'What'll happen to house prices?' poll results/discussion

wheresmydoshat

but you see, thats exactly how we feel. we wouldn't buy her house out of spite !

i don't think 200k was an insulting offer, if she really wanted to sell she would have taken it. the 198k i admit was slightly insulting but it was made the day after stamp duty changes, and i kind of did it to make a point more than to actually get the house ! it couldn't have been timed better, as in the 4 weeks she had to get back to us the economy went from bad to worse, and by the time we phoned up and pulled the offer the US were still trying to bail the banks out.

we decided we weren't going to move 2 weeks into that offer, we just wanted to see the response. the devil inside would like to make an offer just after xmas, about 195k maybe...

arrogance i know, but its only the same as has been dished out by vendors and estate agents all these years. as they say, the don't like it up em !!

wheresmydoshat

i should add that our very first offer was 190k, so we were negotiating just not by bending over backwards to reach her asking price (i suppose that is negotiating !!).

we were told the others in the 4 house chain were going to make adjustments to try and get this done, so it was our thinking that if she wanted 210k and they couldn't make up 10k between them, someone wasn't playing ball. (and as first time buyers, we weren't willing to risk it !!)

all experience tho.

jerrymartin_2

As a member of the armed forces for 18 years with a wife and 2 young children, on my wages I cannot afford to buy a family home.
Luckily I can live cheaply in rented forces accomodation, this wont be the case in 4 years when I leave.

Hopefully house prices will eventually drop to affordable prices, prices that I can get a mortage on my wages without being financially scr*wed.

If you already own a property the house price changes shouldn't really effect you because you are buying like for like. i.e if your 2 bedroom house as dropped by 20% so will the next 2 bedroom house you buy.
Only the people that have borrowed more than they could afford and now want to sell to try and clear thieir mortage are going to come unstuck.

I just want prices to be online with what the average person, with the average job, with the average family to be able to buy afford to buy their own property.

Until this happens we will always be in this crisis.

wheresmydoshat

this is the problem with salaries, the gap has been widening for too long.

there are too many jobs that still only pay between 11k and 15k, exactly the same as they have been for years.

i went back to working in an office for a few months earlier in the year, and was stunned to find that i was taking home the same pay as i had been in an office job 8 years previously.

purplelotus

Doesn't the chart of poll results show a beautiful bell curve?!

"Down house prices! Down!"

moanymoany

wheresmydoshat wrote: »

i should add that our very first offer was 190k, so we were negotiating just not by bending over backwards to reach her asking price (i suppose that is negotiating !!).

we were told the others in the 4 house chain were going to make adjustments to try and get this done, so it was our thinking that if she wanted 210k and they couldn't make up 10k between them, someone wasn't playing ball. (and as first time buyers, we weren't willing to risk it !!)

all experience tho.

I read an article - many years ago - of something that happened to a journalist during the 90's crash.

He saw a house he liked and made an offer - just below the asking price. Woman said no.

About a year later he saw the house again - now the price was way below what he had originally offered, but by now the prices had fallen so he again offered below what she was now asking - she said - no!

About a year later - yes, you guessed right - but this time she accepted the offer. He bought the house for about two thirds of the original asking price and considerably less than his first offer.

My neighbour put his house on the market 18 months ago for over £400k - way overpriced. After many offers and refusals, desperation set it and I noticed on nethouseprices he got £330,000!

She may sell this house - but this time next year it will be worth considerably less than she is expecting for it. Watch Bloomberg/Cnn read the Times and other qualities on line. It ain't getting any better and the forecasts from people who accurately predicted what is now going on are saying falls (from 2007) of 35% by this time next year.

PS prices will never fall evenly from area etc. - but they will fall!

kj1_pete

wheresmydoshat wrote: »

but you see, thats exactly how we feel. we wouldn't buy her house out of spite !

i don't think 200k was an insulting offer, if she really wanted to sell she would have taken it. the 198k i admit was slightly insulting but it was made the day after stamp duty changes, and i kind of did it to make a point more than to actually get the house ! it couldn't have been timed better, as in the 4 weeks she had to get back to us the economy went from bad to worse, and by the time we phoned up and pulled the offer the US were still trying to bail the banks out.

we decided we weren't going to move 2 weeks into that offer, we just wanted to see the response. the devil inside would like to make an offer just after xmas, about 195k maybe...

arrogance i know, but its only the same as has been dished out by vendors and estate agents all these years. as they say, the don't like it up em !!

I dont think £198k is an insult as £195k wouldnt be, as long as your serious, it is a serious offer and should be considered. If I received an offer that much below my asking price in this climate I would submit a counter offer and expect us to negotiate. I sold my house recently as did my partner both for about 5% less than asking price and we got £30k knocked off a £257k newbuild house we bought. I am happy with that apart from not being able to get them down to £250k to avoid the higher stamp duty.

Hopefully whether house prices go up or down, in any perticular area, the losses or gains will stay reasonably relative. Everyone has to live somewhere so I look at my house as a home rather than a ever increasing asset. :beer:

wheresmydoshat

the funny thing is, the hip revealed that they had paid 12k for this house back in the 80's. so i was fully armed with that fact in the back of my head, as well as the fact that as first time buyers we could end the 4 house chain and everyones happy.

i personally think there was some porky pies coming from the estate agents (unbelievable ay !), and that their usual tactics of trying to get you to up your offer, actually made me lower it because i knew what a strong hand we had.

this is an estate agents who quite regularly have houses priced at "between 245k and 275k" in the hope to get somewhere in the middle. in this climate that method just doesn't work, who's going to pay more than the bottom figure !!?

pinkshoes

It's all very well stating what house prices have dropped by, but then given that EAs are only selling 1 house per week on average, many of which are reposessions, it doesn't really make the statistics particularly comparable, as the price drop is based on such a small number of sales!

Rubbish grotty areas are dropping where I live, but in nice areas, people just aren't bothering to sell unless they HAVE to.

Personally, I'm not that bothered. If they drop as much as people are saying, then I'd definitely consider buying a second property to rent out, which I never would have considered in the past.

wheresmydoshat

so very true, a house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

i'm not sure anyone would have their house on the market right now unless they had to sell.