Are houses selling?
Discussion
How are other PH users seeing the housing market at the moment?
My house has been on the market since June and had 6 viewings but no offers. I know the summer is not a great time to sell and Brexit has probably put the wind up people. I am not in a hurry to sell but would like to know if it's the house that is the problem or the current market.
ETA
Sorry not allowed.
My house has been on the market since June and had 6 viewings but no offers. I know the summer is not a great time to sell and Brexit has probably put the wind up people. I am not in a hurry to sell but would like to know if it's the house that is the problem or the current market.
ETA
Sorry not allowed.
Edited by Big Al. on Wednesday 17th August 10:48
Road2Ruin said:
How are other PH users seeing the housing market at the moment?
My house has been on the market since June and had 6 viewings but no offers. I know the summer is not a great time to sell and Brexit has probably put the wind up people. I am not in a hurry to sell but would like to know if it's the house that is the problem or the current market.
Link?My house has been on the market since June and had 6 viewings but no offers. I know the summer is not a great time to sell and Brexit has probably put the wind up people. I am not in a hurry to sell but would like to know if it's the house that is the problem or the current market.
Does the asking price reflect the the fact that you have council type houses opposite you and a primary school in your back garden?
Sorry if that sounds harsh but I couldn't see anything wrong with the house (lovely family home inside) until I looked at street view, the position would, I imagine put a lot of people off. If you've priced it well however (I don't know the area) then you'll find a buyer. The market has cooled a little thanks to Brexit and the school holidays are never a good time to market a property.
Sorry if that sounds harsh but I couldn't see anything wrong with the house (lovely family home inside) until I looked at street view, the position would, I imagine put a lot of people off. If you've priced it well however (I don't know the area) then you'll find a buyer. The market has cooled a little thanks to Brexit and the school holidays are never a good time to market a property.
yellowtang said:
Does the asking price reflect the the fact that you have council type houses opposite you and a primary school in your back garden?
Sorry if that sounds harsh but I couldn't see anything wrong with the house (lovely family home inside) until I looked at street view, the position would, I imagine put a lot of people off. If you've priced it well however (I don't know the area) then you'll find a buyer. The market has cooled a little thanks to Brexit and the school holidays are never a good time to market a property.
Thanks Yellowtang, not harsh at all, those are the two biggest concerns of ours. It is priced reflecting this but I know it may still put people off. If it didn't have those negatives you would be looking nearer £460-£480. Nice to hear that this may be the only issue however and that we might just have to wait it out.Sorry if that sounds harsh but I couldn't see anything wrong with the house (lovely family home inside) until I looked at street view, the position would, I imagine put a lot of people off. If you've priced it well however (I don't know the area) then you'll find a buyer. The market has cooled a little thanks to Brexit and the school holidays are never a good time to market a property.
Where we are in Durham cheap stuff seems to sell OK, but the next step up seems to sit on the market for a long time. Generally they seem to be priced at the top of the market, but need £50k spending to get them back to that level though, so I suspect the issue is that the market is slow to adjust to the new 'value' of houses as houses don't ever fall in price do they? I've seen one property that I thought was cheap for what it is, but it had issues around flooding and some of the rooms being over shops, so not unexpected.
A house on our street has been on the market for pushing a year now, there's skips outside now and it's disappeared from the estate agent websites, I'm not sure if it's been sold or not as it was being actively marketed last time I checked only a couple of weeks ago. As a comparison it's a little bigger than ours, with a better layout, but on a smaller plot that's mostly covered in concrete paving, but priced 50% higher than we paid in 2013. It has/had hideous wood-panelled rooms and hadn't been decorated in decades, so inevitable rewire, needed a new boiler, flooring, woodwork, new kitchen and bathrooms. £50k easy if you're paying someone to do it, so pushing £400k all-in once you've paid the cost of moving.
There's a couple of houses that would make great stuff to rent out near by too, one at £150k, one at £120k. Both have been on for ages, one has been on since 2013! Both would be worth the price on a very lucky day if they were in amazing spec, but they both need fully modernising. So £100k and £80k probably closer to the price that would see them sell in a month or two.
All three of these examples are huge price-drops for their owners, way beyond what they could be expecting or maybe afford.
I think in a lot of areas there are big changes in expectations that need to happen before the market can really pick up.
A house on our street has been on the market for pushing a year now, there's skips outside now and it's disappeared from the estate agent websites, I'm not sure if it's been sold or not as it was being actively marketed last time I checked only a couple of weeks ago. As a comparison it's a little bigger than ours, with a better layout, but on a smaller plot that's mostly covered in concrete paving, but priced 50% higher than we paid in 2013. It has/had hideous wood-panelled rooms and hadn't been decorated in decades, so inevitable rewire, needed a new boiler, flooring, woodwork, new kitchen and bathrooms. £50k easy if you're paying someone to do it, so pushing £400k all-in once you've paid the cost of moving.
There's a couple of houses that would make great stuff to rent out near by too, one at £150k, one at £120k. Both have been on for ages, one has been on since 2013! Both would be worth the price on a very lucky day if they were in amazing spec, but they both need fully modernising. So £100k and £80k probably closer to the price that would see them sell in a month or two.
All three of these examples are huge price-drops for their owners, way beyond what they could be expecting or maybe afford.
I think in a lot of areas there are big changes in expectations that need to happen before the market can really pick up.
I'm a residential surveyor. Usually December, January and February are crap, and June, July and August are heaving and the other 6 months are average. I've been on a downward spiral since March and right now workload is typical for February/March or November. I'm not saying it's Brexit, but everybody else I know is. THere are far fewer buyers in the market than for a long time.
The thing that I can never stack up is that the difference in price never reflects the cost of sorting it out. It's as if a recently restored E type sold for only £2k more than a barely running shed.
I suspect part of this is that people like to have a "project" even if that only means getting someone else in to do the boiler and electrics and a new kitchen and then slapping on a bit of paint. I've seen people move into beautiful homes and gut them "to make them their own", in which case you might as well buy one with the 80's kitchen and pink floral tiles in the bathroom.
Meanwhile people like me who buy a house and change nothing are rare, it seems. Been in mine for 18 months. Changes? Replaced a leaky rad, and sorted out the garage. A couple of rooms are getting ready for a bit of paint, I'll do that in decorating season if the work is quiet. The bedroom carpet needs a spruce-up, or a rug over the worst bits. Other than that it's in a great state of repair, compared to the dilapidated shed that needed £20-30k spending on windows, kitchen and carpets and for which my realistic offer was turned down flat.
I suspect part of this is that people like to have a "project" even if that only means getting someone else in to do the boiler and electrics and a new kitchen and then slapping on a bit of paint. I've seen people move into beautiful homes and gut them "to make them their own", in which case you might as well buy one with the 80's kitchen and pink floral tiles in the bathroom.
Meanwhile people like me who buy a house and change nothing are rare, it seems. Been in mine for 18 months. Changes? Replaced a leaky rad, and sorted out the garage. A couple of rooms are getting ready for a bit of paint, I'll do that in decorating season if the work is quiet. The bedroom carpet needs a spruce-up, or a rug over the worst bits. Other than that it's in a great state of repair, compared to the dilapidated shed that needed £20-30k spending on windows, kitchen and carpets and for which my realistic offer was turned down flat.
Big Al. said:
Sorry not allowed, as it will be deemed an advert and removed.
Advert... for a house? People put house links up here for advice all the time Al. The bloke is only asking for advice, not selling his house.Get it back up, I want to weigh in with some critique on how crap his wallpaper is...
battered said:
The thing that I can never stack up is that the difference in price never reflects the cost of sorting it out. It's as if a recently restored E type sold for only £2k more than a barely running shed.
I suspect part of this is that people like to have a "project" even if that only means getting someone else in to do the boiler and electrics and a new kitchen and then slapping on a bit of paint. I've seen people move into beautiful homes and gut them "to make them their own", in which case you might as well buy one with the 80's kitchen and pink floral tiles in the bathroom.
Meanwhile people like me who buy a house and change nothing are rare, it seems. Been in mine for 18 months. Changes? Replaced a leaky rad, and sorted out the garage. A couple of rooms are getting ready for a bit of paint, I'll do that in decorating season if the work is quiet. The bedroom carpet needs a spruce-up, or a rug over the worst bits. Other than that it's in a great state of repair, compared to the dilapidated shed that needed £20-30k spending on windows, kitchen and carpets and for which my realistic offer was turned down flat.
Its true. A mate of mine has just bought a place, saw it on Sunday. Its nice, bit ugly but many people would move in and be happy, neutral decor, newish kitchen etc. They are putting on a 2 storey extension, ripping the kitche out, knocking it through, doing bi folds(its the law now isnt it) etc. Gotta be a 100k job on a house that many would have been happy with or thereabouts. I know they want it to be the way they want it, but is it really worth it. Itll be a wow house in 5 years time, but 100k to impress your mates and scratch your ego a bit.I suspect part of this is that people like to have a "project" even if that only means getting someone else in to do the boiler and electrics and a new kitchen and then slapping on a bit of paint. I've seen people move into beautiful homes and gut them "to make them their own", in which case you might as well buy one with the 80's kitchen and pink floral tiles in the bathroom.
Meanwhile people like me who buy a house and change nothing are rare, it seems. Been in mine for 18 months. Changes? Replaced a leaky rad, and sorted out the garage. A couple of rooms are getting ready for a bit of paint, I'll do that in decorating season if the work is quiet. The bedroom carpet needs a spruce-up, or a rug over the worst bits. Other than that it's in a great state of repair, compared to the dilapidated shed that needed £20-30k spending on windows, kitchen and carpets and for which my realistic offer was turned down flat.
UK property sales have been running at around 40% BELOW the 2006-2008 period for the last 7 years apart from a spike prior to the stamp duty changes.
So the volume of transactions is low, couple that with the Brexit factor and you have a double whammy.
If a particular place isn't selling after viewings then I guess price will be the reason but i think a genuine buyer, with funds has a lot to choose from and can be very fussy at the moment.
I know if i were buying and saw somewhere i would be making an insulting offer, expect to be shown the door and also expect a call later saying the seller had reconsidered.
So the volume of transactions is low, couple that with the Brexit factor and you have a double whammy.
If a particular place isn't selling after viewings then I guess price will be the reason but i think a genuine buyer, with funds has a lot to choose from and can be very fussy at the moment.
I know if i were buying and saw somewhere i would be making an insulting offer, expect to be shown the door and also expect a call later saying the seller had reconsidered.
battered said:
The thing that I can never stack up is that the difference in price never reflects the cost of sorting it out. It's as if a recently restored E type sold for only £2k more than a barely running shed.
I suspect part of this is that people like to have a "project" even if that only means getting someone else in to do the boiler and electrics and a new kitchen and then slapping on a bit of paint. I've seen people move into beautiful homes and gut them "to make them their own", in which case you might as well buy one with the 80's kitchen and pink floral tiles in the bathroom.
Meanwhile people like me who buy a house and change nothing are rare, it seems. Been in mine for 18 months. Changes? Replaced a leaky rad, and sorted out the garage. A couple of rooms are getting ready for a bit of paint, I'll do that in decorating season if the work is quiet. The bedroom carpet needs a spruce-up, or a rug over the worst bits. Other than that it's in a great state of repair, compared to the dilapidated shed that needed £20-30k spending on windows, kitchen and carpets and for which my realistic offer was turned down flat.
If the seller agreed that the house needed work, they'd have done it in the time they lived there. In a lot of cases they simply disagree that the place is worth less because you don't like it as it is.I suspect part of this is that people like to have a "project" even if that only means getting someone else in to do the boiler and electrics and a new kitchen and then slapping on a bit of paint. I've seen people move into beautiful homes and gut them "to make them their own", in which case you might as well buy one with the 80's kitchen and pink floral tiles in the bathroom.
Meanwhile people like me who buy a house and change nothing are rare, it seems. Been in mine for 18 months. Changes? Replaced a leaky rad, and sorted out the garage. A couple of rooms are getting ready for a bit of paint, I'll do that in decorating season if the work is quiet. The bedroom carpet needs a spruce-up, or a rug over the worst bits. Other than that it's in a great state of repair, compared to the dilapidated shed that needed £20-30k spending on windows, kitchen and carpets and for which my realistic offer was turned down flat.
If the majority think that way in the area you're looking in, you'll not be able to buy at the right price, so you either buy somewhere else, or pay the price. Lots of people pay the price.
To be fair, most 'wrecks' are pretty liveable if you replace the carpets and give everything a lick of paint, even if the're not perfect and plenty of people are happy with that.
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