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Original poster

Are there actually many buyers out there at the moment?

31 replies

egypt · 04/07/2008 02:04

We are about to put our house on the market......anyone in the same boat and finding that they are getting viewings/offers or has it gone stagnant?

OP posts:
S1ur · 04/07/2008 02:21

From what I hear it is not a good time to sell.

Any chance you could hold off? at all? any itty bitty chance?

BrownSuga · 04/07/2008 02:50

A friend had to sell theirs unexpectedly and was sold to the first viewer for asking price. I think it depends on the price range your house is in. Theirs was 125k, was completely redone inside (wiring, plastering, new kitchen, bath, floors, decorating).

S1ur · 04/07/2008 02:52

yy good point if you are in a house with a 'good' catchment des res area etc then you'll be okay but still not as great as when housing market is up and up.

Original poster
egypt · 04/07/2008 03:10

we live overseas, want to sell our house in uk, which is about £350k, in lovely area. we want to upsize now whilst we can afford to get a bigger mortgage (house will be rented) and then in 2-5 years' time we will be back in UK to live in it.

we've worked out it's all relative, if we wait, ours drops in price as do our new purchase, so it's not really an issue. it won't be totally mortgaged, we will have made some off this house plus a little from savings. also, if we do sell now and don't have anything to buy just yet, that's fine, as we could do well by waiting for the market to drop then.

just want a buyer !

OP posts:
traceybath · 04/07/2008 06:38

Well we sold in march and are currently renting.

Property prices are definitely coming down around us (south west) and we're planning on waiting till next year to buy.

Of course if the perfect property did come up we'd buy it.

I still think that round here good properties at sensible prices are selling.

Midge25 · 04/07/2008 07:01

Hi - we (finally) sold our house in the NE after 6/7m heartbreak - lots of offers from those who subsequently couldn't secure a mortgage, and in order to sell we eventually had to drop asking price by £20k. We would have waited for better times had it not been for my husband's lengthy commute, which meant he was missing out on time with our new (first) dd. Our house was in £180,000 price bracket but my advice would be to hang on if you can...we're now in rented accommodation so we can hedge our bets while we see what happens...

noddyholder · 04/07/2008 08:51

I think if its priced to reflect the market you might sell it but I don't understand why anyone says wait for better times.The prices will fall until the market bottoms out and the IMF have told gordon that will prob be 30% by 2010/11 with no recovery before 2015-2017. I personally don't think we will ever return to the silly prices of the last few years and falls of 40% are not impossible to believe looking at the reast of the economy.

MilkyChopsKid · 04/07/2008 08:55

egypt - perhaps I've misunderstood but it doesn't make sense to sell a smaller property and buy a bigger one now. If property goes down 10% this year then your house will lose £35k. If you buy a bigger house for £500k then that will lose £50k. Better to either sell and wait before buying or hang on to your current house.

My flat has been on the market for a few weeks and I have had some initial viewings. There are buyers out there but many fewer than last year so you need to price your house competitively. The estate agents will value it too highly just to get you on board, you will then end up droppping the price after some weeks or accepting an offer well below the asking price.

If you can drop the price and your house doesn't have a big disadvantage (like being on a main road) you should be able to sell it. The ones hanging around are where they cannot drop the price as they need to achieve a certain price in order to move.

Original poster
egypt · 04/07/2008 09:16

yes that's true milkychopskid, but we would still be in credit from the equity from this house and our savings. We need a bigger family home - we couldn't fit into our little cottage if we went back now, and whilst we are away from the UK, with rental and expat benefits here we can afford to stretch like we never could when living in the UK. in the long run we will be having our mortgage paid for us over the next 2-5 yrs. it's like this is our window of opportunity to get the house of our dreams, just unfortunate that the market isn't ideal

anyway, the financial side is irrelevant here, just wondered if there were people out there still keen to buy! or just us eejits

OP posts:
shreddies · 04/07/2008 09:26

To be honest I think the only people buying are people who really have to. We need more space but aren't going to do anything until the market looks like it's right at the bottom, even a 20% drop in prices would get us a much nicer house that we could ever get now, even accounting for the drop in the value of our flat.

anniemac · 04/07/2008 10:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

PixelHerder · 04/07/2008 18:15

The estate agents around our way were distributing flyers saying it was a good time to upsize, yes you may have to sell for 10% less than you were expecting, but if you can also buy a more expensive property for 10% less then that is a bigger saving proportionately.

I'd have thought you were in a good position to sell as you can sell now, but wait a few months till the market drops further to buy, and you don't need to buy until you get back.

BrummieOnTheRun · 04/07/2008 19:02

I wouldn't even be looking at something -10% below what it would have been last year. Houses that have been on the market for 9 months+ have dropped their price to that level and still aren't shifting. It would take another 5% to even get me on the phone to the estate agent.

Unless you're going to put it on the market at a 'no brainer' price, or it's an extremely unusual property, I wouldn't bother marketing it.

But to answer your question, yes, there are lots of people still in a position to buy, but they all know that the consensus opinion is not to buy for at least a year. You have to have a pretty amazing offering to beat that.

deste · 05/07/2008 20:48

We have just bought DD a flat just outside London last week. She has been studying for the last 3 years and we were fed up paying rent,(£12,000) over three years. We were not in a position to buy three years ago but to be honest we have scored because the flat was built three years ago for £53,000 more than we've just paid. Adding on the rent we paid we are still better off having waited. I do feel sorry for the seller as I think she still has a mortgage, but she was just glad to sell.

goldenpeach · 06/07/2008 17:21

Where is your house? I want to buy but not found anything worthwhile yet. Anything nice in good area is 500K or more.

policywonk · 06/07/2008 17:28

I agree with shreddies. I know two people at the moment who are trying to sell really beautiful houses, both in good areas (both London), and both say the market is completely dead. No one wants to buy when you can pretty much guarantee that the house will fall in value dramatically over the next year or so. Only those who really need to buy are going to go for it at the moment, I reckon.

noddyholder · 06/07/2008 17:36

We are looking to buy but only at 25% off at least which most agents tutted at even 6 months ago but now are saying its possible on some houses.

Original poster
egypt · 07/07/2008 04:32

our house is in NW Leics/Derbys border. Very beautiful area - near National Trust land, goldenpeach, 3 bed barn conversion.

OP posts:
goldenpeach · 07/07/2008 17:03

Looks a bit far for us. We are aiming to go up north but not as far as that as partner doesn't want to spend too much time on train if he has to work in London. So far we have considered areas close to Cambridge or a bit further. Yesterday I saw a house on rightmove for less than 400k with five bedrooms and a swimming pool, in Kettering. I was ready to buy it on the spot, but my partner put the dampeners saying that maintaining a pool is costly. Not sure where we will end as we are going to rent first.

hertsnessex · 07/07/2008 17:10

we put ours on 2wks ago. 3 viewings, another one booked. one offer - but they are waiting to sell, and another one v interested, but ther house isnt on the mkt yet.

we have time to play with, but living in a home like a show home is getting tiring already!

noddyholder · 07/07/2008 17:14

why do people who can't proceed view and make offers So annoying!

hertsnessex · 07/07/2008 17:18

i know, but i guess thats what to expect in this market.

claricebeansmum · 07/07/2008 17:19

We have been on the market for 5 weeks. Lovely house, good area of London. Put on at realistic price -15% less than value year ago. Had over 15 viewing including 2 second viewings. One comic offer so we are planning to rent out as we have to move for job relocation. We have a lot of people view who are not even on the market yet so even if they make an offer they are weeks behind us...

claricebeansmum · 07/07/2008 17:20

And in answer to OP - yes as soon as we have sold we are buyers with lots of money to spend...!

noddyholder · 07/07/2008 17:21

15% is a good erduction maybe they can't get finance as that seems a bargain for london.