How far will house prices fall [volume 5]

[matrignano]

I'm in a bit of a pickle.

My savings have gone down £20k in the last 2 weeks which is a not insignificant portion of my house deposit.

I also spent 2 hours in the flat I'm looking to buy and spotted several damp patches and wall/ceiling cracks, some badly fitted/insulated windows, and a bunch of other minor issues. Yet to do a (full building) survey, but I suspect these will cost a bunch to rectify.

Hence - I want to revise my bid down, but I am not sure how to approach this?

Intended completion date was meant to be April but that will never happen - survey won't be booked until next week earliest, and I want to buy some time hoping my investments recover somewhat.

[sealtt]

matrignano said:

I'm in a bit of a pickle.

My savings have gone down £20k in the last 2 weeks which is a not insignificant portion of my house deposit.

I also spent 2 hours in the flat I'm looking to buy and spotted several damp patches and wall/ceiling cracks, some badly fitted/insulated windows, and a bunch of other minor issues. Yet to do a (full building) survey, but I suspect these will cost a bunch to rectify.

Hence - I want to revise my bid down, but I am not sure how to approach this?

Intended completion date was meant to be April but that will never happen - survey won't be booked until next week earliest, and I want to buy some time hoping my investments recover somewhat.

When you are ready after the survey, send the agent an email that due to XYZ you need to reduce bid to £X and that they should confirm the seller agrees to proceed at this new price.

[matrignano]

Should I show goodwill and offer the seller a chance to rectify the issues with the flat?

Or go for a revised bid straight away?

I’m thinking the former might give me fewer comebacks once I announce the new and lower bid (assuming seller doesn’t agree to rectify the issues)

[z4RRSchris]

dont put your house deposit, which you know you need, into shares, which are highly volatile.

[s1962a]

matrignano said:

Should I show goodwill and offer the seller a chance to rectify the issues with the flat?

Or go for a revised bid straight away?

I’m thinking the former might give me fewer comebacks once I announce the new and lower bid (assuming seller doesn’t agree to rectify the issues)

I don't think you should make it that complicated and just ask for xx reduction. Chances are the seller will go for the cheapest way to fix the issue, which won't help you long term. They may come back and negotiate, which is the most likely scenario.

[Sheepshanks]

matrignano said:

My savings have gone down £20k in the last 2 weeks which is a not insignificant portion of my house deposit.

errr...you might want to revisit the definition of 'savings'.

[ooid]

z4RRSchris said:

dont put your house deposit, which you know you need, into shares, which are highly volatile.

A colleague has put a massive ammount of his deposit on Shares 9-10 months ago (RBS), SP was around 140s this week. I think he bought it when it was high 250s...

Needless to say, their house move is on hold due to insufficient funds.. :/

[okgo]

matrignano said:

I'm in a bit of a pickle.

My savings have gone down £20k in the last 2 weeks which is a not insignificant portion of my house deposit.

I also spent 2 hours in the flat I'm looking to buy and spotted several damp patches and wall/ceiling cracks, some badly fitted/insulated windows, and a bunch of other minor issues. Yet to do a (full building) survey, but I suspect these will cost a bunch to rectify.

Hence - I want to revise my bid down, but I am not sure how to approach this?

Intended completion date was meant to be April but that will never happen - survey won't be booked until next week earliest, and I want to buy some time hoping my investments recover somewhat.

I tried this the other day, got told to foxtrot oscar

I basically used the same reasoning as you, but as the agent correctly said, I viewed it, twice, it was all there to see. The problem is that they know they can sell the house again tomorrow, I can't find a comparable that isn't a lot more expensive, spect I'll have to go tail in legs and accept it. But it REALLY pissed the sellers off (mainly as meant to exchange next week), to the point they were debating remarketing it (apparently)...

My advice would be to get the survey and negotiate with that, everything else is your fault as you viewed it and offered...If the survey turns up some issues that only a professional could have seen, you're in a stronger position.

You may get a different result if the property sat there for a while, stuff is moving quickly down here, and prices have already noticeably increased since Jan.

My deposit have been in boring bonds/Goldman for that very reason...

Edited by okgo on Tuesday 10th March 22:24

[Burwood]

OzzyR1 said:

skwdenyer said:

If proper taxation of private houses were introduced, the prices would come down pretty quickly I suspect. The unearned and untaxed wealth is truly terrible in its effect on inequality.

My parents' place in Greenwich was bought for £130k in the mid 1990s. It has had £30k spent on it, and is now worth north of £1m. That's a compounded rate of nearly 8% per year. Inflation has averaged just 2.8% pa in that period.

Someone I know through work bought a 4-bed place in Bayswater in 2006, stretched him to the max at the time as it cost £950K. Nearly lost it all when the markets went down in 2008.

They sold it last month for £4.9million - absolutely crazy.

As he said - the house has earned far more than me or my wife - average increase in value of £300K a year for the last 14 years!!

Are you advocating private home taxation. Btw I don’t believe your example, assuming you don’t know the facts. My parents place was 80k in 1985 and is worth 3m. Had money spent on it. So what. I’ll pay a fortune in taxes with their estate. All good right

[Macron]

Burwood said:

Are you advocating private home taxation. Btw I don’t believe your example, assuming you don’t know the facts. My parents place was 80k in 1985 and is worth 3m. Had money spent on it. So what. I’ll pay a fortune in taxes with their estate. All good right

How **the hell** did you infer that from his post???

[711]

okgo said:

I tried this the other day, got told to foxtrot oscar :hehe
...stuff is moving quickly down here, and prices have already noticeably increased since Jan.

Edited by okgo on Tuesday 10th March 22:24

Quite a bit of upward price pressure was definitely the theme I found into the new year, but I wonder if that can really last.

A bear market and a pandemic are pretty major updates to the news. Personally I do not have the confidence in my job security right now to take on the risk of the mega mortgage needed to move up.

Hard to know what to do!

[Helicopter123]

Base rates cut and liquidity thrown at the banking system. Will it end up in the housing market again?

[housen]

Helicopter123 said:

Base rates cut and liquidity thrown at the banking system. Will it end up in the housing market again?

yes

[z4RRSchris]

yes,

but wait for the SDLT increase todya.

[matrignano]

okgo said:

I tried this the other day, got told to foxtrot oscar

I basically used the same reasoning as you, but as the agent correctly said, I viewed it, twice, it was all there to see. The problem is that they know they can sell the house again tomorrow, I can't find a comparable that isn't a lot more expensive, spect I'll have to go tail in legs and accept it. But it REALLY pissed the sellers off (mainly as meant to exchange next week), to the point they were debating remarketing it (apparently)...

My advice would be to get the survey and negotiate with that, everything else is your fault as you viewed it and offered...If the survey turns up some issues that only a professional could have seen, you're in a stronger position.

You may get a different result if the property sat there for a while, stuff is moving quickly down here, and prices have already noticeably increased since Jan.

My deposit have been in boring bonds/Goldman for that very reason...

Edited by okgo on Tuesday 10th March 22:24

Given the position and quantity of damp patches and cracks, I suspect the flat roof conversion (about 6 years old) isn't in the best of shape.
The survey will tell for sure, but the condition of the roof is not something I could assess properly when first viewing the property.
Therefore I hope I have a leg to stand on when I come in with my revised bid.

Re: deposit, a lot of it is in cash and bond funds, unfortunately I didn't get out of the other funds on time and I'm now hoping I can wait it out a bit instead of selling at the bottom.

[z4RRSchris]

i would always try and chip on exchange day, it pisses off the seller but its worth a try...

[156651]

z4RRSchris said:

i would always try and chip on exchange day, it pisses off the seller but its worth a try...

If you're willing for the seller to tell you to FO and withdraw.

[matrignano]

z4RRSchris said:

yes,

but wait for the SDLT increase todya.

I thought you or another poster said they had it on good authority that it would only increase for foreign buyers?

[gibbon]

matrignano said:

Given the position and quantity of damp patches and cracks, I suspect the flat roof conversion (about 6 years old) isn't in the best of shape.
The survey will tell for sure, but the condition of the roof is not something I could assess properly when first viewing the property.
Therefore I hope I have a leg to stand on when I come in with my revised bid.

Re: deposit, a lot of it is in cash and bond funds, unfortunately I didn't get out of the other funds on time and I'm now hoping I can wait it out a bit instead of selling at the bottom.

I would not try to negotiate before a set of survey results, but even then, be prepared for the seller to tell you to poke it. I would not mention your depleted stock portfolio, that has nothing to do with the seller, and so is of no relevance to the situation other than a frustration / some back luck / a lesson for you.

It comes down to your perception of the value of the property, and part of that is emotional, and some of it time related, like it or not you are time and emotion invested in this already, its not just a purely financial decision.

Rate cuts of 50bp this morning, and musings of further cuts. I would imagine the seller will feel confident.

[gibbon]

z4RRSchris said:

i would always try and chip on exchange day, it pisses off the seller but its worth a try...

What a horrible attitude, particularly from someone who works in the business. I have only sold one house, but have bought three, i would never do this, and if at all possible i would make an example of the person trying to do it to me and walk away straight away.