Am looking at the Staffs ( Stoke & Stone) / Shropshire ( Whitchurch ) & Cheshire East ( Crewe & Nantwich) areas.

Stoke seems to have gone a bit daft in the last two years, you can buy a cheap terrace but anything with a garden they want daft money for.

Friend went to view a cottage as a cash buyer and as soon as he pointed out any flaws to the EA they & vendor started ignoring him as he 'wouldn't give full asking' and they said he was negative. He got a valuer he knows to give him an estimate based off own photos and it was 20k less than on for!

I'm starting to thinkthings have got so far out of reality nobody knows what true value is anymore.

Anyone got any good news as losing hope.

I've eyed a couple of properties up with AP Morgan Estate Agents in Stourbridge and seen a few sold boards but wondering if anyone has had any experience perhaps with other branches? As far as I can see their Stourbridge branch is fairly new so want to be sure they have a decent track record. Recomendations on other estate agents in and around Stourbridge are welcome. AP Morgan Estate Agents Stourbridge.

While the London market has seen better times, the Midlands market seems to be fine, with a 4-5% growth year on year (depending on areas).

Do you think this is due to the (yet to be seen) HS2 thing or is it because people are moving away from London? (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-37385265 as well)

The management company have been unable to contact them and the Landlord (Midas Holding International) appear to have done either done a runner or are just avoiding paying the tens of thousands it has in arrears for the upkeep of the building.

Here is the info I have from company's house, it appears they have never filed accounts and they are now overdue.

Name & Registered Office:

MIDAS HOLDINGS (INTERNATIONAL) LIMITED

5 CHASE HOUSE PARK PLAZA

HAYES WAY

CANNOCK

WEST MIDLANDS WS12 2DD

Company No. 05668289

Status: Active

Date of Incorporation: 06/01/2006

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Company Type: Private Limited Company

Nature of Business (SIC(03)):

7032 - Manage real estate, fee or contract

Accounting Reference Date: 31/01

Last Accounts Made Up To: (NO ACCOUNTS FILED)

Next Accounts Due: 06/11/2007 OVERDUE

Last Return Made Up To: 06/01/2007

Next Return Due: 03/02/2008

My flat was sold for about a quarter of a million pounds, its in Birmingham, yes Birmingham not the Bahamas not Miami, flipping Birmingham,, its a one bedroom flat. I rest my case m'lord.

The building in question if the "Flagship" regeneration of the Eastside in Birmingham, The Abacus Building, in Digbeth.

Abacus Digbeth

I went to a coucil meeting the other night attended by the head of planning for Birmingham, Clive Dutton.

Im Clive Dutton

It was interesting that he mentioned problems ahead for planning because of the credit crunch. He mentioned developers getting cold feet, pulling out etc. I wonder if he is worried about the 700 flats he has just commissioned further down in Digbeth, heralded as the next Brindley Place.

Bradford Street, Total Disaster in the making.

Anyway for anyone interested in the benefits of city center living here a picture of the graffiti in my stairwell that appeared the other night in my so called luxury executive apartment. Clearly evidence that chavs, dss are now being offered rented accommodation here.

Graffiti in sold called executive flats

I'm just glad that im renting and my lease is up in two months time.

Here is a graph of houses for sale on Rightmove from 3 estate agents in my area, it runs from July 2014 to the current day.

The estate agents are Taylors, Connells and Derek Spires in Bearwood. Taylors started off as Taylors but it morphed into Humberstones quite a while back.

I've shared the raw numbers too, should someone find this interesting.

estate.txt

estate.txt

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-sto...97319-21056517/

I like the bit which says that 98% of buyers were buy-to-let 'investors'. Serves 'em right I say.

Price changed: Guide Price £1,300,000 £1,000,000

I laugh at the crazy prices they ask and then go "WTF?" when they sell a few months later at very close to asking.

I realise there is a premium around here as we're a short walk to the town center, train station and good schools, etc, but really, i think it's daft. Who has the money to buy these places?

Here's the latest one to appear just around the corner from me.

Nice sized rooms and on a decent plot, but a pretty bland looking house compared to the pretty 1930's and 1950's houses that are mainly in the road and it's got a railway line at the bottom of the garden.

£795,000. Really ?

They're having a laugh. What's sillier though is I wouldn't be suprised if it does sell for close to asking.

Crazy days...

Anyone live there or looking to buy?

Which bits to avoid?

We saw a repo last week, in a recently built city centre block, for 40% of it's sold price at peak. But strangely the rooms seem smaller than the stated measurements and there's a crack visible from ceiling to floor. Been told it's surface crack and nothing to worry about as still in the 10 year warranty period.

Any thoughts?

I am currently looking to buy in Birmingham...edgbaston, harborne, moseley. My budget is up to 675 K. I need a 5 b/r, with parking off road, excellent condition. I don't mind painting decorating, which is expected anyway, but I don't want a property that needs major renovation such as double glazing installation, new kitchen or baths etc.

Anyway, I am surprised about the huge difference in price between edgbaston b15 and edgbaston b16...should i totally leave out b16?

I liked this property in B16 and had an offer accepted at 630k. The current owners brought it at the peak for 700k. Internally it has everything I wanted in a house and was completely renovated at one point, it has all double glazing, heating, boilers etc. Unfortunately i just found out that there is a Bail hostel a few doors down and that freaks me out somewhat!! So I have pulled out of that one.

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/26581814

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36144940.html

There's also this property in Moseley just off the Yardley road but it is rather dull and a new build, but it's EPC is great.So it would be cheaper to run than an old victorian like the one above. Again, it also doesn't need any work on it. I know the current owners have rejected offers around 520k for that house. How much does anyone think it's worth in the current market?

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/20519647

Anybody out there with knowledge of the Brum housing market with some advice for me??? I've been looking for 18 months now, and in my experience lots of houses don't seem to be selling as they are still too overpriced and EA's are still over-valuing properties.

thanks.

money now been lent for the purpose of investment....

Many thanks for any input.

Yes, it used to be a pub.

Yes, it's right next to the river so the possibility of flooding.

Yes, it's a flat.

Yes, the service charge is probably horrendous.....

But it's still quite a big drop. And it's been up for sale at £103k (33% off) for a year. Could easily halve in "value".

Rightmove

Properdybee

Sun Aug 5 08:27:53 2012

Status changed: from 'New home, New home' to 'New home'

Wed Apr 11 13:34:30 2012

Status changed: from 'New home' to 'New home, New home'

Wed Nov 16 19:48:29 2011

Status changed: New home, Premium Listing home

Thu Jul 21 17:37:12 2011

Price changed: from '£121,500' to '£103,275'

Thu Mar 10 12:54:20 2011

Status changed: New home home, Premium Listing

Thu Mar 3 20:56:48 2011

Subtitle changed: 1 bedroom ground floor flat

Wed Feb 16 21:04:07 2011

Price changed: from '£121,000' to '£121,500'

Thu Feb 3 22:17:43 2011

Brief Description changed: FOR 6 WEEKS ONLY UPTO 10% OFF THE ASKING PRICE *** WAS £149,000 - NOW £135,000***Apartment Apartment two is located on the ground floor and retains many original features and has views over the Canal Basin and Courtyard. The apartment retains many original features from the hotel.

Price changed: from '£135,000' to '£121,000'

Fri Nov 26 00:13:44 2010

Brief Description changed: FOR 6 WEEKS ONLY UPTO 10% OFF THE ASKING PRICE *** WAS ¿149,000 £149,000 - NOW ¿135,000***Apartment £135,000***Apartment two is located on the ground floor and retains many original features and has views over the Canal Basin and Courtyard. The apartment retains many original features from the hotel.

Wed Nov 24 19:42:08 2010

Brief Description changed: FOR 6 WEEKS ONLY UPTO 10% OFF THE ASKING PRICE *** WAS £149,000 ¿149,000 - NOW £135,000***Apartment ¿135,000***Apartment two is located on the ground floor and retains many original features and has views over the Canal Basin and Courtyard. The apartment retains many original features from the hotel.

Thu Oct 7 21:50:02 2010

Brief Description changed: FOR 6 WEEKS ONLY UPTO 10% OFF THE ASKING PRICE *** WAS £149,000 - NOW £134,000***Apartment £135,000***Apartment two is located on the ground floor and retains many original features and has views over the Canal Basin and Courtyard. The apartment retains many original features from the hotel.

Price changed: from '£134,000' to '£135,000'

Thu Aug 19 07:07:30 2010

Brief Description changed: Apartment FOR 6 WEEKS ONLY UPTO 10% OFF THE ASKING PRICE *** WAS £149,000 - NOW £134,000***Apartment two is located on the ground floor and retains many original features and has views over the Canal Basin and Courtyard. The apartment retains many original features from the hotel.

Price changed: Offers in Region of £149,000 £134,000

Thu Aug 12 04:13:33 2010

Initial entry found.

We're looking to buy somewhere in or around Bromyard, or in Ludlow.

Does anyone know of any for's or against's for either? Good or bad areas within each?

Bromyard appeals because we love the surrounding countryside, but although we've been to Bronyard itself a few times, I'm not sure what it's like to live in.

Ludlow appeals because of its style, castle, old streets and foodiness. Gut feel is that Ludlow is unlikely to drop in value too much. Not sure about Bromyard.

Not fussed about night life, and would rather it was a sleepy area than noisy.

Thanks!!

We visited Ludlow, but couldn't find anywhere to park (there is a massive parking problem there), so gave up and decided to return the following day (Sunday), when it was still difficult to find a parking space. A very pretty little town, but I have been told it floods. On driving about, I noticed that Herefordshire is absolutely empty. There are only a few houses dotted about, like hamlets and there don't appear to be any proper villages. One thing I noticed is that there are tons of pubs, like every couple of miles and they appear to be in a sparse area. How on earth do they survive? I know that Herefordshire has a serious flooding problem and I am guessing this is why there is not much in the way of houses or people living there.

Can anyone tell me the areas of Herefordshire that don't flood as I know there is a flood plain, but not sure where exactly that is. Apart from Ludlow, are there any other areas of Shropshire that flood?

I keep track of the activity of quite a large number of the Worcester Estate Agents and all have seen their transaction levels crash since 2007 without any significant recovery being experienced. Indeed it seems to be getting worse for them in 2010.

Land Registry data reveals the number of property sales in Worcester to have been:

2006 - 2690 sold

2007 - 2179 sold

2008- 1180 sold

2009 - 811 sold by end of October so should end up being about 973 in total for 2009

The second half of 2009 does not seem to have been any better than the first half.

2009 looks like it experienced, in Worcester, a 64% crash in property sales compared to 2006.

In terms of the EA's surviving - yes many are relying on the rental market to generate an income as well as having honed down their staff to the bare minimum.

Platinum in St John's, Worcester, however seem to be particularly poor at selling property. Currently they have a very small number of SSTC properties but most of these went SSTC last year (way back into last year!). So far this year they have managed to get 1 property to go SSTC in January and none in February so far. So, how do they keep going? Anyone know anything about Platinum - especially the St John's Worcester branch?

Other Worcester EA's have also seen very few transactions (or SSTC's) this year so far.

The housing market in Shropshire is broken with first time buyers and middle income families unable to afford a new home, it was claimed today.

The difference between what people earn and what people can afford has become unbridgeable, according to the National Housing Federation.

The worst affected in the region is south Shropshire.

In a new report called West Midlands Home Truths 2011, it is revealed the average home in the region costs £177,913 – nine times the average West Midlands wage of £19,864.

The report, launched today by National Housing Federation chief executive David Orr, warned of ‘a broken housing market’.

In Shropshire, the average home costs £208,309 – 10.2 times the average individual income of £20,374, with even homes in the lowest bracket costing £130,000.

The report shows that the gross annual income needed to secure a mortgage in Shropshire is £44,638.

The NHF said home ownership on the open market remained out of reach for many in the county, and with private-sector rents also on the increase, saving for a deposit was becoming even harder.

South Shropshire was the least affordable area in the whole region, with the average home costing 14 times the average local income.

Gemma Duggan, West Midlands lead manager for the National Housing Federation, said: “House prices in the region remain out of reach for thousands.”

http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/12/07/shropshire-housing-market-is-broken-claims-report

Feel free to add your HPC comment to the article!

Now, central Birmingham has been taken over by a load of luxury new build developments. Some of them are not too bad, but there's one across the road from my dad called Nu Living. I think it was built at the tail end of the Labour administration so I can't blame them for the name. However, it seems empty. From the outside having a look in the windows it looks really rubbish. The flats, or units or whatever they are called, have one of those open plan kitchen things where you live and eat. Only a handful of the flats look to be taken, and as I say, this thing has been there for about three years. Does anyone know anything about it?