Salisbury Anyone?

[prosto_zabrevi]

I am still considering Salisbury, though enthusiasm has waned somewhat. I am not seeing many changes in prices at the lower end and lots are sticking out for asking price or very close to it. The choice is quite poor on my budget, mainly ex-council REEMA houses in the Bemerton area.

I did notice one house on Ashley Road that stood out. It came on at 225K, immediately increased to 300K and straight to SSTC. It flipped back to available and SSTC again. All for a house that requires 'extensive modernisation' in a high risk flood area.

I like the town very much and I have been hoping for some rationalisation in prices. However, Salisbury is comparatively small and sellers know they can offer much lower quality houses than many other places without embarrassment.

Currently looking in Gloucestershire and Dorset as well.

Edited to add:

I am looking at heading down to Salisbury for a look at houses in the next couple of weeks so I will report back on what EAs are saying and how flexible sellers are being these days

Edited July 8, 2010 by prosto_zabrevi

[benzlife]

I am still considering Salisbury, though enthusiasm has waned somewhat. I am not seeing many changes in prices at the lower end and lots are sticking out for asking price or very close to it. The choice is quite poor on my budget, mainly ex-council REEMA houses in the Bemerton area.

I did notice one house on Ashley Road that stood out. It came on at 225K, immediately increased to 300K and straight to SSTC. It flipped back to available and SSTC again. All for a house that requires 'extensive modernisation' in a high risk flood area.

I like the town very much and I have been hoping for some rationalisation in prices. However, Salisbury is comparatively small and sellers know they can offer much lower quality houses than many other places without embarrassment.

Currently looking in Gloucestershire and Dorset as well.

Edited to add:

I am looking at heading down to Salisbury for a look at houses in the next couple of weeks so I will report back on what EAs are saying and how flexible sellers are being these days

Thanks, would be interested to hear your thoughts. The uncertainty about FP's future is still the best chance for price falls, but that could affect a big proportion of my friends so not something I'm hoping for...

[spyguy]

Still stand by earlier calls on jobs. Salisbury, with its concentration of (unreformed) Financial Services, Public sector - regional hospital, MOD and Porton - looks set to be severely hit.

HPA is going. Union is bitching about moving saying:

“The introduction of dangerous pathogens in an urban environment, and the development of the supporting biological investigation services may attract local community concerns and possible wider disruptive measures.”

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/8282917.Union_warns_of_CEPR_move_safety_issues/

Hmm, so gassing Salisbury is not a problem then?

FP still lurch onwards to a very uncertain future. There's meant to be an annoucned about the how Axa (Bristol + Bstoke) is going to fit in the good ship Resolution. It won;t be good news for anyone. I owuld guess all FP's Sales + marketing dept are to go this year.

The council are about to get the new Bourne Hill offices ready. Just in time for all the back office people to be relocated to Trowbridge.

The unique collection of SIPP companies is not too good.

James Hays (as was) have started laying off people.

PPM (Crapita) at the old RDC, well, its Capita - what do you think will happen?

Rowanmoor (above Tescos + Salt lane) Now, I know nothign about the company other the a founding director killed himself as he'd stolen almost £2m from a client account. That cannot be a positive for the company.

Then all things MoD:

Wilton Land command is finally getting shutdown.

Qiniteq are preparing for even more layoffs.

MoD and the various semi-independent companies are going to get gutted.

There's even talk about the the top guy moving out of Bulford Manor. How very dare they!

At the moment, things don;t look to bad in SPx but thats mainly because: 1) So many public sector jobs, 2) Very few people work full-time in the private sector.

On the positive side - they'll soon be able to build Salisbury FC's current ground. Ace, an exeutive home build on a windy plain near a pig farm.

[prosto_zabrevi]

I bow to your superior knowledge of the situation in Salisbury Spyguy. I certainly would like to see a realistic reduction in the prices there. The housing stock in the areas I can afford to buy is, frankly, rubbish.

[spyguy]

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/salisbury/salisburynews/8293416.HPA_to_be_axed/

I was expecting the HPA just to be moved.

Looks like the whole lot is being taken to bits.

This is a very significant job loss for the area (SWILTS/WHAMPS/).

Please don't think I'm wallowing or anything. I've been talking myself blue for the last 10 years by poiting out how undiversified the Salisbury economy is: MOD, PORTON, Financial services.

I saw a comment on a financial website about the cost of Resolution's (FP's now owner) debt facility - 13%

Ouch, they are really going to have to swing the axe hard + deep to pay that down.

[Live Peasant]

Just to add to the general gloom....

4Com, one of the success stories of the last ten years is moving its head office down to Bournemouth where its CEO lives.

The majority of the technical and sales side live in Southampton so no impact there but there are a number of support & back office staff who are local who will inevitably go by the wayside.

Shame. Startup to 25m per year t/o in 10 years and back down again.

[spyguy]

4com. Ah there's a name.

I took an interest in these because the company was always plugging itself in the paper. No story too small - Director goes to toilet. Director stubs toe.

Remember that awful programm on Birgin 1 or E4 about office tv?

Don;t be fooled by the turnover figures. It looked like a brave attempt to create a compnay and get some revenue going with vendor finance. I guess they would then look at flipping to someone. 10M turnover is niether here or there. What is the profit margin?

There was a bit of a kerfuffe a couple of years ago when one of the directors left - probably put money in and did not see any chance profit.

On the subject of nosing around SPx's small businesses anyone know about anything about the bloke who's took over the White Horse pub, opposite Iceland?

Brave? Stupid?

[benzlife]

As an elite sales professional you will possess a brag file bursting with great examples of your efforts. Not only will this be backed up by your personality and drive we wish to see examples of the targets you've smashed.

 

We suffer no fools and make no mistake, we expect total commitment from our sales team, every waking minute of your week is focussed on maximising your sales performance and creating the career and lifestyle that you aspire to.

 

You will need every ounce of your self-belief and conviction that you're nothing but the best, every drop of your drive and motivation to be the best in this multi award winning business.

 

Working independently to tight timescales on a daily basis you'll be expected to meet with our potential customers and build better smarter businesses with them helping them towards the success that their business deserves.

From 4com's website, advertising for a sales executive. It must be a sh*t place to work. If you spend every waking hour you have thinking about work you too could own your very own overpriced piece of Salisbury!

[Live Peasant]

From 4com's website, advertising for a sales executive. It must be a sh*t place to work. If you spend every waking hour you have thinking about work you too could own your very own overpriced piece of Salisbury!

4Com paid well above average for the area and probably continue to do so.

Telemarketer - no previous experience required - base salary 15k + commission - 50k for a good one.

Consistently good salesmen - 100k plus again no prior experience needed.

Phone technician - no experience - 22k basic plus o/t plus 600+ a month in car allowance - 40k a year.

Not bad for a bunch of kids with no experience who were hungry for a bit of success.

Daisy bought the customer base about two years ago, about 3000 customers.

Since then they have brought in some fairly heavy hitters from the industry to create channel sales.

The biggest problem was the Board was stuffed with 'yes' men and continues to suffer from patronage issues and nepotism is rife.

There were few in Salisbury in the 21-25 age bracket who hadn't done a stint with 4com. The problem for Salisbury was the money went elsewhere, yachts, fast cars etc.

They do have a slightly old fashioned approach to selling - in fast, hard close, and f*ck off before the customer realises they've been mugged.

[spyguy]

> Telemarketer - no previous experience required - base salary 15k + commission - 50k for a good one.

> Consistently good salesmen - 100k plus again no prior experience needed.

> Phone technician - no experience - 22k basic plus o/t plus 600+ a month in car allowance - 40k a year.

> Not bad for a bunch of kids with no experience who were hungry for a bit of success.

The 4com job ads have always read like those smallads you see - 'Earn £100K in your spare time. No experience required'

There's always something scammy with them.

There was/is nothing 'kids'ish about the people running the company.

The people who run the cold-call lines might be kids.

> They do have a slightly old fashioned approach to selling - in fast, hard close, and f*ck off before the customer realises they've been mugged.

Whilst not illegal, you be hard pressed to create any lasting profitable company based on that stragegy, whihc may be why the wheels are falling.

I remember chatting to an ex-4com employee about what he did, which boiled down to installing PBX in hotels. I pointed out that mobiles now make hotel PBXs pretty obsolete/no longer required. Throw in a GSM picocell and you can ditch the whole lot - wires and all. I cannot remember the last time I've used a phone in a hotel - 15 years ago?

Ny the way, it does not matter what they sell - phones/pbx, advertising space, whaterver. This is just a boler room operation who supply a product.

> Since then they have brought in some fairly heavy hitters from the industry to create channel sales.

Not sure you can create channels below 4com. The business relies on vendor financing from PBXish company. Trying to add a layer new layer between 4com and the customer probbably wil not work - there will not be enough margin. Its just a ploy to try and massively increase the sales force.

> The biggest problem was the Board was stuffed with 'yes' men and continues to suffer from patronage issues and nepotism is rife.

Any large company in Salisbury, without effort, will suffer from nepotism - its that sort of place.

'Yes man' not sure. More like picking up the management dross from FP, and various other ex-largish Salisbury companies.

A load of 45+ middle management who do not know anything . They are not 'Yes-men' They are 'Dont know anything so Ill just nod men'.

> There were few in Salisbury in the 21-25 age bracket who hadn't done a stint with 4com. The problem for Salisbury was the money went elsewhere, yachts, fast cars etc.

Money might have gone elsewhere. I just doubt it was profits. I've met the director once - Darren? The boat would need a massive hull.

4com churn staff. Sign of a bad/scammy company.

Nothing Ive heard about 4com is good. It just comes across as a new version of a dodgy double glazing sales company.

[benzlife]

The "hard close" style of sales, as you so succinctly describe it, is surely becoming a thing of the past. The business i work for has a policy of hanging up on any form of cold call. On a personal level I will only deal with knowledgeable and non-pushy salesmen both within my professional and private dealings.

To me it sums up all that's bad about capitalism.

[spyguy]

The "hard close" style of sales, as you so succinctly describe it, is surely becoming a thing of the past. The business i work for has a policy of hanging up on any form of cold call. On a personal level I will only deal with knowledgeable and non-pushy salesmen both within my professional and private dealings.

To me it sums up all that's bad about capitalism.

Yes, the hard close, ring-you-till-you-relent sales person only works with scared old ladies.

I know of a few strategies for dealing with it.

- Get an 0898 phone line - premium rate. Get the sales guy to ring that. I'm happy to listen to someone drivelly pitch at £4/minute.

- Get the salesman name. Ring the company and tell them you'll only do business when you see a copy of the person's P45.

- Sue for harrasment.

[babnye]

This town has got to be going tits up soon.......surely?

I'm still on the Rightmove daily alert and there has been another flood of houses on recently - at ridiculous prices. £325k for a terrace on Belle View rd. No drop in price there. The BFarm ones still seem to appear on the market with an extra 20k added each month too.

I have noticed quite a few big money houses on recently. Why;s that do you think? 500k plus. Money leaving the town??

[spyguy]

This town has got to be going tits up soon.......surely?

I'd guess so.

Picking up my son at primary and chating, I would guess the number of parents on benefit full or part-time (16 hours tax credit) job at about 30%.

The number working in the public sector at around 30%-40%. And about 20% working in misc. private sector.

The public sector workers tend to do vaguish things within the NHS or MoD i.e. not very important.

There's a lot of wierd quasi-public sector organisations in SPx. Much more than the UK average. These receive the bulk of their funding from UKGOV.

Stuff like Alabare, SWAN - loads of companies that employ loads of women/wifeys.

I've noticed a large amount of property For Sale come onto the market over the last few weeks of summer. Wierd.

I tend to stick to East of central areas. Rarely go to BFarm, or further west of centre (under the railway bridge).

A lot of rentals have found tenants after being empty for a couple of months.

S*d all transaction. If there was a place to suffer from the withdrawl of self-cert then SPx is your place.

Been to see the new, empty council building? Hubris thy name is Salisbury City council (that was) ;-)

[babnye]

When oh when are these houses here going to fall?

This came on today on Bishodown Farm

I mean really - 325k for that! That's 25k more than it would have been on for 2 years ok

[spyguy]

When oh when are these houses here going to fall?

This came on today on Bishodown Farm

I mean really - 325k for that! That's 25k more than it would have been on for 2 years ok

Like the rest of the UK, people are using the following formula to price their houses: Outstanding mortgage + balance of credit cards + car loan + deposit on next place + nice hoilday.

The dumbest thing about Salisbury in particular, is there were very few transactions during the boom - 2003-2006.

The restrictions on liar loans, IO mortgages, are going to hit SPx very hard. The house prices are too high; the income are too low.

I know this sounds like a bearfest, but a drinking buddy of a drinking buddy case ilustrates what's coming. He works in London + commutes from Salisbury - god help him, 3h travel a day!.

He earns 60Kish. He pays for the season ticket himself. 12 months is about 9kish (if I remember correctly). Wifey does not work.

Loss of child benefit - Poof, 2K of cash gone. Needs 4K (high rate tax payer) earned to replace it.

Season tickets are going up by by 50 to 60% over the next thats about 5K- needs 10K of earned income to keep up.

[spyguy]

Ha, just looked at your BF link.

EA buffoonery at its finest. House on RM via Connells. Nice Whites 'For Sale' out front.

[benzlife]

So, six months on from the last post on this topic and I'm starting to see some easing of prices in the Salisbury market with a number of 4 bed detatched (in places other than the Wilton Rd / Devizes Rd triangle) starting to be listed at the circa £300k mark. These are the sort of places that people were marketing for £350k ish this time last year.

Here's a new one on today: 4-bed in Feversham (you'll have to click brochure to see photos and layout)

Some EA's still very bullish. Goadsby and Jordans in particular; Whites and McKillop & Gregory seem a little more neutral and therefore bearable when looking round a house.

Anyone else seeing this?

[spyguy]

I very rarely go under the railbridge. I have to visit someone up, off devices road soon, so ill let you know.

The EA sign man is eanring his money at the moment. There are big waves of For Sales + To Lets going up wihtin the ringroad.

Not sure if the EAs are trying to priorise sales over rental as there are a couple of empty rentals near me that have no sign up. Theyve been empty for a couple of months.

job wise SPx goes from bad to worse.

What was James hay became santander and has now been sold to someone who's running off the books.

FP - Friends Life - are going from bad to worse to terrible. Their entire strategy (resoltuions) has gone wrong. They are looking like toast.

The HSE (porton) still look like getting shoved to Essex. Shame John Glen blotted his copybook on telly (re: doleys) and the mail (re: im too white + middle class).

He's too new to pull in any favours to get the investment in the HSE to stay in porton.

No sure what's happening at the Capta site (HPL/winterhur that was). I no longer see large number of indian sub-contractors going.

The number of empty shops - like the rest of the uk - is getting very noticable now.

I guess the lack of business will be blamed on the parking charges.

[spyguy]

Some EA's still very bullish. Goadsby and Jordans in particular; Whites and McKillop & Gregory seem a little more neutral and therefore bearable when looking round a house.

Anyone else seeing this?

Jordan's are new - optimistic. How old were the agents?

Whites would have gone thru the last SPx slowdown - 89->97, which was a really bad time. They also have a lot of skin in the game - only marcus's dad would employ marcus.

Whites probably realise there is no point getting overexicitd about selling a house when the buyer is going to get a 'No' from the mortgage company.

[benzlife]

One more observation about Salisbury's estate agents.

We've been looking on and off for a few years now, but without exception not one of the agents has taken it upon themselves to really try and sell us a house.

We went to see one house for a second time recently and whilst deciding (afterwards) that it's a little bit of a stretch we haven't heard from the agent since. Not a peep. Similarly, we recently saw two or three places with McKillop and Gregory. Not one follow up phone call, nor suggestion that we see any of the half-dozen other properties on their books which fit our requirements.

I don't want estate agents pestering me day and night, but how on earth do they expect to sell without building a relationship and at least asking for our business?! Do they think it's 2006 still?

Also, the pick up in new houses coming on the market which I saw in April/May seems to have fallen off a cliff. More significantly, very few of those that did appear in my rightmove search have gone sold stc or under offer. That said, few price reductions either so no wonder they're struggling to sell...

[hellsbells]

Wow - haven't really been into Salisbury properly for a few months. Salisbury Bedding and Furniture gone and quite a few more boarded up shops around.

I know someone quite well who works on the market - they tell me the market generally has really picked up in the last eight months or so - more people buying alot more of their food there.

It's all beginning to look a bit retro.

[richiep]

The entire situation in and around Salisbury is depressing.. Awful poor quality housing stock at crazy prices... Houses not selling or reducing in price. I am beginning to lose all hope!

[benzlife]

Time for a "Salisbury anyone?" bump!

Got to say that the quantity, quality and price of new properties coming onto the market are all depressing the hell out of me. Why are prices 10 to 15% up on last year? Has Salisbury experienced some sort of bubble in the past 6 months or are sellers just more deluded/desperate this year??

[babnye]

Time for a "Salisbury anyone?" bump!

Got to say that the quantity, quality and price of new properties coming onto the market are all depressing the hell out of me. Why are prices 10 to 15% up on last year? Has Salisbury experienced some sort of bubble in the past 6 months or are sellers just more deluded/desperate this year??

I agree. There is no house price crash in this place.

My sons have just started school over the Hampshire border and we were thinking of moving that way but the house prices are so much higher there - literally fifty grand on top of Salisbury prices. I think this is what must keep Salisbury prices high - lots of other place are much more expensive, so people work there but live in Salisbury and send there little cherubs to the obnoxious grammar schools.