London is a joke (moan)

Cornucopia

Digsby wrote: »

I do have data about the number and extent of price reductions on the market, if you're interested in exploring that.

I'd certainly be interested in any trends the data suggests.

I sold a property in London at the beginning of the year. As a landlord, the property was empty for most of the period it was on the market, although the mortgage payment was not huge.

I reduced several times in order to attract a buyer, although I probably wouldn't have gone any lower than the final price that was agreed. I would have re-let it instead.

So, that's the other side of the coin from sellers-in-residence who can't or won't reduce. LL's who often have the option of swapping over to a letting.

AdrianC

Digsby wrote: »

How much are agents fees in general? 5%? (not rhetorical)

When we sold in the SE two years ago, 1.35% from a big-name upper-market agent, including glossy brochure and pro pics.

Digsby

Ok, but not tonight as I'm on the phone not the pc.

Really I need to look at it in more detail. I have nearly 3 months of data but it hasn't been worth analysing much before.

There isn't a lot in terms of reductions indicating sellers are sticking to their guns as you suggest, not a lot compared to my preconceptions anyway.

Theres a 'game' played on HPC, a bit of a tradition, where you count the number of added and reduced listings in the past 24 hours, and divide by the reduced only. If it's 100%, a very rare thing, it's HPC 'bingo!'.

Apart from what fun aspect there may be, it asks more questions than it answers for me (I'm not alone). Reduced by how much? From what price? Out of a total market of how many? And how many increases?

It was these questions that kicked off much of my research, and the interest in Streatham. The impression was tgat

Digsby

Doh - phone - was that there were loads of reductions. The reality is not so.

gaz141

Did the OP ever find any resolution to his moan? It all got a bit lost

Cornucopia

gaz141 wrote: »

Did the OP ever find any resolution to his moan? It all got a bit lost

There isn't really an answer to be had.

Various suggestions have been made, but I don't know if any of them fully address the OP's issues. Property buying is always a set of compromises, but sometimes those compromises are just too much, or what is wanted is simply not possible.

gaz141

Ah, oh well. I understand compromise in London, I bought a Shared Ownership in a bit of London I never even knew, and not the best part of London by any means, but it was all I could afford, and you just have to make good with what you have and make it work for you and be happy or sod off somewhere else and stop moaning

Jhoney_2

Cornucopia wrote: »

There isn't really an answer to be had.

gaz141 wrote: »

....you just have to make good with what you have and make it work for you and be happy or sod off somewhere else and stop moaning

That'll be it, in a nutshell.:)

ClaireJ23

I think some of the comments here are mean. A generation ago this wouldn´t have seemed so unreasonable for a young man to be able to afford a one-bedroom flat near his family and work in a suburb of London.

buglawton

This is not all new in history. In the 70s I temporarily rented - shared a room with another student in Twickenham. The couple we rented from both worked, had bought their semi not long before. They never had a penny. The fridge would be literally empty every day. House prices as a multiple of salary were more reasonable then but interest rates were 10%-15% so it was as tough as ever to afford. Another time I rented in St Albans, similar situation, but had to walk through the owners' bedroom to reach the bathroom due to the Victorian terraced layout! London and the S.E. have been under intense pressure for 50 years now. After graduating I moved abroad where rents and rental quality were vastly better, on return to UK I lived over 150 miles from London.

Young people should completely give up the idea of staying near family if they've grown up in the S.E. UK, cast the net one whole lot wider.