House Price Crash Didn't Happen

Nynaeve

Already some great advice on here, and wanted to add my sympathy. We're FTB going through the same thing. We have found a house we like, asking price 140k. Originally bought for 120k in 2005. If you do the math, HPI makes it worth 114k now :think: Even if we account for the "improvements" that have been made I can't account for the huge gap between that and what is being asked. However, we really like it and put our final offer in of 133k today and await the outcome.

Keep looking, stick to your guns and don't give up!

trytobuy

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Speaking as someone who bought a house (not FTB) mortgage-free in November 2007 and spent around £40k on essential renovations and sold last May for £20k less than the property cost, I have to say these sellers are being totally unrealistic. We were selling in East Anglia (Essex/Suffolk borders) and as property was just not moving in our area and we needed a quick sale to relocate closer to family we were realistic in our asking price and as such sold within two weeks of marketing.......we just faced up to having to take a hit.

Houses we looked at to buy (across six counties in the south east/west) tended to not only be more expensive (as you would expect) but the vendors seemed far less willing to price realistically and therefore sell swiftly. We looked at one house that had actually been on the market since before our previous move :eek: yet had only dropped in price by some 8% in that time (almost four years!) and when we tried to view it the agent couldn't get hold of the vendor, who it turned out was on holiday but hadn't bothered to inform the EA......suffice to say it's still on the market now

I just find it all very difficult to stomach, I mean I don't consider any vendor to be stupid, everyone reads the news paper or watches the news and knows house prices have dropped everywhere and most home owners are acutely aware of how much the HPI has dropped in their own area, yet there seems to be this pretty large group (apparently every house in my area) who think the price of their house has actually gone up in this time, and by some distance too.

Seems to me this is a case of wishful, emotional thinking rather than sound, sensible analysis o the available information and the world around them, and I can't help but feel the estate agents might be driving some of this, quite frankly greedy looking pricing in order to try and synthetically inflate the market and drive up their own commissions as a result.

That may be over the top a little, but I am getting quite frustrated by this pricing which implies the house price crash didn't happen and in fact in the case of these vendors prices have continued to rise at a healthy, steady rate right through the crash.

brit1234

People in different areas think differently on prices. Despite average falls it will take continual falls in London to convince deluded sellers every where. London prices are wobbling at the moment and the foreign buyer numbers collapsing.

I wouldn't get up tight about buying, many of us are playing the waiting game but enjoying life at the same time.

Catblue

trytobuy wrote: »

I just find it all very difficult to stomach, I mean I don't consider any vendor to be stupid, everyone reads the news paper or watches the news and knows house prices have dropped everywhere and most home owners are acutely aware of how much the HPI has dropped in their own area, yet there seems to be this pretty large group (apparently every house in my area) who think the price of their house has actually gone up in this time, and by some distance too.

Seems to me this is a case of wishful, emotional thinking rather than sound, sensible analysis o the available information and the world around them, and I can't help but feel the estate agents might be driving some of this, quite frankly greedy looking pricing in order to try and synthetically inflate the market and drive up their own commissions as a result.

That may be over the top a little, but I am getting quite frustrated by this pricing which implies the house price crash didn't happen and in fact in the case of these vendors prices have continued to rise at a healthy, steady rate right through the crash.

Keep the faith and keep looking.

Even if you did want to pay the asking price of 170K for the house that you like then you'd need to get a valuation survey from the bank and the surveyor would have to take into account exactly what you have been taking into account.

The survey would come back at 160K (or even less) and then you'd be out of pocket for the survey fee and the vendor would still refuse to believe the reality. You'd be wasting time and money.

You are doing all the right things - the last thing you want to do is pay over the odds for a house, the market then falls again and you want to move because of personal circumstances and find that you are trapped in negative equity. Then you'd become one of the delusional masses that has their house on the market for five years while your life passes you by.

Have you thought about buying a fixer-upper and doing it up as and when you have the cash? Or buying a smaller house that has scope to extend when you can afford it? That way (although it would take longer) you'd have the house exactly as you want it rather than live with someone else's dodgy garage conversion and Hawaii-themed outside bar.

quickbeam

Hello

I've recently bought a house myself and in the end it comes down to if you think you have a good deal in your circumstances.

I think houses are generaly overpriced but feel that the house I purchased was fair price for what they are currently selling for in the area I want to live.

As long as you dont overstrech and are buying a home you want to live in not an investment to make money from you will probably be ok.

Dont belive everything a vendor tells you though as when I put an offer in on the house I have now bought I was told that the vendor couldn't afford to negotiate. I thought the vendor wanted too much and therfore walked away only to get a call back a week later saying that the vendor had dropped the price and was now willing to negotiate.

Best of luck in the hunting:j

trytobuy

Catblue wrote: »

Keep the faith and keep looking.

Even if you did want to pay the asking price of 170K for the house that you like then you'd need to get a valuation survey from the bank and the surveyor would have to take into account exactly what you have been taking into account.

The survey would come back at 160K (or even less) and then you'd be out of pocket for the survey fee and the vendor would still refuse to believe the reality. You'd be wasting time and money.

You are doing all the right things - the last thing you want to do is pay over the odds for a house, the market then falls again and you want to move because of personal circumstances and find that you are trapped in negative equity. Then you'd become one of the delusional masses that has their house on the market for five years while your life passes you by.

Have you thought about buying a fixer-upper and doing it up as and when you have the cash? Or buying a smaller house that has scope to extend when you can afford it? That way (although it would take longer) you'd have the house exactly as you want it rather than live with someone else's dodgy garage conversion and Hawaii-themed outside bar.

Thanks so much for this it's good to at least be reassured that I'm not being insanely unreasonable. I just get the feeling that a lot of houses are priced on the wishful side of optimistic right now.

I had considered a do-er upper, and whilst I am willing to change/renovate a litte bit, I'd prefer something that could be lived in comfortably right away and changed over time.

trytobuy

quickbeam wrote: »

Hello

I've recently bought a house myself and in the end it comes down to if you think you have a good deal in your circumstances.

I think houses are generaly overpriced but feel that the house I purchased was fair price for what they are currently selling for in the area I want to live.

As long as you dont overstrech and are buying a home you want to live in not an investment to make money from you will probably be ok.

Dont belive everything a vendor tells you though as when I put an offer in on the house I have now bought I was told that the vendor couldn't afford to negotiate. I thought the vendor wanted too much and therfore walked away only to get a call back a week later saying that the vendor had dropped the price and was now willing to negotiate.

Best of luck in the hunting:j

Yeah I can't help but think most of what the vendor says is influenced by an EA who has their own agenda, ie. to squeeze you for as much as possible and maximise their own commission, an that they are willing to lie to do it. I've had the EA contradict herself when calling me to report the vendors position (ie. "They want full asking price" then later in the same conversation "they'd be willing to meet you half way".... I wish I could negotiate directly with the vendor, I'm certain I could convince him.

trytobuy

brit1234 wrote: »

People in different areas think differently on prices. Despite average falls it will take continual falls in London to convince deluded sellers every where. London prices are wobbling at the moment and the foreign buyer numbers collapsing.

I wouldn't get up tight about buying, many of us are playing the waiting game but enjoying life at the same time.

Love your signature, seems like I'm not the only one up in arms about apparent vendor over pricing!