Going Sell Sell Sell Crazy in England !

[Big Pete]

In the last 3 weeks i have seen no less than about 10 houses with For Sale boards suddenly appear

Seems all of a sudden sunshine has appeared and with it everyones on the move . This is unusual for around here anyways and being honest is somewhat worrying , makes me wonder whats going on i mean i am always correct in my assumptions and i have many times seen the writing on the wall and predicted this Recession to hit , but not til 2010 !!!

I can only assume that due to press reporting on how bad things really are not just in the Uk but in some other countries as well , that people are thinking "Heck lets sell while we can " or something ..

I just hope to god they dont all come to Mallorca as some of them are scruffy buggers

Is this just in my Uk area or anyone else seen this sudden Sell madness ?

[kaz101]

My parents are in Bedfordshire and they are seeing a lot of houses on the market too. I think it's the press reports saying there's be the biggest drop in housing prices for 30 years. Almost makes me wish I was back there to buy some up - almost but not quite

What I don't understand is that property goes in cycles, so if people don't need to sell the house, it will gain in value again. Obviously it's a bit different if you are moving overseas unless you can afford to rent it out.

Locally here in South Australia people are selling too, but that's because they over extended themselves. Now interest rates are going up and people can't afford to live in the house they bought only a few years ago.

Regards,
Karen

[Rachel_Heath]

Many people may be selling for the simple reason that they cannot afford the mortgage payments any longer, along with paying off all the other debt they've accrued over the last few years.

Despite Mr. Browns protestations to the contrary, I think the UK property market is just as vulnerable to a meltdown as it has been over here - if not more so. At least in the US 15 or 30 year fixed rate mortgages are relatively common and provide a nice measure of protection. Many of the folks here who are either foreclosing or short-selling have been hit either by an increase in the adjustable rates of their ARM or because they used all the equity in the property to pay off credit cards or buy toys.

Given that the UK on average has seen house prices rise far faster than over here (although granted there have been some hotspots in the US) it's not surprising to me that the cracks are now starting to show in the market.

[oddball]

Originally Posted by kaz101

My parents are in Bedfordshire and they are seeing a lot of houses on the market too. I think it's the press reports saying there's be the biggest drop in housing prices for 30 years. Almost makes me wish I was back there to buy some up - almost but not quite

What I don't understand is that property goes in cycles, so if people don't need to sell the house, it will gain in value again. Obviously it's a bit different if you are moving overseas unless you can afford to rent it out.

Locally here in South Australia people are selling too, but that's because they over extended themselves. Now interest rates are going up and people can't afford to live in the house they bought only a few years ago.

Regards,
Karen

You know , for many years the real estate people inflated the price of homes by telling owners "Oh , i can get more than that'" Thinking only of the additional 6% commission , now it is "sell now" , the bottom is falling out of the market , picked up too eagerly by the press for 'News coverage'
The latest 'Scare 'has been the cost of food staples , the price of rice has doubled in the local markets of Asia, WHAT? In most of Asia , countries produce more rice than they can possibly eat so they EXPORT it. Because of wheat problems in Pakistan , the price of beer has escalated , most beer is made from malt or rice extract !!!! I could go on , but why ? We have such a gullible public market today it is frightening , they truly believe that what they read is the gospel truth according to St Paul , why do they not turn and ask St Peter ? Corn as a fuel alternative , with the mileage obtained there is no advantage when one factors in the additioal increase in food stuff because so many products are dependant on corn , san fairy anne , i purchased extra rice paddies and some sows because i could see it coming , so why did you not do the same ? To dependant on government or too lazy to get on the internet and analize the facts or predictions .Colin

[oddball]

Originally Posted by Rachel_Heath

Many people may be selling for the simple reason that they cannot afford the mortgage payments any longer, along with paying off all the other debt they've accrued over the last few years.

Despite Mr. Browns protestations to the contrary, I think the UK property market is just as vulnerable to a meltdown as it has been over here - if not more so. At least in the US 15 or 30 year fixed rate mortgages are relatively common and provide a nice measure of protection. Many of the folks here who are either foreclosing or short-selling have been hit either by an increase in the adjustable rates of their ARM or because they used all the equity in the property to pay off credit cards or buy toys.

Given that the UK on average has seen house prices rise far faster than over here (although granted there have been some hotspots in the US) it's not surprising to me that the cracks are now starting to show in the market.

Most of the walkaways or foreclosures have little or nothing to do do with increased mortgage interest rates in the great US of A .some of it has to do with greed and some to do with financial stupidity .With a mortgage readily available with(often)no down payment or no accountability in regard to the morgagee or thier true income , something had to happen , well it has and the banks are now crying "Mr government , please help us " Let iot be a lesson to all and sundry .

[Big Pete]

Originally Posted by oddball

Most of the walkaways or foreclosures have little or nothing to do do with increased mortgage interest rates in the great US of A .some of it has to do with greed and some to do with financial stupidity .With a mortgage readily available with(often)no down payment or no accountability in regard to the morgagee or thier true income , something had to happen , well it has and the banks are now crying "Mr government , please help us " Let iot be a lesson to all and sundry .

Yep thats very true ,
I must admit i did think some lenders was asking for trouble when they was giving 110% mortgages with no deposit etc.

asking for problems for sure.

[synthia]

Also, there is a baby boom population that is really, really ready to retire, and some may feel that they had better sell now than wait and lose even more when the time to move to Mallorca arrives.

Property taxes can have an effect, too. Small farmers in areas that are becoming urbanized get hit sometimes as the market value of their land skyrockets, and when it is reassessed for tax purposes, the taxes (rates to some of you) can go up dramatically. There have been some cases in the US where the taxes would have eaten up most of the owner's income.

[Elphaba]

It really is not as bad as some papers etc are making out. If anyone is struggling with their mortgage repayments, unless their has been a change to their circumstances, they probably shouldn't have taken the mortgage out in the first place. UK mortgage rates are still relatively low and anyone that doesn't factor in a potential increase is being very short-sighted indeed.

April is also one of the peak times of year when people consider selling. Spring and Autumn always have been the time when more properties come onto the market.

It's about time people realised that living in credit is not the answer. Perhaps the old-fashioned values of not buying something if you don't have the cash should become more fashionable. Perhaps some common sense to realise that two holidays a year, a designer handbag and a flat screen TV are not essential and that if you cannot aford to pay for it now, you probably won't be able to pay off the credit cards either.

Maybe it has been too easy for people to get credit, but you cannot just blame the government or financial institutions. What happened to people taking responsibility for their own actions?


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[oddball]

Originally Posted by Elphaba

It really is not as bad as some papers etc are making out. If anyone is struggling with their mortgage repayments, unless their has been a change to their circumstances, they probably shouldn't have taken the mortgage out in the first place. UK mortgage rates are still relatively low and anyone that doesn't factor in a potential increase is being very short-sighted indeed.

April is also one of the peak times of year when people consider selling. Spring and Autumn always have been the time when more properties come onto the market.

It's about time people realised that living in credit is not the answer. Perhaps the old-fashioned values of not buying something if you don't have the cash should become more fashionable. Perhaps some common sense to realise that two holidays a year, a designer handbag and a flat screen TV are not essential and that if you cannot aford to pay for it now, you probably won't be able to pay off the credit cards either.

Maybe it has been too easy for people to get credit, but you cannot just blame the government or financial institutions. What happened to people taking responsibility for their own actions?


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Very well put . Colin

[Rachel_Heath]

Originally Posted by oddball

Most of the walkaways or foreclosures have little or nothing to do do with increased mortgage interest rates in the great US of A .some of it has to do with greed and some to do with financial stupidity .With a mortgage readily available with(often)no down payment or no accountability in regard to the morgagee or thier true income , something had to happen , well it has and the banks are now crying "Mr government , please help us " Let iot be a lesson to all and sundry .

er, that's what I was saying when I was referring to "increase in the adjustable rates of their ARM or because they used all the equity in the property to pay off credit cards or buy toys"...

I hat to burst your bubble but despite your arguments against, increased rates have had an impact here; the fed fund rate may be heading downwards but mortgage rates are not directly based off that. What a lot of people are now finding is that with the fall in house prices caused by a depression in the market that their mortgages+HELOCs+HEL's cover more than the house is worth and the increased rates from the ARM's (whether they be 0% or higher introductory rates) leave them with not enough money to meet their monthly payments. This then leads to a foreclosure or short-sale and thus depressing local markets further and increasing the cycle. Many people brought property expecting to make a quick sale after a year and were shocked to discover the effect that the rates was going to have on their finances.

Granted there are folk who were just plain greedy idiots and deserve everything they get (except government help), and there are others who are simply stupid and didn't think about the long term consequence of their actions (or inactions) and never gave a thought to the possibility that they may loose everything.

When I was looking at buying a house in the UK years ago I wanted to know how much my payments would be at 15% figuring if I can't afford that figure then I can't afford th house. Over here I was able to get a fixed rate at 5.25% 15 years and at the time people thought I was crazy given the proliferation of 3% and 4% ARMs at the time.