House [ Andy, have you not got anything better to do :) ]
As some of you may be aware, I've been trying to buy a house since April '07 this year. Still no progress despite finding two properties and making sensible offers. So what has happened?
Prices Now Sliding - Official
With the HBOS et al all showing price drops we are now back to early 2007 prices and still heading downwards at a great rate. If this crash goes like the others it will bottom out in around 18 months time (Q3 2009). Great news for me, £10k's off what I will pay, cash buyer, no chain. Might see you in 2009 if you are selling!
I would just like to say a big thank you to Gordon Brown (Crash Gordon ?!?) for finally buggering it all up. Sort of compensates for the massive extra taxes I've been paying. What an idiot.
I know a lot of you will be saying 'my house won't drop', 'its different this time' etc etc...Well I suggest you look for yourself. Seeing is believing after all. Check out this plug-in for Firefox, Property Bee. It allows you track changes on the rightmove web site. Give it a week or two then see what has happened. Where I'm looking, Bracknell has already had drops of between 10% and 20% since the new year. Excellent!
Not So Breaking News - House Prices Still Sliding
Another 1.1% in November. So, including inflation, that is around a drop of around 15% per year. On a £250,000 property (Quite cheap for the South of England) then that equates to an earning net amount of around £40,000. (In the order of £55,000 earnings using present tax, national insurance etc). Ouch.
So, like so many others I'm now out of the house buying market. Why purchase a depreciating asset?
Breaking News - House Prices Sliding
Well, what do you know. Prices are going into reverse at last. All of a sudden I'm a rare commodity, a buyer with no chain and cash. Trouble is, like most buyers in my situation, I ain't buying without a nice fat discount now. A small economics lesson to vendors, your house is not worth what you ask, its worth what someone will pay and in most places this is between 10% and 20% below what you think, and definitely below what your estate agent said!
For amusing reading see this site.
I would just like to send a personal thanks to Northern Rock for setting the house price crash ball rolling. Ta :)
Vendors - A Short History
Vendor 1 - Made offer then the vendor vanishes. No contact. Zilch. Nothing. Sod all. Three months on, still won't talk to the estate agent. Hello!, why put a house up for sale, get people to view it then act like a trappist?- duh!
Ok. Vendor has decided to become a hermit. Lets just accept that and move on....
Vendor 2 - Usual story, find house, make offer, get into negotiations. Eventually get to an agreeable price so make formal final offer. Vendor suddenly takes an offer to rent the house out for a year. WTF? Why go through all the hassle of selling a place if you want to rent it out? Ok, where do I send my bill for time & expenses?
Note: As things have turned out, if he had sold the house to me he would not have suffered the recent price drop. All in all, he is losing a lot of money now on the property, far more than any rent will make up. Nice to see greed gets its own rewards sometimes :)
Estate Agents - Why Won't You Listen?
A brief list of things I've found looking at houses after estate agents have assured me they are 'just what I'm looking for'....With apologies to the one very notable and honest exception I've dealt with....
When I say 'Semi / End Terrace', I don't mean a mid terrace. Really. I don't.
When I say 'Off Road Parking', I don't mean communal parking half a days walk away
When I say 'Off Road Parking', I don't mean a garden covered in gravel that is so small you would have problems getting a Smart Car onto it
When I say 'Off Road Parking', I don't mean a garden covered in concrete where you have not even bothered to get a drop kerb sorted out
When I say 'Garage', I don't mean something so small you can't get a Ford Anglia into. If you can't get a car in and open the doors, it is not a garage, it is a shed with a nice door
When I say 'Power in Garage', I don't mean a garage in a vandalised block that has no hope of ever getting services laid on
No, despite the price, I don't really want to live in a house situated somewhere that looks like down town Baghdad
No, it may be nice but I do really think the national grid transmission lines directly above the roof may cause some reselling issues
No, putting mock Tudor beams in all rooms does not add 10K to the price compared with every other house in the area
If I can stretch my arms out and touch both walls in a room, then it is not Deceptively Spacious, it is small. Very very small.
Sell Me A House...Please ?!?
Anyone got a house for sale? If so and you meet these criterion, please drop me an email. Let's save on those estate agent fees! What I'm looking for is not very complicated:
Location: Windsor, Maidenhead, Bracknell, Ascot, Twyford, Binfield, Wokingham and all bits in between.
Type: House, end of terrace or semi
Bedrooms: Minimum 2
Parking: Driveway or attached garage. Must be off road. Not interested in a garage in a block or communal parking
Price: Depends on location etc but in the range £200,000 to £250,000
I'm not in a chain so can complete very quickly. Anyone got anything? Drop me an email and save on estate agent fees at :
richard AT gmav.demon.co.uk