House prices in your area

Well I am enjoying reading this thread. How do you choose a house from afar?

I live in a one bedroom house with an very small kitchen, even for the UK and no closets (except the airing cupboard).  The house attached to us, (the building is quartered) is selling for 156,000.00. 

Since we are just married everyone keeps asking if we want kids, I tell them the only way is if kids only grow to fit their surroundings like goldfish, because there is no place to put a kid but the airing cupboard.

We live in a desirable traditionally working class suburb of Leeds about 5 miles from city centre, excellent public transport links, and on the high street within easy walking distance of good schools & local shops.

At the time we bought our house, we had been renting a small 2-bed flat (2nd bedroom was really a box room) -- a similar one in the same complex was selling for about £100,000 not long after we moved.  I was shocked that those flats would sell for that much.

We bought an end terraced, 2 decent sized bedrooms + loft house across the street (literally) from our old flat.  Thanks to the in-laws, we were able to put 1/3 down on the negotiated & agreed price of £185,000 (seller was asking £190,000).

A few weeks back two different of those same flats were selling (asking price) for £175,000 and £150,000 respectively.   My God!  I find it unbelievable that anyone would pay that for those.  But if the price holds, then what does that mean our property is now worth...   (We've only been here two years.)

Well I am enjoying reading this thread. How do you choose a house from afar?

Good question. I am just browsing because we won't buy until we move back. Dennis may know because people in the UK do buy houses abroad.

Jules,
I'm from Baltimore as well and it is amazing the price rising, I think it was around $270K for average which, granted, is still only £135K!  You'd be lucky to get a decent 1 bedroom flat around here for that.

A friend of mine bought a 3 bedroom good sized terrace house in Timonium in the late 90s for something like $95K, unbelievable that.  Even if you look at somewhere like Roland Park where you get those really nice, old big 4-5 bedroom houses they're still only something like $550K which is just £275K, that's maybe the price of a small to average 3 bedroom semi!

If we ever do make the move back to Baltimore and the exchange rate stays like it does we'd be pretty fortunate.

Hi Matt,

Yes it has gone crazy in Baltimore. When I left Bolton Hill the average house was about $350k+ (depending on house and street) now some are going for $500-$800+.  Houses in Hampden which were about $80k now over $200k (can you believe that?).

Roland Park is where I would love us to be....I love those old rambling houses (just above Coldspring). Lovely plus its close to downtown.

Yes the exchange rate will serve us well!   

Hi Matt,

Yes it has gone crazy in Baltimore. When I left Bolton Hill the average house was about $350k+ (depending on house and street) now some are going for $500-$800+.  Houses in Hampden which were about $80k now over $200k (can you believe that?).

Roland Park is where I would love us to be....I love those old rambling houses (just above Coldspring). Lovely plus its close to downtown.

Yes the exchange rate will serve us well!   

Yes, I can believe it...I have one of those near Patterson Park     Bought it for $98K and won't sell it for less than $200K. Jules, if you need a place to stay when you go back, my place is available to rent starting in September!

Roland Park is lovely! 

Yes, I can believe it...I have one of those near Patterson Park     Bought it for $98K and won't sell it for less than $200K. Jules, if you need a place to stay when you go back, my place is available to rent starting in September!

Roland Park is lovely! 

Thanks for the offer because that is a bit of a concern...where to live while we are looking to buy. I would prefer a six month lease but as you know....its usually a year back home. Too bad our timing may be off or I would take you up on it.  I have friends that also bought in Patterson Park for around $80k, seven years ago...amazing the increase in prices.  We are not sure when we are moving back, I am still waiting to find out my end date at work. We were told back in late Feb that if we didn't want to move to London (our local office is closing) we would be made redundant. Ok, great...I know that I don't want to go to London but they still haven't decided when our office will close. I am thinking it will be Oct/Nov. and that is when I want to go but of course want to hold out for the generous severance package. That is what we are all doing! 

Good question. I am just browsing because we won't buy until we move back. Dennis may know because people in the UK do buy houses abroad.

Yes, I am browsing right now in vague directions of a (wide) area but I have no idea how we are going to get beyond the website to actually viewing properties, etc. It's fun and frustrating at the same time.

hiya all!

Jules, yeh I was just being a little narky when I said you'd hate me for being a BTL landlord! - but long term, yes I would buy more BTL's if my finances allowed me to do so, I probably wouldn't go crazy and buy everything I possibly could but maybe 4 or 5 and over in the US and Canada it's a much easier prospect to achieve than here.

So in a few years when I do say 'i got 4-5 btl's you will respond and say 'im despicable' in that daffy duck voice !;)

Good luck with your move back to Baltimore, I had a quick look through Craigslist at their available properties and their pricing, and compared to other places I've looked at it's on the pricier side - I guess due to it's proximity to DC

Stella Marie - a Friend who works with my mum bought a place in Orlando without ever leaving the UK, It was a plot of land! and they had the home built and finished and rented out for a little while before they even saw it themselves! - this is a less popular route though, most buyers look initially over the internet, research the area, find out all the property taxes, values, amenities etc etc and draw up a shortlist of properties to see. they then jet over and view them all over say a 1 or 2 week period and then make a decision of course with consultancy with the Realtor. Of course, lots of other factors come into play, but that's the general way it goes.


Have a look at Remax - I often have their guys ring me up asking if Im ready to buy yet, they can look after alot of the admin side of things and they are the largest real estate company in the world! some of the smaller independants do a fantastic job too, but they seem to be concentrated only around the Disney/Orlando area. Apart from them, then it's the usual USA realtors you'll deal with. I'm going to be putting a section up on my (still in development!!!) forthcoming Personal Finances website for things like this which I used to consult about alot during my time at Intuit - so keep yer eyes peeled!

As for What Carolyn B said, yes it's amazing when you see properties you thought were expensive a few years ago now going for an insane asking price! really makes you wonder! - although the 'north' is generally cheaper than the red hot south east, many many areas u there are getting crazy pricing as well. I think currently it's only really places in Scotland now that seem 'cheap' to me !

What's really going to be a real pain is when the next 2 or 3 interest rate rises come into effect and house prices still keep climbing...

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

I'm looking at the ROI currently, we'll be able to get a good sized house in a decent area with what our house is currently going for. But trying to figure out where to go and whether the area is good or not (the last thing we want to do is move out of the frying pan into the fire) by browsing online is v. frustrating.

Hi Stella Marie,
just to clarify, are you in the UK currently and looking online at properties in the US? or are yer in the US looking at places online here in the UK?!

The US market has certainly taken a downturn and it's not certain when it will bottom out.  There are cases of people walking away from large deposits because the market has turned so much that they would lose even more money by closing (article in Friday's Wall Street Journal).

It is very difficult to predict when the bottom of the market will be reached, you could buy today and see the market dropping for 2 years and kick yourself.  I am looking to buy a property in the US but I am following my friend's advice, which is wait until there is evidence that the market has at least flattened out.  The impact of all these subprime lenders going bankrupt is tougher requirements on loans which means fewer people in the housing market which in turn means further price reductions (in my mind anyway). 

Obviously this is dependent on where you are looking.  Florida is particularly ugly as a lot of homes have been sold as BTL with grand promises on rental values which have not materialized, many brand new rental condos remain empty.  Wherever you look, try to find good stats on recent house price movements.  If it's going down, I would rent until they flatten/start back up again.

Here's an article I found on Baltimore:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/bal-bz.homesales11may11,0,244070.story?coll=bal-realestate-headlines-1

In NI looking at ROI properties.

Stella Marie

I keep reading that as Northern Indiana looking at Rhode Island - but then I know that doesn't follow the letter abbreviation convention for states.

so i think thats Northern Ireland, lookin at places in Republic of Ireland?

Same as before then, find stuff on the web, look up 'upmystreet.com' (or is it. co.uk?) to find out about the local area etc, then go check the places out physically.

MbMasters - Whilst I agree with all you said there, depending on your financial status you dont always have to necessarily have to 'wait till its bottomed out' - firstly its just as hard to tell if/when the markets bottomed out as it is to tell when it's reached its peak!

The trick is to look at your investing style and reasons and take it from there. If you are 'speculative' and want to buy a place, live or rent it for a bit and then wait for it's price to increase then sure buy low sell high. If you are looking for longer term, then you can buy at prety much anytime, what makes that even more worthwhile is if you can drop a sizeable deposit into the property (or buy it in cash!) to make the rental returns a positive amount per month. If the value of the property goes down, so be it, of course whilst trying to avoid negative equity. if it also appreciates in value and you have a long term tennant, all the more advantage!

I tried the 'wait till markets' bottomed out trick in 2000, and 2001 - All signs pointed to a recession, and lowering of house prices and i was poised ready to buy even before sept 11th. When that happened, i thought the proerpty values must really go down now - but they didn't! they carried on (relatively over the last 10 years or so) rising ! so i quickly bought whilst I could in sept 2002.

all this 'watching' the markets is flippin time consuming! and all the while your thinking shall i buy or wait, shall i buy or wait...



Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!