8 other Houses for Sale in My Street- what shall I do?

JanCee

In your OP you said you had some viewings, you need to get the agents to follow these up and get some feedback from the people looking round. This will give you a better idea of what you are up against.

stratford_2

Hi there – just some thoughts.

How do the prices in your street compare to those in other nearby streets – is your street significantly more expensive / better? What other similar properties have sold recently in the area – check the house price data sites. The fact that some houses have been on sale for many months strongly implies that they were originally marketed at way too high a price, and still are, even if they’ve been reduced. The problem is that we all (naturally) look at neighbouring properties and their asking prices and we expect ours to be on for similar prices, so once an agent has inflated one house price (or not taken into account recent market changes) they have to do it for everyone!

I’m selling a flat and buying a house in East London and it seems to me that prices have gone down by up to 5% since December. To give you an idea, one 2 bed Victorian terrace house was stuck on at £217k and finally reduced to £210k with an actual sale of £206k and another, originally priced at £220k 5 months ago, is still stuck on the market at £215k. Other similar properties within 10 mins walk of Stratford station are being sold for between £200k and £208k (I’m buying mine for £202k) All the newly marketed properties with Spring 2005 prices are getting snapped up within a day or two and there’s less on the Agents’ books now.

I don’t know where you are and Stratford might not be as nice, but it may also answer your thoughts about other places in London. (Also, in some better roads in Forest Gate, you can get quite large 2 (sometimes 3) bedroom period properties for well under £200k).

Pal

Reasons that you house might not be selling:

- There are currently no buyers in that area who can afford what you are asking;
- There are currently no buyers in that area who are willing to pay what you are asking;
- There are currently no buyers in that area!

You may be experiencing the first throws of a housing market slowdown. The first people that find it hard to sell are those near the "bottom" of the ladder, because FTBs and BTL investors stop buying (or at least become far more fussy). This eventually impacts people higher up the housing ladder as their offer prices start reducing as the people below them start accepting lower offers.

Alternatively it could simply be a blip in the market in that area. Perhaps no-one wants to move into that area at the moment? Perhaps locals are moving out to buy?

£200k does strike me as an awful lot for a two bedroom property, no matter how nice it looks from the outside. I live in south London (within the M25) in a very expensive area, and £200k would buy at least another bedroom around here (it would be small though!)

That said, it has only been two weeks, and it only takes one person to make a decent offer and you have sold. I would wait a couple of months before you start to panic.

kittygalore_2

Thanks for that, and to the previous post for suggesting the agents give feedback, which I have now got.
I know Stratford well and am very surprised to hearthat prices have fallen there since Dec. 04, esp. with the Eurostar link due to open next year and talk of the Olympic Village earmarked for Stratford.
We are actually a few miles away on the Chingford/Walthamstow border in a district that is very hard to describe, as many places in East London are! The road itself is really quiet and pretty, but although close to transport, we are a bit 'out on a limb' surrounded by things like playing fields, a sports stadium and major roads with only one other residential street nearby to compare it with. Houses in that street are on par with the prices in this road (with the same variations.)

I have looked at 'nethouseprices' and know what houses have sold for in this street over the past 4 years or so - ours really does seem pitched about right.

I spoke to the agent today who has given me feedback from the viewers.
The first said the house was beautiful but did not like the surrounding area (apart from the street itself.)
The second is apparently a well-known timewaster who has viewed 500 houses and never offered on any! (Why do the agents let her continue to do this?)
The third liked the house but decided to up her budget and buy something more expensive!
The agent also said she had never known it to be so quiet, the phones are not ringing and said she could only put it down to the election!

Pal

kittygalore wrote:

The second is apparently a well-known timewaster who has viewed 500 houses and never offered on any! (Why do the agents let her continue to do this?)

He/She is probably a burglar. Worth ensuring your house alarm is working!

The agent also said she had never known it to be so quiet, the phones are not ringing and said she could only put it down to the election!

I have yet to hear a convincing argument that a general election has any effect at all on whether people choose to move house or not, but it is an excuse often put around by estate agents in order to explain a poor housing market without causing panic in the market. After this week they will say that it is summer and all the buyers are off on holiday until August.

kittygalore_2

Pal -
I'm fascinated - where in a 'very expensive area' of London can you get a 3-bed (or even a 2-bed) house for less than 200K???
Waltham Forest (where we are) is one of the cheapest, apart from places like Newham, Dagenham, etc. and you'd be hard-pressed to find a 2-bed FLAT for this.

Pal

Perhaps I got a bit carried away with the phrase "very expensive", but have a look here:

EDIT: Link didn't work. Go to https://www.rightmove.co.uk and type in the postcode CR5, looking for 3 bed houses around the £225K mark and quite a few come up.

I am not saying any of these places are particularly nice, but Coulsdon is a pretty expensive area, lots of houses £500k+, good transport to London, lots of school choice. It is next to Kenley and Purley which, for some bizarre reason, are two of the most expensive areas to live in the country. I read once that Purley had more millionaires per square mile than any other place in the country, although I think that was before the housing boom really took off.

Anyway, my point is that given the choice between a nice looking two bedroom house in East London or a crap looking three bedroom house in South London, many people may go for the third bedroom, especially if they are a first time buyer who is already stretching their budget.

I still think you should wait a couple of months before you panic.

kittygalore_2

Thanx for the link - but it only took me to the homepage (I think it times out.)
Yes, I take your point but I would go for the East London house every time, if only for the far superior transport links compared to South London. Plus it's north of the river (sorry...) And a nice looking house would be the cherry on top!
I'm not panicking just yet - and wouldn't even have been concerned, had half the street not decided to sell at the same time!

kittygalore_2

Just looked at CR5 (Croydon postcode!!!) on rightmove. Yes, there are houses, but they are all 'little boxes....all made out of ticky-tacky and all look just the same."
I would not personally want to make the biggest investment of my life in one of these, I'm afraid........and certainly not there! No offence.

meanmachine_2

kittygalore wrote:

Thanx for the link - but it only took me to the homepage (I think it times out.)
Yes, I take your point but I would go for the East London house every time, if only for the far superior transport links compared to South London. Plus it's north of the river (sorry...) And a nice looking house would be the cherry on top!
I'm not panicking just yet - and wouldn't even have been concerned, had half the street not decided to sell at the same time!

It does sound like stalemate's been reached in the housing market.

You're a decent, hardworking home owner who has been told by an EA that your property is worth X amount of money.

I'm a potental buyer, and a reasonable individual, who has long since been priced out of the market. There seems to be at least a 50K gap between what I can afford and what properties are on the market for. And with interest rates possibly rising, I'm looking for reduce a potential mortgage, not increase it. Sorry.

And no, I'm not waiting for the election result, I'm waiting for some logic to return to the housing market.

Blame the EAs and the banks for stoking up prices to their surrent silly levels.

BTW, how does the home look on rightmove? Were the pictures taken on a nice, sunny day? Are the interior shots bright and airey? If they were taken during the winter, as a potential buyer that is the first thing I spot - and suggests to me that the property has been hanging around for a long time.

Go out today with your digital camera and take lots of new shots. It might help.