ok i admit it house prices ARE mental

leftieM

talksalot81 wrote:

That is contrary to all anecdote I can provide......Can you actually provide anything beyond some of your own anecdote to prove that this is definitely not the case?

So, hang on, you can use anecdotes but I can't?
I have been watching the Templeton Robinson website since I discovered it around 2002 and, admittedly I only watched houses in Finaghy so I have that limitation, but I can't recall any that sold for less than 10% over asking since that time. Not all houses had bidding wars of course and the market wasn't as buoyant in the past but if more than one person wanted a house there was a bidding war. It's the way it has been here since I first became aware of the property market in 1998.
Agents marketing a house follow asking prices not sale prices. The buyer who has researched the market will know this. The buyer who hasn't gets a shock.
I'm not an EA and not so interested in this that I study it very closely. However I have watched the market for some time and I have built up a good picture of how the market is behaving and I have been very good at guessing what a house will sell for in the areas I have watched. I suggest that I have a better understanding of the market than you, who has come to it late and is trying to develop an understanding retrospectively. I would also suggest that your understanding is coloured by your own agenda.

mr.roboto

leftieM wrote:

I'm not an EA and not so interested in this that I study it very closely.

That's coming close to giving EA's some credit for expertise in their "profession" leftieM, I'd say you probably have better insight into the area you have been watching than them . Having dealt with a number of EA's in the recent past, I can testify that they play a guessing game just like the rest of us. Selling price for one house in a street = starting price for next house. The only difference is that they benefit directly from this insanity, the rest of us suffer.

It is absolutely in their interests for EA's to nudge the market up as far as they possibly can, as the cumulative effect of an extra £1K on each house sold adds up to a lot at the end of the week... as they sit around quaffing brandies, smoking fat cigars, guffawing as they reflect on their week's "work"


.. deep breaths ... deep breaths ....

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

belfastgirl23

booklover wrote:

OK this might seem a silly question and a bit naiive but how and why do people bid so high for ordinary houses????

Fiona

No choice is the answer When we bought we went higher than we thought we would and probably higher than the house was worth at the time. Some of our friends thought we were a bit mad but it was the fact that we had a buyer lined up on our old place and that finally we had found a house we actually agreed on :beer: that drove us. I think personally that we maybe paid about 5% over what it was realistically worth. That was 18months ago and I think we recouped the 5% in the first six months

The other thing is of course that if you're not buying, you're helping someone else to buy (bloody landlords!)

Colin_Kee

A house Identcal to mine has just gone on sale in our little development in Craigavon for £220,000. Thats over double what we paid for ours 14 months ago.. people have officially gone bonkers.. I could rent a similar house for £450/month inc rates, where's the sense??????????

I'm baffled.

leftieM

belfastgirl23 wrote:

I think personally that we maybe paid about 5% over what it was realistically worth.

If other people were willing to pay close to what you did then the house was worth what you paid for it. House value is difficult to determine - there are so many factors, the main one being how it performs in the market place and how much interest it generates.

Edit - I suppose that last one is the only one really!

leftieM

Colin_Kee wrote:

A house Identcal to mine has just gone on sale in our little development in Craigavon for £220,000. Thats over double what we paid for ours 14 months ago.. people have officially gone bonkers.. I could rent a similar house for £450/month inc rates, where's the sense??????????

I'm baffled.

They are probably second time buyers in the main who won't be borrowing the full cost of the house. £220k will just about buy a small house in nicer North Belfast or an ex-council terrace in South/East. I think people move out of the city in greater numbers in order to get more house for their money in this kind of market. Craigavon/ Portadown/Lurgan are handy for commuting so those areas are going to go mad. Look at Lisburn - it went up by 70% in a year and I'm not surprised it rose more than Belfast. I remember thinking about moving there a couple of years ago and you could get a huge house for the same money as a 3 bed semi in Belfast at the time. Obviously where I just thought, others did!

belfastgirl23

leftieM wrote:

If other people were willing to pay close to what you did then the house was worth what you paid for it. House value is difficult to determine - there are so many factors, the main one being how it performs in the market place and how much interest it generates.

Edit - I suppose that last one is the only one really!

cheers, makes me feel better

Colin_Kee

leftieM wrote:

I remember thinking about moving there a couple of years ago and you could get a huge house for the same money as a 3 bed semi in Belfast at the time. Obviously where I just thought, others did!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. hmmmmm

I remenber about 10 years ago when a house near my parents with a large garden and numerous outhouses went for £100,000. Everyone in the area thought the people were mental... (Maybe they were) but god knows what it would be worth now...

As you say Leftie, there's those who do and those who think about it!! I'm afraid I'm with you there, I've often thought about it.... makes you wander, would it have been worth putting your neck on the line so to speak??

leftieM

Never look back, that's what I reckon. If you make the best decision based on your needs and circumstances at the time and hindsight shows that another decision would have produced what seemed like better results, then so be it.
We have a smaller house than we could have afforded at the time but now we also have a smaller mortgage so we can afford for me to be a full time mother (or full time on this forum some days ). That's a real luxury for people with our income and worth the equity hit.

talksalot81

leftieM wrote:

So, hang on, you can use anecdotes but I can't?

Good golly, calm down. I never said you could not, the important point is that your claims hold no more water than mine if that is your only evidence.