Not at all....

It was the cheapest house for sale on his street at the time..There is only 6 other houses though..

He didnt buy it to make money,his remaining parent died and he thought best to put the money into property.Thats what everyone was doing at the time and he thought his money would be,at least safe.

From that time,prices have stagnated and really the house was worth little more than initial price paid(was at peak)..But like some,after a few years he decided he wanted to sell and the sale price was set by a local estate agent.

Obviously,it didnt sell,and over time the housing market has taken a downturn..

Just to add,the house is in good order and is in Cheshire.So its not unsaleable before the "experts" start opinionating.

Bad luck? Bad timing? Maybe but its hardly the move of a plonker................

He may even be a few quid up on you,if you calculate in money lost on your M5 once its fixed... ?

 

trying to get on the ladder as a first time buyer is ni on impossible at the min unless you have 30k, and before anyone says anything, i tried to buy a house 2 months ago and failed.

the market is still dropping, not going up

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11638433

 

New builds are easier to get into at the moment due to builders offering great incentives.
We took example of Ward-Homes 'Head-start' scheme, where by they give you 15% of the 20% deposit needed (to get a good mortgage) as a 0% loan for 10 years. We also part exchanged our flat at 10k more than what it is up now for.

Deals are out there.

 

My apologies for calling your mate a plonker, especially given the sad circumstances of him coming into that money.

What I mean though is this. 2003 was NOT the top of the market (not for London, and not for the UK as a whole). Funnily enough I bought my current house in Oct 2003. It is worth more now it was then, obviously no idea what it will be worth in the near future as prices fall. But as of two months ago it was worth circa 30% more than I paid for it (including refurb costs). I know this for sure as similar houses have sold for this much in the last 6 months.

I didn't get the house for cheap either, I paid near enough the asking price. So what I'm trying to say is if your mate's house has fallen so much in value before this current round of falls has even really started, something must be wrong. The only thing I can guess (without 'opinionating') is that he paid far too much for it in the first place.

As for my M5, well a car is never an investment, and definitely not a 2 tonne 500 BHP 4 door machine that averages 12mpg! I expect it to lose money. I'll be able to tell you exactly how much I've lost later on today as I'm waiting for a BMW dealer to give me its px value against a new 535d Msport! Not looking forward to that conversation

 

DD ^^^^^^^^

Get warranty if its over 3 years old...Turbo's,torque convertors and HP pumps are favourite..

Awesome car for a diesel,but run out of puff quickly out of boost.

Going back to post...

My friend bought at the going rate..Be that high or low,its what it was worth at the time in comparison at what else was available in the area.

Maybe the area has taken a downturn ??

I dunno,im just posting the facts as they have happened.

 

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/hou...5782f.html?x=0

 

There is no way an estate agent would contact you daily even if you were going to buy a property. If houses weren't selling I wouldn't be working

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukp...1288342825126A

Wow, that's enough lending last month to sell approx 680 house.

ACROSS THE ENTIRE COUNTRY.

You must be busy Steve.

Quotes from article

Potential buyers are continuing to stay away from the market as they wait for the outlook for both house prices and the wider economy to become clearer. But homeowners are continuing to put their properties up for sale, creating a mismatch between supply and demand and putting downward pressure on prices.

Vicky Redwood, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "September's UK household borrowing figures provide more evidence - as if any were needed - of the problems in the housing market.

"The number of mortgage approvals edged down very marginally from their already exceptionally low level of 47,500. These low levels of activity now seem to be contributing to renewed falls in house prices."

So, the market continues it's inexorable rise.

 

all the new ones we saw for the figure we had were way overpriced and tiny rooms. Rather stay renting than buy for buys sake

 

I paid £99 deposit for my house in May 2001. All legals paid and first 5% paid. I just had to find a 95% mortgage which wasn't hard back then.

Ex MOD houses.

 

I said Estate AgentS ... note the PLURAL ... of course, the SAME Agent doesn't contact me daily ... they tend to leave it about 3 days.

If you're not chasing your buyers then maybe you should to get some sales going?

 

Mortgage lending fell by 90% from August to September amid worrying signs house prices are set to dive, Bank of England figures showed today.

By any stretch of the imagination this is a MASSIVE drop ..... there can be very few houses selling now ..... a huge fall in house prices is surely on the cards.

Keep in mind that Lending Regulations are to be tightened still further next spring - that will limit the amount that anyone can borrow. This limited funding will dictate the future of house prices.

Of course, cash buyers will still pay what they like ...... but, you would be completely MAD to buy with cash at todays prices.

 

There is a lot more social housing being built now and no matter wether you have a job or not you still need somewhere to live

 

that would be fabulous if it were true

 

Spoken like a true Estate Agent!

 

I thought social housing budgets had been slashed?

Good luck with that.

 

Come on guys,you gotta love Steves outlook,belief or just blind faith..


Stop havin a go!!!

 

If you look at the long term average house price chart it is really surprising how little prices fell after the peak of the last bubble.

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/gra...ouse-price.php

 

some firms are beginning to offer "sub pime" mortgages again

i.e will lend to people with ccj's, missed payments etc etc, people who can't get conventional mortgages

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/67d92a62-e...44feabdc0.html

 

Names please

 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/67d92a62-e...44feabdc0.html

and a few overs

 

Im basing all my posts on proper sales and not newspaper or web threads . If you look back a it will show I said after 2008 it was improving the same As I say now property won't drop much more as people won't sell unless they are forced to and house builders will just stop building so if you need a house in a specific area you will have to pay a premium

 

We are putting our place up for sale after the new year, but now im wondering if i'd be aswell doing it just now if things really are this slow.

 

I would stick it on now, to catch the buyers who want to be in by Xmas ...... waiting until January may be disastrous.

Just make sure that it undercuts the others in your price bracket ...

 

Why would anyone be in a mad rush to close a deal by Xmas?

 

Problem is, if they wanted in before Xmas, where the **** do we go?

What is the going rate for Estate agents at the moment? We were quoted £260 up front followed by £1500 on completion of sale, regardless of how long it takes.

 

Rent my son, RENT!!!

Going rate for Estate Agents depend on how realsitic your asking price is, simple as that really.

If your house is valued at £315,000 ..... tell the Agent you will put it on for £299,000 and want them to assist by accepting £500 in total (including the VAT). You should receive a load of interest and may even get more than £299,000 (but have the Agents fees fixed).

On the other hand, if you 'chance' the market and put it on for £335,000 the Agent is going to be a lot more resistant to dropping his commission (as the work required to sell will be greater).

 

I would say its 1-1.5 % normally .No sale ,no fee.You shouldnt have to pay anything up front in my experience .

 

It will be harder to sell with a chain right?

 

Chains are bad news ...............