There has been a general softening in residential property prices across many parts of the UK, according to some estate agents, which, if accurate, presents canny investors with a genuine opportunity to bag a bargain before prices inevitably recover, but prospective buyers are being warned not to make ‘silly’ offers.
With the residential property market reopening for business, investor confidence in the buy-to-let sector is starting to improve with a growing number of landlords reportedly looking to take advantage of existing market conditions and potential bargains by preparing to add to their property portfolios this year.
Various property experts believe that there is plenty of room for negotiations when buying property, which is welcome news for some property investors, especially those who expect to see long-term capital growth.
“There are a number of buyers out there, and we see them registering every day on Rightmove, who are perhaps looking for an opportunity, call it a fire sale or whatever they want to call it in this market,” said Lucy Pendleton, co-founder of London-based James Pendleton estate agency.
Speaking on a ‘Lessons from Lockdown’ Rightmove webinar for property professionals yesterday, Pendleton said purchasers who were genuinely interested in a property were shooting themselves in the foot by putting forward ridiculous bids.
She had this message for prospective buyers: “Don’t see this [existing market conditions] as an opportunity to make silly offers, incredibly low offers, as it might not put you in good stead if you actually want to buy this property.
“No vendor is going to listen to you if you’ve come in so significantly under the asking price.”
Pendleton insisted that now is not the time to “flex your negotiation muscles without there being any data to substantiate your approach”.
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I think it will be a good time to buy latter in the year,'' bid them in the balls '' they can only say no, stand your ground the desperate will sell at what ever money they can get.
I've been trying to sell my late Mothers house in Oxford for 18 months, finally under offer last year, falls through end of November... Market in January seems quite positive... Disaster coronavirus expecting silly offers... market reopens full asking price offer within 24 hours, mortgage survey done within 48 hours just waiting for the solicitors to do their usual thing of taking forever to sort it all out. I may have just been lucky but if you stick to your price I think the prospects are far better than the doom merchants are predicting bad news sells papers, the DT is particularly bad at the moment.
I'm glad you got the full asking price, Oxford, a good area, hope it all goes through okay, some solicitors drag these things out to increase their bills, I do however think by the end of the year there will be many desperate sellers, Nov / Dec have always seemed a good time to buy for me.
"falls through end of November...", "just waiting for the solicitors to do their usual thing"...
deja vu ? counting your chickens ?
Dear AT,
What nonsense! Solicitors do not drag things out to increase their fees so clearly you have no idea of how the legal process works. I suggest that you ask a firm of solicitors if you can spend a couple of weeks with them to actually learn about what they do. You may be surprised and it may stop you from prattling on about such matters. The old saying empty vessels make the most noise comes to mind.
You responded to a numpty who had a house on the market for a long time and this was probably due to an agent telling him what he wanted to hear and not what needed to know. The 18 months of greed did him no favours whatsoever. Good property at the right price brings in a good offer quite quickly. I think the deal was luck and not judgement. I wonder if the valuer agreed with the asking price for his client the lender.
And there was me thinking that most solicitors fees are agreed upfront and set in stone
I've had plenty of experience of solicitors making mountains out of mole hills, probably bought and sold more property than you have had hot dinners old chap.
@ Darren, that's before they start adding the extras
You must have, I’ve only been investing since the 80’s
And I've also been buying , selling and renting since the 80s as well Darren.
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