Corona property prices

[wileeeeeey]

So long as the bank don't say it's worth less than our offer we'll proceed at the price agreed. If the bank does we may have to renegotiate to a degree but I doubt that will happen as we have a 40% deposit.

We overpaid (in our opinion) by 10-15k on the last house and although we took it back to the brickwork and did nearly everything again we still sold it for 150k more than we paid. We didn't make 150k as our costs were huge but either way on 10-15k was negligible in the end.

For us the potential overpayment is worth it after 18 months with the in-laws, even without the 15k stamp duty saving. We'll happily overpay by 50k (35 after stamp) if it means we can move on with our lives, get out of my in-laws and start having kids. Add six months on from selling our last house and our lives have been in limbo for two years... It's worth it in the end but I may be back in this thread crying if the bank down value it next week.

[Gromdal]

My advice to anyone who finds prices in the South too high is simple: move North and get value for money, you might even find you like it.

Friends from down by me in Portsmouth did just this, moved to Consett in Co. Durham about 5 years ago and bought a 3 bed house for the price of a 1 bed flat down south, but it helped that they both had jobs in fields that paid similar regardless of location (pharmacy manager, IT support), likewise a colleague moved to Inverness 18 months ago once we had confirmed he'd be fine doing his job remotely and following on from his wife finding a good job with the college they're buying a 3 bed with garage for the cost of a 2 bed terrace down here. What helps massively is having no ties to an area - we absolutely couldn't have done it because we have both sets of parents within 5 miles providing a good chunk of free childcare and in my case a niche job that could be done remotely otherwise we'd have buggered off to Wales years ago and not had to even take a mortgage out to get a similar property.

[Passenger]

So long as the bank don't say it's worth less than our offer we'll proceed at the price agreed. If the bank does we may have to renegotiate to a degree but I doubt that will happen as we have a 40% deposit.

We overpaid (in our opinion) by 10-15k on the last house and although we took it back to the brickwork and did nearly everything again we still sold it for 150k more than we paid. We didn't make 150k as our costs were huge but either way on 10-15k was negligible in the end.

For us the potential overpayment is worth it after 18 months with the in-laws, even without the 15k stamp duty saving. We'll happily overpay by 50k (35 after stamp) if it means we can move on with our lives, get out of my in-laws and start having kids. Add six months on from selling our last house and our lives have been in limbo for two years... It's worth it in the end but I may be back in this thread crying if the bank down value it next week.

Wth a deposit that size and your timescale, you should be golden.

[Thewatchbloke]

My advice to anyone who finds prices in the South too high is simple: move North and get value for money, you might even find you like it.

I'm moving north and paying 38% more for a property with the same amount of bedrooms and just one more bathroom than we currently have.

Admittedly it's only 10 miles north of where we are now, is detached, is on a level plot and also has a double garage amongst other benefits!

[solwisesteve]

My advice to anyone who finds prices in the South too high is simple: move North and get value for money, you might even find you like it.

Please NO!!!

We don't want these rich southerners driving our prices up! We've already seen this happen in several desirable north areas. Typically these buyers have got more money, viz sold some tatty 3 bed semi in London for a million quid, and are easily able to out bid us poorer northerners.

[Dave+63]

Please NO!!!

We don't want these rich southerners driving our prices up! We've already seen this happen in several desirable north areas. Typically these buyers have got more money, viz sold some tatty 3 bed semi in London for a million quid, and are easily able to out bid us poorer northerners.

It’s not all mega prices down south, take a look at property prices in Hastings for example.

[thegreatdogwood]

Not all cheap up north either, prices around Manchester for example....

Well done Rishi, what an utter WASTE of taxpayer money on this policy

[Dave+63]

Not all cheap up north either, prices around Manchester for example....

Well done Rishi, what an utter WASTE of taxpayer money on this policy

True; get into the Golden triangle and the prices can be eye watering!

My youngest brother has just bought a house in North Yorkshire between Harrogate and Ripon; that’s not a cheap area either!

[murkeywaters]

I have been photographing property for a local Estate Agent, he said the market the last few weeks have gone crazy, one house I photographed went on at 380k which resulted in a bidding war, the owner had an offer of 415k but chose a 403k offer because of the buyers short chain.

Another house that needed full refurb went on at 475k and a cash buyer bought it at 503k.

I photographed one on Friday and while there viewings were coming through the door, the agent said this will be sold today for asking or above, I said why am I shooting it then? He said they have to put the property online and show it as a proper listing..

[Halitosis]

I wonder if the stamp duty holiday has impacted bottom-end of the market (below the previous threshold)? Our son is looking for a studio flat but we can't tell if these prices have been dragged up with the rest of the market - I don't see why they should have.

[Estoril-5]

The two things dont correlate, very high unemployment numbers, many employees on furlough, business' in the UK suffering due to Brexit and Covid, and then a rise in house prices because of this SDLT holiday.

Previously i thought there would be a drop in house prices, but now i think it may be a minimal drop or remain stagnant, and then fast forward a few years down the line they will start to increase once the economy has bounced back.

Also 5% mortgages for FTB's upto £600k - well thats just exacerbated the problem hasnt. Rather than moving i think i may just make an effort to run down my mortgage as soon as possible rather than put it into savings for a potential house refurb which may not be on the cards now.

[blackal]

The two things dont correlate, very high unemployment numbers, many employees on furlough, business' in the UK suffering due to Brexit and Covid, and then a rise in house prices because of this SDLT holiday.

Previously i thought there would be a drop in house prices, but now i think it may be a minimal drop or remain stagnant, and then fast forward a few years down the line they will start to increase once the economy has bounced back.

Also 5% mortgages for FTB's upto £600k - well thats just exacerbated the problem hasnt. Rather than moving i think i may just make an effort to run down my mortgage as soon as possible rather than put it into savings for a potential house refurb which may not be on the cards now.

I couldn't get my head around the surge in mortgage applications etc, but someone on this thread explained the reasoning.


With regard to paying off your mortgage - I wouldn't do that at the expense of having ready-access savings. (varies for people - but I like to have some funds just-in-case) - When they did Offset Mortgages, it was perfect for that.

[Passenger]

The two things dont correlate, very high unemployment numbers, many employees on furlough, business' in the UK suffering due to Brexit and Covid, and then a rise in house prices because of this SDLT holiday.

Previously i thought there would be a drop in house prices, but now i think it may be a minimal drop or remain stagnant, and then fast forward a few years down the line they will start to increase once the economy has bounced back.

Also 5% mortgages for FTB's upto £600k - well thats just exacerbated the problem hasnt. Rather than moving i think i may just make an effort to run down my mortgage as soon as possible rather than put it into savings for a potential house refurb which may not be on the cards now.

Yup the 5 percenters for FTB's are back once again, what could possibly go wrong.

The old advice re ready access savings was to have 6 months,or more ,worth of living costs/mortgage payments etc on hand and then consider paying down debt.

[Peck]

I have given up trying to make sense of the housing market in this country. I always thought COVID would put the brakes on it but it seems demand is as strong as ever, and the government are clearly happy to support this at every turn. I can’t see anything changing anytime soon.

I agree with Wiley’s comment above - you just have to dive in and get on with it, especially if you are buying a home for yourself. Maybe they’ll be a dip in the short term but longer term it’ll recover

[Estoril-5]

I couldn't get my head around the surge in mortgage applications etc, but someone on this thread explained the reasoning.


With regard to paying off your mortgage - I wouldn't do that at the expense of having ready-access savings. (varies for people - but I like to have some funds just-in-case) - When they did Offset Mortgages, it was perfect for that.

There is some funds for just incase which was tied up with the savings - but with interest rates abysmally low - better off down paying the mortgage.

Yup the 5 percenters for FTB's are back once again, what could possibly go wrong.

The old advice re ready access savings was to have 6 months,or more ,worth of living costs/mortgage payments etc on hand and then consider paying down debt.

I always went on the premise of 3 months worth of income saved up in case you lost your job. 5% for FTB upto £600k, means you only have to put in £30k and take on a debt of over half a million quid and all for first time buyers! unless they are significantly earning over the average salary - theyre going to struggle.

I can see this going in the way of the US, student debt, ridiculous house prices and the rich getting richer (although some of that already happens here)!

Edit: a £600k mortgage with 10% down - so £540k debt will set you back around £2600/m over a 25 year period. Yikes. Beans on toast for life anyone?

[wileeeeeey]

The old advice re ready access savings was to have 6 months,or more ,worth of living costs/mortgage payments etc on hand and then consider paying down debt.

Good practical advice, we've always tried to do a bit of both at the same time on a monthly basis.

Even a £50pm overpayment saves you £3k in interest over 25 year years assuming 1.5% on £250k ending the term 17 months early.

Our rate is 1.36% on a 5 year fix and even then we're paying back £1.61 for every £1 borrowed. I know this is too simplistic and not accurate but I always see every £1 overpaid as 61p saved. It's not really accurate as we go for longer terms and overpay monthly in case the brown stuff hits the fan and we need a lower payment for a while. No difference between choosing a 30 year term and paying the 25 year repayments so long as you don't pay more than 10% in a year. Haven't needed to do this yet but does give a safety net.

[Passenger]

There is some funds for just incase which was tied up with the savings - but with interest rates abysmally low - better off down paying the mortgage.



I always went on the premise of 3 months worth of income saved up in case you lost your job. 5% for FTB upto £600k, means you only have to put in £30k and take on a debt of over half a million quid and all for first time buyers! unless they are significantly earning over the average salary - theyre going to struggle.

I can see this going in the way of the US, student debt, ridiculous house prices and the rich getting richer (although some of that already happens here)!

Edit: a £600k mortgage with 10% down - so £540k debt will set you back around £2600/m over a 25 year period. Yikes. Beans on toast for life anyone?

Agreed. It's really not a good direction of travel.

[Middo]

Here in West Lancs stuff is going very quickly - two of my neighbours sold the same day the houses went up.

I can agree with that, we have been looking for some time. Finally exchanged contracts ( sale agreed back in November) yesterday and moving on Friday. Just in time for the Hop Vine opening.

I though property might settle, however it’s still going. Personally I think the SDLT was a bit pointless as no one has really saved any money .

[village]

My advice to anyone who finds prices in the South too high is simple: move North and get value for money, you might even find you like it.
.

Whilst you are In the mood for dispensing pearls of wisdom can you explain how this works regards jobs and family?

[solwisesteve]

The 'southerners moving north' that we come across tend to be either retiring, so they've sold their shed in london and have a million quid burning a hole in their pockets. Or the second home/buy-to-let gang; again excess of money. Either way they're only putting more dry wood onto the already hot fire :-(

[solwisesteve]

Well we've got the email through from the agent asking for our bid. Our 'bid' has grown several times (not actually sent the email yet). The problem is, despite the work that needs doing, we both really like it! Our bid started at 10K over and I've just, now, adjusted it to 25K over. This is based upon property selling prices in the area. I think this is the limit now.

[walkerwek1958]

Whilst you are In the mood for dispensing pearls of wisdom can you explain how this works regards jobs and family?

Unfortunately it doesn`t work for many people, but for those who can move I think its worth considering. Greater London and the South East is overcrowded and expensive, surely people question whether its worth staying there.

House price inflation in the UK has done much harm in my opinion and it continues to do so.

[Estoril-5]

Have seen a couple of properties back on the market that had previously been marked as Sold STC. Its a shame they didnt go through - the two i noticed were reasonably priced as it happens.

Also seen a new property disappear in a week as it was priced well, and others stagnant or continual drops in price but still not shifted.

I genuinely believe the ones who priced too high to accomodate for the SDLT holiday didnt shift and missed out, where as ones that had a little extra bagged a sale.

it will be interesting to see where it all ends up.

[blackal]

Have seen a couple of properties back on the market that had previously been marked as Sold STC. Its a shame they didnt go through - the two i noticed were reasonably priced as it happens.

Also seen a new property disappear in a week as it was priced well, and others stagnant or continual drops in price but still not shifted.

I genuinely believe the ones who priced too high to accomodate for the SDLT holiday didnt shift and missed out, where as ones that had a little extra bagged a sale.

it will be interesting to see where it all ends up.

Could be right, as the buyer's lender might not value the property that high

[Estoril-5]

Another handful of properties back on that were previously Sold STC, but with around 5% reduction in asking prices- i guess its the last push to get the SDLT holiday 'benefits'.

[Gromdal]

I thought in lieu of starting a new thread I'd just do an update here - we moved into our new house on 24th March having agreed to sell ours on 18th August and agreed to buy on October 31st, so 5 months to complete.

Where do I start - probably with the young couple who moved into our place, who wrote a very nice letter to us thanking us for cleaning thoroughly before we left, providing a detailed handover document and leaving things like breakfast bar stools and the old garden lawn chairs that they'd found useful. They've wasted no time completely redecorating the whole place to add their style to the place, enclosing pictures for us of the progress. I'm really glad that we sold to first time buyers rather than adding to a landlords portfolio.

Unfortunately, our forever home (despite being only 7 years old) smacked us in the face the moment we walked in through the door. Now, I preface this by saying that I appreciate that the previous owners were both GPs and the NHS has been under incredible pressure this past year and that this last lockdown with school closures has meant that our sellers had little time to themselves to actually do a lot to the house once a sale had been agreed. With that being said, when you move house it is (I thought) customary to leave the house in condition to which you would hope to find it. They moved out about a week before the completion, leaving a removals company to put their bits not taken into storage (they're off abroad). I should also say that naively, neither the sellers or estate agents had chance to come by the house post the removals company taking the contents of the house away and upon reflection I probably should have insisted on a pre-move visit...

I won't catalogue everything as there really is too much, but we walked in to the smell of stale pet urine and it took four of us three days cleaning and a professional carpet steam clean to get the house into a position to even spend a night in and to fix the immediate things that were broken. We're looking at probably a few grand just to get things back to a working state, then maybe another 5 or so to replace or restore everything that's damaged (wood flooring, wood worktops) having only really factored in replacing carpets and a fresh lick of paint. Oh but it's OK, because they'd left us a bottle of champagne.

All of this is of course, caveat emptor and we have no recourse - upon mentioning it to the estate agents that maybe they should have bothered to check between them moving out and us moving in, the reply of 'well you did get a very good price for it, and it's probably still worth another 25k again in todays market' was enough to tell me how bothered they were. They constantly chased me to agree to completion dates from 'the top of the chain who is eager to complete' even though we had said we could do any dates suggested and they needed to speak to our buyers and yet it transpired that our sellers had become the top of the chain having pulled out of their purchase in February to move abroad instead so I'd love to know what they were playing at. But hey, stamp duty holiday saved me £14080 (allegedly) and I weaselled out of an ERC as my supplier was exiting the market and couldn't offer a port so our total move costs were less than £5k so silver linings and all that...

Anyway, enough venting - we're now well on the way to making it ours.

[Dave+63]

Expect the worst and you’ll probably not be disappointed!

It took four skips to clear the vendors rubbish when we bought our current home.

Fortunately we were planning on renovating so had already purchased a static caravan which we lived in for six months.

[Maysie]

I thought in lieu of starting a new thread I'd just do an update here - we moved into our new house on 24th March having agreed to sell ours on 18th August and agreed to buy on October 31st, so 5 months to complete.

Where do I start - probably with the young couple who moved into our place, who wrote a very nice letter to us thanking us for cleaning thoroughly before we left, providing a detailed handover document and leaving things like breakfast bar stools and the old garden lawn chairs that they'd found useful. They've wasted no time completely redecorating the whole place to add their style to the place, enclosing pictures for us of the progress. I'm really glad that we sold to first time buyers rather than adding to a landlords portfolio.

Unfortunately, our forever home (despite being only 7 years old) smacked us in the face the moment we walked in through the door. Now, I preface this by saying that I appreciate that as previous owners were both GPs and the NHS has been under incredible pressure this past year and that this last lockdown with school closures has meant that our sellers had little time to themselves to actually do a lot to the house once a sale had been agreed. With that being said, when you move house it is (I thought) customary to leave the house in condition to which you would hope to find it. They moved out about a week before the completion, leaving a removals company to put their bits not taken into storage (they're off abroad). I should also say that naively, neither the sellers or estate agents had chance to come by the house post the removals company taking the contents of the house away and upon reflection I probably should have insisted on a pre-move visit...

I won't catalogue everything as there really is too much, but we walked in to the smell of stale pet urine and it took four of us three days cleaning and a professional carpet steam clean to get the house into a position to even spend a night in and to fix the immediate things that were broken. We're looking at probably a few grand just to get things back to a working state, then maybe another 5 or so to replace or restore everything that's damaged (wood flooring, wood worktops) having only really factored in replacing carpets and a fresh lick of paint. Oh but it's OK, because they'd left us a bottle of champagne.

All of this is of course, caveat emptor and we have no recourse - upon mentioning it to the estate agents that maybe they should have bothered to check between them moving out and us moving in, the reply of 'well you did get a very good price for it, and it's probably still worth another 25k again in todays market' was enough to tell me how bothered they were. They constantly chased me to agree to completion dates from 'the top of the chain who is eager to complete' even though we had said we could do any dates suggested and they needed to speak to our buyers and yet it transpired that our sellers had become the top of the chain having pulled out of their sale in February to move abroad instead so I'd love to know what they were playing at. But hey, stamp duty holiday saved me £14080 (allegedly) and I weaselled out of an ERC as my supplier was exiting the market and couldn't offer a port so our total move costs were less than £5k so silver linings and all that...

Anyway, enough venting - we're now well on the way to making it ours.

Reading that, unfortunately there is not a single thing you have written that surprises me. In fact, it sounds just like you documented our own recent house move....!

At our request, our sellers paid for a boiler service engineer to visit prior to completion - who left the boiler broken, but he had apparently 'serviced it' yet left it with broken parts so it didn't work.
They also paid for the septic tank to be emptied by a waste disposal expert, who emptied the tank but left all of the drains feeding to the tank blocked solid with wet wipes and years worth of crap, but didn't think to mention that.
When we went back to the sellers agent, they couldn't give a flying stuff (Strutt and Parker).

I agree with you 100%, just drink the bubbles, pay up to get everything fixed and move on is what I say!

[dukeskd]

Arizona houses were 150k pre-pandemic. Today, same house is 600k.

[blackal]

Arizona houses were 150k pre-pandemic. Today, same house is 600k.

Okaaaay - why?

What has changed to cause that?

[Ruggertech]

Arizona houses were 150k pre-pandemic. Today, same house is 600k.

400% increase in just over a year?

[noTAGlove]

Okaaaay - why?

What has changed to cause that?

I’ll give it a go, although can’t vouch for the numbers.

1. Rich Californians

2. Dollar printing.

If dollars are printing at a extraordinary rate, which they are, then buy real estate using 30 year fixed rate mortgages which are common in the US.

Printing money = inflation.

30 year mortgage = hedge + income

[murkeywaters]

In recent times I have been photographing property for an estate agents, it’s great as you get all the inside knowledge and property is of real interest to me.

Most properties that I photograph that are not niche like park homes, houses without gardens etc are all going above asking, one Penthouse I photographed last week had 20 interested parties and current buyer is paying waaay over asking.

2/3/4 bed houses with gardens are mostly sold in a day with viewings coming through the door as I’m shooting the rooms.

I shot a 1 bed flat a few weeks back that had been rented, it had a quick lick of paint to the rooms but needed a new bathroom, kitchen was tired and carpets were grubby, agent thought £170k max, seller wanted £190k and sold at asking in a few days!

There just isn’t enough property for sale for the amount of buyers in my region, I suppose buyers could ask more like the 1 bed flat seller but with so many buyers a good property will find it’s market value as it goes to bids in the end..

Crazy times!

[Taxboy]

In recent times I have been photographing property for an estate agents, it’s great as you get all the inside knowledge and property is of real interest to me.

Most properties that I photograph that are not niche like park homes, houses without gardens etc are all going above asking, one Penthouse I photographed last week had 20 interested parties and current buyer is paying waaay over asking.

2/3/4 bed houses with gardens are mostly sold in a day with viewings coming through the door as I’m shooting the rooms.

I shot a 1 bed flat a few weeks back that had been rented, it had a quick lick of paint to the rooms but needed a new bathroom, kitchen was tired and carpets were grubby, agent thought £170k max, seller wanted £190k and sold at asking in a few days!

There just isn’t enough property for sale for the amount of buyers in my region, I suppose buyers could ask more like the 1 bed flat seller but with so many buyers a good property will find it’s market value as it goes to bids in the end..

Crazy times!

That's interesting I noted from Rightmove in our area there are very few properties that aren't marked sold.
I wonder if agents might struggle with a property shortage later in the year

Sent from my moto g(7) plus using Tapatalk

[Thewatchbloke]

Anyway, enough venting - we're now well on the way to making it ours.

Some things never change! I remember the first house I bought in 1982 took a year to complete due to our sellers complete lack of engagement in the process. When the great day came I waited for the estate agent to say they had the key and I could collect it, this was meant to take place at midday. Come 3pm fed up with waiting and with a hired van that had to be returned I went to my "new" house (a victorian terraced house) and didn't see any vans outside which concerned me. I knocked on the door and when it was answered I could see the family were all sat around the table eating a roast dinner, mum, dad and four kids!

I told them as it was 3:15pm they were now in my house but I'd give them the rest of the day to get everything out and anything that remained after that was mine. The dad blurted out "Oh christ is it today?", proceeded to grab the four corners of the tablecloth and picked up everything that was on the table and bundled it into the back of his Ford Cortina Estate!

I returned the following day after collecting the keys from the agent and the house looked like a bomb had hit it. Door frames had been smashed out to allow the larger items of furniture to be removed, there was rubbish and detritus everywhere and the place looked even worse than it did when I viewed it. As it needed completely gutting anyway I wasn't too perturbed but I did think the owner had a cheek when he returned a few days later informing me I could buy the front room carpet if I wanted. I told him the worn out silverfish infested piece of crap was under the huge pile of rubble out the front and he could take it back with him if he wanted. To my surprise he actually dug it out and took it away!

Congrats on the new place by the way, we are trying to speed up exchange of contracts on our new place at the moment.

[Passenger]

Wow a year to complete, admirable perserverance... wonder what the record is.
Wow again that the seller excavated and took the old carpet, people are strange.

[murkeywaters]

Some things never change! I remember the first house I bought in 1982 took a year to complete due to our sellers complete lack of engagement in the process. When the great day came I waited for the estate agent to say they had the key and I could collect it, this was meant to take place at midday. Come 3pm fed up with waiting and with a hired van that had to be returned I went to my "new" house (a victorian terraced house) and didn't see any vans outside which concerned me. I knocked on the door and when it was answered I could see the family were all sat around the table eating a roast dinner, mum, dad and four kids!

I told them as it was 3:15pm they were now in my house but I'd give them the rest of the day to get everything out and anything that remained after that was mine. The dad blurted out "Oh christ is it today?", proceeded to grab the four corners of the tablecloth and picked up everything that was on the table and bundled it into the back of his Ford Cortina Estate!

I returned the following day after collecting the keys from the agent and the house looked like a bomb had hit it. Door frames had been smashed out to allow the larger items of furniture to be removed, there was rubbish and detritus everywhere and the place looked even worse than it did when I viewed it. As it needed completely gutting anyway I wasn't too perturbed but I did think the owner had a cheek when he returned a few days later informing me I could buy the front room carpet if I wanted. I told him the worn out silverfish infested piece of crap was under the huge pile of rubble out the front and he could take it back with him if he wanted. To my surprise he actually dug it out and took it away!

Congrats on the new place by the way, we are trying to speed up exchange of contracts on our new place at the moment.

Brilliant story Duncan, unbelievable how some people operate.

I'm just in the process of buying an old flat to refurb and flip, so far its been far more drawn out than it needs to be, the owner is old, lived in the property since 1978 and is in ill health so the son has now taken over the process.

I'm hoping its sorted soon as stories like yours give me shivers!

[CardShark]

I moved into my new gaff late Jan, the previous owners had cleared everything* from the property however it wasn't left in the cleanest condition. Downstairs is hard flooring throughout and it took a good vac and 2 going overs with a mop to get it where it should have been, all the kitchen units, fridge and freezer had to be cleaned before food went any where near them and I don't think that the carpeted areas had ever been vac'd up to the skirting boards as it filled the vac cylinder completely just doing those... I'd settle for all that though given the stories above - I wasn't too happy at the time though, with perspective, it could have been worse.

*I found some kids toys jammed between a couple of walls and radiators and a packet of in-date chocolate stars in tucked in a corner of a kitchen cupboard, the toys were thrown and the chocolate eaten!

[blackal]

I'm afraid it used to be an "English thing" - the stripping of lightbulbs, toilet paper etc.

One of my neighbours moved in after the previous occupiers had been out for 2 weeks and discovered dog-fleas had proliferated in their absence.

The seller of my house had her whole family up clearing the last of the house, and cleaning every single inch of it.

A bottle of red and a "Good luck in your new home" card on the kitchen counter.

[Chinese_Alan]

Some things never change! I remember the first house I bought in 1982 took a year to complete due to our sellers complete lack of engagement in the process. When the great day came I waited for the estate agent to say they had the key and I could collect it, this was meant to take place at midday. Come 3pm fed up with waiting and with a hired van that had to be returned I went to my "new" house (a victorian terraced house) and didn't see any vans outside which concerned me. I knocked on the door and when it was answered I could see the family were all sat around the table eating a roast dinner, mum, dad and four kids!

I told them as it was 3:15pm they were now in my house but I'd give them the rest of the day to get everything out and anything that remained after that was mine. The dad blurted out "Oh christ is it today?", proceeded to grab the four corners of the tablecloth and picked up everything that was on the table and bundled it into the back of his Ford Cortina Estate!

I returned the following day after collecting the keys from the agent and the house looked like a bomb had hit it. Door frames had been smashed out to allow the larger items of furniture to be removed, there was rubbish and detritus everywhere and the place looked even worse than it did when I viewed it. As it needed completely gutting anyway I wasn't too perturbed but I did think the owner had a cheek when he returned a few days later informing me I could buy the front room carpet if I wanted. I told him the worn out silverfish infested piece of crap was under the huge pile of rubble out the front and he could take it back with him if he wanted. To my surprise he actually dug it out and took it away!

Congrats on the new place by the way, we are trying to speed up exchange of contracts on our new place at the moment.

Great story. My other half’s friend bought a place, an “all in” deal as the vendor was moving in a partner.

To their surprise, the furniture was accompanied by stale urine and skid marks in the downstairs bog and the responsibility to wake him up from a drunken snooze on the living room floor the day the sale went through.

Really is amazing.

[wileeeeeey]

Still steaming ahead.

"House prices surge: one in four homes sold across the UK in March were on the market for less than seven days | Evening Standard" https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandp...s-b930646.html

[PJdB]

People taking advantage of the temp stamp duty situation also. Surely there's a bit of a slump around the corner with all stimulation packages going on at the moment... although demand will remain I guess... - who knows

[wileeeeeey]

Thing is that's been around the corner since the brexit vote and not happened yet.

[noTAGlove]

With Barclays offering 10 year fix at 1.99%, the property market will survive a while longer.

[Passenger]

With Barclays offering 10 year fix at 1.99%, the property market will survive a while longer.

Certainly indicates no great expectations of rates returning to anything like normal in the short/mid term.

[chrisparker]

Currently building a bungalow to sell, so happy for prices to remain strong for a little while longer.

[wileeeeeey]

No sign of slowing down.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...p-duty-holiday

[Estoril-5]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57085476

[PJdB]

Had a chat with an estate agent yesterday - she reckons she has 20 buyers to each house, - they're selling like hot cakes, - can't JUST be the stamp duty which is driving this

[solwisesteve]

Our experience.

We've been looking for a retirement home for about 2-3 months now. We have the pound notes sat in the bank account. No rented property to hold us up. We could go immediately. We thought that would put us in a really strong position, as a buyer. Nope! There are hundreds of other buyers just like us. Houses are shooting out the door same day. If the agent has even bothered to create a pamphlet then that means 'it's a dog' or it's already sold - you're too late.

We looked at one. Went on the market c. 7pm on rightmove. We started trying to get through to the agent from 9am the next day. It took half an hour to get through; lines were busy due to people phoning for this house. He was taking bookings for viewings. We were booked for something like mid day two days later. We had 15 mins and that was it. By the time we got our 15 mins of fame there had already been over 30 viewings. The agent was very 'not interested'. He couldn't answer any questions. It was very much a take it or leave it attitude. We had to put an email bid in. If we didn't have the cash don't bother. We put a bid of 10% over asking and didn't get it.

Since then we've looked at two other properties and it's been the same story: Queues to view and expect to pay way over the already inflated sticker price :-( We're also seeing some right dogs come to market but they're still selling!

One agent told us, if you're after something as a stepping stone to another property then don't bother because it'll be 5 years before you can make any gains so leave it until next year. Bottom line is if you can wait then do so. Prices are way over book and the market is stupid at the moment. However we are finding it hard to adopt the 'don't panic' attitude. There's a temptation to join in the craze and end up paying over the odds for a rubbish house but, since this is to be our last home, we have to play it cool and not be daft. We're in a comfortable home at the moment which isn't costing us anything and is going up in price so we just have to sit still and play the waiting game.

All the signs are inflation is going to start going up in the next few months. That will push the cost of borrowing up and, hopefully, quieten the housing market. As a company importing into the UK from the far east and the EU I've seen supply prices going up every month since early this year. For example, one major supply has advised that their prices are going up 10% on 1st June. The effect of this is the end user prices go up. Once we get out of this stupid stamp duty holiday situation and the inflation and interest rates start to bite, then we'll see the housing, market settle down.

If the aim of the stamp duty holiday was to make it easier for buyers to get onto the ladder - then it hasn't. All it's done is fuel massive house price inflation.