Selling our BTL in this economic recession... how's that for on topic?

dopester

Hello Cleaver. Funny thread and posts.

When you mentioned having moved up to Manchester "ooop north" I imagined you having relocated further than Warwickshire / Midlands.

IIRC you're bought in a flat on edge of Manchester.. Salford/Stretford way maybe. Seem to remember you being happy with it. Not a new-build, but solid construction, spacious, and well insulated.

Glad you've come to your senses, and will sell at least one property (before values fall much further). The window is closing.. so you can still escape with good value, if you price right, even if it is less than you bought originally for.

Interesting change I detect... from owning two properties with mortgages, to now seeing the logic in paying down debt... or even being in the position of being property-free so you can move and follow where the job opportunities are - even maybe abroad for you it seems.

JanCee

Cleaver wrote: »

It'd be more fun to hear your guesses.

It's in a medium sized town in Warwickshire / West Mids type area, 2 minutes walk (literally) from the train station, 10 minute walk in to the town centre, nice road (little traffic, FTB / young family / pensioner types mainly), permit parking and is an end terrace.

A bit tricky without knowing which area it is in but my guess would be £115k - £120k

Snooze

JanCee wrote: »

A bit tricky without knowing which area it is in but my guess would be £115k - £120k

Not with a pool and tennis court.

I think Warks is considered a bit upmarket-ish so I reckon it'll be a good chunk more. Sticking neck out and saying you've got it on at £149,950.

Rob

JonnyBravo

£115,000

and some characters for the word limit

:cool:

JonnyBravo

I couldn't see the pool or tennis court from an aerial view though.....






Doh! pictures are online now.... I found it before the pictures went up..... I want a prize..... grrrrrrr

:mad:

fc123

JanCee wrote: »

A bit tricky without knowing which area it is in but my guess would be £115k - £120k

That sounds fairly reasonable to me. 40k X 3? 2 persons earning 20k each could afford that.

I really must get my head out of Southern and London prices......how do we manage down here?

Mezzanine...can you get a cheapy PC type table to make it look officey/ more useful again? Something off ebay maybe?

Cleaver

JanCee wrote: »

A bit tricky without knowing which area it is in but my guess would be £115k - £120k

Spot on, it's on for £115k. You win a £60 Cleaver voucher to spend on any of the fantastic services I offer.

lostinrates

Cleaver wrote: »

Spot on, it's on for £115k. You win a £60 Cleaver voucher to spend on any of the fantastic services I offer.

Customer review: Highly recommended.

Cleaver

Snooze wrote: »

Not with a pool and tennis court.

I think Warks is considered a bit upmarket-ish so I reckon it'll be a good chunk more. Sticking neck out and saying you've got it on at £149,950.

A good point. But like any county / area there are rather large differences between different towns. Stick our house in Stratford or Warwick and it's worth £200k +. Move it to a rough part of, for example, Nuneaton and it's worth £80k. Apologies to anyone in or from Nuneaton.

So move the house to the 'right place' in Warks and your valuation will be spot on.

Cleaver

dopester wrote: »

Hello Cleaver. Funny thread and posts.

When you mentioned having moved up to Manchester "ooop north" I imagined you having relocated further than Warwickshire / Midlands.

IIRC you're bought in a flat on edge of Manchester.. Salford/Stretford way maybe. Seem to remember you being happy with it. Not a new-build, but solid construction, spacious, and well insulated.

Glad you've come to your senses, and will sell at least one property (before values fall much further). The window is closing.. so you can still escape with good value, if you price right, even if it is less than you bought originally for.

Interesting change I detect... from owning two properties with mortgages, to now seeing the logic in paying down debt... or even being in the position of being property-free so you can move and follow where the job opportunities are - even maybe abroad for you it seems.

Thanks for the kind words Mr Dopester. But you just knew I'd pick you up on a few things.

I'm not sure we've "come to our senses" or that we've seen logic in "paying down debt", in that it was a problem or issue.

If this was a purely financial decision I think we'd keep the house. I hate to sound like one of those optomistic, bullish people, but I think our house will be worth far more in ten and twenty years from now. So I think the sensible financial decision would be to keep it - but it's other factors that have made us decide to sell.

On the debt front, the value of the flat we live in (you're spot on with the description by the way) and the house we're selling is not massively more than the average UK house price. And we currently only have a mortage for around 20 - 25% of the total value, the rest is paid. So we weren't really bothered about the debt aspect. I think the concept of "getting out before the window" closes gives the impression that this is a one-way price slide and we'll never see prices as high again. I've said before that I don't see any evidence that, as a society or culture (or however you define 'us' as a general public) we've reached a tipping point where we think property is overvalued and at a stupid level. A lot on here might, and some FTBers may be frustrated by the whole price levels, but I don't think we've lost our love affair with owning property and, crucially, using it as a vehicle to make money over the short or long term. On that note, we have another viewing this evening from "a professional property investor." If he did the sums he'd find that the rent pretty much covers the mortgage and overheads, so he isn't that professional (unless he knows something I don't).

You're right about the job front though, and the flexibility around jobs and life in general. Having so much equity tied up in something is rather troublesome and you have that nagging feeling that you can't get to it when you want to. Obviously this is less of an issue when that equity is going up, but on the way down you have a nagging, pessimistic side that thinks "What if people like Dopester are right?". Which you're not of course.