03630

Sorry to disagree with you Linda but in a true market price is everything. Imagine your house on the market for £2000 there would be riot police controlling the crowds, now imagine it at £20,000,000! Extreme examples I know but the simple fact is they will sell at the price people can AFFORD, not what the vendor (or estate agent) thinks they are worth.

trentino

Just dropped the price of our house in Surrey by van loads. Got a stupid offer on Monday, even though we had dropped buyers will still tryit on. My familyare moving next month, we had no choice had to make a decision as youngest son was booked in school. Estate agent here said drop and try and get out of the mariket asap, money is better in the bank, things will not pick up for at least 2/3 years.

03630

Again, I have to say that anything is worth what somebody can afford to pay. Shares yoyo 40% and nobody is surprised. The real cost of cars has come down over the last 15/20 years. Why are houses so different?

linda Coyle

Everybody has different circumstances. I think we are fortunate there are only the two of us making the move (no children/schools to think about) and I said in my earlier post OH will be working from the Uk and "visiting" Spain, so we are perhaps more fortunate that we don't "have to sell". I must admit though, it would be nice not to have the responsibility of two houses.

JnK

We thought we'd been through the hardest part of relocating ... all the agonising over the pros and cons ... we finally decide that it's definitely what we want and swing into action, buying a motorhome to move us and the dogs over, organising a place to rent in Spain, packing boxes, the whole 9 yards. Only to be stuck at the final, house-selling hurdle :curse:. Our agent too said that reducing it wouldn't necessarily be the answer ... we have now reduced it and they've "remarketed" it so it's fingers crossed time again. It just feels like being stuck in limbo waiting and waiting ... Good luck to everyone.

bil

I'll echo that. I am damn glad we sold when we did. When we put it on the market three different agents gave three different estimates, all widely different.

In the end we had people really trying it on, a lot of nosey b*stards and one person ONLY who was interested in buying it at that price.

At the end of the day, the value of anything is an unreal concept, because it truly is only worth what someone will pay you, and then that is only valid at that moment.

El Capitan

Agree and disagree there 03630. Some of the property crisis is caused by people buying what they could not AFFORD but what they hoped would make them a buck or two. People will buy anything at a price which they consider is value for money and the sooner housing is seen as a home and less an investment, the more the market will stabilise at prices related to income in the area. Who benefits from stable high house prices? Only the landowners and developers building new houses. Who benefits from low(er) stable house prices? The vast majority of normal people looking to put a roof over their family's head.

bil

And the stupid grasping b*stards in the banks who loaned stupid money to reckless people who had little chance of ever paying it all back.

Of course, few if any of them will ever suffer.

El Capitan

That is also true bil. The agents, the mortgage lenders, the "advisors" never lose out. Always the punters like thee and me.

bil

Yep, and then they wonder why we hate them so much.

03630

You're reading from my hymn-sheet. Totally agree.

Val W

We have reduced the price of our house twice. We now are getting some interest, and like Bill Gates said one of the people who are interested are relocating to be near their son, they are elderly. We honestly don't think we can now do anymore than we have done, we will still take an offer on our house, but there is a limit to what we can take because we are committed to the off plan purchase in Spain.

The whole situation has become a nightmare. If only we had decided to make the move a couple of years earlier, but hindsight is a great thing.

El Capitan

Hey can't have that. It is my hymn sheet that you are reading from

Always nice to agree with someone though,

johnreynolds

Anyone moving to Spain that are self sufficient I can understand, what I cannot understand are young families that "HAVE TO FIND WORK" to survive, even worse are those that bring children at the age of around 11 and who are at the most critical part of their education, even if they manage to muddle through their chances of good employment are slim. Much has been said on forums on this subject but still they arrive and in a lot of cases end up returning to the UK over time. Do these people really believe that they can over come reality where others have failed. I have come to believe that some people only read what they want to read and dismiss facts. So very sad.

John

bil

Well, some complain about the negativity shown to people posting on here about how they are going to go to Spain and do this or that.

Personally I think a good hit of cold water might be a blessing in disguise if it makes people think it thru a bit more carefully.