James

Il Mirto is fabulous. Their pizzas are the best!

Wow. Such nasty responses from you people. If I left something of value in a shop I would be annoyed if they chucked it out front where anyone could take it. Ianr your analogy doesn't make sense. If I left something at your house, would you throw it outside onto the pavement??? The decent thing to do would be to put it behind the counter. Why could the shop owner not do that? You lot need to stop projecting your whimsical fantasies about darling local shopkeepers onto these people and look at the facts. And get some empathy.

Sadly I do not think the market is affected the same way at all levels Townleygreen. And Fishbiscuits (I love that name!) there were a few sniping remarks earlier to the tune of "We sold ours! You must be overpricing it... get real!" have asked a variety of people with no personal interest in flattering us and they say the place is great and can't understand why it's not selling. So I guess we just have to cross our fingers and hope the right buyer will come along eventually.

All these people saying "If you price it right, it will sell... it must be overpriced" are being a little smug I think. Surely a huge factor in a depressed market like this is luck. To those who are easily selling their places at the moment, has it occurred to you that perhaps you were just fortunate in getting the right buyer coming along at the right time? Telling anyone who can't sell that they are being greedy or unrealistic and overpricing their houses is a bit patronising and shows a bit of an empathy deficit. Reminds me of the old Tory mentality of "Well I did all right for myself so anyone who can't must be lazy or thick." (Um, no actually, there is always an element of luck in any market situation). Our house looks great, and is sensibly priced. It's not selling. So we need to decide how much of a hit we can take on the price. Which is not a great situation to be in.

We lived on a street in East Dulwich which only had two council properties left. One of them was occupied by a family who made life hell for their neighbours with anti-social behaviour of various kinds. The lowpoint for us came when the man of the house physically assaulted my partner because he was unhappy that we parked our car outside his house (he seemed to think he owned the street). We took them to court; he didn't turn up, wasting everyone's time. Of course you mustn't generalise but it does seem like a depressingly familiar scenario.

>>It's all relative isn't it? >>If you lower yours down by ?100k then the one you buy should be lowered by ?100k. >>Nobody loses and you are saddled with less debt. This is utter nonsense. "Should" be lowered? Who says it "should"? The great God of the Housing Market in the sky above? Surely you know that this is not how markets work? If (like us) the seller is not happy with what they are offered, they simply won't budge. Which seems to be what is happening en masse at the moment. You are also forgetting that when the market changes it can affect different levels in different ways. From what I hear, one-bed flats are moving faster than two or three-bed houses. It never ceases to amaze me how people who know nothing about a subject are so happy to hold forth as if they are experts. The everyday perils of the internet forum I guess.

Thanks RendelHarris, appreciate you putting FS' comments into context :) For the record, I do not assume my house will always increase in value. The difficulty is knowing what is a reasonable price to expect in a market like this - given the secrecy around sold prices. Hence my original post.

Alice, beware looking at websites with 'sold/under offer' properties on them... who knows how long they have been on there? I notice in slow periods agents leave these up for months on end to give the impression things are moving faster than they are. >>all houses will sell if they are priced at a level that people want to pay - if your gaff is not getting any interest, then maybe there is a clue in there somewhere And Flocker Spotter, this is an obvious point and not helpful. How would you feel if you were selling and I told you to discount your house heavily as the market was slow? Especially since our house is priced competitively in comparison with other similar properties. It is very unsettling when you do not know what your money will buy. And risk heavily losing out.

The agents say "It's not too bad". (They would, wouldn't they?) My feeling is that Brexit fear means the market is at a virtual standstill. Our gorgeous house has been on for weeks with barely any interest. Anyone got any anecdotal evidence of whether things are selling - and if so, for how much less than the asking price?

RPC your joke was HILARIOUS. You must enter it for a comedy award. So original and funny. Well done.

>>You don't hear the word wholesome/unwholesome much these days, do you? Let's reappropriate it and launch a new movement combining wellbeing, food fads and moral superiority. Oh, hang on, vegans... You should include anyone who has any belief system in there whatsoever (all religions, codes of morality etc.) as, by your interpretation, they must be 'morally superior' too. Oh, you didn't? Because you wanted to take a cheap shot at vegans? Ah, I see.

Not cushions. I meant fascinators.

I think it's shocking that shops are allowed to open up and sell whatever they like in this day and age! Surely any proposed new business should legally be obliged to seek permission from the most opinionated local persons and comply with whatever sort of shop they would like to see? I for one would like to see an independent retailer of luxurious and exotic cushions. I will not be buying any (obviously!) but I would like this as it will convince me that I live in an aspirational area and be most useful for my dinner party conversations.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/so-we-meet-again-southern-tells-commuters-2015050197927

I too have a neighbour whose mother is disabled and has a badge. Have lived on my street for two years and in that time have never seen her leave the house. They have two cars and whichever one is on the street is parked outside the space, so they always have a space reserved for the other one. When the second car returns they move the first into the space as that one has the badge. On one occasion another disabled woman used the space and they subjected her to vile abuse from their window. I think they are utter scumbags.