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House Price Crash Forum


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  1. Terrible idea really - it seems like a new business managed to get itself an advertorial. What happens if a viewer immediately doesn't like the house (it happens), do they get a refund? What happens if a viewer really likes the house but also wants to spend hours in there, and feel they are justified to because they have paid? What about second viewings? There are several mirages in the market, which attract the gullible, ie - saving stamp duty, only to pay more for the house - being glad at small HPI when inflation is high There will be people celebrating 'earning' £600 for their 20 viewings, oblivious to that they probably achieved a much lower price in the end because a big tranche of people were put off viewing. If it really was solely about preventing timewasters you'd just make it a deposit refundable on turning up.
  2. I get that, but is Tolworth more pleasant than Croydon, Plaistow or Tottenham? Of course. Even in the shit places in London you'd be pushed to find a genuine 1-bed flat for under £200k. The only ones I've seen are in areas which are worse, or a high-rise in dodgy surroundings. Or studios mis-described as 1-beds by the agent. This is none of that, seemingly based on a quiet residential street.
  3. I don't see much wrong with that....seems that the owner is in some kind of hurry though - why not do the renovation before getting the pics done? Even allowing for new bathroom/kitchen/lease extension I think this would be the type of place that eventually would shift by virtue of being the cheapest in the block, that may take some time though. A 1-bed with no outside space is probably the opposite of what everyone wants right now.
  4. Genuinely not sure what revelation would turn the voting public against him... not as if anything has worked so far has it? Throw them another stamp duty holiday and people will forget. The bloke is like Teflon.
  5. £65k off a flat in Croydon: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/71621877#/ Not a nice area, also looks like a concrete pillbox. Not sure if EWS1 is a factor, but looks some way down on peak and looking at sold prices, virtually no increase since it was built. Pretty impressive considering it is in London but also almost 15 years ago.
  6. The only tsunami has been the tsunami of free cash that has come the way of self-employed and small businesses. That was designed to prevent large-scale closures, by and large it has worked. Of course there will be sob stories but like the cladding they won't try too hard to prevent people from trying to make out they are worse off then they really are, or that because they are representative for a lot of others. Their accounts ending period March 21 will be out soon, so we can see then what the truth is.
  7. Going from £0 to £250k in a year implies a loss of £20k/month.... Having a quick butchers you can rent shops in Beeston for £1,100-£1,400/month so even if they paid no rent and it accrued it doesn't explain much of the debt... maybe they let their employee wages build up as debts instead of furlough? That's even if they are renting. The accounts show assets of £200k.... not sure how much barbers fixtures and fittings is worth, but a property might be better explaining it. Of course, it also could be cash, but then why moan about debt if that is the case.
  8. Dug out the accounts (Hairven Limited) Suspect this story is being embellished. Not really sure rents are that high - not exactly city centre locations. Employees = furloughed. Grants available to replace lost profits. No tax for last financial year. Sure, maybe a loss for the last financial year but not £250k worth. Hairdressers would have had a record opening trade = saw queues for places I never saw before; probably might even be better off if competition left. Other hairdressers could also earn unofficially, ie home visits. Suspect the £0 - £250k figure is generated by comparing net liabilities in the first year (no debt) but using the gross figure in the second year. There was something like £230k of liabilities on the accounts, and there is no reason for this to increase rapidly - rent and wages (mostly) covered, trade receivables would not go anywhere, cos what are you buying if you are doing no business? Newspaper are hardly going to let a bit of embellishment get in the way of a story.
  9. I regularly look at Eastbourne and Brighton. There is definitely scope for big drops on some especially in Brighton as things are priced for Londoners or for foreigners that don't know better. The new flats around the station, obviously aimed at commuters but the price is the same as in outer London really. That Russell Square pricing is a case; some examples of kite-flying being nibbled ie: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=89771150&sale=28867581&country=england A 1-bed sold there for £395k in 2011 - that owner got out at £320k in 2017. so EAs will look at that and suggest everyone tries the same. But barely anything has sold there since, I seem to recall quite a few listings coming on for this building at kite-flying prices and when owners don't get that, the listing gets removed. 'Waiting for the market to recover' means waiting for an idiot basically. Given that a flat there may incur £200+ of service fees and considering what else is available I think even £250k for a 1-bed there might be hard, so using that even £450k for the 2-bed is pushing it.
  10. The funny thing is I did know a doctor who ended up getting investigated for tax over milage expenses... as well as the ad-hoc grassing tips I think there are also regular specific industry 'expeditions'. It is quite shameful as they get to be judge, jury and executioner at the same time, if they find you guilty they are allowed to presume you did the same thing in previous years, also billing you for that. I have had a tax investigation in the past and they don't have the sharpest tools in the box working for them, anyone decent with tax could earn more in private companies, and although there must be some intentional dodgers out there it must be pretty crummy having to bust people who have made mistakes but simply don't know how to defend themselves. That list of deliberate tax defaulters makes me laugh... given that it's published every 3 months and the country contains millions of taxpayers, that is a negligible amount of people. If some people are left off the for brevity, what is the point of naming and shaming.
  11. Yeah, lots of building I see could scrub up OK but seemingly the appetite for the leaseholders to pony up some money is low. The overall area it's in, pretty standard South London, not really close to anything and also a whiff of poorness. It's cheap for a reason. If it was listed in a standard way I think investors would simply split it further into two flats if possible. What if a buyer has a bid accepted, but then a survey points out something is wrong, they want some money off but the owner says no and deal collapses? They would be billed £6,600 regardless. You'd only need 2 or 3 mugs to make some good money. So I think that is quite suspicious. On that sqft amount and if nothing was wrong with it I don't see why it won't sell.
  12. I think the problem with that particular area is that there's a lot of competition, and they ain't budging either. At the price bracket below you have something like this: that has gone down from £500k to £370k (auction, but not sold) £450k I would think buys you a comparable ex-new build around there. The premium for new is absurd, because if you live in it for a few months and then sell it, it's pretty much like the rest of the nearly new lot. The only thing going for it is that eligible for HTB but hopefully a lot of people are realising for that for most people it's a bad idea, and just better to live within your means.
  13. Under 10% is quite small really. And she bought the place she wanted for now after all, presumably with no affordability issues. There are some London flats I am seeing which might require a 20-25% loss on the price if they were unlucky enough to buy at peak, with people merely sitting tight waiting for the market to 'recover' but at some point they may need to move on because it has become unsuitable for kids. Yet, selling at a loss means no deposit for the next place. If and when the really painful stories really start then it'll be noticeable. But I don't think it's happened yet.
  14. They have no choice to say stuff is transistory; because admitting it is structural then puts pressure on to do something about it and it is hard to resist wage increases. By design their description is vague: temporary over what time period? They can kick that particular can down the road for a couple of years while hoping everything sorts itself out. I would be doing exactly the same if I were them, even if the brown stuff hits the fan and the country turns on the Cons, they will leave a bad mess for Labour in 2024, and the actions they need to take will render them unpopular for a while. Inflation is no bad thing for some people. The trick is trying to get the people that it is no good for to accept it. And that isn't too difficult really..... most people only judge their house price relative to cash, so as long as that is protected there won't be dissent.
  15. Probably. But it is fact that the vendors rent stuff is ********. Maybe it was rented for that years ago, but a quick search says there are flats in the same building for much less. If you're getting 500 a month, after service charge and agents fee your money drops down to £2,800. That's before any allowance for voids, maintenance or other unforseen charges. Don't know how readily flats can rent there but with numerous other flats there it doesn't look like it'll be quick. So taking another £1k for provisions and maintenance cost puts a profit of £1,800 before tax. So an expected yield of 3.6% based on a selling price of £50k. Potentially lower, if you had a bad tenant, or a much longer void. At a £25k price that rises to 7.2% - still not sure either of these are worth it. But that's me, I don't know it very well. If you're expecting good capital growth in this area or a regeneration then it's good value. That's basically what a lot of the London BTL is, not very good yields after all the deductions, but factor in capital growth and it has been very profitable. But there has been little of that for some years, so many entering the game recently won't have that.
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