

    Are you an architect/surveyor/building control officer??

  4. Are 800sqft houses going to sell or even rent in Omagh? That is a small house by any standards and especially so in NI. Townhouses are especially tricky to sell from what I see. With the current state of the market I wouldn't build anything that wasn't done for 'love'. New Developments aromd Enniskillen are sitting for sale and not budging- even with what appear to be rather realistic prices. People are scared of another crash post Brexit and seem to be waiting it out.

    Anyone know a rough build cost per sq ft of this type of development or if its even worth doing with the low prices in the west of ulster?

    BelfastVI?

  5. Apologies, I left out the 'tense' of my statement. I believe the current Scottish regs are a bit more stringent than the current NI regs. My friend achieved 0.2 for walls when he built back in 2008/9(I think) which is inline with the latest Scottish regs (I think ish) as opposed to the 0.3 currently Required here in NI.

    Basically, as you suggested, I'd build to the best (easily achieved) standard I could if I were building.

    An overall envelope of less than 0.2 with good air tightness and positive ain't input seems like a good way to go and shouldn't be too costly.

  6. Can't argue with any of that. If I were building I'd go for the current Scottish regs for insulation as being the standard most suited for Fermanagh/Northern Ireland. A friend of mine who built 7 years ago went to 'about' that standard and he heats the 150m2 house with around 500-600 litres of oil per year. Not bad going.

  7. Having the land definitely helps, as does planning permission

    It is all dependant on what you want to build. A 1400sqft house that is square and over 2 storeys and without a chimney stack will be much cheaper per ft than an L shaped bungalow with bay windows, a porch and several chimney stacks.

    What it includes will also make a difference. As will the spec of wiring, plumbing and the associated fittings.

    I believe you can build to passivhaus standards for circa £100 per sqff and that you can get down below £60 per sqff if you build to current regs and keep the shape and finishes simple.

    I'd ask local builders and your architect for ball park figures once you decide what you are going to build. Saying that, if you are out of town they will probably only allow you to go up 1.5 storeys and it will need to be white colour through render on the outside. There is also an odd prevelance of houses being so far back from the road that they are wedged back against the rear boundary So that there is no back garden and instead there is a big useless south facing front garden for some bizarre reason that I can not fathom. I guess that must be a planning condition too!

  8. Where I am buying the average price is 112k and 4.5 times average salary so based on mortgage lending multiples the ceiling has been hit. I can not foresee a huge crash (like 2008) even with Brexit but the market has certainly slowed to a crawl. Properties that I would say are heavily overpriced are sitting for ages then reappearing with a new agent and a tiny reduction in price (£1.5k in most cases), as if that is the trick will make it sell.

    Brexit is apparently going full steam ahead though so things are going to get a lot more unsettled before long.

  9. Indeed it all comes down to preference and how achievable the goal is. Where I moved from the average home (not house and more likely a flat) costs 11 times the average salary. 550k would get you a 3 bed that needs gutting. Young Nurses, Teachers, care workers and anyone else earning less than the average wage (37.5k) has no hope of ever buying any home. They are victims of the Neoliberal lie that working will make you rich. Being from money makes you rich. Choosing 6 winning lottery numbers is as good a plan as working hard.

  10. I think we are agreeing!

    I am buying the best house I can get without going into debt. In my eyes I will be better off than anyone with a mortgage. I don't drive fancy cars, have loads of holidays nor chattels but I'll own my own home outright at 41. It is only possible because London housing prices are mental and double every 9-10 'years and gave me equity- not through hard work. No one gets rich working hard. I'm not Scottish by the way.

    Oh and I thought the Jewish community are the Richest?

  11. Not technically true. Those from a money background tend to only mix In circles where everything has the cost premium that helps keep it an exclusive community. The only people who aren't skating close to the edge are the real rich, as in those who have enough to money not to need a mortgage for their £5million house, and who change their Range Rover every year without it costing a thought.

    Almost everyone else are a only a few months of no salary away form losing everything. Hocking yourself up to the limit is the norm and while I am not interested in being part of that norm, most people seem to aspire or even dream about being the one with Huge mortgage and finance on a flash car.

  12. I had this 'chat' with my wife recently. She was talking about us buying a place and doing it up and making profit so we could move again to get a better house. I had to explain that the plan only works in a bull market where prices are flying up and you have lots of money and time to invest. In N.I the ceiling price for each type of house in each area is fairly clear and in most cases money spent renovating is going to be money lost. I talked her into buying a house that will see us out, with just a few cheap tweaks here and there when the time comes. Buying once is the way forward if you can afford to get a forever home first time around. I've moved about 8-9 times in 15 years to get to the point that I can buy a nice home without a mortgage. Only nice- not expensive though.

  13. Welcome to the forum.

    We are not here to advice you to buy or not but perhaps more to inform.

    Deciding to buy is always a important and can be a life changing experience.

    The facts. NI prices collapsed from 2007 to 2012. Since that they have been steadily increasing.

    Prices today are 45% or aprox £100k below what they were at the peak in 2007.

    Prices today are 26% or aprox £26k above what they were at the bottom in 2012.

    Prices today are aprox what they were in Q3 2015, almost 11 years ago.

    Obviously buying around the bottom of 2012, with the benefit of hindsight would have been better than now. The difficult question is in two years, with the benefit of hindsight will we the facts show the same thing for 2016.

    The recent NIRPPI report doesn't take in the effects of Brexit. Indeed the impact of Brexit may yet to be experienced although many of those who voted for it believe the impact of Brexit will be positive for the economy rather than negative.

    Hi, luckily I only take my own advice based on what I learn from stats so I appear to have found the right forum. That said, a bit of advice based solely anecdotal 'evidence' always helps to reassure when a mind is already set on a course of action.

    Fortunately in the last 24 hours I have agreed to buy a property at a price that I think is reasonably fair to both parties and that I am comfortable with. The house was advertised at a hopeful £140k and I first offered £123.5k and we ended up sale agreed at £129k. As we are buying with proceeds of our last home we are taking the view that we are 'swapping homes' and therefore any loss caused by Brexit is theoretical. If I were the investing kind I'd be snapping up £60k terraced houses to rent out, but I prefer to work for my money.

    In my area(Fermanagh and Omagh) the anecdotal evidence is very similar to what the HPI shows so based on that I'd be expecting a small drop in sales and prices in the next 'post Brexit' quarterly report.

  14. I just realised that I posted the link to the Index as surveyed by asking agents for sold prices and not the 'actual' sold price index taken from the stamp duty info. It will be interesting to see how the two surveys compare when the real index comes out tomorrow.

    I guess they ought to be fairly similar but the agents version is obviously open to manipulation due to vested interests.

  15. Negotiation will always depend on the seller expectations and the weasel who is acting as a middleman. One new built house I have been trying to buy is asking for 130k and has had only two offers-(both from me) 125k of 126.5k and the agent is saying it is worth more... He didn't know what to say when I said that as he has had only one person make an offer then the market value is what I have offered so the builder can either take it or sit on it:

  16. 2016/Q2 stats:

    http://www.rpp.ulster.ac.uk/housing-index.php

    Interesting reading but only goes up to one week after the Brexit catastrophe appeared so it will be Q3 before any effects (if any) are shown.

    Anecdotal evidence in Fermanagh at present is that things are very slow and agents are gradually bringing asking prices down because a lot of places are sitting for 6months with no offers.

    'Interesting' times ahead.

  17. I'm a carpenter (English term used instead of joiner and essentially the same thing)and have A construction foreman and site manager so have a fair understanding of construction problems, costs and timescales so I am amazed at the things people don't fix before trying to sell.

    Back to topic though- I am almost excited about the report on Tuesday because I am currently in limbo and not sure what to offer on houses I might otherwise go after. Hopefully a small fall yet too nothing dramatic

  18. I tend to agree with both of the posts above based on what I see but as the BTL crew propped up prices in the first quarter I imagine that prices my have gone down 1.5-2.5% but that is purely a 'feeling' as to what seem likely.

    There doesn't seem to be much turnover at present and the houses that seems great on paper have too many 'issues' in real life.

    Despite the glaringly obvious works that need doing to some, the sellers/agents seem to be unwilling to move on price. I guess sellers have their own idea on the value of their property and will stay in it until they die if someone does not stump up the cash! Coming from London it seems like lunacy. In London if you only get one offer in a property in 6 months then that is what the market value is.

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