Can't make sense of asking prices!

rrtt

Dan-Dan wrote: »

There is nothing more deflating , but also very very required , than getting excited about a property going by RM pictures , then going to see it in the flesh....

It`s amazing what a camera can do , it really brings you back down to earth , but as LL says , you start getting an excellent idea of what , for you , is value for your money , and what isnt

Shocking isn't it, the angles that EAs seem to find which conveniently chop out the main road, the neighbours' 10 foot high Leylandi, and the industrial unit looming over the S facing garden :eek: I recently looked at 2 houses with beautiful gardens ...which backed onto pub carparks - one of which had a large bouncy castle full of screaming kids in it on a sunny Bank Hol lunchtime ...

One incredibly useful tool however is googlemaps, which on 'satellite' view you can zoom right in on to get close up and personal ... sometimes means you can save yourself a viewing

Duskylady

lessonlearned wrote: »

I know this will vary across the country but I think you will find that the housing market has definitely shifted a gear in the last few months.

In many parts of the country the market is much brisker than it was this time last year. The "good stuff" is being snapped up and is fetching good prices. Only the dross is still hanging around for months on end.

Do be careful how low you go with your offers. The days of 10% to 15% off the asking price are rapidly drawing to a close.

It seems to take a couple of months before land registry prices (ie the actual selling price) are published.

I have seen things that go very quickly but they are always sensibly priced from the outset, I've been browsing RM for pretty much a year so I am quite good at spotting these. Haven't seen anything suitable since we got our deposit together though

Update on previous mentioned house though a friend of mine went to view it when she was looking and that was sep last year. No price drop since then. Would suggest the seller isn't very motivated to go!

rrtt

lessonlearned wrote: »

I know this will vary across the country but I think you will find that the housing market has definitely shifted a gear in the last few months.

In many parts of the country the market is much brisker than it was this time last year. The "good stuff" is being snapped up and is fetching good prices. Only the dross is still hanging around for months on end.

All this is certainly true in mid Yorkshire (west of York and down as far as Leeds/Bradford) - it really picked up enormously as soon as the good weather started in May, and hasn't dropped back at all. Houses that had been on the market for over 6 months or a year started going, and if you really want something now you have to go for it fairly sharpish - local EAs say 'project' houses are being enthusiastically snapped up. It's only the overpriced ones that are lingering, along with a few that have been renovated already (but to someone else's taste).

witchy1066

its only the "spring boom" give it another month or so and things will be back to same as end of 2012,

we have been chasing rainbows for a couple of months , the ones we like sell before we can get a viewing, and nothing new is coming on the market, or this is how it feels

but lets face it if nothing else came on the market , they would be no need for EA and going off a new EA seems to pop up every week in Carmarthenshire ,

I am sure our perfect house will pop up also ,


hopefully wherever in the country you are this will be the same for you, and take no notice what EA tells you , they lie, its part of the job description

Almo

We are house hunting in Chester too, at about the same price point. We are finding it tough to know where to pitch offers vs asking prices, there is a house we went to see today for the second time that has an offer on it already, so I suspect we would need to go in at full asking price, and I am very scared of doing that!

geoffky

Asking prices are dreams,Selling prices are the reality of the market..

Almo

True. But when the house you are looking at is one of only a very few in that style on the street it's hard to evaluate selling prices, let alone asking prices.

lessonlearned

geoffky wrote: »

Asking prices are dreams,Selling prices are the reality of the market..

In some areas this is no longer the case. In my neck of the woods prices are rising and nice properties do not linger for long. "Projects" are being snapped up.

You really do have to be quick off the mark, and playing around going in at silly offers will get you knowhere.

This time last year yes you could haggle and go in at 10 - 15% below asking price - not any more.

If you really like a house, can afford it and feel that you can add value to it by improving or developing it then just make a fair and reasonable offer.

shortchanged_2

Guest101 wrote: »

Just remember a house is worth exactly what the vendor will accept for it. He could ask for 400k, he wouldnt sell it, but thats his asking price.

Not really.

A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

Otherwise it is just an imaginary price in a vendors head.

BazzaDP

Guest101 wrote: »

Just remember a house is worth exactly what the vendor will accept for it. He could ask for 400k, he wouldnt sell it, but thats his asking price.

shortchanged wrote: »

Not really.

A house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

Otherwise it is just an imaginary price in a vendors head.

You're both wrong. A house is is often said to be worth the price where a buyer and seller agree. A buyer can offer 10p, a seller can ask for £100,000,000. Neither is a true measure of it's value unless there is an agreement.

As houses are often unique, even an agreed price is of course an estimate depending on the parties involved (one side might have got the better part of the deal) and is almost immediately out of date depending on the local housing market. However it's the only way to really value a property.