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Our neighbour, who is also the estate agent who sold us both our houses (and a nice bloke to boot) just came round.
He's got someone who wants to live on our close, and they've made an unsolicited 'cash' offer of £510k for our house.... this is a 4 bed (3 1/2 really!) in rural Devon btw!
That's £200k more than we paid for it 5 years ago!
We're not moving any time soon, but by God it's tempting!
(How much C&H for 200k, etc.?)
You'd still need somewhere to live. What can you get for £500k round your way?
I would sell now and wait for all the imminent repossessions to come on the market, win win 😉
While it sounds great for us home owners, unless you're downsizing it means nothing really. This rapid house price growth is good for no-one overall. We need to build more houses I guess.
Worst "look how much my house is worth " thread ever lol.
when i lived at home with my mother in 1986 she bought her council house for £7k.
my son has just bought a identical house over the road for £185k.
scary prices now.
Changes in house prices are meaningless - you still need to live somewhere.
A better way to judge your value is to look at the difference in price between where you live now and where you could live.
£500k in the Afan Valley - you can buy a row of run down terrace houses for that.
What can you get for £500k round your way?
a 4 bed (3 1/2 really!)
Do people really make offers on houses that aren't for sale? Is that a thing?
Changes in house prices are meaningless
Not always. Increasing prices allowed us to remortgage at a lower rate and release a load of cash that we then used to clear debts and save loads of money whilst still being in the same mortgage position at the end of the deal as we would have been otherwise. But I admit that is niche. A very rare (possibly the only) astute financial move on my part!
We have things. They have values as the thing, money only comes in when you want to swap one thing for another, its an intermediate step. As other have said you still need a house to live in so unless you move somewhere cheaper or down size the value is meaningless, the values is as a house where you live.
This rapid house price growth is good for no-one overall
ITs good for the treasury due to increased tax take on transactions. Overall it bad I agree, makes moving house a very expensive endever, traps people and stop them moving, make getting on the housing ladder harder and harder. Not an easy problem to solve despite what people think.
Yeah its 500k until they get the survey done. Lots waving round massive figures to secure a property, get ahead of the marketing, out gun other bidders.
Then chip you down after the survey and they pretend that reality has hit. When in reality that was the plan all along.
Then you try and buy another house in a nice location and you just can't because you are constantly outbid.
You could accept their offer and go looking and see if you can secure something you like! You don't actually have to go through with it.
in rural Devon
I suspect in 2021 that's got an awful lot more to do with it than anything else.
The folks looking to buy are probably selling a 1.5 bed in London for 500k more than they paid 5 years ago as they no longer need to be near the office.
I say take it then buy "it" back for 400 in 18 months when either they* need to be near the office again or they realise all that green space means no supermarket, no bars, no restaurants etc and that they lived in a city because they liked city living.
*maybe not your specific house and its new owners but I'd hazard around 80% of the escape to the country-ists.
(of course where to live in the intervening 18 months might be a problem with that idea)
As above really. My mortgage company wrote to me at the end of the year to tell me how much mine had gone up.
I'm no better off as anywhere I might to move to has gone up as well🤷♂️.
.
As an aside, my father bought the house across the road from where my parents live now in 1978. He paid three times the average annual wage for it. He moved out in 1982.
It sold this year for eleven times the average wage! (OK, the new owners built another bedroom over the garage but even so)
Do people really make offers on houses that aren’t for sale? Is that a thing?
An ex colleague did. Offered them over the odds as they really wanted to live there. Owners seemed keen, so keen in fact they did an open house viewing after receiving the offer. Sold it to someone else who offered £100k over what my colleague did.
Changes in house prices are meaningless
Not if you're one of the significant percentage of people with more than one house.
Out of my ( our) group of friends/ family, I think we're the only ones without one or more rental/ holiday homes.
Just stated as a fact BTW, not as some sort of sick 'woe is me' thang.
Ah, but your house is worth more, so is every bloody other one. I say 'worth', they aren't 'worth' the stupid amounts anyway.
No real winners.
Ah, but your house is worth more, so is every bloody other one. I say ‘worth’, they aren’t ‘worth’ the stupid amounts anyway.
No real winners.
+1
We paid £245k for ours in 2010, we've invested about £120k in it since, and its now worth £600k+
However, the next 'step up' has now risen to £800k+ so can't afford to move even if we wanted to.
Not always. Increasing prices allowed us to remortgage at a lower rate and release a load of cash that we then used to clear debts and save loads of money whilst still being in the same mortgage position at the end of the deal as we would have been otherwise. But I admit that is niche. A very rare (possibly the only) astute financial move on my part!
It's what I'm planning to do when our deal end in Dec. We bought it with a 5% deposit 2 years ago, put in a load of work and about £10k and now we're at 70% LTV thanks to the market shift, which is insane. Remortgage, take out enough equity to pay off the money we borrowed to fix the place up AND reduce our term by 5 years keeping the same repayments.
It's no wonder there's a panic in the market every 5-10 years, you can't just magic money out of thin air like this forever, and it's shit for people not in the market yet, I mean it was horrific trying to get on, but there's no point trying to swim against the tide, telling the Bank "I think it's stupid anyone would pay us £65k more than we paid for this place 2 years ago, so I've valued it at what we paid plus UK inflation rate, please charge us more".
Of course, the downside is that the next house we've dreamt of is now £100k more than it was, but I guess as long as it's a no-lose gamble and the bank will lend it, I'll only be getting richer by moving yeah?
Not always. Increasing prices allowed us to remortgage at a lower rate
This, which I have just done
Aye, house prices seem mental, not only that, but new builds seems to be largely big houses - I'm looking for a 3-bedroom, ideally bungalow (less things to have to hoover!), but very few around and those that are around are massively priced...
I would sell now and wait for all the imminent repossessions to come on the market, win win 😉
Nah...house prices have proven themselves to be resilient to recessions in recent years and they still continue to increase in value...they have throughout covid and back in 2008.
Unless you're downsising to a smaller and/or cheaper property then its utterly irrelevant because the money you 'make' just goes to your next equivalent property...unless you have another couple of hundred K to put in.
I'd sell now as we've just exchanged so expect a crash imminently 🙄
Yeah its 500k until they get the survey done. Lots waving round massive figures to secure a property, get ahead of the marketing, out gun other bidders.
Then chip you down after the survey and they pretend that reality has hit. When in reality that was the plan all along.
We encountered what I suspect was a lot of this from other people when we were buyers.- infuriating!
Our neighbour, who is also the estate agent...
If it's really that good a offer, why don't they sell theirs?
Nah…house prices have proven themselves to be resilient to recessions in recent years and they still continue to increase in value…they have throughout covid and back in 2008.
Yep, I've been predicting the collapse of the UK Housing market for years, I even have the dubious honour of saying I predicted the credit crunch in 2007 when I worked for RBS.
The truth is though, there is almost nothing the UK Gov wouldn't do to protect the swindle, and almost nothing the UK Public won't accept from them to do it, and it doesn't matter what colour rosette they're wearing either. Home ownership in the UK is seen almost as a basic human right, as is 'making' fortunes from it, even if you never get to spend it.
Ha, we're not planning on moving, it was just unexpected!
According to my neighbour/estate agent the offer is probably about £35-40k over what he'd put it on the market for - they just really want to live here!
Wouldn't surprise me if they'd done it to all the houses in the close - though ours is probably the cheapest - much smaller garden, though it's been extended so more rooms than a couple of them.
Do people really make offers on houses that aren’t for sale? Is that a thing?
Yes, regularly happens where my parents live as otherwise you're waiting for the owner to die and it eventually come onto the market. What happens to most of the houses is the owner dies then straight after the funeral the offers start to flood in. The decent houses never hit the For Sale websites or the estate agent's window as they have a long list of people waiting. The local estate agent is a friend of the family and they have already told us that when my parents die they have a list of people who would buy their house immediately.
Not always. Increasing prices allowed us to remortgage at a lower rate and release a load of cash that we then used to clear debts and save loads of money whilst still being in the same mortgage position at the end of the deal as we would have been otherwise. But I admit that is niche. A very rare (possibly the only) astute financial move on my part!
Did a similar thing at the beginning of the year, remortgaged for the same value at a lower rate, could have reduced our monthly payments but instead reduced the term from 8 years to 6 for the same payment.
What can you get for £500k round your way?
a 2 bed modern purpose built flat (if you add £20-£30k to the budget) or a 2 bed conversion with a bit of garden or maybe balcony but it will be noisy unless done recently with Part E compliance.
prices are up here in SE london but not massively, you can actually view property without having to grease the palms of the estate agent, good stuff sells quick, the overpriced stuff sits there and slowly gets reduced to the correct market price.
Nothing new about buying off-market, and with the current demand and lack of supply, it’s likely to be a lot of buyers best bet in securing the property they like. Some towns are seeing a 50% drop in sellers and a 50% increase in sales agreed versus 2020. This will continue for some time.
@ajantom it’s a win win for you and your Agent neighbour if this buyer does manage to get into your street as it pushes the average price up and makes it more desirable. Result.
Im sure with a bit of remodelling Kirsty could make you "love it"
Do people really make offers on houses that aren’t for sale? Is that a thing?
I live in North Wales, similar issues here with Devon Cornwall with second homes and holiday lettings investors driving the market beyond the reach of local workers. Someone recently put a post up on the village facebook page offering cash for a house - they got dogs abuse.
Changes in house prices are meaningless – you still need to live somewhere.
Not at all, rising house prices meant I went from being in negative equity (2009), unable to secure a decent mortgage deal as nobody would lend to me, barely able to cover the bills to getting a better rate and being a few hundred a month better off.
I looked up a mates house the other day on zoopla as I am incredibly nosy and it's an amazing place. The previous owners over a 9 year period saw the value increase by £750k, that's without an extension or any other major works as far as I can tell (it's not listed, but it's a period place with no major renovation done).
Yep, I’ve been predicting the collapse of the UK Housing market for years
You've been wrong so far. How many years before you're proven right? It's easy to be right eventually if you predict the same thing over and over again.
I would sell now and wait for all the imminent repossessions to come on the market, win win
Has been the advice every year since about 1995. But hasn't happened.
I should know, I spent about a decade listening to it and renting 🤣.
Do people really make offers on houses that aren’t for sale? Is that a thing?
My next-door neighbour once came to my door going "you sell house?" Uh, no, I'm living in it? Ironically, when I did sell up a few years later it was to the neighbours on the other side.
According to my neighbour/estate agent the offer is probably about £35-40k over what he’d put it on the market for – they just really want to live here!
Give them a stupid counter-offer. Tell them you love it where you are, you don't want to move, but you'd consider it for £600k or whatever it'd take to make it worthwhile for you to actually go through all that rigmarole. You'll find out pretty quickly how much they "really" want it.
I live in North Wales, similar issues here with Devon Cornwall with second homes and holiday lettings investors driving the market beyond the reach of local workers. Someone recently put a post up on the village facebook page offering cash for a house – they got dogs abuse.
wasn’t Carol Vordernan was it 🥴
What can you get for £500k round your way?
a quick search suggests that budget will buy you a small wreck down here. Reasonable village (not as pretty or expensive as the neighbouring ones), this gaff is a 10 minute walk to the station then an hour to london.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/111471023
What can you get for £500k round your way?
This was my question as £500k gets you a whole load of house round here. This is just an example but there's quite a few like this. Obvious downside is that they are all in Sunderland.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/72828940#/?channel=RES_BUY
Do people make offers on houses that aren't for sale?
I've always said that if I came up trumps on the lottery I'd knock on the door of this house & ask them how much they wanted for it......
A lot of you have passed it on the way to Fort Willy.
Onich?
What can you get for £500k round your way?
The house we bought in February.
Onich?
That's what I was thinking, I think it's a B&B and we've stayed there.
Yep, I’ve been predicting the collapse of the UK Housing market for years
You’ve been wrong so far. How many years before you’re proven right? It’s easy to be right eventually if you predict the same thing over and over again.
Yeah, I mean it's the same as "every cracked windscreen will eventually shatter".
The reality though is that the UK Economy is almost entirely based on our housing market as it underwrites our financial institutions and there is almost nothing the BOE / Gov won't do to protect it, because if they don't the UK will effectively fall into bankruptcy.
That's not to say it doesn't 'correct' on occasion, but it's usually short-lived and comes at a time of great economic upheaval, so it's not really a time when buyers can improve their income to catch up.
That's before we even get into "average house price" and the effect of decades of Brownfield BTL market flats has on the "average house" in the UK.
a quick search suggests that budget will buy you a small wreck down here.
Jeezo that is nuts. We have a similar sized place but really nicely done up with a bigger garden that cost £200k less. And it's in an AONB
surely you sell it and buy Bitcoin?
Jokes.
We too are living in a bonkers local market - coastal West Wales - and it sucks being local and not being able to buy ANYTHING due to the ridiculous house price increase.
One bed ex coastal shed anyone - offers in excess of £325k!
What confuses me it the price of flats, especially the new build ones in renovated old industrial buildings...
My local area for 150k you can get a flat so small that you literally won't be able to swing a cat in it, with zero storage space... but for the same money you can get a reasonable 2 bed terrace with a small yard and a kitchen that isn't part of the living room.
Correct me if i am getting this wrong.
People are buying houses with high LTV ratio
They are then living beyond their means and racking up unsecured/secured loans either getting on with their lives or improving their houses.
They then get to the end of their mortgage deal and finding that the inflated values of their homes means they are able to remortgage the house for even more than they initially had at a cheaper rate so they consolidate all this extra debt into a bigger mortgage with the benfit of cheaper rates.
Call me old fashioned but that strikes me as a recipe for disaster and wasnt it toxic debt that caused all the troubles a few years ago with banks. Imagine bragging about being more and more in debt and being able to juggle it about a bit to make it more acceptable 🙁
Having a highly valued house is likely to mean you can just pay for a nice care home that much longer before you own a low enough amount of money to get it paid for you.
I've predicted nine of the last three crashes
Correct me if i am getting this wrong.
People are buying houses with high LTV ratio
They are then living beyond their means and racking up unsecured/secured loans either getting on with their lives or improving their houses.
They then get to the end of their mortgage deal and finding that the inflated values of their homes means they are able to remortgage the house for even more than they initially had at a cheaper rate so they consolidate all this extra debt into a bigger mortgage with the benfit of cheaper rates.
Call me old fashioned but that strikes me as a recipe for disaster and wasnt it toxic debt that caused all the troubles a few years ago with banks. Imagine bragging about being more and more in debt and being able to juggle it about a bit to make it more acceptable 🙁
I don't think anyone is bragging, more playing the cards they're dealt.
I fit your description pretty much to a T, but then I couldn't buy my first house until I was 40 because of House Price inflation, even then I had to buy a house that had been neglected for decades because the owner was old and in poor health. I was a housing market loser for most of my adult life, there's no way I'm not going to take advantage of being on the winning side now, so I borrowed 10k 2 weeks after I moved in and spent it on renovations, coupled with good old-fashioned graft, I not only made a nice home for my family, but made it worth about £15k more than it was worth, call it debt, credit or leverage, it's all the same and it depends on your point of view I guess, but it was carefully planned and considered.
Now, 2 years later, I'd rather borrow that money cheaply, secured against the home it was spent on. I have of course paid down my mortgage for 2 years and the loan, so I won't owe more than I started, but even if I did, I wouldn't care less. Luckily for me, the market has jumped which means I can borrow it cheaper still. Yes, it follows the same path as every recession before, but what's the point in fighting the tide?
As for "Toxic Debt", yes, some Banks in the UK took the absolute piss during the mid-2000s boom, 100%, 105% even mortgages, self-cert income, almost zero underwriting criteria, if you could get a mobile contract, you could get a mortgage in 2005, if you were prepared to pay the rate. But believe it or not, things have changed. Underwriting is firmer, but more importantly affordability is being judged more closely than ever. If it makes you feel any better, my Bank, who knows everything about me financially says I can borrow over £200k more than I actually have.
Having a highly valued house is likely to mean you can just pay for a nice care home that much longer before you own a low enough amount of money to get it paid for you.
A lot of people in that fortunate situation though are offloading any liquid assets they have to people who would inherit from them anyway. Of course that might have IHT implications depending on how soon they die, but there are a lot of well off pensioners sat on piles of cash in savings etc. that they can't really spend and don't really intend to.
That's another part of the system that's totally broken. As in if everyone was fairly comfortable financially they wouldn't care to much about IHT as a beneficiary of an estate, but as it stands people are finding workarounds to ensure they can pass inheritance on to family rather than the government.
A lot of people in that fortunate situation though are offloading any liquid assets they have to people who would inherit from them anyway.
They will need to have done it a long time ago
P-Jay we are pretty similar in age.
The terms you use in explaining your financials worry me. Not particularly just you but its in general. Here is a list of some of your phrases from one post
Playing the cards
Housing market loser
take advantage of being on the winning side
Its all the same
borrow money cheaply
wont owe more than i started
i wouldnt care less
luckily for me
whats the point in fighting the tide
105% mortgages
This is not what owning a home is about for me. It doesnt surprise me that people get themselves into financial trouble. Your comment about being able to borrow £200k more doesnt fill me with anything other than dread tbh.
Never been able to get a mortgage , tbh , it’s not called a death pledge for nothing .
So doing things the other way involved a lot of work and saving , till had enough cash to just buy a place .
Sounds easy ? no , solicitors were suspicious, even got dropped by one as she was scared about provenance , cash ain’t king no more .
This is not what owning a home is about for me. It doesn't surprise me that people get themselves into financial trouble. Your comment about being able to borrow £200k more doesn't fill me with anything other than dread tbh.
No, me either, I bought a home for my family because renting was a nightmare. Unless you're very fortunate, you're going to have to borrow money to buy a house, so you might as well do it as smartly as possible.
I'm taking advantage of everything I can, to make it the best home I can, as cost-effectively as I can. It's not a business to me and I don't care about it value to sell, just how I can use it to reduce the cost of the borrowing I already have.
People get themselves into financial trouble for all sorts of reasons, temptation lays around every corner for the unwary consumer, but it's not always the case, and it's not really 'the norm', most people have a good handle on credit, and don't over do it, or at least when they start to feel it coming on, do something about it.
1986 she bought her council house for £7k.
my son has just bought a identical house over the road for £185k.
9.8% compound growth for 35 years. What an investment.
You’d still need somewhere to live.
Depends on the C/H dose, surely!
Depends on the C/H dose, surely!
Am I still the only one imagining how much C&H you get for 200k? Given we are all ****ed by global heating it's looking like a good way to go to me
What confuses me it the price of flats, especially the new build ones in renovated old industrial buildings…
utterly absurd in Edinburgh. £500 000 could easily be the cost of a nice 2 or 3 bed flat in a nice area
New conversions actually are cheaper than good tenements per bedroom- but tiny in comparison
They will need to have done it a long time ago
Define long. There's still ways round it if you have enough money....
Most people either bury their heads in the sand till it's too late or they do their part and pay their way in the hope they get a better standard of care off their riches.
Sometimes when I see people predicting the same crash over and over.....I wonder if the fella who's name I can't remember who was looking for a house or flat at the same time as me but decided not to because of the crash that was imminent......is still waiting.( I looked for 18 months and have been here 10 years That's a metric **** ton of rent (450PCM.... X 12 X 10 = £54000 and that's a crap 1 bed flat round here ) thrown away - would have covered the "crash" .......( and if it didn't you best own a shot gun and lots of ammo cause it'll be a hell of a storm)
Am I still the only one imagining how much C&H you get for 200k?
Probably less than you'd hope, but more than enough to see you off.
Define long. There’s still ways round it if you have enough money….
Depends - if the council thinnk you have hidden money or given it away even more than 7 years ago they can still go after you for care costs. differnt from IHT
Thanks P-Jay. Totally understand and agree with what you said there. I actually agree with most of what you say earlier, I was just highlighting how we sometimes make it sound so easy in conversations talking about winning etc.
Property and money are two of the most emotive issues in everyone's lives. I got on the property ladder as soon as i could (No help from anyone) and i suppose i have benefitted in some ways even if it hasn't felt like it.
I wonder how many people are choosing to make do rather than remortgage and spend these days? Bigger houses, home improvements etc. My daughter has had what is basically a box room up until the age of 14. I resisted and resisted the urge to load up the mortgage to get a bigger house. Family taking the piss, friends questioning. It would have been so easy to just lump it on the mortgage but it was only in recent years that, for me the bank balance said yes thats a good idea. Takes all sorts.
Onich?
That’s what I was thinking, I think it’s a B&B and we’ve stayed there.
I don't think It's a B&B, but there are a couple nearby.
mattyfez
Free MemberWhat confuses me it the price of flats, especially the new build ones in renovated old industrial buildings…
My local area for 150k you can get a flat so small that you literally won’t be able to swing a cat in it, with zero storage space… but for the same money you can get a reasonable 2 bed terrace with a small yard and a kitchen that isn’t part of the living room.
This is very true. In Manchester there is no shortage of terrace houses for sub £100k, yet many prefer to live in a flat on the edge of town for £150k+ and half the size. These terrace houses are not all that nice but i often think that when people say they cant afford to buy a house - what they really mean is they can't afford to buy the type of house that they want. So they pay crazy money to rent instead.
My advice if you want a nice house - start by buying a not so nice house and make the best of it you can and then move onwards and upwards.
Depends – if the council thinnk you have hidden money or given it away even more than 7 years ago they can still go after you for care costs. differnt from IHT
Yep, well over 7 years which is why I said they needed to have done it a long time ago.
A lot of old red brick houses in Manchester were very cheaply made and are well past their sell-by-date though so you can kind of see the appeal of somewhere new which is cheap to heat/look after.
I suspect a lot of flats are built to be bought by investors, either to let or just to sit on.
Our neighbour, who is also the estate agent…
If it’s really that good a offer, why don’t they sell theirs?
Maybe the neighbour doesn’t like the OP?
Maybe the neighbour doesn’t like the OP?
Ha 😁 well neighbour is maybe not 100% accurate.
He doesn't live in the close, but on the other side of the road (we're on the end corner of the close).
His place is huge, twice the size of ours, bought as a real wreck, and half-way through being renovated. Not something you could buy and move straight into.
The reality though is that the UK Economy is almost entirely based on our housing market as it underwrites our financial institutions and there is almost nothing the BOE / Gov won’t do to protect it, because if they don’t the UK will effectively fall into bankruptcy.
The BoE regularly runs analyses looking at what would happen if interest rates went up 5% etc; which is partly why borrowing requirements are more stringent now with affordability checks at set interest rates and caps on mortgages above set income multiples.
Very unlikely we'll have another house price crash which causes significant problems.
What can you get for £500k round your way?
The current answer is that there is nothing on the market between £400k and £550k at the moment.
If there was, it would probably sell for 15-25% over asking, likely having offers before it made open market and without viewings.
His place is huge, twice the size of ours, bought as a real wreck,
Hmm, estate agent buying a property with potential? If he handled the sale I wonder how many offers made it to the vendor🤔?
Hmm, estate agent buying a property with potential? If he handled the sale I wonder how many offers made it to the vendor🤔?
Probably zero, I think it belonged to his uncle - or might have been great uncle - defo a relative.
I know they moved into a much smaller, modern bungalow in town.
I bought my first house last year and according to the local EAs it has increased by 60k since then.
I'd be unable to afford it now - just 12 months later.
I just want a place to live, fed up of sharing and paying rent; but this house price appreciation is royally screwing over young people. And I know how awful it is to reach middle age whilst still renting - I bought the place the same week I turned 40.
Housing should be a human right; instead it increasingly brings out the worse in human nature - house price bragging, predatory banks and EAs, and the government are underwriting it all as they know it gets them re-elected.
The whole thing stinks.
Housing should be a human right;
Indeed it should be - but not ownership just a right to decent housing at a decent cost
but this house price appreciation is royally screwing over young people.
Yup - the flat I bought 30 years ago on a nurses salary at 2.5x salary would now be worth 12x salary
I don't think I could buy anything in Edinburgh now on a single nurses salary - perhaps an ex council in a very dodgy area