Media pimped homes for sale - monitor thread

dopester

Shop/house this guy is selling now, but also has a family home worth more than £1.5 million. He's sure enjoyed the glory of HPI. Obviously HPI is permanent for values, the fact many banks are bust and on life support, the credit-fuelled party is over, means there can be no snapback from the blistering pace of HPI asset wealth has given people such as this guy.

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Daily Mail: My antique shop is a thing of the past, says TV expert Jonty Hearnden
By Duncan Farmer
Last updated at 12:34 PM on 14th December 2009

Now, however, Hearnden's smallscreen success and the recession have taken their toll and the shop, based in an old cattle barn, and the cottage next door, where Sheila has lived for 12 years, are up for sale with Hamptons for £535,000.

'Trading has become very difficult due to the recession and very few people are now stepping over the threshold. Also, I do so much filming now and people want to come to see me but I'm not around,' he says.

The cottage, formerly the village butcher's shop, is called The Shambles - 'shambles' being an old word for a slaughterhouse. The old meat hooks still hang in the dining room and the cashier's kiosk is a feature of the kitchen.

Jonty bought his first flat, in Battersea, South-West London, for just over £30,000 shortly after joining Bonhams.

'It had two bedrooms and I sold it within 11 months and made a 60 per cent profit, tax-free. All it needed was a bit of decorating to freshen it up and realise its potential.'

From there, he raced up the property ladder, buying, decorating and selling, and always at a handsome profit. He now lives with his wife Toni and their three children, Max, 12, and nine-year-old twins Felix and Cosmo, five minutes from The Shambles in his sixth development project: a 400-year-old farmhouse which they bought 13 years ago for £300,000.

With help from Toni, who runs her own design business, and with a budget of £80,000, they created a spectacular family home that is now worth comfortably more than £1.5million.

'I couldn't have afforded a house like that unless I'd made money from other properties,' says Jonty, who is consultant editor to Miller's, the antiques trade bible.

'I'd love to get back into property even though we've got a few turbulent years ahead of us. I still might do The Shambles - my plan wouldn't cost more than £150,000.'

Rightmove link: Guide Price £530,000
PB Main Info:
12 November 2009: Price changed: from 'Guide Price £575,000' to 'Guide Price £530,000'
13 October 2009: Initial entry found.
StreetView Direct Link

dopester

From The Sunday Times
December 13, 2009
Beyond the Brochure: Stroods, West Sussex
If you really must live in the ghastly sticks, you might as well do it in comfort
Daisy Waugh

Stroods was originally five labourers’ cottages (which explains the ceilings), but has been given an extensive overhaul by the current owners, who are selling up to move to Spain. It is now a large (3,637 sq ft), luxurious family home, with four bedrooms, six receptions, a conservatory with an ensuite cage for cockatoos (easily removable), wood-burners and fireplaces in almost every ground-floor room, and a fancy modern kitchen.

At £1.65m, the house seems terribly overpriced. Even for posh West Sussex. Nevertheless, if I had to spend the long, dark English seasons anywhere away from the big smoke — which I sincerely hope I never have to — this would be as pleasant and cosy a place as any to do so.

Stroods, West Sussex, £1.65m
What is it? A Grade II-listed, four-bedroom, 17th-century house
Where is it? Near Wisborough Green, four miles west of Billingshurst

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Rightmove link: Guide Price £1,650,000
PB Main Info: 29 October 2009: Initial entry found.

Update 21st March 2010: Above RM listing (Savills) no longer active. It has been relisted with 2 other agents at £1,650,000 and £1,650,001
Update 29th Sept 2010: PB = 14 September 2010: Price changed: from 'Guide Price £1,650,000' to 'Guide Price £1,550,000'

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dopester

Knowing how much delight Hamish takes in this strategy, finding agreement with their logic, I thought this one might be worth keeping track of.

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From The Sunday Times
December 13, 2009
Playing hard to get
Struggling to sell your house? Try raising the price. As the market picks up, vendors are trying a new strategy
Lucy Denyer


The Bonner-Morgans are selling Brickhill Farmhouse for £725,000 - a £30,000 increase

(Dopester note: It's actually Brickwall Farmhouse - correct in the main body of the article.)

Barbara and Robin Bonner-Morgan have been trying to sell their seven-bedroom, Grade II-listed home in Suffolk for more than two years. The couple, now both retired, first put Brickwall Farmhouse, near Stowmarket, on sale for £695,000 in June 2007, at the height of the boom. It failed to sell, however, and like many frustrated vendors across the country, they began to cut the asking price.

By September last year, they were ready to take just £590,000. This month, with the house still unsold, the Bonner-Morgans adjusted the price yet again, only this time upwards, to £725,000 — £30,000 more than they were hoping for when the market was at its most optimistic.

“It’s a beautiful place, but if you underprice a house, people wonder what’s the matter with it,” says Barbara, 74, a retired ophthalmologist. It may well pay off: since the increase, she says, the number of viewings has risen.

So, if you’re struggling to sell your home, why not put the price up? The tactic may seem counterintuitive, but it is one increasing numbers of sellers are employing as confidence trickles back into the housing sector. After a stream of headlines reporting dram!atic price cuts in the property market, the past few months have seen a shift in sentiment. The latest surveys by both the Nationwide and Halifax show that prices have risen for five months in a row.

Looks like Barbara and Robin have enjoyed running this 'home' as a guest-house / B&B. No mention of that in the article. They've got bookings for Christmas but I wonder if they've been seeing bookings drop-off throughout this year and last? Cmon... someone stump up the £725,000 to give the Bonner-Morgans their final HPI jackpot pay-off to downsize with loads of cash left-over, or to retire abroad in luxury.

2 reception rooms, 4/5 bedrooms, 1 ensuite ~ 2 bathrooms ~ sleeps up to 12 guests
Professionally laundered bedlinen and cleaning team used.
Tariff: 250 GBP /day for exclusive use of house high season
( 3 days minimum stay )
200 GBP/ day

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low season
150 GBP per day

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last minute bargains
or
£40 per person per night B&B
(B&B is only available when the whole house is not booked )

http://www.brickwallfarmhouse.co.uk/

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This one is a bit confusing because the owners have said they'd be willing to sell off 3 different parts of this property independently.... and adding up what they'd want for each one separately... that would be a total of £900,000. You'd be on a nice extra there Barbara and Robin, if you sold them off like that. It is someone's duty to see the glory years of their rising HPI asset wealth turned into liquidity.

Rightmove link (Abbotts): £725,000
PB Main Info:
27 November 2009: Price changed: from '£695,000' to '£725,000' [Found by n/a]
17 November 2009: Initial entry found.

Also Rightmove listed here, and here (same price as above - one also PB tracked the same boost in asking price. All similar PB 'Initial entry' dates = quite recent, unless recently relaunched back to market, accompanied with this media featured article.)

The direct EA listing here.(asking price at time of first visit, today 15th Dec 2009): £725,000
"Currently the property is divided into 2 x separate dwellings as described below. One side being Brickwall Farmhouse and is used for self catering holiday accommodation, while Hollyhock Cottage is occupied by the vendor's. There are intercommunicating doors between both properties (currently sealed). Heating is oil fired with radiators. The vendor will sell as one complete unit or 3 separate units. Brickwall Farmhouse £475,000, Hollyhock Cottage £275,000 and The outbuildings including the stables and cowshed £150,000."

Update 01 March 2010: One of the Rightmove links above has a price change, PB logging it on 18th Jan 2010
18 January 2010 Price changed: from 'Guide Price £725,000' to 'Guide Price £699,995'

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dopester

That article also provides image reference check-data for two other homes following the same 'make it more expensive in an absolute house price deflationary vortex environment strategy'. Might as well track them too, to hopefully find out what the outcome will be.

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From The Sunday Times
December 13, 2009
Playing hard to get
Struggling to sell your house? Try raising the price. As the market picks up, vendors are trying a new strategy
Lucy Denyer


Sea Shanty, Anglesey, was £695,000 and is now £735,000

Rightmove link: Guide Price £735,000
PB Main Info:
30 October 2009: Price changed: from 'Guide Price £695,000' to 'Guide Price £735,000'
22 July 2009: Price changed: from 'Guide Price £735,000' to 'Guide Price £695,000'
11 March 2009: Initial entry found.
Update 05th September 2010: (Have some of this Hamish). Property Bee: 25 August 2010. Price changed: from 'POA' to 'Guide Price £645,000'

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This seven-bed home in Lymington, Hampshire, is on sale for £940,000, up from £895,000

Rightmove link: £940,000
PB Main Info:
30 October 2009: Price changed: from '£895,000' to '£940,000' [Found by n/a]
13 March 2009: Price changed: from '£1,100,000' to '£895,000' [Found by n/a]
15 November 2008: Initial entry found
(Also Rightmove listed here, with similar PB info, inc asking price boost: Guide Price £940,000)

edgex

dopester wrote: »

From The Times
November 13, 2009
Why can’t I sell my home?
Jane Donaldson spent £200,000 doing up her bungalow but like many vendors can’t find a buyer



Quote:
Jane Donaldson did not expect to be selling her house now. She did not expect it when, in 2004, she bought a rundown £365,000 bungalow in Ryarsh, Kent, and lavished £200,000 extending, improving and refurbishing it into a dream home for her husband and two young daughters. She certainly did not expect it in July 2007 when she put the freshly finished “chalet-style bungalow” up for sale hoping for a speedy deal after her unexpected divorce.
Quote:
More than two years after putting her home up for sale (and four agents and price cuts of £170,000 later), Ms Donaldson is struggling to sell for the £625,000 that she needs to settle a “substantial” boomtime mortgage.

Rightmove link. Guide Price £595,000
Main PB Info: 24 November 2009: Price changed: from 'Guide Price £625,000' to 'Guide Price £595,000' [Found by n/a]
04 November 2009: Initial entry found.

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Reminder to self: [Today's DM print edition. "Hollywood goes to Devon" - standby if available later digital edition. Dr.Pearson (66 yrs) bought £1.84m in 2004, £500K improvs and turning it into holiday home business (says turnover £200K pa), on market now at £3.5m]

bought at £365,000
spent £200,000
= £565,000

so why does she need to sell for £625,000?



the stupid thing is, any prospective buyers now know what she bought it for, & how much was spent on it

lostinrates

dopester wrote: »

This seven-bed home in Lymington, Hampshire, is on sale for £940,000, up from £895,000

New Forest Property is staggaring: and for some people I can see the worth (for DH and I having access to load of off road riding would be pretty great, and we'd love the ponies and cows etc nibbling on our hedges, because we're weird like that) but a lot of it is not very pretty, planning seems very inconsistant, even more so than normal....and its not as quiet and even as pretty as someplaces outside the forest. Traffic is a NIGHTMARE for much of the year it seems, and in all but the quietest spots I think one might feel quite exposed and restricted from enjoying the idyllof the forest, by the tourists in summer. We go there a bit, and the thing I miss most is being able to let the dog/s off the lead....in case ther is a critter we can't see ....as a dog owner of all but the most obediant and stead fast of breeds, it wouldn't be my first choice!

silvercar

That Lymington house looks like two homes joined together.

edgex

seems to be they fall into 2 categories:


those that have had them as family houses for 10+years, & are assuming that selling prices have doubled or more in that time

those that bought when the market was near peak, have 'done up' the property over a few years & now expect to sell at a profit



problem with the 2nd lot is this:
they bought the properties at near retail cost, & have then done them up, at retail cost
instead of putting them on the market at a price that is those 2 added together, they are then adding a profit on top
which starts them at more than the properties that have been lived in for a number of years, & more than any properties done up by professional developers, who will have bought at trade cost, & done them up at trade cost.


the woman in my previous quote is a good example of this:

bought in 2004 £365,000 (not peak, but not far off, & likely more than someone in the trade would have paid for it)
spent £200,000 (which is a ridiculous amount to spend in only 2 or 3 years)
so total spend = £565,000 (i cant see why the mortgage would be for so much more than this, another £60k, where did that money go?)

then, she was trying to sell it for £795,000!
a 40% profit!


lets assume it really is 'worth' £565k to a retail buyer
if a professional developer wanted to make a 40% profit on it, what would they have allowed to spend? £400,000
allow £100k for the do up = £300k to buy the place


so she spent 20% more to buy it, then theres a 20%point difference between the developers spend & hers (30% - 50%)

ooh look, thats 40%
theres your profit dear, youve already spent it
:rotfl:




just looked on nethouseprices, ouch!

it was previously sold May 2002 for £230,000
she bought it April 2004 for £370,000
http://www.nethouseprices.com/index.php?con=sold_prices_street_detail&street=LONDON+ROAD&locality=RYARSH&town=WEST+MALLING&cCode=EW&year=All&house_style=All&house_age=All&search_radius=15&outcode=ME19&incode=5AH&eastingToSearch=56740&northingToSearch=15850



Rightmove, within 1/2mile of that postcode
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?locationIdentifier=POSTCODE%5E1357262&sortByPriceDescending=false&radius=0.5

ouch ouch ouch :eek:

theres a 4bed semi on at £325k
or a 5bed detached at £500k (with gym, jacuzzi & indoor swimming pool)

& she still has hers on at £595k

dopester

edgex wrote: »

the stupid thing is, any prospective buyers now know what she bought it for, & how much was spent on it

That house would be of very questionable value to me, even if it were back at the £230,000 May 2002 price you sourced out the history for. Even after whatever improvements she's had done like new kitchen or garage block.

The gift of HPI. Home-owners ticket to be floated to a paradise of easy money with the sure thing of house prices always zooming up higher. She's now reduced it by £200,000 of imaginary HPI wealth she had calculated it had magically risen by.

Some of these larger homes in the sticks... the HPI ripple... I'm sure they are set for an almighty crash. With fewer people even wanting such big country homes in rural-ish areas, and the higher levels of costs and maintenance which comes with them.

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From The Sunday Times
July 5, 2009
Beyond The Brochure: Balcony House
This Cambridgeshire house is just the job for couples who need their own space
Daisy Waugh

In the meantime, some properties, such as Balcony House, already fit the bill. A 15-minute drive from Peterborough, which is less than an hour by train from London, it’s been on the market for more than year — with the price reduced from £1.25m to £975,000. Even taking into account the depressed property market, I can’t understand why it wasn’t snapped up long ago. It’s a six-bedroom, Grade II-listed 17th century house at the heart of a thriving village (Best Kept Village, Peterborough District, 1992, no less) with its own primary and secondary schools, pub, butcher, post office and grocer.

It has to be admitted, the Windsors are selling their lovely house because they are getting divorced. So I guess the rather brilliant Siamese arrangement — with her and the boys in the main house, and him in the annexe — doesn’t always work so well for everyone.

Nevertheless, I’m sure it might suit other divorced or divorcing couples. Also included in the sale are 1½ acres of gardens, two stables, various outhouses, a kitchen garden and a beautiful view of the village church — which would be perfect should physical proximity, in such exuberantly pleasant surroundings, ever lead to a rapprochement and an urge to reassert the abandoned marriage vows. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Rightmove link: Guide Price £895,000
PB Main Info:
01 November 2009: Price changed: from 'Guide Price £975,000' to 'Guide Price £895,000' [Found by n/a]
13 September 2008: Price changed: from 'Guide Price £1,100,000' to 'Guide Price £975,000' [Found by n/a]
09 June 2008: Price changed: from 'Guide Price £1,250,000' to 'Guide Price £1,100,000' [Found by n/a]
07 April 2008: Initial entry found. [Found by n/a]

fc123

dopester wrote: »

That house would be of very questionable value to me, even if it were back at the £230,000 May 2002 price you sourced out the history for.

You know' I love you' DS but why oh why do you think that prices circa 2002 are still overpriced?

That house is well worth 230k IMO...considering...

How low do we go here?

PS Love this but I'd prefer another area next to a nice beach.

.





Quote:
In the meantime, some properties, such as Balcony House, already fit the bill. A 15-minute drive from Peterborough, which is less than an hour by train from London, it’s been on the market for more than year — with the price reduced from £1.25m to £975,000. Even taking into account the depressed property market, I can’t understand why it wasn’t snapped up long ago. It’s a six-bedroom, Grade II-listed 17th century house at the heart of a thriving village (Best Kept Village, Peterborough District, 1992, no less) with its own primary and secondary schools, pub, butcher, post office and grocer.

ETA Next to BEACH, with its own primary and secondary schools, pub, butcher, post office and grocer.