Three Years And Nothing Has Moved

[laughing_goat]

More for info, rather than discussion.

As you may or may not know, I sold my Studio flat just shy of 3 years ago so I could move in with my Boyfriend, he rented a 2 bed house, rent was same as my mortgage. We intended to buy a place together after a trial period of living together (say 6 months to year). After six months though, it became obvious that buying was not an option.

I put the money into gold until late march of this year, it's now sitting in my ING account as I can't decide what to do with it (I know, I need to hurry up).

My flat was a top floor studio maisonette with a tiny, but useful attic, a couple lived in the studio flat below.

When I sold my place, I priced it (I believe) fairly. As a result it sold quickly and for the full asking price in late 2003. Another identical flat was marketed with a higher price than mine, but eventually sold in January 2004 for less than mine (the seller's flat would have been repossessed had he not gotten rid of it quick smart). Since then nothing has been sold, between 7 and 15 flats have been up for sale since, one even went STC earlier this year, but eventually this fell through. My old flat even went up for sale with an extra £30,000 on the asking price without so much as a wall being painted since I sold the place (it even had that same curtains). It furnished the books of at least 3 estate agents for the best part of a year but none of them could shift it, despite trying to market the attic as a 'possible bedroom/study'.

The couple who lived below me built a small box on the side of their flat, so they could call it a 1 bed flat, but still no interest.

The area I am talking about is a 30 mins walk from a mainline station into London, in a (less desirable, but OK, part) of a 'sort after' town. Yet at the moment nothing is moving off the EA's books.

The vendor's had their chance to lower their asking prices but chose to waste more money on trying to 'achieve' the asking price instead or invent extra rooms (anyone viewing these places would have been very disapointed).

Now anyone looking at nethouseprices will be seeing that no one has bought in this area for 3 years and draw their own conclusions as to why.

So when my colleges and increasingly property obsessed family tell me that I shouldn't have sold my flat and to think about how much money I've lost, I sit quitely and inwardly smile. I learnt a long time ago that there's no point in trying to explain it to them.

Edited October 6, 2006 by laughing_goat