Topic ID 4278
This website is pretty good & interesting: http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/calculator.asp There is a particular property in Hertford that is on the market for £525k whereas the calculator estimates it's value to be £380k! The vendors have not done any work to the property as they bought it from a builder who renovated it. Greedy vendors [:p]
Reply ID 62025
Do you enter East Anglia or South East for the area?
Reply ID 62027
Be careful with this calculator Harran. It's not local enough to be accurate. As you've found, demand in one town can skew prices in a way that is not true even two miles down the road. It seems Hertford property is worth whatever you can get for it and none of the predictions, whether gloomy or optimistic, apply. Since you are buying a home, not an investment property, it's value will be whatever it's worth to you.
Reply ID 62030
I agree with Shunt I don't think you would get very far basing your negotiations on the Nationwide house price index. In my recent experience, the Halifax have a similar index they apply to property values of existing clients which drastically undervalued my property. I asked them to send a valuer round at my own expense and he valued it at exactly what I thought it was worth, which was substantailly more than the Halifax index price. I think the best way to get an idea of what a property is worth in a area is to use one of the many house price websites that use information from the Land Registry. That way you can focus on particular areas that you like. The only drawbacks I can see of using this approach is that is takes a while for information from the registry to be updated and if no properties have sold for a while in the areas that you are keen on.
Reply ID 62032
The market in Hertford and the surrounding areas is so changeable at the moment. You have to take a view on what you are prepared to pay to get a particular property if you like it and also weigh in the factors of moving costs etc. Property prices seem to be dropping, but only where the vendors are really having to sell. There's a lot of property on the market at the moment where people are just testing the water and probably don't really want to sell unless they get a really good price.
Reply ID 62054
As we've just sold, my advice is to get sold before you make an offer as you have more leverage for making a lower offer, driving timelines etc. It may be a 'buyers market' but we know of a lot of people who are selling because they want to trade up, not because they are in financial staits and absolutely have to sell. There is also a question of: if they have to sell there is a breakpoint where it will be cheaper to keep the place and let it out/other than to accept a very low offer. Hertford has always been a more expensive town - particularly given the commuter links - and while prices may drop a percentage, that same percentage (or more) will also apply to other towns where you have always been able to get more for your money. I've been following the market for some time - and your posts, harran, as we're in a simmilar boat as you - and while the deluded remain optimistic about what they can get for their property* and will remain where they are for a while, there does come a point when one has to decide what the budget is, and does a particular area's properties provide 8 or 9 out of the 10 (for example) non-negotiables and how far do you flex on the negotiables. We looked at Hitchin as we could get a much bigger property for our budget and wouldn't have to move again, yet decided to cut our cloth as we wanted to stay in Hertford. We'll probably look to move again in 10 years yet as Hertford is a more expensive town, long-term strategy also comes into play - we hope!![:D] *we frequently drive past a house we would have liked and yell 'mad woman! mad woman! she'll never sell it!'.....[:D]
Reply ID 62059
quote:I checked SG14 and its outer metropolitan. The value I got for our house was very nice but way too high
Originally posted by Jo S
Do you enter East Anglia or South East for the area?
Reply ID 62067
According to this, my house price value is £360k. Harran, if you would pay that for a two bed end terrace with a loft conversion, situated on a busy "rat-run", then you may consider that the Nationwide price calculator is worth using as a guide. Otherwise, ignore it completely and just pay what you can afford for somewhere you actually want to live.
Reply ID 62070
quote:Nationwide also reckons that a four bed detached in one acre is now worth £395k. If anyone knows of such a property for sale at that price, I'm willing to fight harran for it with a stick.[;)] What was paid for a house and when, dramatically distorts the results. If bought cheap in a peak, a valuable house can seem ridiculously cheap on this. If sold high when the market is just entering a trough, it will seem excessively expensive now. The way the data is presented by Nationwide, amplifies bargain purchases and overpayment in equal measure and by a huge amount.
Originally posted by 2929paul
According to this, my house price value is £360k. Harran, if you would pay that for a two bed end terrace with a loft conversion, situated on a busy "rat-run", then you may consider that the Nationwide price calculator is worth using as a guide. Otherwise, ignore it completely and just pay what you can afford for somewhere you actually want to live.
Reply ID 62071
Well, we bought our 1 bed flat in 2006 for £148.5k, and this calculator says it is now worth £141.5k, which unfortunately sounds about right.
Reply ID 62227
We want to sell first so we are in a good position to make an offer (although not seen a house yet) and have been on the market for 2 months now - keep hearing feedback through the EA that our cottage is too small. Yes it absolutley is but why can't the potential buyers see this from the room dimensions, instead of wasting our time? We are most certainly not overpriced. Have you found a house Mr P? Good luck with it all. Shunt if I find that 4 bed detached in 1 acre for £395k I most definitely will not be bragging about it until the contracts are complete!
Reply ID 62228
quote:We had the same problem when we last sold. people make any excuse to get the agent following up off the phone. We got "It's too close to the road", "and there's no driveway", it's next door to a pub", all of which were available from the details and in most cases, from the viewers local knowledge. Of course the true statement would be, "We don't really have any money, haven't even started to market our house because we don't want to move, but we get a bit bored at weekends."
Originally posted by Harran
We want to sell first so we are in a good position to make an offer (although not seen a house yet) and have been on the market for 2 months now - keep hearing feedback through the EA that our cottage is too small. Yes it absolutley is but why can't the potential buyers see this from the room dimensions, instead of wasting our time? We are most certainly not overpriced. Have you found a house Mr P? Good luck with it all. Shunt if I find that 4 bed detached in 1 acre for £395k I most definitely will not be bragging about it until the contracts are complete!
Reply ID 62239
quote:Too true!
Originally posted by shuntquote:We had the same problem when we last sold. people make any excuse to get the agent following up off the phone. We got "It's too close to the road", "and there's no driveway", it's next door to a pub", all of which were available from the details and in most cases, from the viewers local knowledge. Of course the true statement would be, "We don't really have any money, haven't even started to market our house because we don't want to move, but we get a bit bored at weekends."
Originally posted by Harran
We want to sell first so we are in a good position to make an offer (although not seen a house yet) and have been on the market for 2 months now - keep hearing feedback through the EA that our cottage is too small. Yes it absolutley is but why can't the potential buyers see this from the room dimensions, instead of wasting our time? We are most certainly not overpriced. Have you found a house Mr P? Good luck with it all. Shunt if I find that 4 bed detached in 1 acre for £395k I most definitely will not be bragging about it until the contracts are complete!
Reply ID 62241
quote:We sold first and a week later put an offer in on a place in Hertford. That's all the info until we've exchanged/completed! We were selling a period flat. You'd be amazed at the amount of people who viewed it and then fedback that they didn't want it as it was a flat. I know that one couple wanted a period terrace house but thought they were far too small/front door off the street etc so came to look at us (as our rooms are huge) but then decided to alter their aspirations as they clearly couldn't afford a house with our room sizes, in Bengeo, if there was such a place on the market etc. Another couple couldn't decide if they wanted to make an offer or go travelling for three months. We began to feel that we were being used by the EA's to help cement what a buyer actually did or didn't want.
Originally posted by Harran
Have you found a house Mr P? Good luck with it all.
Reply ID 62252
quote:That's great news, congratulations!
Originally posted by Mr Pquote:We sold first and a week later put an offer in on a place in Hertford. That's all the info until we've exchanged/completed!
Originally posted by Harran
Have you found a house Mr P? Good luck with it all.
Reply ID 62271
quote:It took 8 months and a c.20% drop in asking price to finally sell. If you're serious about moving up the chain while the market's relatively static and your finances work out then price your house to sell, it will go more quickly. Bear in mind what else you're up against. It was a sad day when we realised that we had to compete against an 1960's maisonette on a former Local Authority estate. I regret not going with Shepherds and at their recommended price to start with. We would have moved by now and been c.£30k better off. But then we wouldn't have got our future home at such a good price. Swings & roundabouts, eh?[:)] Be prepared for some really, really stupid offers. We were on at the c.20%-off price and were offered £25k less than the asking price with a firm 'that's all I think it's worth' from the buyer. Needless to say we didn't sell to her! In the same vein that sellers think their home value is impervious to market conditions, buyers can also think that every seller is one step away from the workhouse if they don't sell. Not always true. BTW, I hear that the property auctions are reporting a slight increase in selling prices - usually a sign of a change in public perception. And 19% more mortgages were approved last month according to the Beeb. The worm may well be turning.
Originally posted by Harranquote:That's great news, congratulations!
Originally posted by Mr Pquote:We sold first and a week later put an offer in on a place in Hertford. That's all the info until we've exchanged/completed!
Originally posted by Harran
Have you found a house Mr P? Good luck with it all.
Reply ID 62376
quote:We really do not feel we are overpriced comparing to other properties on the market in the neighbourhood. Have had a fair number of viewings but no offers as yet, which is frustrating as it would be nice to get an offer even if it was a stupid one [:p] Nobody has commented that they feel the price is excessive & we actually dropped the price a few weeks ago. Incidentally, when we had the house valued in the first half of last year, Shepherds valued it for what we have it on for now. They were well below what 2 other EA valued it at. We are with sole agent at the moment but considering dual. Seen a house that ticks most of the boxes (on the outskirts of Hertford) that we may go view at the weekend. But need to sell before we can make any kind of offer on anything we like. Wife & I are both aging rapidly [;)]
Originally posted by Mr P It took 8 months and a c.20% drop in asking price to finally sell. If you're serious about moving up the chain while the market's relatively static and your finances work out then price your house to sell, it will go more quickly. Bear in mind what else you're up against. It was a sad day when we realised that we had to compete against an 1960's maisonette on a former Local Authority estate. I regret not going with Shepherds and at their recommended price to start with. We would have moved by now and been c.£30k better off. But then we wouldn't have got our future home at such a good price. Swings & roundabouts, eh?[:)] Be prepared for some really, really stupid offers. We were on at the c.20%-off price and were offered £25k less than the asking price with a firm 'that's all I think it's worth' from the buyer. Needless to say we didn't sell to her! In the same vein that sellers think their home value is impervious to market conditions, buyers can also think that every seller is one step away from the workhouse if they don't sell. Not always true. BTW, I hear that the property auctions are reporting a slight increase in selling prices - usually a sign of a change in public perception. And 19% more mortgages were approved last month according to the Beeb. The worm may well be turning.