pslewis

Hi I am thinking of moving into a smaller house - it has loads more land and is in Postion, Position, Position if you get my meaning!!

Now, the houses coming up as sold round our way seem to be far and distant - so, has the market topped out?? is the downward adjustment about to happen?? I am on the Berks/Hants border and our house is valued at around £300k ............... BUT if there IS going to be a drop I would rather get £200k for mine and buy at £250k!!

Anyone in the moving process? anyone just moved? anyone thinking of it? anyone with a pulse on the 'here and now'??

These stupid prices hurt everyone - luckily I have a tiny mortgage

Also, why should an Estate Agent want £4500 to sell my house whereas 12 months ago he would have sold it for £3000??? cheeky b4stards!! Also, why is it more expensive to sell a £50000 house than a £300000 house?? it isnt is it??!!! I hate them so much! I may sell private again its easy peasey!!

Pete

Kevin Mc

The lenders have asked the Bank of England to raise interest rates to dampen down house price rises before it does go 1980's style.

Whether this will have any affect on the house buying public is anyone's guess. Personally I think they are peaking, though think prices will level or drop slightly rather than crash.

Certainly houses near me (Leicestershire) that were selling in days, are now unsold after a few weeks. Maybe people are hanging on for reductions???

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

chuckster

Estate agents are good at sales, be tough, offer them a 1 month sole agency agrement and 1% commision, see what they counter with.
2 of my neighbors have sold in the past 2 months. Both 'crappy' 2 bed mews style (terraces). First guy, 2 months ago offers his for £130k and sells it in 2 days. Next guy puts his identical (but mid terrace) place up 2 weeks ago and sells it for £138k within 24 hours of it going on the market. My place is valued about £150k more than I paid 3 years ago.
However...the (IMHO) goverment backed media propaganda wagon has started rolling - every tabloid carries stories of negative equity, starving children and SUbaru owners who can't afford to touch up their gold alloys...should rates rise and all the over-borrowed masses suddenly realise they cant afford the loans...
It's a tough time to get a big mortgage, but if you are mostly cash then buy the place, even if the market goes down you live where you want to live, and you've only lost in equity what you made 'for free' in the past 4 years.
Regards
Chuck

stephen emery

Prices r still on the rise but not for much longer.
depending on ya location.
lincs is the place to buy.
extending the M11 to sunny grimsby
First motorway through lincs
steve

Steve Perriam

i am just looking to buy a house.

nothing to sell.

just me atm so a big mortgage to get anything of any size and then stories of prices levelling or dropping soon......

and of an interest rate rise to

so i dont know what to do. see something you like, it goes quick or within a short time it suddenly goes up in price !! greed or what ?

so i'm probably gonna hang on a bit......like i hope lots more people do and see if that can stop these stupid prices rises.

Jen

Don't know too much about it, can confirm that in south hants houses that used to sell in hours (we brought ours before the owner had agreed the leaflety thing) are remaining unsold...I'd hang on a bit, there's alot about it in the news atm

Tiggs

i live just outside reading pete and have just bought a house of similar value to you- we bought it quick, the others we viewed like it sold quick- simple as that, and most went for near to asking price at least.

also we paid 1%.

T

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

1% here too. Estate agents will do anything to get your business atm.

Just bought a brand new 3-bed semi with drive & garage in a desirable area for £130k in Kent Not built til October tho

Not too fussed if prices do downturn because I made a fair whack on the old place and I'll be living in a nice house in a nice area.

My advice is, if you like the house buy it. Lifes too short to worry about it.

druddle

The whole thing frightens me. I bought a 2 bed place in Bracknell in Nov 1996 for 60k, and sold it last Nov for more than double that.

The house we have bought has increased in value at an alarming rate, the one up the road thats identical sold for 32k more than we paid for ours 7 months ago

I hope the mortgage rates dont go up alot but i fear they will

Dave

sillysi

My girlfriend is an estate agent in the Cheshire area and can see no downturn in the house prices at the moment. They are struggling to match the demand for houses even at todays high prices. Many are being bought on the buy to let schemes but she has noticed that there seems to be a glut of properties to rent at the moment. These people are going to be hit the hardest with interest rate rises as they have vacant properties. One word of advice if selling is, rather that accepting the estate agents fee of say 1% go in and quote your own price in cash and you will probably get what you want. If not tell them that you will take your business elsewhere, it does work!

Si.

DavidRB

So who's on a variable rate and who's on a fixed/capped rate then?

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Discounted for 2 years then I'll review it.

druddle

Capped for another 2 1/2 yrs.

ScoobyJawa

Fixed But it runs out in Feb so I'll be on the lookout again

sillysi

I have got an Egg Saver Mortgage with a variable rate of 4.74%. My savings are offset against my mortgage so I only pay interest on the difference.

father_jack

I just lost out on buying a house on Wednesday.

I only went 108k over the asking price - it went for 180k over offers thats Edinburgh for ya.

imlach

Edinburgh prices - yep, sounds normal.

The asking prices in Edinburgh are WAY below what they are looking for.

I went for somewhere, and I missed out by loads. It went for £90k over the VALUATION - yes, that's right - £90k over what the survey said it was worth - it was £150k over asking price.

In the end, the place I got I paid £95k over the asking price, and my offer was the highest of 16 offers, and I only beat the two nearest offers by £1k.


[Edited by imlach - 6/28/2002 12:39:19 PM]

Steve Perriam

think i'll buy a tent and live in that instead

Fullonloon

As a first time buyer, I just bought somewhere for 160k. I'm pretty sure prices will still rise bot not at the rate we have been seeing. They will rise for sure this year then settle next year to a lower rate. Interest rate must stay the same, maybe rise slightly but it has to decrease to go in-line with the rest of Europe. By putting it off you will price yourself out of the market. I think if you can afford it, buy now and you will make money on it this year. By next year depending on the location you should see a rise... Can you afford for it to go up another 10,000 at least? Well that's just my view...

scoob_babe

move further north if you are able to (our flat here is now allegedly worth 2 the price of a 3 bedroomed detached near sunny Grimsby!)

scoob_babe

been muppeting too long
sorry

pslewis

Decided to 'Smarten' our house up and get an Estate Agent in to value (well, three really) - a house will sell in any market, eventually. If its at the right price .......... very hard to price a house in the 'Perfect' position isnt it?!

I sold and bought through the last decline, it was tough watching your house decrease in value by £500 a month (we were selling at £80k then too!!!) - when we did finally sell, after 24 months of trying on and off!! were able to buy our current house at a 'bargain' price too .......... its the way round that I, personally, like to do business. I HATE it when its a frenzied mad mess, ok, I will sell in days - but the stress!!

Thanks for your answers - another one then, should I spend money decorating and tidying the old place up?? is it worth it in a sellers market??

Pete

stevem2k

Just need to do the bare minimum pete... lick of paint (always neutral colours - white / cream are favourites) lose anything that could be described as clutter, fix anything glaringly obvious to someone wandering round.

Still a sellers market in the SE .... but you might squeeze your 1/2 of the moving costs out on top of the realistic price if you do a weekends work...

My flat went in 3 1/2 hours from the estate agent leaving for the full (wildly optimistic) asking price.

Steve

pslewis

I have just spent £100 today on hanging baskets, plants and flowers - and paint - all aimed at the front of the house, as I reckon you can sell the house while they walk up the gravel drive!! The inside is just the icing - THEN - kill them with a walk around the rear garden to the sound of the waterfall into the pond, let them throw a few pellets to the starving Koi Carp and ya got 'em!! YES??

Pete

[Edited by pslewis - 6/29/2002 12:28:52 AM]

Luke

"Hanging Baskets"?????????? Pete, you have lost the plot!!!

David Lock

Hi Pete,
Read thread with interest as we curently have house on the market (Surrey/Sussex borders). A big place with a couple of acres and we are looking for something smaller. Have learnt quite a bit in the process and the thing that really hurts is the agents fees and stamp duty. At the higher end of the market around here it's 2-3% fees and say 4% duty. I would cheerfully shoot all agents. Fees should be a fixed sum plus say a percentage as you are quite right that it costs the same to sell a 100k place as 500k. I even asked my agent who was selling a £2m pad if the fee scale was the same and answer yes. Greedy sods. Also agree with comments above about tidying place up to sell. We have spent quite a time on light pastel painting and clearing away clutter. And don't forget the obvious like dogs outside and hide the ashtrays if that applies to you. Oh and BTW we do have a Koi pond with waterfall!!!
I think the market will remain strong for a while and even if rates move by a couple of points mortgages still won't be too bad. A good net source for looking at the market in SE is www.sussexlife.com as they have a good property section with a decent filter so you can see what has come on the market in say the last 5 days in any area of your choice. If anyone looking for a decent family home (4200 ft2) in my patch please mail me. Good luck. David

mbc

bought my house in august last year for 160k,now worth 10 months later 200k,40k rise but what really does that do for me,it means nothing un less i move further north or abroad which i aint gonna do,so who benefits from this,i think its very very unfair on fist time buyers

pslewis

David - thanks good answer, yes the agents are taking the pee - or should that be fee??

Luke - yes, hanging baskets - they look very good in the reflection on the gold wheels sweetie

Pete

fast bloke

I would guess that no quite yet would have been the correct answer

Brendan Hughes