London is a joke (moan)

Digsby

Jhoney wrote: »

Always a good idea to know the reason and motivations behind these things to glean context. You telling people to download well known products etc may sound like a scam, self promotion or whatever. No need to take offence - your good intentions are now known in its entirety.

None taken, you were correct to point it out, and providing a service to the community by doing so, which is why I thanked you.

I feel no shame in recommending software that I am the author of. I use thousands of bits of free software every day (chrome itself uses thousands of free software libraries), and the majority of those started life with somebody wishing there was something out there that did this or that, writing it, making it available for others to use and telling them about it.

I am a member of the house price crash community (and feel no shame about that either) under the same user name, and there is a thread on there anybody with any concerns can read (just googling 'land registry chrome extension' will find it) where I introduce it to the rest of the community as something I've written and found useful for looking at houses for sale, receive feedback and suggestions, make improvements and new features, and am ultimately encouraged to make it widely available after re-branding it so as not to irk the land registry themselves.

At the moment, most asking prices are way out of touch and there was a spate of articles in the media recently pointing this out after some research was published.

Some sellers achieve those prices, many languish on the market for months on end, probably wondering why their house isn't selling, because the agent told them it could fetch that much when really it was competition among agents forcing them to pitch high to get the business.

There is quite a lot on the market at the moment that were bought just months ago, had a splash of paint, and put straight back on at £50k more, where actual sold prices have only increased 5% since on average and in some cases have gone down.

Some, roughly 5-25% of the market depending on the location (25% in Lambeth for example), are motivated to sell/not greedy, and are priced accordingly. If you can weed those out then you can find good value, but it's not easy - my tool makes it easier, I created it for that purpose.

So my advice to the OP is, learn as much as you can about the market, use my tool and others like it, look at a lot of property and not just those with asking prices within your budget but up to 20% above it as well, keep an eye on those you think are overpriced and wait to see if they sell or are reduced.

By the time you're ready to buy, you'll be in a much better position for it.

anotheruser

Jhoney wrote: »

All the redundant workers, British ex-pats/ overseas homeowners in Spain and France etc will be keen to thank you for that great idea:eek:.

If they've surrendered their British Passport surely they are not looking to come back / be a British Citizen any more? So why would they suddenly want to own property? Gr££d?

If they still have their passport / still a British Citizen, they can own property - no issue there.

Our country is too small for people to own homes here to fund their lifestyle in another country.

AdrianC

anotheruser wrote: »

If they still have their passport / still a British Citizen, they can own property - no issue there.

You do realise that there are a heck of a lot of people who've been living and working in the UK for many years but aren't British Citizens?

quidsy

I'd prefer that they only allow any individual or company to own 2 properties. The rest must be sold back into the market.


Hoarding of properties by professional LL's has created a large part of our housing crisis imo.

Cornucopia

quidsy wrote: »

Hoarding of properties by professional LL's has created a large part of our housing crisis imo.

In what way?

quidsy

No one else can buy them yet the LL isn't living in them, so only tenants can live there. Therefore depriving the market of property in a certain area & price range.

benjus

anotheruser wrote: »

If they've surrendered their British Passport surely they are not looking to come back / be a British Citizen any more? So why would they suddenly want to own property? Gr££d?

If they still have their passport / still a British Citizen, they can own property - no issue there.

Our country is too small for people to own homes here to fund their lifestyle in another country.

I'm not sure how it was intended, but I took Jhoney's comment as asking "what if Spain/France etc decide to reciprocate by blocking British citizens from owning property there?"

What would you do with property that's already owned by foreign citizens? Confiscate it? I can see that scaring off anyone who's investing at all in the UK, not just in property.

What data do you have to back up your position? What percentage of homes are owned by foreign citizens? What percentage outside of central London?

Personally I think we have a bigger problem with wealthy (or even just fairly wealthy) British people owning vast amounts of property.

Jhoney_2

Digsby wrote: »

None taken, you were correct to point it out, and providing a service to the community by doing so, which is why I thanked you.

Your welcome.

As I said, I thought it was omitted in error,
however in your post to cornucopia, you appeared to have chosen to leave that out 'I didn't feel the need to mention that' so I felt it best to let the reader decide for themselves. I am sure it will be a useful tool for it's users.

No shame was suggested or intended.

AdrianC

quidsy wrote: »

No one else can buy them yet the LL isn't living in them, so only tenants can live there.

Exactly. The tenants are living there. They aren't empty.

Therefore depriving the market of property in a certain area & price range.

Depriving the purchase market, perhaps - but not depriving anybody of homes, and fuelling the rental market, which is what's more important and relevant to those on a lower income. Restrict people from letting property in any significant way, and rents will rise, not fall. Basic supply and demand. Restrict people from letting AND restrict rents, and all you'll achieve is low rents for the very few people who can actually find rental properties.

But purchase prices are unlikely to fall significantly.

Remember - nobody sane buys properties for letting unless they can achieve a certain yield. Once that ratio's passed, "professional landlords" are uninterested - and the property is most likely to be bought by amateur landlords or owner-occupiers. And just look at rental yields in the SE and London - or anywhere with anything approaching a "property bubble"... Add to that the subtle detail that, by shrinking the rental market, you increase the demand for property purchasing, too. You don't change the ratio of properties to people, which is where the root cause of the problem lies.

Landlord Law Blog has this article today...
http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2015/04/29/three-possible-solutions-to-our-housing-crisis/

Jhoney_2

anotheruser wrote: »

If they've surrendered their British Passport surely they are not looking to come back / be a British Citizen any more? So why would they suddenly want to own property? Gr££d?

If they still have their passport / still a British Citizen, they can own property - no issue there.

Our country is too small for people to own homes here to fund their lifestyle in another country.

See #88, sorry if I was unclear:).