House offers

[The map shows the three houses (in blue) we're considering, plus where Jess and I currently live and work (in green).  The bottom-right corner is central London, so you can see how far out we are considering -- and how far Jess has to commute every day.]

Jess and I started looking for a house in June. That was 5 months ago, and in that time we have seen at least 100 houses, three of which we could consider living in.  (Four if you count the one an idiot estate agent showed us that was way out of our budget.)

What's amazing is that we've seen all three in the last few weeks.  That means either a) Our expectations are falling faster than the housing market; or b) prices are coming down and we're seeing nicer properties in our price range.   I like to believe it's the latter.

Jess and I made an offer on the first house, Mansfield, at just 5% below the asking price.  However, the owners had recently dropped the asking price, and weren't even considering going below that.  We weren't particularly bothered -- although the property was large (it had a loft conversion) and it backed onto a lovely green and a gorgeous wood, the layout was very odd, the flooring was horrific, the master bath needed to be re-done, and it was a mile to the shops or the tube.  Besides, the property was vacant, it had already been on the market for four months, and going into autumn meant prices were going to fall even further, so we were in no hurry to raise our offer.

On the second house, on Old Farm Avenue, we didn't make an offer, we just told the agent the asking price was ridiculous.  It was £40k higher than the rest of the area, and although the house was quite nice, it wasn't special, the area wasn't great, and it was right next to a synagogue. But it was an end-of-terrace property--so only one shared wall--with a large backyard, and the ground was sloped so you were looking at sky instead of surrounding houses.  It was also closer to the tube and shops, but the main supermarket was ASDA, which is owned by WalMart -- and most people know how I feel about WalMart.

(My feeling was the owner wasn't really interested in selling it, and was just hoping for a fantastic offer.  In England, it costs virtually nothing to list a property, so owners often 'float' a property, and in five months we've seen several houses taken off the market by the owners without a sale.)

The third one is Bosworth Road, which is owned by a Greek couple who have lived there for 35 years, raised two children and several cats, smoke like chimneys, and will talk your ear off given half a chance.  Unfortunately, they haven't done anything to the place in those 35 years, so it needs a lot of 'modernisation' and, more importantly, a good clean.  However, it's on a dead-end road near a park, the tube, shops, and there is plenty of space to extend the property later.  I made an offer today, although I feel a litle guilty because I offered them less than what it is worth, knowing they were looking for a quick sale so they move to Cyprus.  Cross your fingers.