Why are these flats 40% up in a year?

zzzt

iantojones40 wrote: »

It's the same everywhere, latest LR info for my area shows that prices have actually fallen in the last 12 months... yet everything currently has an asking price at least 20% higher than what comparable properties were selling for a year ago.

Just about the entire market seems to be made up of deluded vendors and time wasting kite flyers.

The houses I'm looking at cost £100k to £130k. I put an offer in on a house, the valuation came back £15,000 less than the agreed price, so the sale fell through because the mortgage lender wouldn't give that much for a house that they said wasn't worth it.

The trouble is, similar houses in the same area have similar asking prices. I've viewed other houses that I like, but chosen not to put offers in because I know I'll pay for the survey and it'll come back lower again. The amount the first one was lower shows that they are asking way more than it's worth. Houses that 2 years ago sold for £90k are asking for £125k. This isn't even a good area, it's one road over from a council estate.

I think it's the estate agents pushing these high prices, because it gets them clients if they say they can sell the house for that price. The trouble is... they can't! Not unless they can find a cash buyer who is willing to overpay.

Barter

mubeye wrote: »

It's not my primary intention just a bonus if it works out.

Thought twice about smoking then...

mubeye

I have rented holiday flats in buildings with shared entrances on numerous occasions. Maybe a dozen times. Some of them were with dedicated agencies. So I don't think it is universally banned.

I've also rented flats through Airbnb - usually for a month at a time. Never had a hint of a problem. Not even a sideways glance. I'm a good tenant, and have the feedback to show it. I very much doubt my neighbours knew I was an Airbnb. How many people know their neighbours anyway?

It depends a lot on the block. And laws can change quickly as we see in Barcelona. But people even tenants have sub letted flats for an awful long time and I doubt it will change soon.

Maybe it is illegal to sublet a (cash owned?) flat I'm not sure to be honest.band of course I'm not betting my financial future on it..... but it is rife. In the Uk and all over the world.

boliston

Barter wrote: »

No skin off my nose, but if your communal entrance-sharing neighbours don't like a ever-changing troupe of unknowns going in & out, they could soon kick off.

How much time do people spend in the stairwells of their block checking out how well they know people they meet there? Where I live there are a mix of people who have been there a few years and people I have never seen before (some flats seem to have a rapid turnover) but probably the most annoying tenants were a family who stayed quite a while (the best part of a year I think) but always left prams blocking the corridors and had noisy kids that used to run up and down the stairwells. I think they eventually got kicked out after people complained to the managing agent.

mubeye

In some ways Airbnb for monthly rental is a safer bet than AST tenants. Some people have 20 or more detailed and unfakable reviews. Anyone can fake an AST reference! I know that I am quieter in an Airbnb than my own place.

dktreesea

that flat looks a bit expensive for what it is, despite the views. Crest has new one bedroom flats right in the town for £265k.


How about a new home outside Bath, e.g.
http://www.persimmonhomes.com/new-homes/somerset/bath/2-bedroom-flats?bedrooms=2


The Lyde Green development is right near the M4. Can be handy if you need to get in and out of the UK or London.


A couple of things to keep in mind: does the area where you are buying have super fast broadband access and do you like rain? if no to the latter, the further east the better.


New builds can have an advantage when it comes to broadband, because they can have fibre to the home (as opposed to the street and then copper wiring taking over) connections.

Davesnave

mubeye wrote: »

Also, I am hoping for resilience to a London dip. Looking at Bath trends, 2007 is barely noticeable on the HPI graph. Is it similar where houses are cheap?

That made me chuckle. When you're in a dip, no one knows where the bottom is, or when. People will say "It's different from last time." Scary stuff!

I was selling in Bath at the end of 2007; nearly did too, but my buyer had a lie-to-buy mortgage arranged with Northerrn Rock......

So I actually sold in the dire year of 2008, around 15% below the price previously agreed. I lived in a desirable, leafy area just off the large parks/golf course, but it made no odds. Short term, things were bad. My agent closed its office there and several others, deservedly, went bust.

Within a few years things bounced back. So you're right that it was just a blip. The people who bought my house also dropped their asking price by around 15%, making it a pretty good move for them.

For an old fogey like me, Bath is far too 'vibrant' now, and that's why I wanted out soon as the kids had flown. Great place for children.

I live in the depths of the country now, having swapped my 4 bed semi for a 5 acre smallholding, so I'm not grumbling.... I can park anywhere I like here! :rotfl:

Brightspark87

Can I suggest that you also look at the outskirts of Bristol? Having looked at many gorgeous properties in Severn Beach they are a) much cheaper and b) more likely to get family and longer term lets perhaps? Has a train line too.

iantojones40

brodawel wrote: »

This is exactly what it's like here in North Wales. Massive difference between LR sold data and new instructions. Even a fair offer is flatly rejected. Hopefully by late August they'll be more realistic because I don't know what else to do but wait it out in rented.

Asking prices are complete insanity aren't they... a property on an estate near me has been sat on the market for over a year with an asking price of £95k, just this morning an identical house (but in poorer condition) 50 yards up the road from it has come on with an asking price of £120k!!!

Davesnave

Brightspark87 wrote: »

Can I suggest that you also look at the outskirts of Bristol? Having looked at many gorgeous properties in Severn Beach......

That's the first time I've ever seen anyone suggest Severn Beach as an alternative to Bath, but I suppose it has it's own charms..... and there's Shirley's Cafe + a tenuous link to the young Bob Dylan.....:rotfl: