Offer accepted but have I been stupid here?

sikejsudjek

Remember that we are in an investment bubble at present with regard to property. That means the bubble WILL burst. Maybe not this year, but sometime in the next few years. Making money from property means getting in when the price is below the average, and out before it crashes. I have just got out of the buy to let market. Would I buy now ? No way !

Historically prices are way over the average and ripe for a big downturn. Don't expect anyone to tell you this who has vested interests - which includes Estate Agents, parts of the media, and Banks/ Building Societies. There simply isn't the money to be made from buy to let, first time buyers are priced out, and people's spare cash is being squeezed by higher bills and tax. Add some interest rate rises in and a crash isn't out of the question.

eurows

Do you know Sheffield, the market and the area there at all?

Yes I know Sheffield. Don't particularly like it.

Offering more for something already overpriced in a bubble is shear lunacy. The sellers must be laughing themselves stupid.

It doesn't matter if its Sheffield, Huddersfield or cleckheckmondfax. It's financial suicide.

It's an auctioneers dream. Two people bidding for one property. The only losers are the bidders that win.

If slapping yourself across the face with a wet fish won't help try looking at this quarters repossesion figures.

meanmachine_2

ollyk wrote:

The latest Halifax report suggests that, while Sheffield has increased in average house prices by 104% since 2001, there has been a 0% increase in the 12 months uptill March - maybe Sheffield is fast running out of steam?

*Points at forum member and emits a bloodcurdling scream, Body Snatchers style*

Burn the heretic!!!

Don't you know Sheffield is a special place? An island economy where houses are sold before they're even put on the market?

As I say, this part of the forum, loony bin.

sambessey

Ok thanks I value all your opinions.

So in general, you think that everyone trying to buy in the area and bidding over the asking to secure these properties is wrong to be doing so and that all these buyers will end up in negative equity in a few years? I am not going any more over the asking than I would have paid anyway (as it WOULD have gone to a bidding war) and I am sure that if I owned the property now and put it on the market tomorrow, I would get £190K for it.

I don't know what to do again now, as I hear what you are all saying in regards to the state of the property market/ prices. You have to understand houses in this area are incredibly in demand though...

BobProperty

meanmachine wrote:

*Points at forum member and emits a bloodcurdling scream, Body Snatchers style*

Burn the heretic!!!

Don't you know Sheffield is a special place? An island economy where houses are sold before they're even put on the market?

As I say, this part of the forum, loony bin.

Puts on Vincent Price type voice:
"Welcome to the twilight zone..."

am I giving away my age here?

lynzpower

I think what you have in your area is a classic case of panic buying, for some unknown reason to me, in Sheffield. If you are panicking as if this might be your last ever opportunity to live in what seems like a very overpriced part of the country, then dont.By the sounds of it, the market is over inflated and will collapse, whereby the area might not be as popular in a year or sos time IYSWIM

v0n

Sounds like few clever estate agents are "bouncing bids off empty walls" car auction style to create atmosphere of panic buying and share profits between themselves. Bids/offers over asking price? We don't have property price control in this country, selling estate agents won't ever set valuation below market value unless they don't play by the book. Something really stinks in the whole story. I think the whole area is getting royally set up by rouge estate agents, Florida style.

Tell us more - how does it work - they show you the property, tell you it's listed by few other agents, get you involved in bidding war between phantom 4, 5 buyers, which goes 5% over face value and then tell you that you are in the top 2 or 3 equal bids and seller asked for sealed bids with maximum price? Am I close?

violetb_2

Hi there, I do not know Sheffield, but you seem to have thought through what you have done so far. I would suggest you maybe speak to friends and acquaintances in the area for more feedback, you often find someone has a friend in the know somehwhere along the line.

As far as thinking about the money, if it is seriously worrying you, I always think that instinct has a reason and you need to think whether it will just keep on nagging at you as long as you are living there. Acting on impulse often creates a 'what if' lying in bed awake kind of response to me, but then I am a worrier by nature.

Finally, recent studies have suggested we have more money than ever before and are not so happy. One of the reasons put forward is we think that we should always be chasing the absolute best deal and feel cheated if we don't get it and cross if someone gets a better one than us. In some respects, I think MSE fosters this type of response. If at the end of all this thinking you are happy, but later find out that someone down the road got a different deal and you are happy with that, why were you wrong?

That probably doesn't help much, but I like to muse form my seat on the fence every now and again!!

Let us know how you get on

InMyDreams

v0n wrote:

Tell us more - how does it work - they show you the property, tell you it's listed by few other agents, get you involved in bidding war between phantom 4, 5 buyers, which goes 5% over face value and then tell you that you are in the top 2 or 3 equal bids and seller asked for sealed bids with maximum price? Am I close?

I'm sure this does go on to some extent. But the OP seems to have lost out to these 'phantom buyers' rather a lot if they don't really exist.

Another consideration is how long you intend to stay in this house. Your house is indeed an investment, but not in the same way as it is to a property developer or someone who lets. I would rather spend a few % over the odds to bring up my family and live in a house I love for the next 20+ years than to compromise my ideals for a 'bargain' that's not quite right, however much sense it might make financially. If I was buying just for the short or intemediate term, and was planning to move on or up in the next few years or so, then that would be different; you have to consider how your decisions now might impact your next move, and decide how much of a compromise you are prepared to make (both financially and with the house you buy).

(Obviously you can never guarantee what's round the corner, and what circumstances you might find yourself in to change your plans, but you can't change that.)

sambessey

Ok well I have given it a lot of thought last night and am 50/50 at the moment. I fully believe these other bids really exist, and I am aware this phantom buyer practice does occur in some areas of the country.

What people who are not familiar with Sheffield need to be aware of is that S11 is probably the nicest part of the city to live in. If I were to try and buy an equivelent house in an equivelent area in a lot of other cities, it would probably cost a hell of a lot more. I am sure its an area that is always going to be in high demand to live in.

If/ when I decided to move on, the house is in a very lettable location, so I could sell up at a time when I would make a profit on it.

At the same time I don't want to:

-End up with a house worth less than I paid x years ago
-Overpay for it now (and if the agents are being truthful, these houses DO sell for the kind of money I paid).

My only other option is to rent, but if I do that, I could be waiting for years before house prices come down again! In which time I may have spent more in rent than I have saved by waiting!

I don't know what to do here.