Opinion : It is the right time to buy or sell a house?

From Wednesday 13th May 2020 the property market in the UK is set to reopen.

Following the announcement of a slight easing in the lockdown rules announced last Sunday, from Wednesday 13th May 2020, once again people will be allowed to travel to visit estate agents, letting agents or show homes so long as social distancing guidelines are followed.

House buyers will also be permitted to view residential properties they wish to buy or rent.

According to the Government more than 450,000 buyers and renters have been unable to move house since the property market was frozen in late March 2020.

My good self fears the harsh economic reality of the virus is about to be highlighted by the housing market. Indeed many national news sites have recently carried articles about the arrival what is predicted to be the worst recession for 300 years.

So who is going to buy a house with a humdinger of a recession on the near horizon?

No doubt there will be lots of home-owners trying desperately to sell properties to get whatever they can for their homes. But will the buyers be prepared, or even able, to pay the asking price?

I wonder how many buyers will try to wriggle out of offers they made on properties before the market was frozen in March 2020?

Just for a bit of fun, a few days ago my good self happened to look at well known national website that carries listings for houses for sale in High Wycombe.

After trawling through the plethora of properties for sale yours truly happened to come across one that took my eye. Scrolling through the pictures of the interior of the property my good self was shocked to see the state of the place.

There were many obvious faults such as :

• A cupboard door in the kitchen had at one time seemingly fallen off and had been put back the wrong way up. The door wasn’t even hanging level!
• The edge of the kitchen work surface was damaged.
• There were thick cables running, in random directions, over the outside walls.
• It looked as if the cast iron guttering, pipes and exterior woodwork hadn’t been painted for 40+ years.
• The bathroom curtains were so long they went a few inches into the bath below.
• Various windows were boarded up and despite the property having a garage it would be impossible to drive a car in as access up the driveway was blocked.

‘By George!‘, I exclaimed upon seeing the asking price. Offers were being invited in excess of £300,000!

The house wasn’t in need of refurbishment, no, in my opinion things were so bad it was in need of a complete rebuild!

My good self was tempted, just for fun, to submit an offer for the property. My offer would have been £1. On the face of things that seemed a good price to me for what was on offer.

However with the impending recession, my good self feels there will be many better properties coming to market soon at cheap prices as home-owners try to dispose of their houses before property prices collapse. Especially if many hundreds of thousands or even millions of people lose their jobs.

After all owning a house is a big financial outlay what with all the bills, Council Tax and maintenance costs.

I’ve still got my £1, so if my good self does happen to see a suitable property then yours truly will make an offer. However if the big recession comes my offer may well change such that sellers have to pay me the £1 to take the property off their hands….

What do you think?

My blogs are published regularly here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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