Hi,

I would give Chelwood Partners a call. They're a small team but with a good knowledge of the local area. I sold through them in Jan last year so can vouch for their services!

Thanks.

I hear everything you said but there is still no rationale to this market . I sold a double fronted house on Crockerton Rd in 2018 - it was in decent condition , had all the features - just needed new kitchen and updating If that and could be done over time . The price reflected that . A few months ago the same double fronted house on my road that hadn’t been touched for at least 50 years ( the 90 odd year owner died ) sold for £90,000 less than my house - it needs at least half a million spent on it to be liveable as it has damp, dry rot, and lost all the fireplaces over the years as well as Moldings , foxes live in part of the house - the new windows alone would cost £75,000 minimum ( they are falling out ) - and the owners will probably need to spend £700,000 minimum - explain that as if anything times have only become worse .

Yes I have . I fired A few for being totally clueless . I worked in the City so I know how to sell and you are right most are pretty clueless . Given that this is Napoy Valley you would think they would know more about the amenities that various post codes offer . I often was there when they were showing and had to step in about what was I offer . If I had performed my job in the City the way most agents do I would have lasted 30 days and not 30 years.
And then there is the unscrupulous behavior . I know one agent called a buyer and told them they were overpaying for a house they offered then marketed their house to them on the same street .

Have you really noticed a difference from one agency to another? I am totally shocked because 90% of the agents that have shown us properties are totally clueless about the area and about the properties! No one, and I mean not a single individual, out of the many who have shown us at least 30 properties over the last year or so, has ever thought it appropriate to bring along an additional piece of paper with some more details on the property. I don't expect them to memorise details, nor do I expect the ad to be too verbose, but a single piece of paper with answers to common questions? 90% of the agents just open the door and keep their mouth well shut!

Also, in most cases, despite seeing us with a toddler, agents would not comment on the proximity to good state schools, or make wrong comments about the catchment area (This property is in the priority area of school X! No, it isn't. Yes, it is, I know my market. No, you don't, etc.)

I am totally shocked. I get it's a job which requires no qualifications, but, still, bringing along some notes on the proeprty or the schools is not rocket science.

I recently sold my house which was on the market for many years because the offers fell through as people got nervous . It was priced keenly . I recommend Rampton Basely . I would give Knight Frank a wide berth - they talk a good story but don’t deliver and I think are unscrupulous .

Nobody gets offended. People fear rejection, but what's the worst that can happen really?
Remember the value of a house is the price that people with the finance available are ready to pay for it. Not the estate agent estimate. Not the zoopla prices. Don't be scared.

I'd also always back my offer with some solid data points such as sold house price, schooling costs (for catchment vs non-catchment), an estimate of work needed etc.

I personally would say that Your typical BTC house is now worth 1.3-1.65 fora 4 bed. The ones at the top end of this are high spec and immaculate, the middle will be in very good condition but perhaps extensions etc were done a while ago so not so high spec, lower end may need redecorating.

PS :- I don’t need to play monopoly or go to betting shops anymore. Every day is crazy in London property !

As we learned at Cheltenham Ladies, “Caveat emptor = buyer beware”.

Buyer would not take my 3% below offer if they did not think it was good for the circumstances.

Buyer cashed out immediately at £1100,000. I could be stuck there for 20 years in negative equity.


A little look back to when NVN were in nappies themselves:-
Some of you yummy nappy valley youngsters may not remember the times in the early 1990s. Housing market in London was walloped 40% in places.

Chat at dinner parties was not “gazumping” or “gazundering” but “who is next to put keys through door of building society”.

Some people with, say, a home on Honeywell they had paid, say, £200k (and borrowed £160k to buy) found it worth £140k. With bank rates hitting 15% they couldn’t afford £2k pcm in interest payments on their mortgages (that’s probably £5k pcm in today’s money). At a time of high tax rates and lower pay in banking, that was a lot of money.

People didn’t go to estate agents to get “cheap deals” or 15% below ask. They went to auctioneers. Halifax, Abbey National, Woolwoch (banks did not do mortgages in those days) became big landowners and just flogged the property for whatever they could get (no state ownership of the building societies like in 1992!). That £200k home on Honeywell was probably flogged for £100k under the hammer to a pensioner.

Silly thing was, those poor people who put the keys through the door of the Halifax thought they had got away with it and restarted their lives. But debts were only time barred by 12 years, so in the late 1990s those banks tracked down their bad debtors and took them to court to get their money back. At 15% compounded interest or whatever it was. So the bank took a £60k loss and the homeowner £40k in 1992. Then the bank came after the homeowner for another £100k before the end of the decade !!!!

I digress

Three rules:-

(1) DONT TAKE PROPERTY PROCES FOR GRANTED. In the short term, it is worth between what buyer is prepared to pay and seller prepared to accept. Understand that and don’t be the pansy who buys in the tightest market.

(2) Carry a cash buffer so you can afford surging interest rates (or your cheap 0.99% QE deal rolling off into 4.5% standard variable). So you will not be cashed out of the poker table that is London property if your job goes to Frankfurt and your private school puts up the fees to offset kids leaving the country.

(3) Long term value depends upon city demographics (population and salaries) which comes down to attractiveness. London WILL BECOME LESS ATTRACTIVE if Brexit goes bad. Probably already is with the terrorist incidents.

If you are happy with the above, get in there and whack down some cheap offers.

Caveat emptor !

SP

firsttimerSW11 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 06, 2018 3:56 pm *I got for 15% below ask on first offer and then negotiated it down another 3% post survey (nothing was wrong ... I just said the survey showed structural problems with the large extension and threatened to walk away)*

So you agreed on a price with a vendor in good faith and then lied to get another 3% off?

One thing that I learned living in London is that you look after number one! I attached a post from 2013...it shows how things have changed property wise!
/viewtopic.php?f=115&t=39930

*I got for 15% below ask on first offer and then negotiated it down another 3% post survey (nothing was wrong ... I just said the survey showed structural problems with the large extension and threatened to walk away)*

So you agreed on a price with a vendor in good faith and then lied to get another 3% off?

Dub18 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 05, 2018 4:19 pm Has anyone had any recent experience of making a low offer for a property in the area? Any experience of "offended sellers" as estate agents would lead you to believe?

I'm currently looking to buy but my budget is about 15% below some of the houses I'm interested in and I don't know whether it's worth even making an offer on such properties or simply viewing those closer to my budget.

Thanks!

I recently put in some offers on three that were 15% below ask.

(1) went for 13% below ask as per Rightmove
(2) my offer got rejected. It came off, came on again (x2) and is still on the market after 1 year, but has been price dropped 2x to where my offer was
(3) I got for 15% below ask on first offer and then negotiated it down another 3% post survey (nothing was wrong ... I just said the survey showed structural problems with the large extension and threatened to walk away)

Give it a go. Just when you deal with the agents understand the tricks (google them). In particular:-
(1) explain your offer in terms such as "maximum we can afford, good proceedable offer, house needs a lot of work" before giving a price (shows you ain't a pansy)
(2) say it is "best and final" and valid for that day as you have another 5 bids with other agents to get through if not taken
(3) don't say anything ... pauses are used by them to get you to speak ... play the trick back to them
(4) don't react when they try to "shake you down" and get aggressive (maybe the"managing partner" calls you back)
(5) do t put In Another offer or say "I might come back" when. Your offer is rejected as they come crawling back 2 days later

If a vendor is serious, the house will be yours 15% lower ... trust me ... if you have a shortlist of 3 then one is yours ... trust me .... I am god on this one.

If you follow my advice, you are there already ...

Good luck with your pot shots

TFP wrote: ↑Wed Jul 04, 2018 7:22 pm But as others have said, lots of 'city' type jobs [defined very broadly, to include banks, accountancy, consultancy law firms, etc] will indeed be lost under a hard or even middling form of brexit... and these jobs [rather than e.g. the air quality] are the sole reason why e.g. a typical NV house is worth double [and the rest] of what a house of the same spec would be worth even within walking distance of the centre of any of provincial town or city.

But the same can be said for many, if not most, parts of London. London as a whole is insanely priced. But, within London and its insane prices, south of the river, including Wandsworth, tends to be still cheaper than north: part of it is the better transport links and more tubes north of the Thames, but part of it is also, IMHO, a big, not entirely justified stigma that is still attached to living "south of the river" Am I the only one who has ever been met with puzzlement and horror when explaining he lives 'south'?

I have seen newbuilds near Wimbledon dropping from £850k to £750k! Although that's a slightly different market, because a developer has different incentives to a family selling their family home.

@Dub18, I'd recommend, like others have said, looking at the sold values on rightmove or zoopla to get an idea.

Realistic sellers, looking to move elsewhere in or around the M25, will appreciate that the house they want to buy will have come down in value, and they won't necessarily be worse off.

However, there are still lots of estate agents that try to get business by pitching and promising unrealistic prices to greedy sellers. Or sellers who simply think it's their God-given right to sell at a price higher than 2-3 years ago. Good luck to those!

As mentioned, all these factors contribute to the plummeting volumes: many people decide to stay put and not sell unless absolutely forced to.

It really depends whether it's been marketed at a realistic price or not. Your typical BTC house is now worth 1.4-1.6. The ones at the top end of this are high spec and immaculate, middle will be in very good condition but perhaps extensions etc were done a while ago so not so high spec, lower end may need redecorating.

If it's been priced realistically you'd be unlikely to negotiate more than a 3 or 4% discount, but if it's massively overpriced you might get lucky. There is quite a lot on the market so you should be able to prove they've mispriced.

Has anyone had any recent experience of making a low offer for a property in the area? Any experience of "offended sellers" as estate agents would lead you to believe?

I'm currently looking to buy but my budget is about 15% below some of the houses I'm interested in and I don't know whether it's worth even making an offer on such properties or simply viewing those closer to my budget.

Thanks!