Countrywide and Foxtons shares at all time low.

chucknorris

westernpromise wrote: »

I am baffled by the appeal of outfits like Purple Bricks. They have no idea about current values and as far as I can tell they leave you to do all the legwork of arranging and conducting your own viewings. I struggle to see what they do for the money. Their service feels like it is worth £5 to £10 at most.

I totally agree, we have just bought a new house, completing on Friday, and |I will be putting our current home on the market in a few weeks, no way would I consider purple bricks.

haras_nosirrah

Tell me about it. Left countrywide in April after 12 yrs. The blooming share save scheme was the worst investment I have ever made

chucknorris

haras_nosirrah wrote: »

Tell me about it. Left countrywide in April after 12 yrs. The blooming share save scheme was the worst investment I have ever made

I don't tend to invest in single company shares nowadays, after some poor (as well as good) performances years ago (Railtrack, Friends Provident and Kingston communications were my worst performers). I did invest all my ISA and SIPP in British Land last year, but afterwards I felt very uncomfortable about it, and I got out when the price went up. I can't see the day when I will invest in single company shares again, I don't want to take on that degree of risk.

GreatApe

ilovehouses wrote: »

I'm looking at a move to a different part of the country. Similar house. Similar price.

£5k tax! What's that about?

The days of moving house for a change of scene are gone. If you don't need to move you stay put.

While I agree with the general sentiment that stamp duty is too high and a big burden the facts seem to suggest the increased rates and amounts have not massively impacted moves.

You can gauge a decent estimate of how frequently people sell by looking at annual transactions vs the stock of homes.

So for instance if there are 1.2 million sales a year and 0.2 million are new builds and the non social stock is about 24 million units you get average transactions of roughly 1 per 24 years. That is 1 million second hand homes transacting for a stock of 24 million homes so roughly every 24 years.

This has roughly been true for a generation.

The idea of a housing ladder was always a myth. For the majority they only buy 1 or 2 homes in their life. So it is a housing step not a ladder where people keep buying bigger and better homes every few years.

Transaction data indicate people buy their starter home. Say between age 25-35. and then they buy their second home about 24 years later and that is it

GreatApe

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Reduced activity. Lower income. Fixed costs of branch network to cover.

Cant imagine the cost of the branches themselves are all that expensive.

Say an office with 10 staff that might have a cost of £500k for the staff and £50k for the shop. The big costs are the staff. If your turnover is dropping you should just let go of staff to match demand. But most bosses are loath to do that as they dont like letting staff go especially if said bosses are not the ones actually making/losing profit themselves. Hence why you have buyouts where a ruthless (or smart and logical depending on how you view it) person gets in and says what and who is excess cuts them out and then resells for millions more a couple of years later.

GreatApe

westernpromise wrote: »

There are too many estate agencies, essentially, and especially in London, where nobody moves house any more because of stamp duty.

London has more social rentals and private rentals and therefore less owners.
So a much bigger portion of agents income is from lettings in London, especially zones 1-2 than rUK

As time goes on i'm sure the lettings side is getting harder and harder too as it is quite easy for landlords to fill properties with tenants without going through estate agents first if they are so inclined to do so. You can even list on right-move and the other portals for something like £50

The benefit is you dont pay the estate agents £1-2k and the tenants dont pay the estate agent £1-2k which is a £2-4k saving all round. I wouldn't say its all that much work either. You show 2-4 groups around and one is likely to take it. Referencing is as easy as proof of stable full time employment that weeds out almost all bad tenants.

Personally I use estate agents for lettings still but its because I have far too little free time and live some distance from the properties. But If I lived closer or worked less I would probably self let its maybe a max of 5 hours work for a £2-4k saving.