bil

It is just about the price. Whatever.

Can't you understand that? The availability of mortgages, the rate of borrowing all are mere phantasms.

If no-one on the planet could get a mortgage, no matter what the equity, old Uncle Tom Cobblers and all, I could still sell your house tomorrow.

You'd get sod all for it, but why should I care because it would prove my point.

At least for now the banks will be damn cautious how much and to whom they lend money, but since that is how they make a living, they will be very happy to lend to a safe bet.

Whatever.

derek500

Glad we sold up and came in in 2003 then!! We bought that house in 2000 and made 40% in less than three years!!

billgates

Sorry Pugsy but you are so wrong.
Finance deals have nothing to do with the situation. Mortgages are already available for FTBs.
It's all down to price.
There's no point in saddling a FTB with a huge mortgage that they can't afford to pay back. The price of the house has to come down to a sensible level.
If starter homes are priced around 70k then FTBs will buy and the chains can start moving again.

billgates

Then you need to open your eyes.
House prices are dropping fast.
The longer you wait the lower the price you will get.
Next year house prices will be way lower than they are now, and even now sellers are having to seriously discount their properties. Buyers are making cheeky offers just to see what they can get away with. And even when the cheeky offer is accepted they will reduce their offer still further at the last minute or threaten to pull out of the purchase.

I would not like to be in your situation right now. You have choices -

1. Sell now at any price and get out.
2. Chase the market down and have to sell next year for even less.
3. Sit out the recession for about 10 years and then sell for the same amount that your house is "worth" now.
4. Get lucky and actually find someone daft enough to pay inflated prices.

gallerie9

I agree with all you have said
House prices are way too inflated and it had to come to a crashing end or have interest rates so high that it creates absolute disaster.
As long as people can afford to pay there mortgages they should sit tight.
No one wants the situation of 17% interested we had in the early 80¨s

Mitzyboy

Prey tell, where did you hear the recession is going to last 10 years! Even the doomsayers are predicting 1 - 2 years

gallerie9

I think that is property prices Mitzy
If my memory is right it took about 7 years in the early 90s for the property prices to start rising I brought a house in Stratford in 90 I sold it in 97 and just got about 5 percent above what i paid for it back and I had spent 15 grand on it then. I do know that it made about 250 percent in about 7 years Between 99 and 2006

El Capitan

It was about 7 to 8 years first in Aberdeen when prices fell in the 80s and then again in England in early 90s for house prices to level off then cautiously climb back to where they had been. In any case the only sustainable level of housing is that which is affordable by the wage earners. It is crazy that through the 70s and 80s, young couples could only afford to replay the mortgage by both working full time even if they had kids.

billgates

And Mitzy, this time the crash will be worse.

But whether five years or ten years, it should come as no great surprise and should be welcomed by all as a house price correction rather than a crash.

El Capitan

Remember the ones who really lose out on lower house prices are the agents, the lawyers etc who work on a percentage fee basis. If you are selling and buying then moving laterally or moving up becomes a lot easier and cheaper.

pjj

hi everyone , ive just been reading thread and it seems we are all stuck in the same boat trying to sell our propertys so we can make the move to start our new life in spain ive been out of my fixed rate deal now for 6 months and been holding on to sell rather than starting a new morgage , but ive now decided if my property is not sold by the end of the month im now going to remorgage the property and take out chunk of money out and then put it on market for rent . im just wondering has anyone else thought about doing this or has anyone done this and how did bank look at in the currant way things are ?

El Capitan

pjj, lower prices in UK and lower prices in Spain too. Exchange rate works against you a bit to move pounds to euros but mortgages here are generally cheaper than in the UK as are interest rates for svaings.

pjj

hi there el capitan i dont think you understand what im mean ! ive got a property in spain that im keeping ! ive got uk property that im selling which i need to sell in order to move to spain hence why im looking at remorgaging and then i would rent it out as the rental market is good in the uk at the min , and i was asking anyone that is in same boat going by what people are saying on this thread theres quite a few on here would they consider remorgaging or is there anyone that has done a remorgage and are the banks making more harder to taking any equity out in the currant climate the way things are ?

El Capitan

Yeah your right, stick end wrong of got I.

Justlookin

Too late bil!

No one "talking up the recession" is going to make it happen or not. There are lots of would be "British Expats" who must realise they take the loss now or may have to wait a very long time before being able to contemplate the move.

This is the worst position since the 1960's with regard to property selling.

I am not an estate agent but have been aware of their business problems over the years since then and I have never known so many agents close up shop in a matter of 3 to 4 months. Nothing you or I have seen since the 1960's has been this bad. Sorry, it's a fact and me saying so isn't going to make it better or worse. Even those with much more clout than us aren't in control.