Speed Is Of The Essence

February 29, 2016 by Rob Kahl

Speed is of the essence.

I am not a big one for statistics, unless they help the business obviously! Rightmove has recently collated data for the fastest places in Great Britain to sell a home.

Leigh on Sea came 5th.

In January 2015 the average time it took to sell a property in Leigh on Sea was 62 days. In January 2016 it is down to 30, less than half! The way the housing market seems in Leigh, that still seems a bit high to me. Put in to context the average time it takes to sell a property in the UK is 79 days. So you can see just how popular and fast moving the housing market is locally.

9 out of the top 10 places on the list were commuters areas for London. Further proof of the exodus from London. People moving out of the City, looking for the quality of life that our area can offer but still taking advantage of the earning potential of working in London.

This is evident as well when looking at pricing. There have been numerous surveys carried out but the latest was with this list which stated that prices increased in Leigh on Sea by 13.3% last year.

This seems to be across the board for all types of properties and is definitely causing a ripple effect with prices rising in surrounding areas such as Westcliff and Southend.

There doesn’t seem to be such a thing as a property bargain anymore. I have been able to go to a couple of property auctions recently. In both cases it was standing room only, the rooms were packed with bidders and competition was fierce.

I obviously am not stupid (no jokes please) I do know that the guide prices are only there to tempt people in to bid and to get as much interest as possible, but the prices achieved are so far in the distance who knows where they are coming from.

There was a 2 bedroom flat in Hadleigh Road. It needed loads of work, had no parking but was obviously in a sought after location and was a ground floor conversion in an attractive building. The guide price was £165,000 which was obviously too cheap. I like to play a little game and write down my prediction of what it might achieve, I had written £220,000.

At the end of last year I had sold a larger flat in good condition with allocated parking in the same road for £320,000. So I thought at £220,000 plus the fees of course, it gave someone the opportunity to either do it up to sell on or buy the property for themselves to live in and to have a little bit of equity in the flat once they have finished all of the work.

What happened was exactly what is supposed to happen in an auction. 2 people in the room wanted it and were either determined or got carried away and eventually it went for £264,000.

Once that lot was over everybody in the room took a deep breath as it was evident that people there looking for a bargain were going to be out of luck. This one it turned out was just the warm up.

Again, late last year I sold a 4 bedroom terraced house in the north part of Hamlet Court Road in Westcliff. This house was a little bit dated in side but nothing major and had off street parking. We sold it relatively easily for £290,000.

There was a similar house in the last auction I went to but this one was in a terrible state. This was reflected in the guide price which was only £100,000 but this was a bit more than just a bit of DIY.

The property had obviously been empty for many years. Pigeons were living in the roof which was obviously damaged and there had been so much water getting in that the upstairs was so unsafe you were not even allowed to go up there to look at it on a viewing. On the ground floor was evidence of dry rot, loads of damp and generally it was just not a very nice place to be.

I predicted that someone would have to spend £80,000 to £100,000 just to make the property habitable again and thought that it might go for £175,000 ish.

Well if the other one had 2 people in the room that wanted it, I think that everybody else in the room wanted this one. The pace in which it went up was incredible, people waving brochures around trying to get the auctioneers attention, it was like a scene out of the House of Commons. The hammer eventually fell with the property going for £240,000. A lady who was stood next to me obviously had wanted it because she stormed out immediately after the bidding had finished mumbling some pretty choice words under her breath.

Whether this is developers buying properties thinking they can do them up and make a profit or people buying properties for themselves to live in it is obvious that demand is far outweighing supply and it is harder than ever to find that perfect home and if you are lucky enough to, whatever you do , DO NOT HESITATE!

This article is by Rob @ Scott & Stapleton. Tel: 01702 471155

To read all of Rob's previous property articles please click the link https://www.leigh-on-sea.com/tag/listing/blog/property