House Prices

[Holidaybobs]

This is similar to our local market.

A house we viewed back in June that was on for £850k came back on the market two weeks ago... listed at £975k! It’s gone from RightMove etc very quickly so I can only assume someone offered on it. I’d like to know what the offer was I personally didn’t think it was worth the £850k!

I did worry a bit if we were doing the right thing in buying a new house during the pandemic, but now I’m extremely glad we did. I think if we’d waited even a few months, we’d have ended up stuck because nothing suitable is coming on the market anymore here, and if the house I mentioned above is anything to go by, EAs are squeezing all they can out of the rare house that does pop up!

Yes it’s insane. There’s a house in an awful area that at best is worth £140k and it’s up for £215k and it’s sold!! I was in shock seeing it on Rightmove.

We have our house up now as we want to buy some land and build our dream house. It’s up at £2.8m and someone offered £400k less. The market is strange at the moment as my friends house went up for £230k and she sold it for £265k. We’ve decided if we don’t get a reasonable offer then we will rent it out. The EA has been utterly useless.

 

[Moe]

I have a friend who is an EA in the south east and that’s how I heard the phones had started to go quiet.
It could just be a blip but the stamp duty holiday is coming to an end plus all the furlough etc
I think at the lower end of the market stuff is still moving but the higher end is slow unless it is in a really desirable area and priced right.
I’ve seen the big crash late eighties early nineties then the mini crash 2008. I really don’t know what to expect this time, but we have had a large increase in population and far too many speculators in high places with enormous portfolios.
It just seems disgusting that I could buy a place 3 times my salary whereas today it’s more like 35

 

[Mrs McCarthy]

Well yes because it's borrowing money to speculate and push up the prices of something essential. Lots of it is a ponzi scheme where those that were lucky enough to be born when they were affordable remortgage to stick it back into property.


Er no it isn't.

I'm leaving it there now you're talking about food banks if people weren't allowed to people farm with BTL.

Well, what would your suggestions be for those elderly people? I know them not from just the landlord side, but also from the tenant side - quite a few of our friends rent their homes from elderly landlords.
There are other situations, when the “landlord” can be in a care home and relies on the undone from renting their home to fund the care. I know a single mom, whose husband passed away. She moved to a small flat with her baby and rents their home to supplement her income. Are all of these scenarios still make the people evil landlords? And what would you do if you were in their shoes? What would they need to invest in to get a semi reliable income straight away without the need to wait for several years? Not everyone has the knowledge, understanding and time to invest in stocks and shares.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Of course it is going to go to low incomes, they've had schemes like this before for boilers, insulation, windows etc. This is basically a new version and how much grant you are eligible for depends on income and what benefits you are entitled to.
If you aren't low income I don't see why anyone should be eligible for 10k from the public purse to fit new windows. I don't know why some people were thinking this was going to be a free for all.

It's not limited on income, apparently, but I imagine the criteria for work done will be super limiting to compensate for that though. And then the shady firms who do the work allowed will flood the market & drive prices up so it's no real saving, anyway.

Tbh I've got absolutely no qualms in having recourse to public funds for this work if they're willingly providing it. There's a chunk of the population who (happily!) pay a lot into a system and will likely never see any sort of direct cash benefit in their lifetime (minus the state pension, if it exists then) who may actually get something for once, so yeah I'd absolutely take it & not feel the slightest bit guilty at all. We can all start pointing fingers, and I certainly don't want there to be a race to the bottom, but I don't really care to hear moral judgments about these issues when the real issues re availability of public funds / collection of tax run so much deeper.

Yes but most FTB can't afford a £300K property anyway?!

I don't have the data for this on how many FTB properties are >£300k so I can't say what % of FTBs are likely to benefit, but I know it would have benefitted us personally. I was grateful for some stamp duty relief as that's only a relatively recent policy in itself (2-3 budgets ago now?), but an additional chunk of it wouldn't be sniffed at I do agree it's unfair that the more expensive the property the more you benefit, I think the problem is it's hard to implement any other interventions such as mandating banks to provide 95/90% LTV products or cover your legal fees etc etc, with time that stuff will return though, just need a lil faith x

 

[Homebird44]

Since when do you have to ask permission to have a child in a rental? Pets maybe, but not kids!

Thats what I thought!!! I know a few couples renting who have started families, no problem at all.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

You need to keep complaining. The council will have an anti social department so keep a log of what is happening. Try and get neighbours to do the same. Some people won’t want to get involved but others will. You could also write to environmental health if the house is in such a bad state. Keep up the momentum. Also send your complaints to the Landlord.

Thank you for this, can confirm the anti social behaviour people were the ones who stopped the weed smoking from happening in the house, they were fab! They even sorted out the front garden which was a miracle there were weeds about 5 foot high spilling over onto the pavements too. It turned out they were known to the police & social services, one of the adults has a 13 year old who has run away repeatedly, so sometimes you see another child around the property - absurdly she's always really scantily clad so I dread to think what's happening there the poor girl.

Thankfully they've shafted their landlord way, way worse than they've shafted the street so they'll be gone as soon as the covid restrictions on evictions are lifted apparently (allegedly they've not paid rent in 8 months?!). I dread to think how that'll happen, their neighbour is a friend and when I've been round hers I've heard banging and shouting from their house, apparently it's constant so the neighbour reckons it's trashed anyway. She's asked to come over ours when the eviction happens because she's scared (she lives alone). I just can't understand how the landlord ever thought this would be a viable business, did they not do any references or CRB or anything?!

 

[Homebird44]

Of course they'll want to make money, but most landlords have the houses they rent out for a long time. Until wages go sky high and house prices massively drop, I don't know what the answer is. My children are adults now and they know as soon as they leave uni and start working they have to save, or they'll be renting for life. Nothing wrong with that, just make sure you've got a decent pension sorted to keep paying the rent.

 

[Italy2]

I'm gonna sound heartless here but I hope the housing market crashes so I can get on the property ladder. Its SO hard for my age group to buy decent houses in decent areas especially when grad jobs are barely over 23k for the first year. I don't want a new build as they're too small for my liking and the bigger ones are obscenely expensive where I live (700k+).

I've been looking at houses for the last 2 years now and have resorted to looking to buy a fixer upper in a good area with a large garden and driveway. We've found two so far and both were put on auction which everyone seems to be doing now to get even more bang for their buck. They both had so much potential but the owners wanted way more than they were worth for the first one and the second one had 100+ bids raising it 100k from bidding start price!! I don't even know where to start anymore.

I don't think you are heartless and I feel exactly the same as you! I worked so hard at university and got a graduate job. I work hard at my graduate job and save money every month but I just don't earn enough to be able to save thousands of pounds. How do they expect a graduate who earns less than £23K to save between £1.5-£3K every month?! They don't even earn that much to begin with. There are so many houses where there could be room for reducing the price a little bit but landlords just come and buy those houses for cash.

 

[Titntat]

Agents are often useless, my last ones were putting forward offers from people that weren't serious. This is why I sold my last house myself for £600 online, not a huge saving as was an average priced home but at least I met the buyers so could see how serious they are. Good and bad points overall.

Some agents here I think are using family and friends homes to make it look like they sold something quickly.

It's weird you say this. My friends house sold very recently for just below asking price. It was up for a couple of days. Funnily enough the buyer didnt buy it. Anyway its sold again, also in a couple of days.

They are downsizing, basically buying a buy to let buy living there for a while (moving to AUS but due to corona it's all on hold).

They rang up and requested a viewing. Aoparently 50 other people had enquired about the property. They mentioned their situation and all of a sudden an appointment because available with in the hour

 

[JoeBloggs]

I’ve read you can buy it and have the right to (usually after 2years)? Anyway I’ll find out from solictor soon

Buying the freehold and extending a lease are not the same. You cannot buy a lease.

You have the right to lease extension after two years, it’s know as a statutory lease extension but only the right to buy the freehold if they offer it for sale.

 

[Boutros-Boutros Ghali]

Bungalows are always in high demand as they’re popular with those with mobility issues. Developers rarely build them though as they don’t make sense, need more land for the same square footage as a 4 bed, so always attract a premium, genuinely can’t remember when I saw any new build bungalows (that weren’t a one off build by someone who had bought their own land)

 

[Yel]

We had an offer on our flat which we accepted, within an hour they had changed the website and board, that was a Friday afternoon. They’d pulled out by Monday after thinking about it over the weekend. They’re definitely keen to get as many showing that as possible. Ours was still on their website 3 months after the sale was completed (showing as sold) again am guessing to make them look better

Agents are often useless, my last ones were putting forward offers from people that weren't serious. This is why I sold my last house myself for £600 online, not a huge saving as was an average priced home but at least I met the buyers so could see how serious they are. Good and bad points overall.

Some agents here I think are using family and friends homes to make it look like they sold something quickly.

 

[Kim Mild]

We're back on the property hunt but my goodness, the demand is just jarring. We saw a property that only came on the market Friday night. It's extremely close to me now which suits me well as I can visit my parents often, however, we have noticed at least 15 cars stopping outside the house to have a look! Not even a board outside this morning but so many curious eyes.

I have the MIP ready to go and really just want to offer without a viewing because we've been done over before several times. The viewings are all the way into next week earliest when I rang this morning, bear in mind, they were closed over the weekend! Feeling very disillusioned.

They may allow people who have booked viewings to consider making an offer , and give a deadline to get everyone to make their best and final offer before accepting one. That happened when we looked at a house with a lot of interest

 

[Yel]

I think lots are fooled by the stamp duty cut, the amount of times I've heard that it's a great thing to save money. Sure let's "save" 5k by paying 15k more for something than it was worth before the saving came in and probably how much it will fall in value come q1 2021.

Seeing lots here coming back up for sale and reductions of stuff that has been sitting around.

Once falls start to come through in the figures (even though they will be highly massaged away with adjustments) it could pickup steam as people hold off.

I don't think there will be a crash, but falls of 10-20% a year are very possible. In many cases that only puts back the rises of a single year, so hardly a crash. It's a rigged market with near zero interest rates and money printers going brrrrrrrr, but real falls still likely considering everything.

 

[Former_Antelopee]

I’m looking to probably buy first time this time next year so I hope the markets better by then

 

[Mrs McCarthy]

From the Government’s English Private Landlord Survey 2018:


Landlords are, on average, older and less ethnically diverse than the general population10. Most have been landlords for some time.
 Over half (59%) of landlords are aged 55 years or older. Not surprisingly, given the older age profile, a third (33%) of landlords are retired. The majority (89%) of landlords are White.

I read about them mostly being male elsewhere, and the climate change non belief is here.

I am aware of the issue with insurance that can occur, but interestingly it seems most landlords seem to find “no DSS” not discriminatory because they feel they should always have final say: https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/bre...on-say-most-landlords-in-poll?source=trending

You clearly work for a good company with anectdotal evidence of good landlords, but the bigger picture and stats do not support your claims.

So you tell me that the people I know who rent their properties to supplement pensions or care are not common, and yet the data you just posted proofs that 33 percent of landlords are retired. Do you not think that you contradict yourself?

 

[Universal]

Sorry yes the freehold is what I meant! I will speak with them, its on the list just a few things to do first. It was more if you knew if they did give me the money to buy it, I’m assuming if it’s under the 3k tax free gift limit then there wouldn’t be any issues but if over then I’d have to pay tax on what they gift me?

If you cant buy the freehold ask for the cost of extending the lease but only if you are happy with the associated leasehold costs per year.

 

[idk2]

Depending on where you buy in the UK, when buyer a new building you can go immediately into negative equity, ok if you plan on being there longer term but not if you want sell especially on a large estate.

I hate the ridiculous number of bathrooms in new builds would rather have bigger rooms!

I'm the opposite! We want an old house, over new build. Which is funny as I was completely for a new build first but after seeing how much they go for and what we get, it wasn't worth it! We are now looking for an old house in a good area with a big garden/driveway parking. We don't mind ripping it all out and starting fresh as hopefully that will only increase the value of the property in the end. My biggest peeve is the fact old houses very rarely have ensuites and only one main bathroom a lot of the time in huge houses!

Just out of curiosity's sake, what is your no.1 thing you look for in a property? Mine is, it needs to have potential to be better i.e hopefully worth more after renovations and located in a good area.

 

[Yel]

The cut off can be 14 years for some trusts or if they suspect tax evasion as part of it they can go back over 20 years.

I just wouldn't take the risk, if I have an asset and need help that it is unrealistic for tax payers to pick up (as contributions don't touch the side) I'd be happy to use that asset to provide choice and not be at the mercy of the local authority.

 

[idk2]

Can't wait to see what this first-time buyers mortgage guarantee is all about!