Property Snake Website

[bomberbrown]

Already covered yesterday in a couple of threads:

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/ind...15&start=15

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=48223

<snip>

And this is what I said yesterday:

Fellow bears, one thought.

I wonder just how many of these 'reductions' are simply corrected typos of incorrect initial listings? See this one for example:

http://www.propertysnake.co.uk/site/detail/1815213

£300k for a Mandella House Ex LA flat in Bethnal Green for Gods sake!!!!!

[ripandcap]

To see 40% reductions like this people must be in a hurry to sell fast. They may be repos or like us they can just see the crash coming.

[Waiting Patiently]

........Is the website accurately and/or truthfully plotting these alleged reductions ?

I have my doubts.

It's "accurately and'or truthfully plotting " the price reductions that I was already aware of here in Glos. It seems bang on the nail to me though I don't doubt there may be some inaccuracies to be found throughout their whole database.

[jock1967]

And this is what I said yesterday:

Fellow bears, one thought.

I wonder just how many of these 'reductions' are simply corrected typos of incorrect initial listings? See this one for example:

http://www.propertysnake.co.uk/site/detail/1815213

£300k for a Mandella House Ex LA flat in Bethnal Green for Gods sake!!!!!

Something to be wary of no doubt. But all of the reductions listed for my area appear to be genuine reductions. Whether this is due to sellers speculating with initially high asking prices and becoming more realistic OR sellers already asking what they think are realistic prices that they have to reduce due to potential buyers acknowledging the market is overpriced is open to question.

[bomberbrown]

Something to be wary of no doubt. But all of the reductions listed for my area appear to be genuine reductions. Whether this is due to sellers speculating with initially high asking prices and becoming more realistic OR sellers already asking what they think are realistic prices that they have to reduce due to potential buyers acknowledging the market is overpriced is open to question.

True.

What would really put the icing on the cake for this website is if it also listed the previous selling price and date (obtained from the LR figures or gleaned from houseprices.co.uk).

That would weed out typos and completely unrealistic expectations I guess.

Edited May 28, 2007 by bomberbrown

[Leonard Hatred]

Does anyone know how long its been up and running and who runs it? There was a chap who frequented this site who was able to capture this data for his area, up North if I remember. I wonder if it's him who has perfected his software and broadened his search.

Domain name was registered on 19th March, but no other info apart from a PO Box (always sensible with domain names, BTW!)

[mikester]

Interesting find! Nothing happening here though (Oxford), just the reductions one sees all the time (from people who have priced above the market rate).

[Nathan]

finally prices in york are starting to drop left right and centre. forty eight pages of dropping property prices in york, ten properties to a page, and some of these are even in double digit reductions (ie over -10%), great!!

[redwing]

I agree it is a great site however it isn't the right time for it to have greatest impact. When the average reduction is 10% rather than 2-3% then I, for one, will be interested.

Yes but, no but.

In order to be able to see the rate of change in asking prices down the line the site needs to be collecting data now.

My gut feel is that we're pretty much at the top now, so it's a good time for a site like this to appear.

[scottbeard]

To see 40% reductions like this people must be in a hurry to sell fast. They may be repos or like us they can just see the crash coming.

I can't see anyone reducing their asking price by 40% in anticipation of a crash - that's like tipping a bucket of water over your head because you think it's going to rain this afternoon.

You also have to be careful: a reduction in the asking price of a house is not the same as a fall in the house price.

Suppose a house has a current "fair" market value of £200,000. If it is put on the market for £215,000 it will probably sell, but people won't pay the asking price - they will offer a reduced £200,000. This is how most of us selling are advised to set an asking price: a bit higher than what you'd really accept. If it is put on the market at £250,000 it probably will not sell - people won't pay £250k for it and they will usually assume the seller wouldn't accept bids way lower than the asking price.

If that house is subsequently re-priced at £200,000, the property snake website will show a 20% reduction - and the house will sell.

So property snake is a great website for those looking to buy a house at a currently good price - but it is not in itself evidence of any geneal fall in prices across the UK housing market.

[Nathan]

still, sentimentally its good news. a short time ago there'd have been no 'DOWNS' on the site at all.

[Second Time Around]

still, sentimentally its good news. a short time ago there'd have been no 'DOWNS' on the site at all.

Yes. We are no longer in gazumping territory. Propertysnake will come into its own once the market goes downwards along with the Land Registry data for actual sold prices.

[Nickolarge]

Sold signs - Subject to contract by any chance ?

OK, so the reductions are repeated a few times. If the property market is still healthy, why am I seeing so many properties for sale ? Why are so many properties taking so long to sell ? Why did one of my customers fail to sell his property after being on the market for over 12 months (that was last year) ? The crash may not be here, but it`s near

The repeated listings will either be properties on with multiple agents or advertised on more than one property website.

[mikester]

I saw some discussion of this website elsewhere, where people were actually making the point that the primary beneficiary of the site is buyers (as it provides them with more info - how desperate is the seller). So perhaps it will help to drive up prices!

[Frank Hovis]

You also have to be careful: a reduction in the asking price of a house is not the same as a fall in the house price.

No but asking price is the entire basis of the Nationwide, Halifax, Rightmove indices so it's all we've had to refer to for years till the Land Registry data started.

[Waiting Patiently]

I can't see anyone reducing their asking price by 40% in anticipation of a crash - that's like tipping a bucket of water over your head because you think it's going to rain this afternoon.

You also have to be careful: a reduction in the asking price of a house is not the same as a fall in the house price.

Suppose a house has a current "fair" market value of £200,000. If it is put on the market for £215,000 it will probably sell, but people won't pay the asking price - they will offer a reduced £200,000. This is how most of us selling are advised to set an asking price: a bit higher than what you'd really accept. If it is put on the market at £250,000 it probably will not sell - people won't pay £250k for it and they will usually assume the seller wouldn't accept bids way lower than the asking price.

If that house is subsequently re-priced at £200,000, the property snake website will show a 20% reduction - and the house will sell.

So property snake is a great website for those looking to buy a house at a currently good price - but it is not in itself evidence of any geneal fall in prices across the UK housing market.

So you made your first post on HPC especially to tell us that did you?

This new propertysnake site must have you estate agents cr@pping yourselves

[redwing]

Aside from the price changes, I really like being able to see properties coming and going. The site seems to capture the STC then 'unexpectedly back on the market' syndrome.

e.g.

date event

28 Mar 2007 First day listed (price £295,000)

13 Apr 2007 Status changed from sold to listed

16 Apr 2007 Price changed from £295,000 to £275,000

15 May 2007 Status changed from listed to sold

23 May 2007 Price changed from £275,000 to £260,000 Status changed from sold to listed

On and off like a whore's knickers.

Now that's a nice feature for buyers. They'll find it much easier to spot desperate sellers who've had a couple or more sales fall through.

[bill65]

Aside from the price changes, I really like being able to see properties coming and going. The site seems to capture the STC then 'unexpectedly back on the market' syndrome.

e.g.

On and off like a whore's knickers.

Now that's a nice feature for buyers. They'll find it much easier to spot desperate sellers who've had a couple or more sales fall through.

In my experience they don't wear any LOL!

[Second Time Around]

Aside from the price changes, I really like being able to see properties coming and going. The site seems to capture the STC then 'unexpectedly back on the market' syndrome.

e.g.

On and off like a whore's knickers.

Now that's a nice feature for buyers. They'll find it much easier to spot desperate sellers who've had a couple or more sales fall through.

Then use the Land Registry data to see how much it was bought for and you can see what scope exists to negotiate. Once the correction begins more "problem" properties will appear which exhibit the on/off syndrome that is masked during "boom" times when pretty well everything is eagerly snapped up. If you are looking for a bargain these are the ones to target; give it two or three years after the correction gets underway and there will be many more of these.

At the moment I suspect Scotbeard has a point and many of the price adjustments are not due to a correction, but as the number of unsold properties mount up (which appears to be happening in some areas) the first signs of price drops amongst the more desperate vendors in order to tempt buyers will be easier to pick up using Propertysnake.

[Starcrossed]

Not having read the whole thread, I'm unsure whether anyone else is going to use the website the same way as I am.

I plan to copy the first page for my postcode (Exeter) Devon and the whole UK every few days and compare the results over time on this site.

Good site!

[@contradevian]

Seems a good site (and appears to work with Firefox).

http://www.propertysnake.co.uk/site/detail/1070215

Ontario Tower is just up't road from me and in the process of being built. Can see

prices in there dropping down below £300k

Not sure what a 0 bedroom apartment is though, probably a studio or a cupboard with a

view.

[Guest Charlie The Tramp]

I have spent an hour checking the 135 reductions in my area 40% of this number were repeats, some multiple.

The average drops are 3%.

Since February asking prices in my area, up to an additional £50k has been added to these asking prices.

One example

3 bedroom semi-detached £269,950 £259,950 DOWN 3%

The same type property was sold for £245k in March 2007 according to OurProperty.co.uk.

So they added £25k and dropped £10k and the buyer thought he got a bargain.

All the tricks in the EAs books are now being applied in my area and it appears to be working.

I admit this is only my area but another poster has come across these sudden overbloated prices in their area.

[jonpo]

Seems a good site (and appears to work with Firefox).

http://www.propertysnake.co.uk/site/detail/1070215

Ontario Tower is just up't road from me and in the process of being built. Can see

prices in there dropping down below £300k

Not sure what a 0 bedroom apartment is though, probably a studio or a cupboard with a

view.

a 1/3rd of a million is a lot to charge for a shoebox in a bland tower block 4 DLR stops from canary wharf.

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

I saw some discussion of this website elsewhere, where people were actually making the point that the primary beneficiary of the site is buyers (as it provides them with more info - how desperate is the seller). So perhaps it will help to drive up prices!

If you know that a seller is desperate, surely you would offer less not more. How would this drive prices up?

[@contradevian]

a 1/3rd of a million is a lot to charge for a shoebox in a bland tower block 4 DLR stops from canary wharf.

You can walk to Canary Wharf from there in 15 mins. Getting the DLR would be silly starting out at say Blackwall, changing at Poplar to get on the Lewisham branch would take you longer. As well as a busy main road to cross to get to the DLR in the first place (though a footbridge and new park are planned).