Musings of a London Property Buyers Agent

Last year, a Bristol property developer failed to sell his latest £1 million house, even after reducing the price by £300,000 so he joined the swathes of developers, selling gimmicks with their overpriced homes, by offering a second hand Ferrari to the buyer.  Valuing the Ferrari at £100,000, he bought it specifically to entice buyers to offer, but after nine months on the market and huge local publicity in the Bristol Evening Post, the house has failed to sell.

Maybe it’s just because we’re based in London, but I would suggest that most people owning million pound property aren’t interested in Ferraris, but being more flash than class, the developer seems to be tarring all buyers of neo-Georgian property with the same brush!

But I digress.  To add insult to injury, we just priced a red Ferrari F430 Coupe with a 2005 plate and according to Parkers Guide, similar cars are on sale for £80K and £90K.  Which begs the question, if he is marketing an £80K car for £100K, does that mean his £1million pound house is only worth £800K?  Or less?

Credibility gone I think!

If you want to buy a million pound house which is worth £1million or more, come and talk to your favourite London Property Buyers Agents.  (That’s us), in case you had forgotten.

Technorati Tags: Buyers agents, Gimmicks, London Buyer's Agents, London Property Buyers Agents, Property sales gimmicks

Tags: Buyers agents, Gimmicks, London Buyer's Agents, London Property Buyers Agents, Property sales gimmicks

Musings of a London Buyers Agent

Am I the only one to have noticed that across London the only ‘good’ flats which stay on the market for any length of time these days are ‘garden flats’, be that basement, sorry, ‘lower ground’ or ‘garden’ level, ground or upper ground floors?  Well maybe so, but if any readers are seeking outside space this summer and don’t mind or even relish the thought of living ‘below stairs’, then you should be negotiating very hard indeed!

At this time of year, estate agents talk up any outside space at all, or at least most of the good ones do.  That said, I recently showed some Clients a top floor flat with a fabulous balcony, conveniently off the open plan kitchen/lounge diner and big enough for a table and chairs for 2 - or 4 with a small table.  And when we arrived the doors were wide open.  After all, who is going to burgle you if you are 3 floors up?

A downside of the flat was it was built for the vertically challenged, possibly a little harsh, but with the existing configuration, a shower would be a struggle for anyone over 5′6.  But I digress. 

Most well-priced flats on the first floor or above are selling quickly.  It is only the burglary-sensitive ones which are lingering and a lingering flat essentially means a bargain - garden or not!  And there are loads of them, in every corner of London and Brighton at the moment.  So forget the estate agents guff and get bargaining, or leave it to the experts and hire a fabulous London Buyers Agent instead!

Technorati Tags: Brighton, Buyers Agent, garden flats, London Buyer's Agent, London garden flats

Tags: Brighton, Buyers Agent, garden flats, London Buyer's Agent, London garden flats

Musings of a London Buyers Agent

After  a year or so of mortgages being pulled from the market, the Nationwide has brought back the 125% mortgage for buyers who are trapped by negative equity.  This group of buyers would be unable to move without the new mortgage but it strikes us that this is the least likely group of home buyers who should be entitled to such significant borrowings.  After all, they hardly have a good track record if they are already in negative equity.

However lately we’ve been thinking that the real losers are canny cautious buyers who settle for properties in need of a little work or repossessions or distressed sales, available at a bargain price.   We have represented both first-time-buyers and new investment buyers who haven ‘t got much of a deposit but who would really have benefitted from the 125% mortgage and would also be relatively low-risk buyers. 

The Clients I am thinking of have bought good value property at excellent prices and in some cases below the true market value and need additional funds for renovations, or a lease extension, both of which would add immediate value and saleability. 

However following the boom years, most mortgage companies nolonger have any appetite for this type of lending.  Clearly, some people borrowed more than they could ever repay.  Also agents and mortgage brokers flipped property and finance deals, so that in reality the owners put down very little or no cash other than a brokers fee.  In cases where the valuations were too high, the mortgagors were left high and dry when the housing market crashed. 

The thing is, why on earth does it make sense to lend 125% with a track record of getting into negative equity?  There is no way a commercial lender would do this.  Although not a Conservative by nature, my parents words of wisdom are ringing in my ears - is it time to return to a tory spending regime?  If this new scheme from Nationwide is anything to go by - I rather think so.

PS If you need a Buyers Agent who will give you an honest valuation and justify it and tell you if the market is overheated (as it is now in many parts of London), you know our number!

Technorati Tags: 125% mortgage, Buyers agents, First time buyers, homebuyers, housing market crash, London Buyer's Agent, overheated market

Tags: 125% mortgage, Buyers agents, First time buyers, homebuyers, housing market crash, London Buyer's Agent, overheated market