Is now the time to buy?

CALI

I have been looking at houses in Cork for the last few weeks and was thinking about buying something in the city centre. However I feel that the estate agent in the house I am most interested in is "making up" offers. I guess it's difficult to know if the house is worth this amount of money and I don't want to be ripped off by estate agents lying about bids. I am also wondering if I should be waiting another few months to see how things go in the market but also a little afraid of losing out on a house I quite like.

I guess I am really asking if it would be better to wait another few months and see if this house or any other one suitable reduces in price. Thanks!

mikemac

If you found a home you like, why not bid 15-20% under the asking.
The agent will most likely tell you to get lost but you can say you offer stands and you are not increasing it.
You might get a call in a few weeks asking are you still interested and you can take it from there

But I'd recommend waiting a few months

uberwolf

now is a bad time to invest.

If you're buying a home for yourself, and you've found somewhere you like, then you're not investing. You might get the equivalent cheaper in a few months, and wait if you're happy for an equivalent. Buy if you don't want the equivalent

Tom123

CALI wrote:

I have been looking at houses in Cork for the last few weeks and was thinking about buying something in the city centre. However I feel that the estate agent in the house I am most interested in is "making up" offers. I guess it's difficult to know if the house is worth this amount of money and I don't want to be ripped off by estate agents lying about bids. I am also wondering if I should be waiting another few months to see how things go in the market but also a little afraid of losing out on a house I quite like.

I guess I am really asking if it would be better to wait another few months and see if this house or any other one suitable reduces in price. Thanks!

Check out similar properties listed on this website. To see how long they have been listed and how much they have dropped by.
http://www.irishpropertywatch.com/

If something has been listed for a numbers of months it is highly unlikely that another bid was received just at the same time as yours. Definitely don't get involved in a bidding war as their is so much available it makes no sense to focus on one property. Offer at least 20% under asking.

Personally I think that now is probably one of the worst times to buy unless you can find a property that has a rental yield of around 6% I think you are overpaying.

Padraig Mor

CALI wrote:

I guess I am really asking if it would be better to wait another few months and see if this house or any other one suitable reduces in price. Thanks!

Much better I think! In fact, I would imagine you'll be better off waiting longer!

eek

This post is pretty much a copy and paste of an earlier post I made but the points are relevant here also

For most people buying a property is the single biggest purchase they will ever make. Don't rush into anything. Making the right decision now could save you a lot of money! Phantom bidders are a classic estate agent tool. I'd call their bluff.

Take the advice of Tom123 and check out www.irishpropertywatch.com.
Also search for the property you are interested in using google. Use the google "cached" links (see below) to view historical info on the property.

Some further points you should consider:

House prices are falling

Bray People: Residents outraged by huge house price drop

I know many people don't want to admit this but the evidence is all around us, you just have to open your eyes.
In addition to the site Tom 123 mentioned also check out ...
www.thepropertypin.com

... and of course Google ! Google saves a copy of all the web pages it visits - this means that if you search for a property on google and use the "cached" link you can see if the price has changed since Google last visited the page.

Example:
Check out "21 Rushbrook Court". They were asking for 549,000 now they only want 500,000 that's a 9% drop. 50,000 covers a lot of rent money!

Current links:
www.daft.ie/dublin/houses_for_sale/templeogue/
http://www.daft.ie/searchsale.daft?id=285278&search=1

Google cache (about half way down):
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:48VR6nl6CJgJ:www.daft.ie/dublin/houses_for_sale/templeogue/+%2221+Rushbrook+Court%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=ie

How far can they fall? Well personal experience of the last crash in London saw a 60% drop off the value of an investment property over the course of 2 years - took 12 years for it to get back to it's original value. Of course that couldn't happen here could it? This was on for 1.2 mil earlier this year!

Interest rates are rising

Yes the ECB has currently put a hold on rate hikes but now the banks are raising rates independently of the ECB (www.independent.ie/business/irish/statesides-loan-gaffes-affect-us-all-1070779.html). For instance Start mortgages recently raised they're interest rates by about 1% which is equivalent to four European Central Bank rate rises. It's only a matter of time before other lenders follow.

Currently renting is cheaper

I know that not having your own place sucks but from a financial perspective currently renting is cheaper than buying. Rent money is not always dead money. This takes a while to get your head around but this link should help How 2 calculate if renting is cheaper?

Finally don't take my word for any of this. Do your own research and make your own conclusions, but beware of stats produced from vested interests like Estate Agents and Developers. If this really is your dream home and you can afford it AND you won't be angry if it loses 30% or more of it's value then go for it. But don't be bullied by an estate agent into making an offer you are unhappy with. Good luck!

CALI

Thanks a million for the replies and websites etc. Yeah am definitely gonna hold off for another while and see how things go..

Mr. Presentable

According to the Sunday Times today, prices in the lower end in Dublin are starting to recover. This likely means prices in other sectors will stop falling now too. Consider, if rents are going up, there will be more investors going in, so prices will naturally stabilise and increase.

Is now the time to buy? I don't know.

eek

PS - A good place to look for impartial analysis of the Irish property market is the UK papers and financial magazines (e.g. www.moneyweek.com - don't agree with blaming ECB. Not their fault Bertie & co are incompetent).

The main papers here in Ireland earn a large hunk of their revenue from property advertising .... hardly a sound foundation for unbiased analysis. Not saying the UK papers are better but they tend not to have any ties to the Irish property market.

gurramok

nipplenuts wrote:

According to the Sunday Times today, prices in the lower end in Dublin are starting to recover. This likely means prices in other sectors will stop falling now too. Consider, if rents are going up, there will be more investors going in, so prices will naturally stabilise and increase.

Is now the time to buy? I don't know.

Got a link for that?...thats the English times version yeh?

Would love to know how they came to that conclusion.