I appear to have lost £20k in one year!

[hedders]

I brought this house in MK (first time buyer) a year ago and it was valued at £185,000.

My neighbour just sold his identical property for approx £165,000 :eek:

I thought the market was stagnant here, not bloody dropping at that kind of rate :(

[ledger]

was it a new house ?.

[simpo two]

It's a paper loss; you haven't lost anything until you sell it.

More important in the short/medium term is your mortgage repayment.

[hedders]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I brought it from my dad at a discount.

Just spoke to the agent and he says the house was not quite as big as mine hew: But I should still expect a small loss if i were to sell now. Hopefully Not £20k though!

[hedders]

ledger said:

was it a new house ?.

Seven years old.

The funny thing is, when i spoke to the agent just now he compared buying a house to buying a new car!

"You should expect some depreciation, just like when you buy a car"

[driftwood]

Also different estate agents can 'value' the same property at vastly different amounts. One property in my neighbourhood apparently was valued at either £114,00 of £140,000 (didn't hear properly as she was having a rant at the time lol)whatever, she put her property on with another agent who valued it at £220,000. (it didn't sell, perhaps the lower figure was more accurate)

[timmy30]

A house like a share, a bond, or a debt is 'worth' what the market will pay for it.

The housing market may fall further, it may stagnate, it may rise.....no one knows we all just have opinions. Your neighbour may have had to sell, or thought prices would fall further, it's the same when you loose 20% on a share, do you sell it and take the loss or hang in there and wait for a recovery?

If it's any consolation this week I've lost around £1000 on my portfolio so far, and accidentally embeded an axe in my forehead....... hopefully both will recover.

[hedders]

But you will always have a cool scar...you just need to make up a good story to go with it

We won't tell anyone what really happened

[ledger]

hedders said:

ledger said: was it a new house ?. Seven years old. The funny thing is, when i spoke to the agent just now he compared buying a house to buying a new car! "You should expect some depreciation, just like when you buy a car"

that's what I was getting at. If you but a brand new property you pay a premium for that, the fact that you can choose the decor etc and that's it's pristine. After a year or so it is no longer pristine and may need touching up, redecorating etc. Plus the next buyer may not like your taste and want to redecorate, therefore it is worth slightly less (providing the general market has remained unchanged)

[timmy30]

hedders said:

But you will always have a cool scar...you just need to make up a good story to go with it We won't tell anyone what really happened

I've perked up a bit today.

Look with your house, unless your intending to sell it in the near future, who gives a XXXX where the market goes? Even if it falls 20% over the next 2 years, within 5 years you can be pretty sure it'll have risen over all.

It's like the FTSE it rises, it falls but over time the trend is upwards.

[pdV6]

driftwood said:

Also different estate agents can 'value' the same property at vastly different amounts. One property in my neighbourhood apparently was valued at either £114,00 of £140,000 (didn't hear properly as she was having a rant at the time lol)whatever, she put her property on with another agent who valued it at £220,000. (it didn't sell, perhaps the lower figure was more accurate)

Bizarrely, some agents will overvalue your property in the hope that you will instruct them ("as they'll get a better price for it". Such practise is self-defeating, as the property will find its own level when buyers get involved. Much too high and they'll walk away.

[timmy30]

ledger said:

that's what I was getting at. If you but a brand new property you pay a premium for that, the fact that you can choose the decor etc and that's it's pristine. After a year or so it is no longer pristine and may need touching up, redecorating etc. Plus the next buyer may not like your taste and want to redecorate, therefore it is worth slightly less (providing the general market has remained unchanged)

Aha good point, but that's where our arcane planning laws come in to regulate supply.

Imagine that the government announced that from 2006 no more news cars would be allowed in the UK? What's going to happen to the price of second hand cars then, up they go.

Since 1950 thanks to the planning system we've been building fewer and fewer houses, so even if they are small/poorly built, and getting worn out.....up go the prices.

[hedders]

I have to say, I am not impressed with the build quality of this place.
I moved out of a 1930's semi into this place and this place feels like a cardboard cut out of a real house!

[pdV6]

With all due respect, 30's houses are as solid as they come. AFAIK, the "Homebuyer's report" (i.e. ½ way between a valuation and a full survey) was invented to cater for 30's housing stock, as its generally so solid that a full-on survey is overkill.

New stuff will be lucky to survive until the NHBC guarrantee runs out...

[timmy30]

hedders said:

I have to say, I am not impressed with the build quality of this place. I moved out of a 1930's semi into this place and this place feels like a cardboard cut out of a real house!

I live in a place built about 100yrs ago, soild as a rock, some of my mates houses ( 10 years old or so ) seem to be made of balsa wood, I can't see them outlasting the life of the mortgages on them. Horrid stuffy boxy places too, and gardens like a postage stamp..literally.

All of which leaves me puzzled as to how something that has 1/2'd in size and quality has doubled in price.....and we are apparently all rich as a result.

[JagLover]

hedders said:

I have to say, I am not impressed with the build quality of this place. I moved out of a 1930's semi into this place and this place feels like a cardboard cut out of a real house!

Houses built in the 30's (and before) are far superior to the modern rubbish.

I think it is a fault in the planning system, it seems geared toward whether we should build houses in a certain location or not, whereas what we should be asking is what quality of houses should be built.

[timmy30]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

always impressed at how sodding hard it is to drill a hole in the wall of an older house.....it's like mining diamonds!

[cotty]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

What that its bigger than it looks

[hedders]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

They have even saved money by using less studs.

I was looking for some wood in a wall to screw some shelves to and found there was none! It is a 3 ft section of wall in the box room and there is not a single stud in there

I also have an 'arch' type affair which sperates the living room and dining room, the whole thing vibrates when bashed, its like they haven't bothered screwing the plasterboard to what wood there is

[WouldbWelder]

pdV6 said:

driftwood said: Also different estate agents can 'value' the same property at vastly different amounts. One property in my neighbourhood apparently was valued at either £114,00 of £140,000 (didn't hear properly as she was having a rant at the time lol)whatever, she put her property on with another agent who valued it at £220,000. (it didn't sell, perhaps the lower figure was more accurate) Bizarrely, some agents will overvalue your property in the hope that you will instruct them ("as they'll get a better price for it". Such practise is self-defeating, as the property will find its own level when buyers get involved. Much too high and they'll walk away.

I've had recent experience of this - someone valueing our house at £200-£205k and the next day another agent saying "you'll get £245k for this"