Trying to buy a house in this area is near impossible

[AbDabs]

Two relatively normal houses are shown as having been sold in Melbourne Grove for exactly ?1M each. That must be the reason why someone in Chesterfield grove thinks they can get ?1.2M. I'm tempted to start a book on that one.

[aileking]

AbDabs Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Two relatively normal houses are shown as having

> been sold in Melbourne Grove for exactly ?1M each.

> That must be the reason why someone in

> Chesterfield grove thinks they can get ?1.2M. I'm

> tempted to start a book on that one.

But at least the Chesterfield Grove is 5 bed, how about the three bed in Crawthew Grove for ?1.2 million?

[The Minkey]

Two years ago, a property on my street went for 345k. Last November, one went for 485k which seemed an incredible increase for such a short period of time, yet a mere 5 months later, another property is up for sale at 625k. Overheated market, yes I think so.

[ed_pete]

The madness continues - ?425k for a one bed garden flat in need of modernisation...

http://www.pedderproperty.com/Property/Residential/for-sale/London/East-Dulwich/Elsie-Road/PWS28819.aspx

[worldwiser]

The fact that the one on Frogley at 895 is still not sold tells me everything. Popular properties at a vaguely credible price go before they come to market. Properties still on the market after 3 weeks will inevitably be reduced and leave the owner with their greed publicly and hilariously unsatisfied. There's currently hardly anything on the market so anyone who's in a mood to buy at that price would already have done so.

[Reg Smeeton]

What's even more galling is the amount of money estate agents earn for such sloppy, unprofessional work. Here's an ad from Haarts for a flat in a "Quite road" at which viewing is "Recomened" and which apparently has a nearby fishmonger called "Moxtons". Sigh.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45512843.html

[Loz]

Ha - Moxtons. An even fishier version of Foxtons!

[KalamityKel]

aileking Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> AbDabs Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Two relatively normal houses are shown as

> having

> > been sold in Melbourne Grove for exactly ?1M

> each.

> > That must be the reason why someone in

> > Chesterfield grove thinks they can get ?1.2M.

> I'm

> > tempted to start a book on that one.

>

> But at least the Chesterfield Grove is 5 bed, how

> about the three bed in Crawthew Grove for ?1.2

> million?

I'd hardly call the additional rooms bedrooms... just rooms. There's nothing special about the house and the state of the bathrooms and garden? What kind of idiot is seriously going to pay that kinda money for that rubbish? I've I had that kinda of money to burn I would expect a high end spec for that money. I'm disappointed and confused how that price tag can be applied to a property that doesn't really offer value for money *shrugs*

[MrBen]

Looking rather like prices have peaked for the time being. Sales activity has also slowed a bit. Plenty houses coming on at daft/greed driven prices in the past month haven't sold? and are now taking offers?.there;s a limit to what the buying public will take.

[Lizziespangles]

The estate agents are the worst in SE22! Soooo arrogant & many unprofessional. ED is a nice area, and the property is worth as much as people are prepared to pay. I wish people would sell privately and bypass these agents. It's so easy & you just go straight to the conveyancer.

[Jeremy]

MrBen Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Looking rather like prices have peaked for the

> time being. Sales activity has also slowed a bit.

> Plenty houses coming on at daft/greed driven

> prices in the past month haven't sold? and are now

> taking offers?.there;s a limit to what the buying

> public will take.

Yeah I've definitely noticed a few places sitting on the market... i.e. 3 bed houses in Peckham which need a total refurb for 750K. Or pimped-up terraced houses in ED for >1M. It's just not realistic, and in some cases just plain greedy. Hopefully we've reached a point where buyers are thinking "enough is enough".

But I fear selling privately won't take off until private sellers can add their properties to Rightmove/etc, and even if that happens, sellers will probably still get greedy with asking prices.

[*Bob*]

I think Wooster & Stock offer a 'sell it yourself' 'flat fee' service which gives you access to their usual advertising packages including portals such as Right Move - but you do the rest yourself. I think it was ?1k or something like that.

Everyone likes to make noise about doing away with the agents (at least as far as possible) but I wonder how many people have taken them up on the offer - when it came down to it?

Sounded like pretty good value to me.

[Jeremy]

The main advantage for me would be that the agents conduct the viewings. That might seem easy at the moment (show a load of people round on a Saturday and wait for the offers to flood in) but that's not how these things traditionally work... in "normal" market conditions it can take weeks or months to sell a property, and giving up your evenings and weekends to show people around would be a serious pain in the ass.

[KidKruger]

I have to say, for a serious offer at today's rates, it's tempting to bail and get a pile down by the coast.

[Jeremy]

It's a well-trodden path. The routine goes:

Plan to buy a cottage in cash and get a job as a postman

Then buy a big place and commute 3hrs a day so you can pay off your new mortgage

[El Pibe]

*Bob* I did mention elsewhere that we'd rented out using a portal company (uPad). and when I suggesteed maybe people should use them for sales everyone bleated on about false economy, which was just a bit weird if you ask me, seems like the future to me.

[*Bob*]

The common moan is that the agents do sod all but have access to the advertising which sells your house by itself etc etc.

I thought it was interesting to see an agent who's prepared to challenge that moan with a proposition along the lines of 'if you think it's that easy, you do it'

[worldwiser]

The thing I resent is that estate agents are usually the slowest link in the chain. Always find it hilarious to get a call from the agent saying, 'we've managed to agree x or y with the buyer/seller' and my response is usually, 'yes I know, I spoke to the buyer/seller and agreed it 2 days ago.' If you want your property transaction to take 4 months, leave it to the agents and lawyers. If you want it done in 6 weeks, do it yourself.

[Twirly]

I can't believe that I am writing this, but having recently sold and bought, both sets of estate agents were, on the whole, brilliant. Admittedly my flat sold in 4 days, and I expected them to lose interest after that. But they nursed both deals all the way through. The weak links in the system turned out to be my solicitor (whose standards had clearly slipped since I last used them), my buyers common sense, then my lender being unable to read plain English and deciding there was a problem with my purchase, despite the surveyor telling them 4 times that there wasn't. The estate agents were great. Now I need to go and have a lie down to recover from the shock of praising estate agents...

[Earl Aelfheah]

To be fair, when I moved house (admittedly several years ago now) I had the same experience. Estate Agents were great. Solicitors and surveyors rubbish.

[Jeremy]

It seems pretty standard for the solicitors not to do anything at all for at least two weeks after receiving your instruction.

[Twirly]

Oh mine did lots. Lots of emails asking questions which I diligently answered, sometimes multiple times. This was followed up by an email asking ME to collate my responses! They received a very choicely worded email back telling them politely to do their job, and if they wanted one email with all the answers in, to just send one with all the questions in. He backed down pretty rapidly.

[SteveUK1978]

Like most things in life you get what you pay for.

From what I have seen, people try and scrimp and save on legal fees when it comes to buying / selling property and end up going with the cheapest solictor they can find...it is hardly a shock when they end up being rubbish or slow. At these low fee levels it is all about volume for a surveyancing solicitor so they will have a lot of potential transactions running at any one time.

[Twirly]

That wasn't what I was doing and when I used the same solicitor 15 years previously, he had been good.

[worldwiser]

We've tried super cheap and eye-wateringly expensive and experienced much the same service with both. The only difference with eye-wateringly expensive is that they have a shop-front on a nearby street where you can make a nuisance of yourself. Super cheap means a call centre somewhere far away which makes it far more difficult to hassle people.