Perils of selling in the UK !

UK house prices dropped by 2.5% in March. Not disasterous I would have thought considering the economy is supposedly in decent shape compared most of Europe.Then what happens Some rainless so called "expert" comes on morning TV and says " if you are considering buying in the UK you should offer 20% below the asking price " Just what Iwanted to hear as we are looking to sell in 2/3 months.

 

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The UK market has really been knocked by the global credit crunch.  It's amazing really as the UK property market looked so healthy just a few short months ago.  With so many mortgage products no longer available it seems that things are going to get worse before they get any better. 

Best of luck with the sale of yours Acapulco.  Let us know how you get on.

Justin

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Hi ACAPULCO,

The advice is no different than what they are offering here.

The reality is as always some people would accept the offer others wont.

I had to put a similar offer to a vendor last week and he told me to "go forth and multiply"!!!!!! don't shoot the messenger sprang to mind.........

I was listening to an expert yesterday on the radio that has made 8.5 million from property in the last 5 years and seems to think he can continue doing so for the forseeable.

Don't forget "experts only offer opinions if they truly knew everything then they would be sitting in a hammock on a desert island counting their cash..............

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Anything, including property is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay (you must have heard that before).  We are getting ready to put our house on the market and feel that realistically we should ask what it was worth a year ago when we first decided to sell and that's about in line with the current market rate.  What we will be doing is asking ourselves what we would let it go for.  If some idiot asks for a 20% dicount he will be shown the door, wheras we might consider a 5% discount worthwhile.  However the world is full of chancers and time wasters and that is at least partially the reason while so many house purchases fail.  If someone really likes the house they will pay pretty close to the asking price, if not they probably would not been able to get the money anyway.  One thing we are considering is letting the house.  Due to the lack of mortgages, the letting market is heating up and provided you don't need the capital, you can rent, wait for the market to correct (which it will) and then sell.

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I notice in the news today that HSBC are stepping in and offering 2 year fixed term mortgages to those coming off current fixed rate deals. There is a fee involved, but don't know what it is.

Mark

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Hi,

It's not such a good deal when the details are looked at

1) No first -time buyers allowed.

2) The owners must have at least 20% equity in their home. The valuation is done by the bank!!!

3) Fees are dependent on amount of loan and equity held

4) The rate is fixed for 2 years - which may bring peace of mind to the owners - but the HSBC is doing this offer in a climate where BoE base rate is sure to be dropping over the foreseeable future.

Jo

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Couldn't agree more Xetog, we have had our house for sale for a couple of months and have set the price to what we consider reflects the current market in our area. We can see increased signs of interest but no firm offers at a realistic price, so we decided to let the house for 12 months and let the market settle down.

There will always be those that hope to get 'a bargain' in the current climate using the needs of people to sell, we are fortunate that we can turn these silly offers away (but do so politely) and wait for the market to return to some normality, as it will.

Having spent 20 years working in the housing market, I am very pleased to have retired from it, as I am sure that it's an incredibly difficult market to be working in - I worked through the difficult years in the early 90's and wouldn't relish having to do so again.

We have the added problem that we have a lot of new build in the area and the builders are throwing massive incentives to buyers that we cannot compete with.

 

 

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Hi J&N,

You are right it is not agreat time to be in the housing game at the moment,i too went through it in the 90s and i hope i will still be here in the future to talk about the problems we are having now!

The market at the moment is a total mess and if you dwell on the downside can be very depressing.

I have just been talking to the Bank and they are blaming the poor exchange rate on the state of the US and UK markets and they dont envisage the euro rising either.

There are so many builders going to the wall at the moment it is almost like selective evolution,only the strong will survive,there are almost as many people defaulting on their mortgages as well so another influx onto a market where everyone is scared out of their wits to make any commitment.

Banks are refusing to lend money to anyone unless they don't need it(usual scenario) and the UK housing market,the usual supply line for clients is crumbling.......

Before anyone throws themself into the path of the nearest train,there is positives to be taken.

"The wind blows in the same direction for all of us,it's how you set your sail" is a great saying.

The market is poor at the moment but if you are buying with GBP and are looking for property from a British vendor who is repatriating then offer and come to an agreement in Sterling,you can do this through notary as we have one going through next week,you will be suprised how much you could save.

Ask for distressed properties when searching around,we are being passed developments by the banks from builders going out of business on aregular basis at often 65% of their original sale price,we have had 91 today at a great price so whoever buys them has a great start.

If you are coming to Spain there is choice after choice of properties at great prices just bubbling under the surface.

This will in time rectify the market and dont forget it is still a great place to live.

The situation can work just as well in your favour as it can against you,its knowing this fact that makes the difference between success and failure.

many many speculators look to the crashes to make more money than in the booms.

 

 

 

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Hi Georgia,I wonder if you could advise us we are about to get a morgage from the Halifax in Spain, just for 5years to cover the final payment  on the property in spain,when my husband retires in 4years we will sell our house in england and pay off the morgage, what sort of morgage would you go for Georgia, and what would you advise, I no you always come up trumps, kind regards, sandra(srp)

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Prices around the country have varied in ups and downs with those figures.  For example, the West Midlands went down 5% but London went up 3%.  Here in the East Midlands, prices are supposed to have risen 1.6% but trying to get this price is proving impossible.  I was told by a local estate agent that my house (a similar property a few doors away went for £194,950 in November) should be offered at 185,000 but I should be prepared to accept 180,000 which is 7% down.  I don't really want to sell but last time I rented it out for 5 years when I was abroad, I had to pay over £30,000 to get the place habitable again.  (oven door fallen off, wooden window frames rotted due to no TLC, bathroom sink cracked, bath surround broken, they had painted over the wallpaper with grey gloss paint and had gone ROUND the wardrobes and dressing table etc etc) So I don't really want to rent it out, either.  However, may decide to rent it out for a year or two until prices recover. 

I apologise to everyone but it's because I am looking to sell in UK and move to Spain that the house market and the pound is crashing.  It's all a conspiracy, I tell ya!!!!

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Hi Acapulco,

No sure where in the country you are but as an estate agent working in London sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the market is definately falling.This is the worst market i've worked in since 89, there are literally NO buyers out there at present.  If you can keep your house long term in the uk and rent it out  i would think in 3-5 years time the value would be back up to the price we were at 6 months ago. If you can't afford to wait that long then i would sell ASAP as i definately think we are gonna see at least another 10% off current values.

The latest survey saying London went up 3% is COMPLETE BUNKUM!!!!! down 7-10% more like.

I'm in a similar position to you so i can definately emphasize with your situation.  I'm torn between selling and renting my house, just gonna try and see what the market makes of it

and GEORGIA if you are an Estate Agent in Spain, preferably in the Costa Del Sol do you have any jobs going!!!!

Cheers all

Gary

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On a personal note  - this is our situation.

Eldest son bought a house last year - desperate for houses prices not to fall

Second son - at present renting - saving for a deposit for ahouse - can just about afford one . But - double whammy not only does he have to wait for house prices to drop -he has to find a bigger deposit AND  he has to wait for mortgage offers to stabalise.

We have a villa is San Juan de Los Terreros that we rent out during the summer. We advertise it on a couple of sites. We had an enquiry 2 weeks ago from a Head Teacher of a famous school ( his email was full of logos!!) asking if we wanted to sell our villa.

 AND he pointed out , in bold print,  that we had to take note that it was abuyers market - ie ex rate,bad publicity re house demolishings,  global crash etc....

.....I replied to  ' Dear Shark'.....etc..etc..

His succinct reply was 'Your loss!'

I think myself lucky that I did not want to sell - but for those who do.....there are those out there who smell blood.

Is that good news or not?

jo

 

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The doom and gloom in the media is doing us no good at all.

The house has been on the market for months now. We honestly thought we would be living in Spain by Christmas.

Thanks to the flipping doom and gloom forecasts we are seeing very few people viewing.

In fact, on saturday we had someone round who, according to the estate agent, were very taken with the house but decided to wait 2 or 3 months to see if the market would stablise before buying.

They keep saying the slump is like the  last one in the 80s/90s ... I think not. At that time, the mortgage rate was 16%!

Renting isn't an option for us as we have mortgages on both properties and the rental income wouldn't even cover the UK one.

 

Laury

This message was last edited by Lauryc on 4/10/2008.

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Bobaol--  and I thought it was all my fault .

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Hi Smiley, yesterday I sent a post to Georgia by mistake it was ment for you as I have just realised your the morgage expert. I bet georgia thinks i've lost my mind but for me it was easy mistake. If you could read it( a bit lower down)  re.Halifax morgage ect, I would be much obliged if you would give your comments, and to georgia sorry I got you mixed up. kind regards sandra(srp)

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Take heart people, after being on the market since beginning of January, reducing the price once, we have just agreed a sale at the reduced asking price to a buyer with a complete chain - I cannot tell you how good it feels. I know this is only the start of the process, but it means we don't have to go down the route of renting it out with the issues that can bring.

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