Best type of property to buy

The most overpriced for no reason will be the most affected ; those which are overvalued.

A lot will depend on your timescale. Short term paper loss is likely to be unimportant, unless you need to borrow against the (decreasing) equity.

If you go for a non-estate type property with good communication links, you should have some degree of crash insulation.

I would guess that the properties which have risen most over the last few years are the most likely to crash the heaviest. See if you can find out what the price was 5 years ago. Steer clear of any whose owners boast about the property tripling in value over the last few years.

Having said that, if you intend to live there for the long term and can afford the mortgage payments & maintenance costs etc (taking possible future interest rate rises into account), and little risk of losing your job, then just look at whether *you* think the property is worth the money. If prices crash it's not going to affect you unless you get into arrears with your mortgage or you want to move or remortgage.

In fact, if you put down a decent percentage deposit to insulate you from negative equity, and your next move on the "property ladder" is going to be upwards, then a general house price crash would probably be to your advantage since it would make the price differential between your current and next house smaller.

There was a TV programme on the Beeb this week showing people buying houses in my part of Swansea - houses that were selling for about 36 - 40K 30 months ago were now selling for between 120K and 180K. Even worse, as this area is close to the Uni - and the Uni is now building its own student digs and 'forcing' students to go live there - most of these houses have been student digs for the past 10 - 15 years. In other words, they were/are in a disgusting state with most of the 'landlords' having gutted - and sold - them of their original fittings.

Anyhow, in said TV programme it showed these houses being viewed by people and the slum landlords, contrary to what all the TV progs say, had not painted the walls beige, put in new carpets or hired sofas for viewings. One could not be bothered to remove the, um, presumably stolen by the occupants, roadsigns laying in the rooms or the pile of empty beer cans so 'thoughtfully' arranged in a pyramid. They were disgusting to look at but it didn't stop people not only buying these but offering the asking price the moment they walked through the doors.

It was fascinating watching what can only be described as a 'madness' - what appeared to be a panic of 'if I don't buy this now then someone else will'. Seeing these people offer the asking price, and see the smug faces of the estate agents, reminded me of what I have read about the tulip bubble of the

17th Century.

I was in one of the estate agents a few weeks back and saw a woman literally in tears begging a female estate agent to put her offer for a house forward. She, stupidly, told the agent how desperate she was to buy and you could see the pound signs appearing in the estate agent's eyes. The estate agent, and it looked to me as if she said the first figure that came into her head, said "Oh, I know it will go for eighteen thousand more than the asking price. Someone has already offered that!"

A big property crash is coming.

John.

"Andy Pandy" wrote in message news:vHj2c.16164$ snipped-for-privacy@stones.force.net...

Studio flats will be the *most* affected, judging by previous messages here.

In message , John Smith writes

Firstly, where do you get the £ signs in the agents eyes? an extra £18,000 for a house equates to an extra fee of between £180 to £360, depending on the fee structure. Big deal! These are not amounts to get over excited about, as far as the agent is concerned..

The general public, like you, generally have no idea what motivates estate agents - selling a house for the best price is good, because it means you have done the best job for your client - the seller. Buyers drive up prices - not estate agents.

Estate Agents are interested in volumes of sales when it comes to generating income - your next accusation will be that they/we sell houses cheap to get quick sales and quick fees.

Fundamentally, damned if we do, and damned if we dont,

Secondly, it is a criminal act for an estate agent to suggest that an offer at a particular level has been made, when it has not. If you truly believe that the agent was lying, why dont you report it to your local Trading Standards. (You wont, of course! )

Actually, now I am informed it is a crime I will go and report it.

It's obvious you haven't yet got to know our Mr Smith from Swansea.

Tim

Somebody further up this thread makes the point that homes which have appreciated most will probably depreciate most in any slump.

Sometimes that is true, but on the other hand areas do improve, permanently. If I were you I would buy in an area that is unfashionable at the moment, but which has the following characteristics:

1) Grotty *old* houses as opposed to sprawling estates (as Fulham was before it became expensive). 2) On the edge of a area of well-behaved immigration (New Malden is the Korean capital of Europe and these well-behaved, industrious people are squeezing house prices up for miles around). 3) Near the path, but not *in* the path, of viable new travel links (Croydon house prices have soared near to the new tram line).

When you have chosen your house walk past it often to get a feel for the place, try and catch the neighbours in the garden and ask *them* about the area. Every road has its "neighbour from hell", make sure yours isn't next door.

Good luck.

So you realised that entertainment was the goal and the people appearing are likely to be stupider than the populace at large.

Sensible people aren't influenced by internal cosmetics. Stupid people are.

She didn't need to beg. It's law.

If people are desperate for something then they must accept the cost.

Daytona

It is this, unspoken truth, which should be the heart of our immigration policy, instead of the fiasco we have at present.

We seem to have competing groups of pressure groups/ political parties, who push the line of all immigration (and thus immigrants) are essentially good and beneficial to British society, and the opposing all immigration (and thus immigrants) is intrinsically bad for British society.

The truth, as usual, is somewhere in between. We have had waves of immigrants from different areas of the worlds who have made massive contributions to British society and cultures, but also waves who have created isolated, drug infested criminally oriented ghettos for themselves, and groups who have been immensely succesful, both within their own peers and wider society.

Gaz

There's one more:

4) Many businesses are in trouble these days. For example: Car prices are falling dramatically. That must squeeze (say) coachworks, because because fewer cars are worth repairing.

It follows then that if you buy a house currently blighted by the stink and noise of a coachworks, there is every likelihood the coachworks will replaced by a (hopefully tranquil) housing estate in a few years, permanently ramping up its value.

Don't bet on it though. In theory a new railway station is due to be built a couple of miles from me, but it's already been postponed twice due to lack of money.

Certainly agree with this; I had two properties in Sale in South Manchester and have watched them appreciate massively (sadly, mostly after I sold them - they weren't supposed to be investments) mainly because of the 'Metrolink' tram line which was built to link Manchester city centre to the southern suburbs. If I was investing in property I would certainly be inclined to search for areas recently, or about to be, linked to business centres by new rail/tram links, as they are likely to have relatively low prices which could rise quickly as commuters move in.