DM: Plight of 1.1m stuck in homes they can't sell

lemonjelly

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I take their word on the day and date. That's about it.

I still feel you're being generous...

& I wouldn't even read that far.

twirlypinky

twirlypinky wrote: »

I'm stuck in a home i can't sell because it's in negative equity...

I didn't, my boyfriend did.

To make matters worse, i split with my ex at the peak of the storm, and we couldn't sell the house. The price fell from 285 to 245 in a desperate bid to sell it, it still didn't sell, I was getting into more and more debt trying to cover the bills (since i was the one left living in it) so one day i just decided i couldn't do it anymore, so i handed my ex the keys and walked away.

I seem to have done nothing but lose money in property

Orpheo

chucky wrote: »

do you think banks are not lending to businesses and companies because they're expecting lower house prices too?

A bit of a sweeping assumption, don't you think? Are you suffering from furballs? Or are you putting words in my mouth?

I expect that they are not lending to businesses because the banks are not satisfied with the level of risk. Many businesses are also not demanding to borrow as they're trying to reduce their debt levels. Where businesses are demanding money and satisfy the lenders that they are a suitable risk then I would suggest the banks are lending. Also businesses aren't expanding as they do not have the demand and are, therefore, demanding less borrowing.

Mortgage lending and business lending is not the same thing.

chucky

Orpheo wrote: »

A bit of a sweeping assumption, don't you think? Are you suffering from furballs? Or are you putting words in my mouth?

I expect that they are not lending to businesses because the banks are not satisfied with the level of risk. Many businesses are also not demanding to borrow as they're trying to reduce their debt levels. Where businesses are demanding money and satisfy the lenders that they are a suitable risk then I would suggest the banks are lending. Also businesses aren't expanding as they do not have the demand and are, therefore, demanding less borrowing.

Mortgage lending and business lending is not the same thing.

it was a simple question and commercial lending has nothing to do with house prices ( - well not directly anyway), good to see you grasped that one which you made my point for me.

banks are lending commercially - just not lending to small to medium businesses. they're seen as riskier, pretty obvious why.

banks are willing to lend for mortgages (not as much as before) but only to people that they see as low risk not because house prices may drop. at 75%-90% LTV it's not too much of an issue to them at the moment.

banks are lending but to low risk borrowers - for mortgages or commercial

lemonjelly

chucky wrote: »

banks are lending but to low risk borrowers - for mortgages or commercial

At a higher cost though...;)

Rochdale_Pioneers

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I've read many a post from rochdale, and remember one specifically about taking the job as it was such a good job with such a good wage, and the commute being worth it.

I feel this could be construed as bit*hy, or whatever, but to have that line about his kids, in response to my post, when it was completely his own decision to take the job for the money and the commute went with it (and beemer I believe) is, in my mind, whinging.

All I'm saying is you can't take the nice high paying job, which was your own choice, then come back to another poster and say he wants to see his kids grow up. Would be lovely if we could all do that, but we can't.

As the house is up for sale, I'm assuming he CAN afford to move where they desire, otherwise why put it up for sale? Just need to reduce the price, and accept that just because an agent values it at X amount, it doesn't mean thats what it's worth.

Sorry to skip a few pages back, but I want to reply. Yep, you're right about the new job - the better prospects and 50% pay rise were too god to turn down. The plan was to sell up in Stockton and move to Sheffield. Thats still the plan - and property prices in Sheffield are definitely affordable. BUT - and its a big but - with the market now basically dead, I'd have to slash the offer price of my current house below the balance of my mortgage to have a hope of shifting it - and the estate agent isn't confident of that either.

SO when the thread commented on people being stuck, I responded. I AM stuck - I can't afford to move. It would be lunacy to accept less for the house than I owe on it, so we're staying put. Not that I even have the opportunity to negotiate a price - noone out there to negotiate with.

Would I have taken the job knowing that a move wasn't possible for however long? Probably not. But at the time we put it on the market transactions were still going on at a reasonable rate so prospects of selling at a viable price were reasonable.

As for the "you're not stuck" comments, if you can't find a buyer then you're stuck. Remember, the estate agent isn't advising a drop in price - they are struggling to find buyers for any property at the moment. And I have colleagues trying to sell in Sheffield saying the market there is just as dry. Am I traumatised by it? No!

Graham_Devon

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

Sorry to skip a few pages back, but I want to reply. Yep, you're right about the new job - the better prospects and 50% pay rise were too god to turn down. The plan was to sell up in Stockton and move to Sheffield. Thats still the plan - and property prices in Sheffield are definitely affordable. BUT - and its a big but - with the market now basically dead, I'd have to slash the offer price of my current house below the balance of my mortgage to have a hope of shifting it - and the estate agent isn't confident of that either.

SO when the thread commented on people being stuck, I responded. I AM stuck - I can't afford to move. It would be lunacy to accept less for the house than I owe on it, so we're staying put. Not that I even have the opportunity to negotiate a price - noone out there to negotiate with.

Would I have taken the job knowing that a move wasn't possible for however long? Probably not. But at the time we put it on the market transactions were still going on at a reasonable rate so prospects of selling at a viable price were reasonable.

As for the "you're not stuck" comments, if you can't find a buyer then you're stuck. Remember, the estate agent isn't advising a drop in price - they are struggling to find buyers for any property at the moment. And I have colleagues trying to sell in Sheffield saying the market there is just as dry. Am I traumatised by it? No!

If you can't find a buyer, the price is probably too high.

I'm not having a go, just stating the obvious.

You likely cannot find a buyer because you are asking too much. I know you have talked about selling for less than the mortgage, but the mortgage circumstances make no difference to the price being too high to attract a buyer.

Maybe it would be better to say you are stuck due to negative equity, rather than saying you are stuck because you can't find a buyer.

As for estate agents, they hate taking low offers. Let alone reducing the price. There have been posts on the buying and selling board about the reluctance of EA's to reduce the price, to the sellers annoyance.

Rochdale_Pioneers

Graham_Devon wrote: »

If you can't find a buyer, the price is probably too high.

I'm not having a go, just stating the obvious.

You likely cannot find a buyer because you are asking too much. I know you have talked about selling for less than the mortgage, but the mortgage circumstances make no difference to the price being too high to attract a buyer.

*grin* I know that! Don't worry, I haven't taken any of your posts as having a go. As you say its very clear - I can't afford to sell for the price people want to pay. Well, assuming there are any people wanting/able to pay anything. I'm not exaggerating how dead things are - you can't say house prices are falling if houses aren't trading hands. As property is cheap in Sheffield too, I would consider selling for a bit of a loss if I could pick up something I liked for the same or less.

But the estate agent's view? We've already knocked 10% off what back in January was a discounted to sell price and where other similar houses have dropped their prices significantly below the competition it STILL isn't getting them buyers.

Perhaps people are sitting on their hands waiting to see how smashed the economy will be after October's cuts? Noone at work worried about their jobs (business booming), but with spouses under threat noone is spending money on big purchases.