Anyone want a penthouse flat in Chelmsford?

sarah_elton

My brother is an EA in Chelmsford (where another of his competitors has just gone bust). Anyone who knows the town or passes through on the train will have seen the block of high-end flats built right by the station.

The penthouse sold last year for £499,995. :eek: But it's now been repossessed. They tried to get £450k for it... Then £400k... It's now going up for auction with a guide price of £250k.

What a difference a year makes. Standard two bed flats in the building sold for around that figure.

Doozergirl

It was vastly overpriced in the first place. People just sucked in by pretty showhomes and the BTL dream. And some poor FTBs who I feel genuinely sorry for

The prices of new builds haven't dropped persay, many of them were vastly overpriced though there's that many of them, even if they had been sold at a sensible price in the first place, it's probably true that they would be worth a bit less due to massive oversupply.

sarah_elton

I do feel sorry for the buyers, or anyone who goes through the repossession process. I don't however feel sorry for the bank who lent to them and must be losing money here (can't believe there was a £250k deposit).

Apparently it'd rent for about £2000/month so my brother was trying to convince my mum to buy it to let out. Don't think he was getting far.

Doozergirl

sarah_elton wrote: »

Apparently it'd rent for about £2000/month so my brother was trying to convince my mum to buy it to let out. Don't think he was getting far.

That's a really good return at the guide price!

Entertainer

It will go for more than the guide price though. Guide prices are a crock of ****. If you added up all the time people have wasted on viewing properties due to false guide prices you could build a small country.

mr.broderick

sarah_elton wrote: »

My brother is an EA in Chelmsford (where another of his competitors has just gone bust). Anyone who knows the town or passes through on the train will have seen the block of high-end flats built right by the station.

The penthouse sold last year for £499,995. :eek: But it's now been repossessed. They tried to get £450k for it... Then £400k... It's now going up for auction with a guide price of £250k.

What a difference a year makes. Standard two bed flats in the building sold for around that figure.

You any relation to ben?

going2die_rich

You do realise for autctions, the guide price is normally a quite lower than what they will accept don't you? It's lower to get people through the doors and view it. Hoping that someone will really want it and then when the bidding starts it will jump up.

Although I doubt it's going to double in value, but I wouldn't expect it to go for £250k either.

pinkshoes

A £500k flat, in CHELMSFORD?? What on earth was the buyer thinking paying that sort of money?!?! Crikey!

I'd presume it'd have at least 4 bedrooms if it rented at £2000/month?? (given that 2 bed flats near the station appear to rent at £800/month)

Is there a link??

DGJsaver

going2die_rich wrote: »

You do realise for autctions, the guide price is normally a quite lower than what they will accept don't you? It's lower to get people through the doors and view it. Hoping that someone will really want it and then when the bidding starts it will jump up.

Although I doubt it's going to double in value, but I wouldn't expect it to go for £250k either.

sounds like ebay
you think you have spotted a bargain but alas it doesnt turn out that way and you find yourself bidding more than you wanted to

sarah_elton

Couldn't find a link to that specific one, but the new ones are still being advertised.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-19536305.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

"From" £310k for a 2-bed. :eek: And you know that these are the sorts of flats that get advertised in London papers, trying to entice people out of the city. OK so a London new build would cost more but you could surely buy in London for that money. Not to mention the fact that these are literally next to the train line - I commute from further out and when the train stops at Chelmsford station I can nose in the windows.

Not sure if it's a 3 or 4 bed, I didn't ask as I wasn't planning on bidding.

Agree re guide prices - I think if it gets to auction it'd go higher, but apparently someone my brother knows has now made a pre-auction offer around the guide price and they're actually considering it! Must be worried.

No relation to Ben. Although I do have a cousin called Ben.

dopester

Who in their right mind would spunk £200,000 to buy a flat?

The bloodbath cometh.