Walthamstow question!

[kirinm]

Can any E17ers help? We are going to look at a flat on Clarenden Road but it's been on for 3 months and reduced by £50k. There has to be a reason as other places are disappearing before we get a chance to view.

Is that area rough or can you think of any particular reason it might not be selling? We'll probably get a better idea once we see it if there's some structural issue but in the meantime, anyone got any ideas about the area / road?

Thanks.

Shocking. Just trying to encourage stupid offers and house price inflation. Given the number of properties where sales fall through I am sure a lot of people offer too much then get cold feet when the valuation/survey come in. So it doesn't help anyone if there is no sell.

That was my reluctance with this place. I couldn't find any flats in the area that have gone for the figures being asked so this sale will set a new ceiling for the area I think. I don't think I want to be responsible for that and whilst someone might be willing to pay over the odds, doesn't mean the bank will!

What kind of email addresses are they? If I were a devious estate agent I might set up a couple of yahoo, gmail, hotmail etc.accounts, or maybe even pay for some domain names. I would then use these to imply extra interest in properties. I am not an estate agent, no idea if they are ever this devious.

That's quite devious! One of them is a real person at a law firm so he's definitely not made up.

Any update?

Not yet. I'm not sure if that means our offer is rejected but they've not got round to telling us or the vendor hasn't decided yet?

My MiL have spent all day telling us why we shouldn't be buying leasehold and have sort of sucked the joy / enthusiasm we had.

I would say it's fairly standard practice (not that I agree with it in the slightest!) in this bit of London to ask for sealed bids without first putting all of the individual bids into the vendor- certainly that's what happened when I sold my flat in 2013. If you are not prepared to go above the amount you have offered, just offer that and make sure you add any information that could work in your favour (i.e. finance in place, nothing to sell- in my case I accepted the second highest bid as the couple had a large enough deposit for it not to affect the banks valuation and they told me at this stage that a lower valuation wouldn't stop them from buying at the agreed price). Terrible data protection practice on the agency's part not to bcc all potential buyers though.

Just to answer your previous post- I imagine it's unlikely your offer will have been put to the vendor. If the EA knows there's multiple people that want to offer and negotiate, they will just do it as one sealed bid process.

The vendor specifically asked to be cc'd in to any offer emails - not sure he trusts estate agents much!

Interesting that you weren't for the offer with the bigger deposit. I tried to 'sell' our position but I imagine, other than maybe the size of the deposit, we are all pretty much in the same position i.e. all renting with no chain etc.

Hopefully we'll find out tomorrow.

We have a 25% deposit - would that sound appealing to a vendor do you think?

I recently sold a two bed house in Leyton,the first buyers pulled out. They were downsizing for a better commute so were a chain of 1 and had no mortgage. Second buyer was buy to let with a 50% deposit. We clearly missed a trick because we didn't do open days or the like. I got the impression most viewers were renters with minimal deposit I.e. less than 25%. If we had a choice we would have chosen someone in your position over either of the two we accepted.

Ah thanks ftm. If it makes you feel better, most buyers hate open days! How long ago did you sell?

We sold subject to contract in April, but didn't complete until August (delay due to our purchase).

Well I can almost guarantee vendors are looking for £100k more than places were going for in April last year. It's

I know. A house like my old one, but with an attic conversion, is asking price 200k more than what we sold ours for. Nuts. I like to think our new leytonstone house is increasing in value at the same rate (and we didn't over pay for it).

We didn't get it. Someone (a cash buyer) offered £50k over the asking price. Even the estate agent said it wasn't worth that.

Oh :( hope you have better luck next time. Was the flat in pristine condition? Looking at sold prices it seems to be those done up for sale that occasionally go for extra nuts prices, whereas those which require a bit of work attract less interest. i.e. consider something purchased with a lower deposit and cash set aside to do some work. Mind you the houses/flats round here which need work,can need a lot of work, so choose carefully.

Yeah it was immaculate but still not worth £465k I don't think. We are looking at ones that need doing up too and like you say they really need doing up but we aren't in a rush so it's something we are happy to do plus DP is an electrician, brother a plasterer and dad a carpenter!