Unsure what I want, plus couple of houses opinions requested

danlightbulb

I just feel that what I'm asking for isn't alot really. Its not like I'm asking for a 6 bedroom period cottage in 3 acres of grounds. I just want a nice looking (i.e not ex-council box) house that is in a decent condition (i.e no bodged outbuildings, no cheaply constructed lean to self build extensions presented as worth something when they are not), with a garden of 20m x 10m (not big really) and parking, in an area where I will fit in with similar people to me (i.e I don't drink cans of lager on my front lawn and I don't have 5 cars all in dismantled bits), for a price that is affordable for an average household salary. I don't consider this unrealistic?

seradane wrote: »

I think you're getting too caught up in your own perception of what's "overpriced". Of course you don't want to be paying far too much for something but ultimately you aren't buying this house purely for investment purposes, so maybe try and step away from what it "should" be worth and think about what it's worth to you.

How do I judge this?

Take the bungalow as an example. I do like it, although it needs some refurbishment work. It ticks quite a few of my boxes. I can afford to buy it, the mortgage would be similar to my current rent. But just because I can afford it, doesn't mean I should pay it. I could afford to buy a new car if I wanted (via finance), doesn't mean I should, doesn't make it good value.

Its this indiscriminate desperation to own anything with walls at any price that has caused the property bubble in the first place.

seradane wrote: »

There's a really well-written guide I think makes for some useful reading. I can't post links but if you search for a website called The Advisory and "How Much is My Home Worth" you'll find it. Although it's written for sellers, I think you can still take away a similar message as a buyer.

https://www.theadvisory.co.uk/home-worth/

Thanks, will have a read.

seradane wrote: »

Effectively, a house is worth what someone will pay for it.

If the houses you're considering overpriced are selling to other people, then they're not overpriced.
If they aren't selling, well, perhaps they are overpriced - but then you don't have to buy them, either.

I do understand this, with the caveat though of my earlier point. Just because I (or any other person) can afford to pay £X a month, doesn't mean it is good value for money? I hate this 'race to the bottom' type thinking, as if the only thing we all earn money for is to feed the machine.

PasturesNew

staffie1 wrote: »

Have you moved out yet or are you staying put until the market picks up?
I’m in exactly the same position as you, sold couple of months ago, and market absolutely dead. My buyer has had the survey done, and exchange due February. Time is running out for me!

I moved out, into temporary accommodation with an immovable end date; "homeless" at Xmas I foisted myself upon a relative and just managed to get something sorted to dovetail to the end of that, so "on the move quite a bit"

I'm keeping a tally. Today in my whole county, in my budget, houses/bungalows there were 12 ... 2-4 of which were reduced in price so appeared in the results, so just a small set of new ones... not where I wanted.

BucksLady

We sold recently and our house never actually 'came to market'. The agent selling our home had a list of buyers seeking a property in our area, who were then contacted. We actually sold within 48 hrs of giving the go-ahead. I think it may be a mistake therefore to 'wait' for a property to appear on sites like rightmove etc. If you are able to pinpoint the area you would really like to live and additionally can narrow down what you would like in a property, then registering with various agents and making them aware of your situation might help. We adopted this approach in finding our new home - which again - never actually 'came to market'. Wish you all the best

danlightbulb

seradane wrote: »

There's a really well-written guide I think makes for some useful reading. I can't post links but if you search for a website called The Advisory and "How Much is My Home Worth" you'll find it. Although it's written for sellers, I think you can still take away a similar message as a buyer.

https://www.theadvisory.co.uk/home-worth/

I just had a good read of this. I actually think Im the one following those principles and everyone else is not!

Im the one doing extensive comparison to other properties available to determine value, I'm the one researching historic sold prices and inflating them appropriately.

The hierarchy of information
If you want to properly research the value of your home for sale, there are four levels of information you need to progress through:

Level 1 – Look at Zoopla valuation estimates (just to see if it needs changing).

Level 2 – Look at historic sold prices of comparable properties.

Level 3 – Look at comparable properties currently on the market to see what prices your competition are asking, failing to sell at and going under offer at.

Level 4 – Identify and interrogate the local estate agents that have the most up-to-date knowledge about buyers (in the market right now looking in your price bracket) and the results of recent sales (not yet recorded at HM Land Registry).

Obviously I can't do number 4. But if EVERYONE is overpricing their house according to 2 and 3, am I supposed to just not do anything? Sit there and watch other fools take on these overpriced houses because they don't know any better? Whereas Im the one who is being sensible, analysing the correct market value and not getting anywhere because I feel that I shouldn't throw good money after bad.

BucksLady wrote: »

We sold recently and our house never actually 'came to market'. The agent selling our home had a list of buyers seeking a property in our area, who were then contacted. We actually sold within 48 hrs of giving the go-ahead. I think it may be a mistake therefore to 'wait' for a property to appear on sites like rightmove etc. If you are able to pinpoint the area you would really like to live and additionally can narrow down what you would like in a property, then registering with various agents and making them aware of your situation might help. We adopted this approach in finding our new home - which again - never actually 'came to market'. Wish you all the best

Doesn't work around here. Im registered with all the local agents, never had a single direct call. They are too lazy and incompetent. Or maybe they are just selling houses without putting any effort in to fools who don't understand value for money and just pay the max they can regardless of what it is. Or, maybe they know 90% of their book is overpriced and can tell Im savvy enough not to fall for it, so again they don't bother.

staffie1

BucksLady wrote: »

We sold recently and our house never actually 'came to market'. The agent selling our home had a list of buyers seeking a property in our area, who were then contacted. We actually sold within 48 hrs of giving the go-ahead. I think it may be a mistake therefore to 'wait' for a property to appear on sites like rightmove etc. If you are able to pinpoint the area you would really like to live and additionally can narrow down what you would like in a property, then registering with various agents and making them aware of your situation might help. We adopted this approach in finding our new home - which again - never actually 'came to market'. Wish you all the best

Agreed. I’ve registered with 10 agents - spoke to them on the phone, and told them what I want. There is just nothing new coming on. I’m going to see a couple of properties over the weekend which are above my budget, but have been on the market a few months, and probably make a very cheeky offer. You never know - they can only say no..or yes.

danlightbulb

staffie1 wrote: »

I’m going to see a couple of properties over the weekend which are above my budget, but have been on the market a few months, and probably make a very cheeky offer. You never know - they can only say no..or yes.

Ive considered doing that, but when I look at properties say £20-£40k higher than what I want to pay (in my budget range that is alot of gap), there is still nothing that I really like that much. I can't see someone marketing at £220k dropping to £180k, that doesn't feel realistic to me, so its really just timewasting for both myself and the vendor.

staffie1

danlightbulb wrote: »

Ive considered doing that, but when I look at properties say £20-£40k higher than what I want to pay (in my budget range that is alot of gap), there is still nothing that I really like that much. I can't see someone marketing at £220k dropping to £180k, that doesn't feel realistic to me, so its really just timewasting for both myself and the vendor.

You are right there - it could be construed as time wasting, but you never know - I still think it’s worth a try in my case. Looking at the page views feature on Zoopla - some seem surprisingly low. My thinking is that when / if things pick up dramatically shortly, there will be such pent up demand that prices will stay high and gazumping will increase.
But it drives me mad just not knowing what to do. Like you, I am not prepared to exceed my budget. If I move into rental I may get stuck there if prices go up.

danlightbulb

Ive been browsing rightmove for the last hour or so. That bungalow seems by far better value than anything else Im seeing, even upto £220k. To me that just shows how far everything else is overpriced.

The downside to the bungalow is the bathroom size. It is very small.

Does anyone have any experience with making very small bathrooms work better? How would you rework this? According to advert size is 2.36x1.83m. I don't know if that includes or excludes the airing cupboard visible in the photo.

Doozergirl

If one house is far better value than everything else then that probably shows what good value that one thing is, rather than 'everything' being overpriced.

If you're out for good value, there's nothing wrong with that. We've been holding out on a property for 9 months now (probate) and have seen nothing that touches in terms of VFM. Other houses have come and gone in that time.

I redesign houses for a living. The key is usually to turn the bath (it's the perfect width for a 180cm bath and new tiles) so it runs across the back wall, and shuffle the toilet over to sit next to it.

If the current door is on the same side as the sink and loo then you either re-site the toilet and sink to the left, or you move the door over!

The final layout depends on the location of the soil stack, though it's ground floor, so it can be buried and directed out, even, but moving the door would probably be cheaper.

There is plenty of room there for a good size bath, toilet and basin with storage. That's the typical size of a British bathroom!

staffie1

Do you need a bath, or could you manage with a nice shower cubicle?