On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 09:18:52 +0100, JK wrote:

nightjar nightjar@ wrote:
"JK" wrote in message ...
...

However, it looks like it's turning into a buyer's marker, so perhaps you
should be focusing on your purchaser and worrying less about finding
somewhere - if prices take a tumble then you will see a lot more on the
market all of a sudden.


All that is happening now is that prices are not increasing as dramatically
as they have been over the past few years, but are levelling out. There is
no reason to expect that prices will start to fall at all, much less that
they will tumble. When prices did drop suddenly last time, houses tended to
be less available at first, because people did not want to sell at a loss.
It was only as people had to sell and prices stayed low, that the number of
properties on the market rose, mainly because buyers with negative equity
could not afford to buy.

This is certainly a subject that has been and will be done to death. I
was pondering the prospect of a fall in the shower this morning, and I
suspect you're right, as rates are still very low historically and
there's always a slowdown in the colder months. But there are other
factors that could make a difference -for example there are a lot of
investment properties that could suddenly go on the market. Having just
bought a bigger place, I certainly hope there isn't too much of a fall!

Even if there is a fall, the market will pick up again, I'm sure. Even
the shocking negative equity problem arising out of the crash at the
end of the 1980s has been papered over again. One may need to stay
longer in one property before moving on. However, the trick is how to
spot the downturn *before* it happens! (Yeah, tell me where to buy
crystal balls!) Because when I put my house on the market in April,
agents everywhere were still full of the joys of spring and a new
Aston Martin in the driveway. That's why I listened, took their
orgasmic advice and put the house on at far too high an asking price.
Next time I sell I shall not just get three agents' valuations, but a
dozen! Well, maybe not that many, but I want to look into as many eyes
as possible while they tell me yet another version of why we went to
war.

Then I shall probably choose the LOWEST valuation!

MM