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Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Property/DIY

Is it worth selling this year in London?

20 replies

figcake · 13/02/2011 17:20

Given all this talk about the property market grinding to a halt and the forthcoming cuts likely to be worse than people even realise?

I want to move, so does my neighbour, but we cannot afford to sell for below full market value, nor do we want our properties to stagnate out there for years on end

OP posts:

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fridayschild · 13/02/2011 18:04

In my part of SW London there is so little stock on the market that anything nice gets snapped up double quick. And not at a discount either!

The homes which are right next to the railway line/ not quite right are not selling, but everything else is.

Why don't you put it on the market for 3 months? If it hasn't gone then it's likely to languish unsold for ages, so you can take it off the market and try again some other time.

owlets · 13/02/2011 19:03

We sold ours just before Christmas (2 weeks on the market) and have just had an offer accepted on a place that has been on the market 10 days. Both at £10k under asking. I think ours and the place we are buying were both fairly priced, and from what I've seen so long as the sellers are not asking for silly money most properties are being snapped up still. The only places we've seen that are still on the market now are either horrible, or on with Foxtons for about £65k more than identical properties.
We are in North London.

mrsravelstein · 13/02/2011 19:05

i'm in east london. things are moving at the bottom to mid end of the market. anything above 600k (toppy for round here) doesn't seem to be going at all, we've been on/off market for 9 months, buyers keep making offers at near asking price then being unable to get mortgages. very depressing, but we HAVE to move so have priced realistically, which is painful as we're losing money having bought at height of market 4 years ago.

thomasbodley · 13/02/2011 19:07

What does "full market value" mean? What it would have sold for in May 2007? There are still plenty of places in London being snapped up for those sorts of prices.

And if you're not able to sell at peak, you won't be buying at peak either, so will benefit from a smaller cost differential in trading up.

In my area, anything that requires minimal renovation is under offer within a month. Anything that requires serious work is languishing. Loads of flats coming onto the market, but hardly any houses.

owlets · 13/02/2011 19:16

Oh, and we got 45% over our 2006 purchacing price.

Fiddledee · 13/02/2011 19:34

If they are good family homes near good state schools and transport they will get snapped up.

If they are flats forget it really and hold out for a couple of years.

Wattinger · 13/02/2011 19:45

I'm in West London and things are selling here unless as owlets says they are minging properties or they are on at a stupidly high price (Foxtons, that is you!)

My upstairs and downstairs neighbours have both sold their flats in less than a week at a decent price (1 was full asking price and the other was 10k under asking price but it had a v low lease)

Agree you should put it on the market and see. My 2 neighbours went with an agency who promised only to show the flat to people who had mortgages agreed.

figcake · 13/02/2011 20:42

Thanks. I am in NW London, lovely, big Victorian house (but not blond and immaculate with every single period Feature restored), definitely in the catchment of an outstanding school (even if it shrunk for years), walking distance of tubes and trains. Main selling point is a big garden (most of the others are courtyards), high ceilings, much larger than average rooms, room to expand etc. Two years ago, I know that it would have sold within a day but now...I don't have the heart to price it same as the little, terraced equivalents with the same number of bedrooms - would not be fair on the house either!

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lalalonglegs · 13/02/2011 21:05

It sounds great - I think buyers are quite sophisticated at reading floorplans etc so will be able to see that your house is bigger than average - and the school will mean that you have people queueing up in order to buy before September.

mrsravelstein · 14/02/2011 07:33

figcake, my house sounds very similar to yours and will all the same pro points... i hope you have better luck than us!

figcake · 14/02/2011 09:33

mrs - is your's on yet? Good luck as well!

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mrsravelstein · 14/02/2011 12:56

we've been on and off since spring - accepted offers 3 times at close to asking price, each time it's fallen through as buyers been unable to get mortgage (because of their finances rather than because our house was valued differently)... we're back on for 4th time now. latest 2nd viewer has just called to say they don't like the look of (extremely nice as it happens) neighbours...

figcake · 14/02/2011 13:53

they don't like the look of (extremely nice as it happens) neighbours..

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not1not2 · 14/02/2011 14:07

what does full market value mean?

it's only worth what people can aford to pay

not1not2 · 14/02/2011 14:07

afford sorry

hatwoman · 14/02/2011 14:13

are you buying as well? what you can afford to sell at depends on what you're likely to buy at (unless you're a property developer or a land lord or not buying)- have you reason to think that changes in the market will effect the type of place you're buying differently to the house you're selling? If not - and the impact of any change is likely to be the same - then don't worry. And if you're planning to buy anything bigger/more valuable don't forget that a drop in the market is good.

figcake · 14/02/2011 14:16

"value at peak adjusted for average drop in prices for that part of London" is how I look at it. I know that it sounds greedy in a way - if I was moving to somewhere where I could get a lovely house for much less I would not be so fussy.

However, we will probably end up in SW London so I need every pound and cannot afford to offer it at a bargain price to a cute, 20-something first-time buying couple (as much as I would love to). I earn pittance in my new career and this house is about all I have of any value.

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SlightlyTubbyHali · 14/02/2011 14:16

I think it is IF:

your house is nicely presented
your price is reasonable for your type of house.

It's the ones that haven't been cared for or are slightly overpriced or oddly laid out that seem to hang around on the market where I am (N London).

You need to think about what houses are going for in the area to which you would like to move. If they are going for, say, 10% less than they would have a couple of years ago then you too might not need "top whack" for a move to be viable.

mrsravelstein · 14/02/2011 15:01

i will have to ask the retired husband & headmistress on our left if they have been sitting in the front garden throwing beer cans and fag butts at potential buyers to deter them.

minipie · 14/02/2011 18:09

Figcake

I only know the market in SW London but round here, if your house is larger than average or has a larger than average garden, people will bite your hand off even if it's not beautifully presented. People are willing to do the work to get a "premium" house if you see what I mean. Prices for these are at or above 2007 "peak" levels.

Average size houses are also popular but presentation much more important for those, as far as I can tell.

Hope that helps some.

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