Me and the Mrs have also been torn as to what to do. We’re keen to move, and in a financial position to do so without too much ‘stretch’, but something just doesn’t feel right at the moment. I think we’re going to wait it out for a while, concentrate on overpaying the mortgage and if we miss out on the stamp duty holiday, so be it.
https://www.stampdutycalculator.org.uk/
You can claim the extra stamp duty back if you sell your other property within 3 years I believe.
Sounds sensible, the reality is Rishi will either have to extend the SDLT break or accept that prices will soften after it expires, assuming of course that the economic outlook is no better. By that time I'm guessing the cupboard for handouts will be bare and he will have shown his hand over measures to seek to re-coup some of the debt.
If you don't have to do anything then a period of reflection is sensible, I'd only be cracking on if downsizing, where you have most exposure to subsequent falls or if I had to and was able to take a long term view.
Sold one of mine in 10 days. Theres a healthy demand for the right stuff at the right price.
Always the way. 99% of the time if you're honest with the valuation of anything (and in an open market) it will go and go fairly quick. If the price is fair you also won't have to accept an offer and can just take asking price, if not a touch more.
A neighbour here has just put their 3 bed detached house on for 950 and from what I can see/hear not one viewing. At least 50k too strong and on with a weak agent who typically wouldn't get houses on this street or at this price range (clues 1&2). A much bigger and way more modern 4 bed semi 400m away just went for 915 about 4 months ago and had a decent level of viewings.
Up for 1m, no viewings. Down to 950, good amount of viewings, no offer. Down to offers over 899,950 and went under offer for 920k a week later, eventually selling for 915k. We were interested but couldn't afford it. The agent said they would have taken 880 but when they got an offer of 900 they changed their mind and pushed for more. Chancers
There’s always two sides to these stories/views. On one hand there are agents who have in house advisers just looking to tie up everything for more commission. Greedy and pushy maybe, however if they are independent (which I’d imagine a lot are) it could be a better deal than just going to the bank.
On the other hand, imagine if you are the seller and are paying the agent a fee to sell your property. They get you a buyer, you find a house, instruct Solicitors and get a valuation done. All going smoothly. Weeks down the road it all unfolds as your buyer couldn’t actually get the mortgage for whatever reason. First thing you want to know is ‘did you qualify the buyer?
People don’t always realise that an estate agent essentially works for the seller - the person who pays their fee. If I want to sell my house, I want the agent to tell me that the buyer can proceed. Proof of cash or deposit, nothing to sell or sale agreed, has an AIP (approval in principle) and a subsequent mortgage offer. I’d expect them to be chasing the broker, other agent (if applicable) and the buyers at regular intervals. Nothing over the top, but if I’m paying X amount to sell and spending Y amount on fees purchasing I want to know it’s going to happen.
I’m quite happy to pay an agent who earns their money and gets it through with as little stress as possible. The amount of times I’ve seen agents literally do FA from start to finish and the only reason it went through was because the buyer and seller did all the work, is incredible.
A good agent is well worth the money. When I was in agency we worked to a 30% fall through rate and there were a few people who had the opinion of do FA and you still have a 70% chance of getting paid Vs work hard to progress the deal and the odds only go up to 85-90% so why bother. Shambles.
My last house sale was sans agents on both sides, went very smoothly except for the usual zone of incompetence that seems to surround conveyancing solicitors. Are there any good ones or is it the drain mesh of the middle class almost failed university graduate?
Devonian - all very true. Nothing worse than a flaky buyer or a buyer who lies about his means and then pulls out weeks after making an offer. This happened to me pre-lockdown. Had multiple offers, went with a guy who then pulled out about a month later just saying he’d changed his mind. Meanwhile, I’d lost potential genuine buyers and lost £400 paying for an LPE1 from my management company for the sale.
House listed at offers over £475k, was way overpriced pre-corona. Called agent recently and was told minimum they would accept is £465k, agent thought is would very much sell at £465k (suprise suprise).
Then listed with a second agent at OIEO £475k, this time along with planning permission to turn into a 6 bed (from 4).
This week, both agents dropped to OIEO £450k.
I'll eat my hat if it sells for £450k.
Interesting. Where abouts in the UK is this Estoril-5?
I agree.
I have spoken with so many people who have selected their estate agent based solely on the agent who valued their property at the highest price.
I appreciate that everyone wants to get as much as they can when they sell, but a property is only worth what someone is willing to pay and needs to be priced right, so what the higher-valuing agent 'thinks' it may be worth doesn't make much difference in the grand scheme of things, if it is over-priced then the property will just sit there, until the agent then suggests trying a price reduction having 'gauged market feedback for a few weeks'.
It is almost as though they are playing a game of dare, to see how high they can value property (to win the commission) before they start to look daft (by stupidly overpricing it).
From when I worked in agency "it's better on unsellable with us than sellable with someone else. If we can't sell it the least we can do is starve the competition or use it on viewings to make something else look cheap. Even if they want £800k and it's worth £500k just take it on anyway".
The weaker the agent the higher the valuation. In the agency I was at valuers and managers had price reductions as a KPI which went towards their bonus and car targets so would frequently over value just to reduce it 1-2 weeks later as there was something in it for them.
Completely agree. There are some fantastic agents and great agencies which actually have integrity (I was at a famously horrible one) but that was 2010-2012 and I wouldn't go back if you paid me double. The work and the culture wasn't for me at all.
I also worked as a supplier to agents for nearly 4 years (2014-2018) all over London including some fairly big names and I have to say there are some really good agents which are the total opposite of where I worked but 30% of estate agents could go with closing down overall and in major cuties like London that could easily be 50%. So many scumbags.
West Midlands
The first agent to list it was miles away, i was surprised to see them list it as they don't normally list in that area, the second agent is more local.
Things is they have refurbished it and its a bodge job, they switched the box room and the bathroom so now the bedroom has two frosted windows, and the family bathroom is a squeeze - and they haven't replaced the missing bricks outside from the removed waste pipes etc - super bodged but they want top dollar. They have added a single story rear extension but have planning for a two storey wrap around extension which they haven't done - might be because of the neighbours mature trees where the extension foundations would need to be dug!
Thing is the vendors, who may be innocent will see pound signs and the reality is they aren't going to achieve anywhere near that.
That comes as no surprise to me at all, but is nonetheless very hard to see written and confirmed.
The lack of professionalism I regularly experience from estate agents unfortunately just reaffirms the all too familiar stereotype, even though there are some very good EA's out there. The good ones are becoming rare beasts now I suspect, as the scumbags lower the playing field.
Put our flat in W9 on the market a couple of weeks ago. We have 30 lined up for an open house and they are the weeded out ones as cash buyers! We’ll be going sealed bids by the looks of it!
We complete on our purchase on Friday. We got a decent reduction on the asking price (though I am pretty sure it will be worth less at the start of next year). But where we are buying (Suffolk Coast) the number of houses suddenly STC is amazing.
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Well I can say in North Devon and all over the south west, prices are currently going crazy. I know of 8 properties that have gone to sealed bids in the small town I live in (okay I know all the agents so have the advantage of knowing what’s going on but still that’s a lot) and all sale agreed at over asking price - a couple of them at silly figures. Mainly expensive properties or ones with coastal locations. Lots of interested parties from away looking for second homes. All of the agents say they have never been busier. All the mortgage advisers at work are inundated with enquiries and applications.
One of my mates is a Surveyor and owns an EPC company. He deals with around 50 estate agents in Devon and Cornwall and was telling me that they are all busy. He did wonder if the stamp duty break was played too soon though - said the market was busy anyway and maybe the Chancellor should have played it in October. Same as people are saying about the eat out scheme, August would be busy anyway. Who knows eh? Where we are is a bubble so nationally things may be totally different.
I've been looking at a house that's been on the market for over a year. It started at £1.75m and has dropped £50k each quarter since.
When it hit £1.5m we tried to book a viewing and the guy told me it was sold STC on Monday morning. He didn't hide his screen properly and I noticed the agreed figure was £1.45m.
No idea what any of that means. But there's little value around here.
House prices are relatively cheap in my part of the world, I have to laugh when I see the prices in Greater London. £250k still buys a nice house in many parts of West Yorkshire.
I’ve just agreed to buy a 3 bed detached bungalow with a large garden and scope to extend, should get the keys within 2-3 weeks. My current property is for sale at a reasonable price with a local agent who advised us not to over- price it, we’ve had 4 viewings in 2 weeks and just agreed accepted an offer today. The market seems fairly active at the moment and prices seem unaffected by the virus issues, whether that’ll continue is open to debate. I don’t want the financial pain of owning 2 properties any longer than necessary so I haven’t been greedy with the sale of mine and the Estate Agent hasn’t tried to encourage me otherwise. I’m buying and selling for a similar value in the same market, I’m happy with that. Original plan was to keep my house whilst extending and renovating the bungalow but that’s been scrapped, too much financial risk if the market falls.
If all goes well the financial pain will be minimal, might not have to sell any watches after all
I would think that we’re going to see a correction in housing prices.
Hopefully not as much as in 2008 though
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My mate has has sold his house in Coventry and trying to buy one in Macclesfield and they are all sold within a few days so no shortage of buyers there
The house next door to us has sold to a cash buyer for full asking price, which is 20k more than I've ever seen a house in our street go for, and a house in the next street whose back garden wall is part of our side garden wall has just gone to a first time buyer, 10k less than next door but needs a total makeover.
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Saw a property listed today and it looked familiar, current asking price OIEO £390K
a bit more digging and found this;
This property's sale history
Year Sold Sold Price Price Difference
2020 £352,500 +21%
2015 £290,000 +10%
2006 £262,500 +208%
It sold in Feb 2020 for £352.5k, the blurb says "The property also benefits from new triple glazed windows, new kitchen, new electrical fitting and new central heating system"
Nice way to make best part of £40k, oh an its listed with an online agency and not a local bricks and mortar outfit.
Bought in Feb 2020 for £352.5k, done some work that i can tell such as paint, boiler & rads and new doors, not sure if the kitchen & windows has been done by new owners or previous owners.
House was listed this week and thought it looked familiar.
edit: forgot to say, i guess with the SDLT that would have been paid its probably even tighter margins to make a profit considering solicitor fees and agent fees etc.
Last edited by Estoril-5; 25th August 2020 at 19:23.
We are currently looking to purchase a Cornish cottage. There is certainly quite a few more available in recent weeks. Holiday home luxuries which need to be moved on in order to balance the familial books. Happy fishing.
Last edited by Skyman; 25th August 2020 at 20:36.
I have a permanent search on Rightmove for the north coast of Cornwall getting ready for my retirement in the next 10 years (forewarned is forearmed!!!!!) and post total lockdown the asking prices seem to have gone crazy high..... and I currently would get a lot less for my money......
What I've noticed here in S.Norfolk on Rightmove in the last month is a lot of property has been marked as sold - around the £500k + . Whether people are assuming not much new is going to appear so finally taking the plunge; alternatively it could be the EA marking it as sold if after a viewing the feedback is it's a nice house and we'll consider it
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BBC News - Coronavirus: Pent-up demand 'leading to quicker home sales'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53919558
Market seems to be quite buoyant.
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Spoke to an agent yesterday who has a house on for 1.2m, the owner will take 1m. Asked why it's up for 20% more than they'll take and the agent told me people are getting a lot for their houses recently so the vendor is testing the market. Can always accept less but can't put your price up etc. Madness
I can see your point but is it madness, IF I were buying in right now I´d be taking a very predatory and aggressive approach towards all stated prices, I doubt I´m alone in this, the vendors agent might be accounting for this behaviour, plus from what I can glean there´s some buyers exuberance presently- pent up demand, so why not´test´the market...so what if it doesn´t sell or even get an offer...it´s only the agents time being wasted and they´re of widely variable skills, use anyway.
Theoretically if you were interested in that property theres´nothing stopping you making an offer below 1m, agent has a responsibility to put all serious offers to their client.
Agree, I'm not ready to jump in yet as knowing my luck my offer will end up helping someone else have theirs accepted. I think the wind will change from October and with the max SDLT saving being £15k it would be silly to overpay by £50-£75K to save £15k.
I don't mind overpaying a bit in general (if we have it to give) as we'll hopefully be in the house for 20-30 years but our max is quite a way off. I think it's worth £50k more than what we can currently afford.
I dont think it will change much in October as the people looking to buy now would be those who aren't really affected by furlough (if they are they would be reckless unless downsizing). I think a change will come once the SDLT holiday ends if the mortgage lenders dont loosen up on lending, if they do it will be a free for all.
Last edited by Estoril-5; 27th August 2020 at 12:40. Reason: typo
From the beeb
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53995878