[GraemeA]

Sorry to jump on the whole "Moving to Sheffield" bandwagon but I'm after some advice as I'm starting a job in Halfway in a couple of weeks.

I'm looking to rent around the Woodseats / Heeley area. Anywhere in particular I should look out for / avoid? (I should point out that I'm not married and don't have kids, therefore student type areas wouldn't necessarily put me off).

Any info much appreciated.

There's a couple of places in Meersbrook being advertised on the wall at the Works at the moment.

[Norton Sharley]

There's a couple of places in Meersbrook being advertised on the wall at the Works at the moment.

Bubbs, is this one of those new ads you've put on here?  Surely Mr A wouldn't be so blatant in his promotion of his wall?

[Bubba]

The Climbing Works do actually get a special advert from the front page coz of their most generous donations over the last couple of years

[Norton Sharley]

The Climbing Works do actually get a special advert from the front page coz of their most generous donations over the last couple of years

Man, you're at it now.  Is this whole site becoming an advert for the Climbing Works?

[Bubba]

I sold out and become a commercial whore. I'm a Climbing Works bitch

Just wait until I get the flashing popup windows going and the climbing works dialer that will infiltrate your computer. Good times are coming

[Norton Sharley]

I sold out and become a commercial whore. I'm a Climbing Works bitch

Just wait until I get the flashing popup windows going and the climbing works dialer that will infiltrate your computer. Good times are coming

Hey if you are working on a free entry ticket Bubbs then forget it.  Those boys are tighter than a chuffs arse ! 

[fatdoc]

he does like a tight boy that's for sure...

[cowboyhat]

From Grauniad:

Top fallers by city

· Sheffield - prices down by 17% on Q2 of 2007 to £168,321
· Belfast - down 11% to £268,174
· Birmingham - down 11% to £166,581
· Manchester - down 9% to £192,151
· Coventry - down 9% to £158,888

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jul/01/houseprices.property1?gusrc=rss&feed=uknews

[Johnny Brown]

No surprise - the entire city centre is now ringed by trendy flats for the new urban elite, all empty as such folk (apart from Paul B) live in Leeds or London. I think victorian terraces are doing better, a smaller house round the corner is on for more than ours was.

[cowboyhat]

a smaller house round the corner is on for more than ours was.

Good news but will it blend? Sorry, will it sell?

I'll be interested to know how that one pans out.

[Jaspersharpe]

No surprise - the entire city centre is now ringed by trendy flats for the new urban elite, all empty as such folk (apart from Paul B) live in Leeds or London. I think victorian terraces are doing better, a smaller house round the corner is on for more than ours was.

Spot on. This was predicted by many people in business in the area (and me) a few years ago. There is supposed to be a "masterplan" surrounding the redevelopment of Sheffield with the ultimate aim of raising the average wage in the city by £1500 (or something - can't remember exact figures). All sounds great but I fail to see who is going to buy these flats (hundreds are still being built). Do the "urban elite" actually want to live in them (or do they actually exist)?

There is little room for the city to expand except upwards but I believe they've done it too quickly. Or more importantly, too many have tried to make a quick buck on the back of massive expansion. This will probably only be a bad thing if you've paid over the odds for a "luxury" appartment (how some of these places are described as such is another issue) as the market is massively oversaturated and the prices are wrong. They aren't going to building any more Victorian terraces. Go figure.

will it sell?

I'll be interested to know how that one pans out.

The issue of the credit crunch is another one really. It is making the market stagnate in the short term after the bastard banks gambled on sub prime and lost big. However, the scaremongering of the media and of politicians quick to stick the knife into their opposite numbers is making it 10 times worse. If you have good credit and don't want to borrow more than you can afford there are still decent mortgage deals about believe it or not. The crazy loans dished out to those that shouldn't have been given them are no longer available and yeah in the short term we might all have to pay a few quid more but it's the idea that nobody can get a decent deal anymore and that prices are going to plummet sending people into negative equity (this doesn't actually matter if you can afford to repay your mortgage, in 20 yrs time the property will still be worth more) that is causing the problem.

I know a few people who are stuggling to sell because of this, regardless of the type of property. It wont last imo.

I spoke to bloke the other day who's run a successful business for about 30 years and he said what we needed was another child to get abducted in Portugal so the media would have something else to get in a frenzy about and leave the economy alone. Harsh but true.

[squeek]

Considering 'No more boom and bust' and the biggest housing boom ever the government should be getting some rubbish.  Limiting the amount the UK banks could sell on mortgages so they had to hold some of them, and have them backed by deposits would have stopped B&B and NRK et al destroying themselves.  It's not just subprime that has caused this mess despite what the media says, the figures are all there.

I wouldn't be surprised if city center flats are council estates of the future, like they have been before.  Especially in places like Leeds and Mcr where they've built far too many.  look at recent auctions to see flats selling for 40%-50% less than they have been a couple of years ago.

If you have good credit and don't want to borrow more than you can afford there are still decent mortgage deals about believe it or not.

If the bank/building society will only give you 3.5x your wage then that's what houses will have to come down to start moving well.  If all these 'crazy' loans disappear and only sensible mortgages are available then they will only sell for sensible prices.  We currently have a record low number of mortgages being put through, lower than the last property crash of ~1990, so brushing this off as if it's only down 10% instead of the 50-60% it's actually down is a little naive.

You imply that this will blow over in a short while, but why would anyone sitting on the sidelines waiting to buy a house, but isn't forced to, buy when they're still going down?

negative equity (this doesn't actually matter if you can afford to repay your mortgage, in 20 yrs time the property will still be worth more) that is causing the problem.

It matters if you want to remortgage as you have to pay off the difference between what you owe and the minimum loan to value.  Currently the value is going down and the minimum equity needed to get a good mortgage is going up. 

Eg: buy a house July 2006 two year fix 5%, SVR 7%. 150k house, 100% mortgage.
July 2008 you want to remortgage, your house is worth the same amount, to remortgage now, you need at least 10% equity which you haven't got, so you either have to pay 15k to get that equity or go onto the SVR.  Put it at 95% and you still need 7.5k.  If not your monthly payments will go from 625 to 875 a 40% jump.

If you change this example for July 2007 then they are already in negative equity.

People were saying exactly what you are saying in the US about housing 12 months ago, that it's a short term blip and it will get better just like 12 months ago they were saying here that the US houses going down in price will never happen here.

How long do you think the people you know who are struggling to sell will hold out before they either stop trying to sell, or reduce the price to guarantee a sale?  EAs make no money by not selling property no matter what the asking price is, so they will advise sellers to lower the price if it will get a sale.

[Jaspersharpe]

I don't think using the example of a 100% mortgage to prove a point on negative equity is particularly sensible especially since this the type of deal I was talking about. By definition you start on zero equity so it doesn't take a massive shift to become negative does it?

It's not long ago that the 100% mortgage was unheard of and it's only because prices have risen so rapidly that it's become acceptable practice. We can see now why it's not the greatest idea.

Banks are not all restricting borrowing to 3.5 x salary so I don't see why that's a relevant statistic. This is my only point. You can still get decent mortgage deals but nobody would think so given the media coverage.

[Sloper]

All I can say is mutha 

Blundells have f--ked us about big time and we missed out on the house in Totley even though I was on my way into their office to sign the papers to rent the house.  Basically they came across as thoroughly unprofessional and wanted £150 as an 'application fee', so unless you like being ripped off and f--ked about you might want to take your business elsewhere.

Also stay clear of Saxton Mee, they don't seem to understand that when you call them that they need to pick up the phone and when you leave a message that they should record it.  Also they point you at houses that they've already let so you waste hours trying to contact the scum.

[dave]

Blundells are well known as a bunch of cunts, and I would advise avoiding dealing with them at all costs.

[fatdoc]

Blundells are well known as a bunch of cunts, and I would advise avoiding dealing with them at all costs.

[slackline]

Blundells are well known as a bunch of cunts, and I would advise avoiding dealing with them at all costs.

Here, here! 

[grumpycrumpy]

Blundells are right bastards .... Try Bloors (corner of Abbeydale Rd. and Woodseats Rd.) much pleasanter people ......

[dave]

I'm sure shabba banks will have a few kind words to say about bloor.

[fatdoc]

 

Blundells are right bastards .... Try Bloors (corner of Abbeydale Rd. and Woodseats Rd.) much pleasanter people ......

[Sloper]

Glad to hear it's not just me who found Blundells to be cvnts.

Anyway, if things get osrted an invite for a sort of do will be forthcoming (via pm only obviously)

[Jaspersharpe]

Blundells are cunts but then again it goes with the territory as they are estate agents. We had heard good things about Bloors so when we were having difficulty renting our place out a couple of years ago we called them. They promised a flat fee system where we would pay them one amount and ONLY if they rented the property out for us. Two days later, we let the place privately through a friend of a friend. We informed Bloor & Co who had arranged for someone to come and look at the property the following day. They were fine about it and said that they'd let the girl know that the place had been let and come and take the board down that they had just put up. They did neither, sending the girl round to look at the place when nobody was there and leaving the board up for days (I took it down).

Then to top it off they sent us an invoice for £450 (way more than the agreed flat fee) for supposedly advertising the property etc. Needless to say they didn't get a penny but Joanne Bloor was one of the most rude, obnoxious and unpleasant people that I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. There aren't many people who can make my Mrs speechless on the phone but Mrs Bloor managed it. She ignored the fact that we had agreed a price IF they sucessfully let the property and started going on about the costs of advertising etc etc. Three or four calls later they got the message. I can see how some people would have been bullied into paying by the dodgy bunch of chancers despite being completely in the right.

So yes, Blundells are famous for being cunts but I've had shit dealings with Reeds Rains, Blundells and Bloor and representatives from other firms that I've met have mostly been total cocks. I have drawn my own conclusions about the (BMW) mini driving pricks from these experiences.

[fatkid2000]

 

All estate agents are twats. Friend of mine just sold a flat with elr and they tried to invoice him for 10 accompanied viewings. He had 2 viewings and neither were done by the agents. When I bought my house around 6 years ago, I put my offer in had it accepted and then just before all the legal work went through Blundells said a cash buyer had put in a higher offer. I was on holiday at the time so my Dad dealt with them - he had a feeling they were trying to hike the price up for the seller and their own fee, so told them where to go. 2 days later it was back on the market, and we had an offer accepted for £2K less than our original. They were a bunch of wankers about it - and when it came to exchanging contracts they wouldn't release the keys to the house even though both sets of lawyers phoned them to inform them that the money had cleared etc

[Jaspersharpe]

Well at least there's a positive side to the problems in the housing market........

Mini sales set to plummet

 

[Andy Harris]

Just read on the BBc website that Sheffield is at the top of the league of property price drops in the whole of the UK witha 17% drop for the past year. Yikes

Nothing seems to be selling anywhere. It's all "For Sale"