Can you tell me how much you’d offer... (link) (South London)

[Mcmcmcmc]

I liked it, but the external area isn’t that well maintained. Would an offer of £480,000 be too low?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-54860085.html

howabout I see what you mean, and lots of people tell me “it’s buyer’s market right now”, but in reality, in 2 months searching (serious search, lots of viewings etc) we were unable to find anything under £500k that met our basic criteria (in a nutshell: 2 bed flat in sw4/sw9 or nearby area in South London, with 55 square metres or more, good sized kitchen and bathroom, max 10-15 walk to nearest tube/overground station (or rail station with good connections to work).

Everything meeting those specifications that is in the market for less than £500k in the area we are looking is ex-LA (a dealbreaker for me), needs serious work done to it (can’t do it as DP and I have busy full time jobs, and of course renovations would cost money), is very badly connected for our commute, or is above a shop/behind a noisy railway/in a very rough area - we saw one the other day overlooking a noisy daily market...

Of course asking prices are not the same as sold prices, but so far our offers of 5-10% less than asking price (to a total of just under £500k) have been turned down.

Technically we don’t need to be in a rush to move as we are FTB, but we’ve been renting since we moved in together, and renting in London for 7 years - honestly I’m tired of paying other people’s mortgages and dealing with rogue landlords like my current one. Each month of rent we pay I think of how that money would be contributing towards our own home if we bought one. I also just got a permanent job in South London and can no longer think of any good “excuses” not to buy, as I plan to be here for a good while.

We will make a decision re: offers today but in the meantime would like to hugely thank everyone on this thread who helped this inexperienced and overwhelmed FTB so much!

I see that sunshine but Op seems overly keen to be pushed by EA and underestimating the fact that it is a buyers' market. It's never a bad time to buy IF the price is right.

Sorry X-post. I do understand as rented in London myself for 7 years, but prices fell when we started renting and were static, as were rents, for the next decade. Given how prices have increased over the last 5 years, the dislocation from rUK and rising interest rates I wouldn't expect prices to move upwards very much any time soon and costs of buying and selling £500k+ flats are significant. Be wary and also be aware that although you are wedded to one specific location within London lots of others are not and so prices from area to area have a knock on effect.

That looks like a really nice flat sunshinesupermum

sunshinesupermum thank you so much for the link - this one does tick a lot of the boxes! I do wonder though if the building is owned by LA or ex-LA - in my experience with viewings in this area, larger flats usually are either LA or (rarely) new developments. This one isn’t so new so I think it must be LA. I will call the EA tomorrow to ask!
I have friends who bought ex-LA property and were hit with massive costs further down the line, so sometimes the £50K less when buying will come back to bite you in the form of renovation costs that you have no control of (and that tend to be massively overinflated). I will call and ask though! Thanks 😊

I meant larger flats in this price bracket (up to £500k) in this area tend to be ex-LA or new build.

My guess is that ones ex LA. Marsh and Parsons have one in Francis Apartments in Gideon Road - £549,000. That’s the difference!

I think that the jump from 2 bed flat to house is big so many vendors are struggling to make the move upwards. Hence prices not dropping. The ex LA one doesn’t look very attractive from the street view. Long way from the station too. It’s not future proof in my view.

I agree that it’s difficult to find the right place for £500,000. DD and I started looking before Christmas and soon found that, other than ex LA, £1/2m wasn’t doing it either. She paid a lot more in the end and, as a FTB, didn’t benefit at all from reduced tax. Big gulp - but rent was a lot of money.

I agree that ex council flats are a no-no too.

Bubbles its 0.6 miles to Clapham Junction, not a long way at all. It may well be ex LA :-( but the street looks nice.

Bubblesbudy I am in a similar situation to your DD in that my rent is a lot of ££. Also the landlord is one of the worst people I’ve ever met, but that’s another story

I have to say though, both flats I’m interested in have already had two reductions each and the asking prices are now £50K less than the original ones for each property, so I imagine the owners are close to their bottom line.

They may be near their bottom line... but if no one wants to pay their bottom line no deal can be done... you can't pay over the odds just because that's what price the seller wants.
It most definitely is a buyers market... some sellers haven't realised it yet, by the time they do they might need to accept much lower offers if they are forced to sell... If not they will probably hold on to it and rent it out.
There will be plenty more opportunities just be patient.

If I were you I would wait a year just to see what effect brexit has. Prices are stagnant/falling. I know it means paying rent for another year which sucks, but if house prices fall 10 20 30% then it will be worth it.
No one has a crystal ball and can't predict what will happen with prices... but it has a very top of the market feel about it at the moment.
If you think about it, other than cheap credit and help to buy, there is no reason prices should have doubled in London in the past 5 years, so seeing prices back at 2013 levels wouldn't shock me

I think £500k is the ceiling even if people don't like it. Once the market stops a few forced sellers will just drop the prices and the new normal will appear.

If you think it's £500k. Make an offer. We just got our new place at 87% of asking. We sold at 90% of asking. Some buyers will be sensible.

Oh and for what it's worth, we were £15k under our 'bottom line', our sellers helped us out.

@BubblesBuddy it’s a crazy situarion isn’t it when half a mil doesn’t get you a decent 2 bed in zone 2?

I had slightly more than that but was shy of 600 and in the end I gave up and went out to zone 3 as all the flats in my price range and acceptable size (I wanted >750 sq ft) were all ex-la I’m not especially nice blocks which I didn’t feel was v future proof.

I did actually offer on one - it needed total refurb. The agent wouldn’t even pass my offer on... That flat sat unsold for 9 months and then sold for 5k less than my attempted offer. There are now loads of flats up for sale in that block and a new normal of under £430 is showing up for the block where as when I was looking everyone wanted £500 (and there was a major works notice out which the EA lied to me about but I already knew about from viewing another flat in the block).

Alexalee I'd say top of the market in SW London was between 12 and 18 months ago when friends of mine sold up in Balham in Feb 2017 and prices began to stagnate 6 months after that so I'd say we've been on a downward trend ever since (thank you Brexit).

OP I quite understand why you want to leave renting at this point in time. I would offer only what you think any property is worth in your eyes and if it is rejected 'leave the offer on the table' and wait and see. It does require patience though. Good luck and keep us posted.

DD is one station out from zone 1. It’s zone 2 but 0.2 miles from the station. That’s very different to 0.6 miles from Clapham Junction. It depends what your requirements are, but DD had to consider her office location and connections to all mainline stations as she has to be at the various courts at 9 am. Therefore the least travel/walk to the starting tube station was vital. Other friends rent further out and frequently get trains into the main line stations for onward travel at 5.30 am. It’s no way to live!

We certainly couldn’t look at zone 3. Her flat is in a converted warehouse, there is a lovely square nearby with trees and it’s a conservation area. She paid a fair amount, but not over, and it’s 730 sq ft with 2 bathrooms. The vendor had wanted £40,000 more when it was first advertised in the summer of 2017 but that was kite flying.

However the flat that Marsh and Parsons have in Gideon Road shows the difference between ex LA and Private. I think people have all sorts of reasons for buying in an area but as so many people commute, good transport links that are handy are important to many. This is a major price driver - always has been. Of course the value for money is elsewhere! That’s no different either. £1/2m is not enough for Private 2 beds in zone 1 or just zone 2. Further out or a long walk to the tube makes a big difference. For us it was time vs money. Luckily we had the money.

Bubbles once again 0.6 miles is NOT a long walk!

Um, I wasn't suggesting that your DD should have gone to Zone 3 Bubbles what with her terrible important transport requirements and all, which you have repeatedly told us about.

Her flat sounds lovely, I am sure she is very happy there. You did an amazing astute job of securing it. OK?

I was just commiserating with London property hunters that its crazy that half a mill isn't considered a 'good' amount.

Bubbles once again 0.6 miles is NOT a long walk!

Quite agree. It is 10 mins.

So why are property prices noticeably higher nearer to underground stations? They clearly are unless you have a car and can drive to work. However, I’ll shut up now.

Bubbles People just don't want to walk any more? Understandable if they have a long commute but not otherwise! I'll shut up now too lol

I think it all depends, if you have a health problem or disability, it does make a big difference - my mum has a bad knee and would struggle with a 10 min walk every day, for example. Also it depends on what time you need to be at work. I’m in my 30s and cycle to work, occasionally take the overground if it’s rainy/snowy/I’m tired, and have to be at work at 8:30 or 9, so I should be fine with 10 min walk, particularly as overground would take me to work in 10 min only. DP has to be at work at 7 once a week, and doesn’t cycle (I’m trying to persuade him to, but I’ll leave that challenge to deal with after finding a house!), so it matters a little more to him - but he is also considering buying a scooter after he sold his car to raise cash to buy a house, so all in all it should be ok.

I’m mostly annoyed at the thought of having to pay extra SD, which is a money that is not “invested” in the house in any way, but if we find something we really, really like for £510-520K we can manage. It’s more the psychological aspect of knowing I would benefit from a “discount” if the price was just that little bit less. And not knowing whether or not something is “overpriced” as we don’t have that much experience with the market. For the moment I’m considering “overpriced” anything around or just above my budget that is not in good condition/decent size/decent transport links. Like those “fake” 2 bed flats where the 2nd bedroom is 1.7 x 2.5 metres (more of a storage room than a bedroom!) and are still priced at 2 bedroom prices 🤨 or flats with teeny, tiny bathrooms and kitchens that would compromise my quality of life.

Of course the factors affecting whether you can deal with a 10 min walk to station can change at any time, but I can’t plan for that at the moment!