Englishmum

Looks like house prices (especially in the London area) are definitely on the downwards trend, so good news for those heading back to Blighty:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...ing%20Standard

arnie2oz

" However, prices remain higher than they were in April and 7.7 per cent higher than in August last year."
'(The average price of property in London) has reduced to £278519.'

Good luck to all returnees looking to buy a decent property in London.

Pants

I just hope we get back in time to cash in on the house prices dropping on this downward trend !!
Sadly here in Oz we are in a "buyers" market so after 5mnths( god it feels alot longer) of having our house on the market, changing agents once and dropping the price down over that period by $45,000 you would hope and think that someone would be happy to put in a sensible offer but noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo all we get are the typical people trying to get something for practically nothing.!!!arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Phew glad I got that off my chest !!

so for us its a waiting game and limbo land....Just want to go home.!!!!!

Englishmum

I feel so sorry for you....I have lots of Aussie friends over here in New Jersey and they're all trying to earn as much $US as possible so they can afford to buy property back in Oz....they're all horrified at how expensive it now is in the Sydney area so I'm surprised that you have had no takers after dropping your asking price so much. Are you in the metro area ie. commuting distance of the city - which part of NSW are you living in? (As an aside I read today that Richard Branson has bought the most expensive property in Sydney....).

It sounds like you need the "House Doctor" LOL. It's a TV programme shown on the 'Style' channel in the UK (and sometimes here on BBC America) and my sister is addicted to it. It's where people in the UK are having problems trying to sell their houses with some of them being on the market for many months. A 'secret' video is shown to the owners of the prospective purchasers looking around the property and saying what they (don't) like about the decor etc. and what is putting them off buying it. The "House Doctor" (a Californian woman) goes in with a critical eye and makes suggestions about the changes needed to make the house sell (the most important things are to get rid of clutter, pack away ornaments, photos, posters on walls etc and have a neutral colour scheme...hope you don't have flock wallpaper LOL!). It's fascinating as for only say, between 1 to 3 thousand pounds being spent on the property the huge difference she makes - and none of that horrid MDF stuff which you see on 'Changing Rooms' . The would-be purchasers visit the house again and are always amazed at the difference....and usually the house sells immediately for the asking price and sometimes much more.

http://www.housedoctor.co.uk

So....I don't know if this American concept of 'house staging' has reached Oz yet, but if I were you I would do some research online under 'house staging' and you might pick up some great tips or maybe even find someone who can be a 'house doctor' for your house....!

Good Luck~

Pants

Hi Thanks very much for the link. I will have a looksy.

We are about 1hr from Sydney CBD, western subs as they say here. Everyone who has come though loves the house but several of them have property to sell themselves first so its catch 22 and we are not in the price bracket for 1st homebuyers so there also lies a problem.

Our house has no flock wallpaper....lovelyyyyy stuff !! and is very neutral. We don't have heaps of furniture and clutter and each time we have a viewing I am frantically packing away items like photos etc so that people can imagine their own belongings in here. We have a good size block,pool, garage, driveway parking for several cars, 3 double bedrooms plus study/4th bedroom, massive kitchen, lounge and dining room, ducted air con, continous gas hot water system, pop-up sprinkler system ( not that its allowed at mo cos of water restrictions)....but you know what it is...too much choice which has made people nervous about commiting, as they think their will be something better round the corner !!still it's not everyones choice is it and I can take that but I am sick of these people viewing and then offering ridiculous offers..I just wouldn't have the nerve. I know our agent makes sure they have the suitable finances in place etc but I think this couple who offered us the $40,000 less just fobbed them off or else the agent thought we would be so desperate we would drop to that price.......arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhh

see had to let go again..!!!!!!

Thanks again English mum..will let you know WHEN this house sells...in fact the whole of the Expats site will hear my screams of delight !!!

dunroving

How does the negotiation process go in Australia? Did you come back with a counter offer? Or is your house priced at the lowest offer you'd accept? Or if someone's initial offer is too low, do you just say "No thanks"?

robertd

Sorry to be rude pants, how much did you buy the house for, and what is it on the market for???. Did you get the first time buyers grant,I think intrest rates will go up again, but next year i think they will drop big time,the amount of dept people have around them is scarry,i think the world is on the brink of a massive recession,and there will be lots of people losing everything, the only thing i would say is hang on in there, and if there is no joy, your first loss is your best loss. Then take your money back to the UK, where there problems will be a lot worse than hear , due to the debt factors over there, invest your money, that should help pay the rent , sit back and wait for some desperate sellers in the uk and bid the in the b---cks, good luck, but no mater what happens we are all in the cycle of boom and bust and no mater what the leaders the the world do it will never end, thats how the rich get rich, and the poor stay poor

Don

Bollock*. There's plenty of wealth mobility in the world.

b.uk

Blimey! Where is all this wealth mobility....can we all have some?
Incidentally, felt you have pleaded so well for karma...have sent you some!

robertd

Mark my words things will go tits up big time, It all has to do with the debt people have, when people get bad vibes they stop spending, so they dont buy that new cars ect, the bloke in the factory gets laid off, hes got no money and stops spending, he needs to bail out of his house so drops the price , no offers, it then get reposessed,and the cycle begins all over again. :scared:

b.uk

Batten down the hatches!!!!!

Pants

Cor dear what a happy soul you are....ekkkkkkk well so glad you have cheered me up with your poistive vibes...lol

No Robert we did not get first homeowners grant and yes you are being rude asking questions like that...we are not greedy by any stretch of the imagination and we brought the house in late 300,000s and have it on market for under mid 400,000s and no we are not asking too much either.Yes we intend to hang on in there( no other choice) as I said before its catch 22 the people who want to buy it can't as they have to sell their houses first and are wise enough not to go in for a bridgeing loans !!but as each week passes you can't help but feel low....and as many others have said its awful being in "limbo" land..waiting just waiting....

I'm off for a nice drop of red wine...arhhhhhhh !!!another day may bring a buyer all cashed up...wish wish........

paddythepilot

Mate,

I think you are actually quite correct!

I was in the UK 2 weeks ago, and it was shocking the amount of debt people are in over there right now.

Oz might be slightly better off then the UK, but not by that much.......seems none uses cash anymore in the western world.

Nasty times ahead for many I guess, house prices have only just started to fall in the UK, but I hear prices in Australia have dropped in the past few months......whats the true picture?

Cheers.

(p.s. Credit Cards are the work of the Devil)

Pants

The agent went back and said no thanks but if you are willing to meet nearer the asking price then perhaps our client would look at it..blah blah blah....

No we are not at our lowest price yet but have today asked the agent to change the advert for our house to "offer's over*******" which would be our lowest price and they have told us to hang off for the mo as our house has such positive feeback and never negative about the price. So it's a waiting game . We were told today that we do have one lady who desperately wants to buy our house and sadly is trying to sell her's and has dropped her price asking price $10,000 just to be in with a chance of selling hers and buying ours. That was good to hear but as I have said before it's just a case of sitting it out....

paddythepilot

Pants,

Best of luck with your house sale.

The good news is that prices are now falling in the UK and had you sold your Oz property say, 4-5 months ago, you would be paying higher prices once you got back to England at that time.

So all in all, you might be ok as time is now on your side, at least with regard to UK prices falling now.

Anyway, sympathy to you and good luck.

Cheers