Cheadle Hulme

[Venger]

And I've read many can sit empty for years after the owners have died, with those who have inherited trying to balance what they want to sell at and monthly service fees and other costs and risks of keeping a property empty. One apartment I saw reduced right down to £50K in Alderley Edge in 2010, probably by someone who had inherited it and sick of, or unable, to keep paying the monthly service fee. Nevertheless older buyers have these retirement flat options to compete against more expensive bungalows too.

Just for reference. My memory about the figures involved was only slightly out.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-5778309.html

[Venger]

Awful location.

This terrace cottage is very nearby. I can't help but like it, but the location is just wrong. Have to be closer to a train station and bus routes, and I've got to give some thought to schools.

http://www.rightmove...y-38872994.html

Sorry, I'm purely indulging myself with that house link. It's also very expensive for what it is, and where it is too, in my opinion, but still appealing. I know we're all after different things, and have a bearing on what others in the NW section are after.

A house like that, but 3 bedrooms would suit me just fine, at my very lower end target requirements for a house. Except not an end-of-terrace like this one, for structural concerns. And for wall collision or scrape worries, with the wall of the house exposed to a busy road, and also a side road leading to other terraces.

[Nomadd]

This terrace cottage is very nearby. I can't help but like it, but the location is just wrong. Have to be closer to a train station and bus routes, and I've got to give some thought to schools.

http://www.rightmove...y-38872994.html

Sorry, I'm purely indulging myself with that house link. It's also very expensive for what it is, and where it is too, in my opinion, but still appealing. I know we're all after different things, and have a bearing on what others in the NW section are after.

A house like that, but 3 bedrooms would suit me just fine, at my very lower end target requirements for a house. Except not an end-of-terrace like this one, for structural concerns. And for wall collision or scrape worries, with the wall of the house exposed to a busy road, and also a side road leading to other terraces.

Pretty enough refurb inside, but who knows what lies underneath...

Seems a little too "compact" to me, and the 2 bed is a no-no (as you said.)

I'd prefer a "very cheeky offer" on something like this instead (better location, schools, 3 bed, big(ish) garden, plenty of OS parking,...): http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34967485.html

Got to be worth one of those sub-£150k punts we were discussing.

[Venger]

Pretty enough refurb inside, but who knows what lies underneath...

Seems a little too "compact" to me, and the 2 bed is a no-no (as you said.)

I'd prefer a "very cheeky offer" on something like this instead (better location, schools, 3 bed, big(ish) garden, plenty of OS parking,...): http://www.rightmove...y-34967485.html

Got to be worth one of those sub-£150k punts we were discussing.

Yes a weak cutesy 'moment' from me there on the terrace. There's absolutely no doubt that Timperley semi is better value, and more so if in a catchment for good primary schools. That 3 bed semi is just more practical. Just have to wait for more supply, and owners of such homes to become amenable to lower offers . I really want more supply to come to market, and am hoping market conditions are going to bring that about.

I do actually like such semis, because practical is better over cutesy charm. (After sorting out a bigger kitchen.) Driveway, gardens, decent sized rooms, and probably the option for a building-regulations approved loft bedroom is required for a larger family. It just lacks something for me on external looks, but it's not a priority in anyway. It could be done up really nice and special inside but externally it's always going to be a standard 1950s* semi (*I think), on roads and roads of the same types of house. Practicality wins out though..

Again though it is elderly downsizer's home or similar. Those cheeky offers for such semis will hopefully be coming from someone else (£150K or below) to helping help it become the new norm before some further declines. It needs money and time spent on it for modernising, so I think £150K in this market would be a very good offer to the seller.

[Venger]

Had my eye on this since the day it was listed.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36788002.html

Especially because the auction house's own entry for it initially said 'Offers around £125,000'. Within 3 days they'd changed it to offers around same price as the Rightmove entry.

http://www.pugh-auctions.com/Agency/Property/28792

They were doing viewings but I couldn't get there on the first viewing slot. I've not checked about viewing availability since then, but did go to have a look around the outside independently. Since then passed by it 3 occasions, including today, and on each occasion someone there obviously looking it over. Including today, with a car that had just pulled up and two women walking onto the entrance path.

I presume it's a BTL repo. Always seem to see trampolines in the gardens of repos as well. The fact it benefits from a £4 per annum receivable rent suggests to me the garage to the side has been leased off at some point, perhaps to the owners of the big house on the other road - which is a lovely road. Hilltop Ave I think.

Still longer to go before other higher bidders fade away I suspect. If and when a times coming there will be less interest and less money for listings such as these, and preferably seeing more such listings hit the market.

Two other houses for sale on the same road/avenue.

£379,950 http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-30034780.html

£349,950 http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35298226.html

Couldn't get excited about it, even at prospect of them taking a £140K offer I was thinking of cheekily putting in. I reckon it would have been valued around £108K in 2000-2001 were it in smarter condition than it is now. Other superior houses on the road sold for between £133K - £170K around 2001-2002. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see it go for considerably more than guide, but having attended that other auction some months ago, I think the pool of buyers and money chasing it will have still decline markedly.

[Bootsox]

The bath made me laugh on that one, mind your head!

[jfk]

The bath made me laugh on that one, mind your head!

I was just thinking the same thing! ... can you see any plumbing?

[Venger]

The bath made me laugh on that one, mind your head!

Hehe it appears to be in the loft-conversion. The asking price gives me a real headache though; £379,950 for that.

Went for a drive around Cheadle Hulme, Bramhall and Woodford today and was slightly more encouraged with more for sale and to let boards up.

Went to the post-office on Mellor Road the other day. It's the road going uphill opposite Cheadle Hulme train station. Only one way in and out for vehicle traffic. In heavy rain it can flood at the bottom of Mellor Road, in the dip at the station road. Seen it occur two or three times.

Right next door to the Post Office I noticed a house. Had a let/sale board up outside. It's obviously been used as a commercial property for quite some time, but seemingly empty now.

Detached, two storey, office property with 9 car parking spaces and may suit alternative commercial uses or conversion to a residential dwelling or flats (subject to planning permission).

Thought maybe it had potential at a really low price. Another downside being the road is mostly commercial so you'd have few neighbours, and there's loads of school kids passing by it most days.

Turns out they're asking £195,000. Doesn't necessarily mean they will get near that. My own valuation for it, without residential planning in place, was below six figures. Hope to see some more of these commercial properties come on the market with conversion to residential prospects.

http://www.estatesgazette.com/propertylink/advert/quantum_house_32_mellor_road_cheadle_hulme_cheshire-cheadle_hulme_cheshire-3434814.htm

Edited January 16, 2013 by Venger

[Credulous]

Hehe it appears to be in the loft-conversion. The asking price gives me a real headache though; £379,950 for that.

Went for a drive around Cheadle Hulme, Bramhall and Woodford today and was slightly more encouraged with more for sale and to let boards up.

Went to the post-office on Mellor Road the other day. It's the road going uphill opposite Cheadle Hulme train station. Only one way in and out for vehicle traffic. In heavy rain it can flood at the bottom of Mellor Road, in the dip at the station road. Seen it occur two or three times.

Right next door to the Post Office I noticed a house. Had a let/sale board up outside. It's obviously been used as a commercial property for quite some time, but seemingly empty now.

Thought maybe it had potential at a really low price. Another downside being the road is mostly commercial so you'd have few neighbours, and there's loads of school kids passing by it most days.

Turns out they're asking £195,000. Doesn't necessarily mean they will get near that. My own valuation for it, without residential planning in place, was below six figures. Hope to see some more of these commercial properties come on the market with conversion to residential prospects.

http://www.estatesgazette.com/propertylink/advert/quantum_house_32_mellor_road_cheadle_hulme_cheshire-cheadle_hulme_cheshire-3434814.htm

Thought you might appreciate this one - prime Cheadle Hulme off Ack Lane and near your £315k three bed semi from the Wilmslow thread (For a cool £140k less). Of course its already under offer as on at a reasonable price:

Romsey Drive, Cheadle Hulme

Not a big fan of Dormer windows, but I'd take it at the price for that area of Cheadle Hulme....

[Credulous]

Thought you might appreciate this one - prime Cheadle Hulme off Ack Lane and near your £315k three bed semi from the Wilmslow thread (For a cool £140k less). Of course its already under offer as on at a reasonable price:

Romsey Drive, Cheadle Hulme

Not a big fan of Dormer windows, but I'd take it at the price for that area of Cheadle Hulme....

Just noticed your Heathbank road was a 4 bed....

[Venger]

Thought you might appreciate this one - prime Cheadle Hulme off Ack Lane and near your £315k three bed semi from the Wilmslow thread (For a cool £140k less). Of course its already under offer as on at a reasonable price:

Romsey Drive, Cheadle Hulme

Not a big fan of Dormer windows, but I'd take it at the price for that area of Cheadle Hulme....

£179,950.

Thanks. One little niggle is it gets really busy in the mornings and afternoons with that school (Hursthead?) directly outside the only entrance/exit for that house on Romsey Drive.

(Don't like dormer bungalows. Our first family home was similar and it seemed colder upstairs then regular builds. No real wall to help retain heat, but just plasterboard walls and then the roof tiles. In the loft corridor running around our dormer I was warned not to play in because of asbestos.)

Also I don't particularly like the way the side of the house runs right next to the public footpath. Sorry to annoy you with being very fussy. Even with fence panels which run alongside the path, I'd always have a bit of extra concern with leaving young children out to play in the back garden, unless under constant supervision.

I think overall I'd prefer this house, for price, but even then I've got reservations. It went on the market at £140K, and then to sealed bids. In my mind, the bids they received won't have been above £140K.

http://www.rightmove...y-23815284.html

Ok perhaps your example is in a pocket of a better location overall, with only a minor downsides of the school so nearby. You example is close to the edge of Cheadle Hulme and Bramhall, and is considered to be the better, more desirable area. If I had to choose between the two houses, I'd still take the one on the Circuit I think.

Spent quite a lot of time in one of those houses on that circuit; family home of a girl I once knew. (I was surprised to see Woods Lane school kids now have smart black uniforms.) Reasonably sized homes, build quality looks adequate and better than dormer style.

Closer to the train station, and less of a hectic walk to it, off the main roads, cutting down the back roads, onto Hilltop, onto beautiful Swann Lane, and then down the path past Chads, down quiet Mellor Road, coming out at the pedestrian crossing directly outside the train station.

Fear is, once I'm committed wouldn't be able to take advantage of any special opportunities which might come to market for someone who can move fast on them.* Maybe if it was 2009 again I'd think differently, knowing what I know now. Then again we might have another 5 years of it.

* eg: there's that auction coming up for the house on Hulme Hall Avenue... and if not that one then there may be others coming to market under similar circumstances. Although I don't rule out them going for much higher than guide, as lots of people out there who seem still in a position to push up prices on anything that looks particularly good value.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Venger

[R K]

Thought you might appreciate this one - prime Cheadle Hulme off Ack Lane and near your £315k three bed semi from the Wilmslow thread (For a cool £140k less). Of course its already under offer as on at a reasonable price:

Romsey Drive, Cheadle Hulme

Not a big fan of Dormer windows, but I'd take it at the price for that area of Cheadle Hulme....

Excellent location especially if you have primary age kids. Hurstead is a beacon school and excellent ofsteds.

Perfect for SYNT but he simply won't listen

[Venger]

Excellent location especially if you have primary age kids. Hurstead is a beacon school and excellent ofsteds.

Perfect for SYNT but he simply won't listen

Possibly for the location, and the points you make for quality of school and ofsteds, but I'm not sure about that particular house on that drive. I don't see it as value (sorry Credulous).

This house very nearby sold for £154,000 at auction in late 2011. Had belonged to GMP, although I don't know the purposes for why they owned it... safe-house maybe, house trainee policemen or those on secondment. Although it's not pretty, and pebbledash again, and no idea of its structural or internal state.

http://www.theauctio...er/20110908/101

I notice someone bought that wreck of a semi on Fountains Road last year. Towards where Peter (edit) Paul Parker (MUFC) used to live (maybe that MUFC Dutch reserve goalkeeper after him). Was being done up last time I passed, but there's no record of what it sold for. Possibly another selective opportunity for better value for the buyer.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Venger

[R K]

Possibly for the location, and the points you make for quality of school and ofsteds, but I'm not sure about that particular house on that drive. I don't see it as value (sorry Credulous).

snip

Out of interest how many houses have you viewed? I don't mean online, I mean booked and viewed inside?

[19 year mortgage 8itch]

Excellent location especially if you have primary age kids. Hurstead is a beacon school and excellent ofsteds.

Perfect for SYNT but he simply won't listen

Whilst this isn't a dick swinging contest, 77sqm would not satisfy anyone. I'm inclined to think that the Bellfield House flats are bigger.

If I could go back 10 years I would have made the missus get a job at JL instead and Cheadle would be perfect. Alas.

[Venger]

Out of interest how many houses have you viewed? I don't mean online, I mean booked and viewed inside?

Haven't viewed any for sale. Seems little point when the asking prices are very much beyond what I consider reasonable value. Viewed many rentals.

Does it make any difference? Yes I might be taken by any house I view, but it's not going to change my thoughts about values. Viewing is not going to alter my perceptions on whether it externally looks like a nice house.

Oh I did ring to view that house on Hulme Hall Avenue a few weeks ago. The house going to auction later this month. We just couldn't get there on the first viewing day they offered us. They were doing group-viewings. We asked if they'd be doing more of them and they said yes, but I didn't follow it up. So I went and viewed it from outside, as I have done a few other houses.

I do know that house very well. Walked down Yew Tree Park Road many times, on my way home from school. Still occasionally stop in to see relatives nearby. There's the grumpy big guy at the newsagents on the row of shops around the corner. The barbers which has just opened up, run by an 18 year old young man, helping to fund his passage through university. Susan and Richard at the off-licence nearby. I've got all the necessary information to hand, and will view when there are more opportunities for value.

[R K]

Haven't viewed any for sale.

I'm puzzled how you can form any view about any houses if you've not stepped foot in any of them.

Last time I bought I probably viewed something like 40 to 50.

The best time to view is when the market's flat, there's lots of supply and you're not busy getting gazumped etc etc.

Not surprised by your answer, but perplexed by your strategy. If not now, when?

[Venger]

I'm puzzled how you can form any view about any houses if you've not stepped foot in any of them.

Last time I bought I probably viewed something like 40 to 50.

The best time to view is when the market's flat, there's lots of supply and you're not busy getting gazumped etc etc.

Not surprised by your answer, but perplexed by your strategy. If not now, when?

Perhaps never....

I'm expecting more supply. I don't see supply on the market as you see it, and expect more to come to market (and last year was an improvement with that, and signs look promising for this year), with fewer buyers able or willing to pay near the asking prices.

Also many other variables like older people needing to sell or downsize. Supply has been improving slightly this past year.

The consequences coming for those who've spent last few years shifting their capital out of the banks, not happy with low yielding savings accounts, into riskier investments (including BTL), when the banks are in need of capital. A core of capital is what supports all the other investments leveraged with debt, and it's been shrinking a lot.

17th December 2012

A report by property search website Rightmove predicts an average rise of 2 per cent in sellers’ asking prices in 2013, thanks to increased competition among mortgage lenders and a continued shortage of homes.

28 January 2013

The number of new properties hitting the London property market rose 29 percent from a year earlier. If that becomes a trend, Rightmove said it could help to better balance supply and demand and slow house-price growth.

Rightmove report January 2013

Signs of ‘green shoots’ as property coming to market up 22% year-on-year

I'm pretty confident in my own strategy, and if I'm wrong, I suffer. Putting off ownership now is not so bad, if you're minded to think there is better buying value to come. Or some selective opportunities that require someone well-positioned to move on quickly, and perhaps ever fewer people in such a position to do so.

Last six months I've been fortunate to have savings to fall back on. Expensive 6 months, including private healthcare fees and further treatments lined up (but I'm in very good health overall). Those costs seem insignificant against some opportunities I expect for value in the housing market, although it's fine if you disagree.

[Venger]

Looks like the owner might have croaked.

5 bed house on Hill Top Ave: £750,000

Maybe as it's a lovely road, but evermore of these homes coming to market are going to be hard to shift, at the heights they've risen to over the decades, and the boom decade especially. I rate many homes on Hill Top Ave above it... including all the semis.... don't like how it is on the corner of Upton, where you get a lot of school-kids and parents cars passing/parking.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40462859.html

A 6 bed house on Hill Top Ave: £750,000

Awful conservatory. Sunlounge too. Bet it makes the lounge and other parts of the house cold in winter, with no door to seal off the conservatory nor sunlounge.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-35718721.html

Half-finished development still trying to find a buyer, at a price we mostly all agreed on before is... optimistic. Or did we mostly put it down to the area it's in. Both in my view.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-23674110.html

[Credulous]

Possibly for the location, and the points you make for quality of school and ofsteds, but I'm not sure about that particular house on that drive. I don't see it as value (sorry Credulous).

No need for an apology. I'm in full agreement with you that most housing is ludicrously priced compared to actual incomes. That one to me just seemed slightly more reasonable than most in that area. The adjoining house (I think) seems to have gone on at Offers Over £190k today:

Link

Hill Top Avenue is really nice, but I don't think I'll be shelling out £750k for a house there any time soon.... The parents of one of my childhood friend's live there. Enormous semi. Massive garden. Cellar. Lovely people. They're a good demonstration of the generational differences though as they had fairly ordinary jobs (although comfortably middle class), and I doubt similar success today would equate to a house like that. Ho hum - suppose all you can do is the best you can with the hand you are dealt....

[Venger]

No need for an apology. I'm in full agreement with you that most housing is ludicrously priced compared to actual incomes. That one to me just seemed slightly more reasonable than most in that area. The adjoining house (I think) seems to have gone on at Offers Over £190k today:

Link

Interesting. My property-bee isn't giving me any indication it's under offer though. I won't disagree there is still buying demand out there, to pay far beyond what I consider to be value, but fear it's stimulated by unsustainable policy.

I have to say, I think the Romsey Drive houses are very expensive for what they are. They do look 'reasonable' when compared to other houses in the area, but I'd suggest those other houses generally offer more in terms of build and space, and are prone to falling in value as well.

The time before last I went to the shops on Fountains Road, I parked my car in the entrance to Romsey Drive. It wasn't school peak hours for drop off and collection, but there had been a huge delivery vehicle blocking the way in front of the shops as I was pulling up. Didn't try behind the shops, where there is some parking, although perhaps for the residents in the flats above the shops. I was only quickly going in the new convenience shop (ex Spar, ex Costcutters) shop.

Hill Top Avenue is really nice, but I don't think I'll be shelling out £750k for a house there any time soon.... The parents of one of my childhood friend's live there. Enormous semi. Massive garden. Cellar. Lovely people. They're a good demonstration of the generational differences though as they had fairly ordinary jobs (although comfortably middle class), and I doubt similar success today would equate to a house like that. Ho hum - suppose all you can do is the best you can with the hand you are dealt....

Exactly. Although I'd like to see rising young career people such as yourselves much better positioned for such homes, with such homes falling back a long way in value. The gap needs to narrow. I can't see how it can be sustained.

By the sounds of it your strategy places you quite well, to take advantage if we see that, whilst offering you both protection if it does not occur.

Edited February 9, 2013 by Venger

[Venger]

Had my eye on this since the day it was listed.

http://www.rightmove...y-36788002.html

Especially because the auction house's own entry for it initially said 'Offers around £125,000'. Within 3 days they'd changed it to offers around same price as the Rightmove entry.

It's another house in Cheadle Hulme with some sort of police connection.

http://www.theauctionpeople.co/Lot/Manchester/20130228/261

Confirmed elsewhere:

A three bedroom semi-detached house offered for sale at auction on behalf of the Police & Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester.

http://www.urbanvision.org.uk/services/property-services/properties-for-sale/

[Sharpey]

It's another house in Cheadle Hulme with some sort of police connection.

http://www.theauctionpeople.co/Lot/Manchester/20130228/261

Confirmed elsewhere:

A three bedroom semi-detached house offered for sale at auction on behalf of the Police & Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester.

http://www.urbanvision.org.uk/services/property-services/properties-for-sale/

Had my eye on this myself but didn't want to run the risk of not completing within the 28 days. Appears to have sold today. Need to wait for the site to update to see the sold price.

http://www.theauctionpeople.co/Lot/Manchester/20130228/261

[Venger]

Had my eye on this myself but didn't want to run the risk of not completing within the 28 days. Appears to have sold today. Need to wait for the site to update to see the sold price.

http://www.theauctio...er/20130228/261

If you've got PropertyBee and click on the rightmove link, they've changed the status. It's also in the description field.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36788002.html

The status change is also in the description field.

The property was offered on 28/02/2013 and remains available.

It was first listed on Rightmove for the auction taking place today (28th Feb 2013), on 07 December 2012. The description says it's vacant too.

Looks like they didn't get an acceptable bid. Don't know if it failed to meet Guide Price at the auction, or whether there was an additional reserve price as well. It didn't sell though.

[Sharpey]

If you've got PropertyBee and click on the rightmove link, they've changed the status. It's also in the description field.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36788002.html

The status change is also in the description field.

The property was offered on 28/02/2013 and remains available.

It was first listed on Rightmove for the auction taking place today (28th Feb 2013), on 07 December 2012. The description says it's vacant too.

Looks like they didn't get an acceptable bid. Don't know if it failed to meet Guide Price at the auction, or whether there was an additional reserve price as well. It didn't sell though.

Hmmm.... interesting. The auction site is now stating a sold price of £256,000 (which would be silly money for that house!!). I smell a rat.