Is it the right time to buy?

[GlasgowGirl]

Absolutely - the problem is simply that there are no potential buyers with whom to be hard-nosed. We are still getting the odd viewer, but so far none of them have made an offer. There's not a lot we can do, except sit it out.

"Historically all property crashes follow this pattern:

1. Prices fall.
2. Buyers don't buy because they anticipate further price falls.
3. Sellers can't sell because of 2) but also because they still think of their property as being worth what it was before the market peaked. It hurts them to slash the price to something a buyer would pay.
4. Transactions stagnate.
6. Pent-up demand starts to ignite the market - buyers try their chances with low offers, sellers who need to sell drop their prices.
7. Potential sellers who had been waiting for prices to steady or go back up realise they are in for a long wait and rush to the market before prices fall even further.
8. Excess supply gives buyers even more negotiating power.."


In this case we are at number 6 as i have just had £15,000 less than the asking price accepted. i was just been cheeky i would have come up £10,000. Right time to buy and right time to try a really low offer.

[GlasgowGirl]

For those who were interested in the ongoing saga of my attempt to sell my flat, here is the latest instalment. We started at offers over £105k, away back in April, when all the estate agents who'd valued it were gaily throwing around prices like £130-135k. We fairly quickly went to a fixed price of £125k, and then down to £122.5. We've been at £118k for the last month or so and have also just painted the living room to make it more of a neutral shade.

The estate agent came round today to take photos of the living room - and to advise us to drop the price to £110k. This is a big chunk and is only £5k above what we paid 3 years ago, so we are now figuring out whether we can still afford to buy somewhere that we'd want to live, if we accept such a low price.

It's not nice out here in the property market folks - don't come in unless you really need to!

[Jeddo]

Sorry to hear you tale of woe, GG. It is, however, the reality of a falling market. The only positive is that the price of anything you wish to buy will be falling too. It's all relative.

From the jungle drums I've been listening to, things are likely to get a lot worse before they get better.

[Jeddo]

Yes, we are at 6, but we are also at 4 ( = 5 - which was strangely missing from original list!). Could be here a while yet...

[GlasgowGirl]

Thanks Jeddo. The prices of properties we'd like to buy are definitely falling - the problem is just persuading anyone to buy our property!