How much reduction would tempt you to buy now?

lostinrates

Goodness, a 40% drop would be nice, but I'm not counting on it. Now, 30%....we'd try and buy immeadiately.

I feel that a lot (all) of the properties we are looking at are being marketed SIGNIFICANTLY over valued in comparison to other properties in the same areas as them. (i.e. buildings on land being valued higher than the buildings on less land, or the land alone). I can't justify or afford to pay 'possible investment oppertunity' for land that shoud and probably will remain 'green'. but I think a lot of peope, spurred by good lifestyle in the last ten years and lots o debt have, in this market, almost overeached themselves, and will, sadly, struggle as living and fuel costs go up.

The house we buy will not likely be our house for life, but we would like it if its our secon to last! (as well as first) and we would want to stay their for between 5-12 years. 'potential' woul be ggo or us, but it seems most places have had the potential realised (at least according to vendors and EA, to me most of them have been ruined!)

LillyJ

It really depends doesn't it on how overvalued or not the asking price is. For example we only got about 5% off asking for our house, but it wasn't overvalued (IMO) and the price had already been dropped by 3 grand before we looked at it. However to buy a city centre new build it would have to be 50-60% of before I would look at it. Not that I even expect them to fall 60% (maybe 50% but not 60%!) I just don't really want a city centre flat and so it would take a lot for me to want to buy one.

Like carolt said (and I have to say I rarely agree with her!) if your costs are similar for renting a similar house to mortgage repayments, then if the time is right, it is affordable etc etc then it isn't such a terrible thing! My mortgage repayments will be about £10 different to my rent on a very similar house round the corner (literally!) from where we rent, but the house we are buying is immaculate whereas the rented one is horrid.

I also found that a lot of "bad" houses in need of a lot of work/renovation, were not far off the price of really good ones. That is why we only wanted ones with DG, new boilers, good roof, good electrics and central heating etc etc. as we didn't feel the savings made on poor houses was enough to justify them over the "perfect" ones. I do think that poor ones will suffer more drops as they were the last to rise as people struggled to get on the ladder at any cost.

We were also very fussy about area and only bought as we could afford easily to buy in the area we wanted without compromising on bedrooms etc. Otherwise I think we might have been either not buying or looking for bigger reductions.

lostinrates

LillyJ wrote: »

I also found that a lot of "bad" houses in need of a lot of work/renovation, were not far off the price of really good ones. That is why we only wanted ones with DG, new boilers, good roof, good electrics and central heating etc etc. as we didn't feel the savings made on poor houses was enough to justify them over the "perfect" ones. I do think that poor ones will suffer more drops as they were the last to rise as people struggled to get on the ladder at any cost.
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I have never, ever seen the house that would be 'perfect' for me to move straight into. uPVC DG is a big put off for me personally, most radiators etc too as I just don't like the stuff myself. I agree that many 'finished' houses work out better than finishing a 'fixer upper' to the same standard, but not then i you are going to (want to) make significant changes to suit personal taste, which for a long term home rather than 'investment property' I know I'll want to do.

LillyJ

I personally as soon as I moved in to a house put DG straight in and would not live somewhere without central heating, so it makes no sense at all to buy somewhere without these things already there.

Our house is perfect, apart from painting (we even like the flooring) and that will cost a couple of hundred quid. The kitchen and bathroom we may replace within about 5 years but I like them as they are and this would be a long term thing.

I only saw one perfect house, and that is why we bought it really!
There are no significant changes that I want to make apart from painting to make it our own. Over the next 10 years our tastes and fashions will inevitably change but that is all cosmetic.

I see no sense in getting a house with an old boiler and without a good roof as this isn't personal taste, it is something that is needed.

I however wouldn't tend to buy something that had just been done up quick to sell, as I wouldn't expect it to be as good a standard. ( I looked at loads where wallpaper and fancy fires were covering up a multitude of sins). The house we are buying has been a well loved and looked after home and it shows.

dopester

LillyJ wrote: »

Like carolt said (and I have to say I rarely agree with her!) if your costs are similar for renting a similar house to mortgage repayments, then if the time is right, it is affordable etc etc then it isn't such a terrible thing!

No way I can subscribe to that theory. It's based on some fairytale assumption that everyone will continue to have strong paying jobs and UK plc continues to run nicely with people spunking their money in the shops.

Given that I expect an avalanche of redundancies and a bleak employment outlook in many sectors, and there are desperate signs in some sectors, rents will fall when increasing numbers of people find they can't afford to pay - the rental market will be forced to adjust to the circumstances of the economic picture, or else landlords will find their properties empty.

Rents might be holding up strong now, but I expect it to be temporary, as more and more people get squeezed and use up their buffer/safety money.

Reduction right now for my chosen type of property in area I want to live in? 75%.

LillyJ

dopester wrote: »

No way I can subscribe to that theory. It's based on some fairytale assumption that everyone will continue to have strong paying jobs and UK plc continues to run nicely with people spunking their money in the shops.

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That may be so for people who have jobs that may be at risk, however there are some jobs that aren't at risk. I for one know that my partner will NEVER be made redundant, and we can afford the mortgage on his wage alone. My job is very secure, and not in any way related to finance (or as far removed as you can get). I also have good qualifications and would be able to find another job. Therefore the chances of him becoming sick AND being unable to work AND me losing a job AND being unable to find another one, is so small it isn't worth losing sleep over.
If rents go down then fine, but we won't be worse off than we are now.

Like I said some people are not in our position so it is based on circumstances of the buyer themselves.

meanmachine_2

I'm more conservative than others on here.

If I was looking to offer now, I'd offer no more than 85% of asking price. But the property would need to have been fairly priced in the first instance.

That *should* insure me against falls for the next couple of years.

But I wouldn't be buying now. I still think sellers have a pre-crunch mindset, or a "why should I drop my price now, the crunch will be over in six months" mindset.

merlinthehappypig

meanmachine wrote: »

But I wouldn't be buying now. I still think sellers have a pre-crunch mindset, or a "why should I drop my price now, the crunch will be over in six months" mindset.

I totally agree.

We are coming up against this time and time again, especially where the house has been up for sale for a long time and the seller has a fixed value of their house in mind.

IMO it's going to take a lot longer than people think for the real panic to set in and prices to drop by big percentages. Lots of ostritches burying their heads in the sand at present.

Obviously where someone has to sell that's a different matter. Recent entrants to the market are, on the whole, more reasonably priced as well.

It's not simply a matter of how much you can get off a purchase either. As others have said a 5% drop on a sensibly priced house is the same as a 20% drop on a stupidly priced one. I think protecting yourself against the coming problems requires more than just negotiating a good price, though that helps of course.

We have had a change of tack with our planned purchase. We have to buy now for a variety of reasons, though obviously we would rather not.

To insulate us as fully as possible against price drops we have revised our top budget. Firstly we have decided to buy without a mortgage. To an extent it doesn't matter then what prices do - if ours drops so will everyone elses so the buying power remains unchanged. By spending less we stand to lose less if prices drop. The money left in the bank will still be worth the same.

The difference is that I won't be pulling my hair out in a years time when I realise that I could have bought the same house and not owe £70000 to a bank.

Secondly we have revised our expectations along with the price. We are going to buy to get us through the next 4 years when the kids will finish school and not go for the 'dream home' at this stage. This means that we have a much larger choice of properties and can simply see who is the most desperate and will reduce the price accordingly.

Hopefully this will mean that any crash shouldn't actually have much of an impact.

gingin_2

No amount of reduction would make me buy at the moment as we have to wait until all the general economic conditions improve. Husbands job is not recession proof and I am not moving into my first house only to find him out of work.... Dream world would be that the economy is over the worst and house prices have dropped 30% in 2 years time, he has stayed in his current employment and we have continued to save so that we have a 40 - 50% deposit ( for the last few years our saving mentality has been paying off the mortgage before we have even got it).

se999

meanmachine wrote: »

I'm more conservative than others on here.

If I was looking to offer now, I'd offer no more than 85% of asking price. But the property would need to have been fairly priced in the first instance.

That *should* insure me against falls for the next couple of years.

But I wouldn't be buying now. I still think sellers have a pre-crunch mindset, or a "why should I drop my price now, the crunch will be over in six months" mindset.

We're very much of the same mind. We've just agreed to rent somewhere until after Christmas, but we're doubtful that the housing and mortgage markets will normalise until far later. Admittedly finding the 'dream house' at the right price would make us move, but there seems to be a gap between sellers hoping to hold out for a higher price and buyers looking at the current news on house prices and mortgages and offering lower.