My wife and I have just sold our 2 bed maisonette in Putney and are considering a move down the A3 to Esher/Weybridge/usual suspects

This week I rang several EAs in Esher, several of whom talked the market but 2 who were honest and said that the market was slowing and set to get worse towards the festive period. Clearly if this is true then we should rent and wait for 5-6 months before buying, being an opportunist!

Anyone have an opinion on this?

I think this is a very different market from the one in London at the moment?

Opinions appreciated

What level of the market and where ?

If you are above £1M it's slowed - the right priced stuff still sells quickly, the greedy sellers are looking a bit daft. Stuff on private estates and off main roads is still selling and making very good money - anything with a decent size garden and decent proportioned rooms is still selling, whatever the condition...

sub £500K it's all selling unless it's got huge compromises. In the middle, it still seems solid.

But Elmbridge is a big place - do you mean the best bits of Esher, Cobham, Oxshott and Weybridge etc. or are you looking at less desirable bits of those and other areas ?

If you have £4M to spend, I think you will need to be quick, especially if you want a neoGeorgian new house - they are still selling very quickly.

We are looking to spend around £1-£1.25m. We are focusing on the better areas and ones that are very commutable.

Had a look at the weekend and our choices seem limited. We are considering hanging on for a while until the effect of interest rate rises hits a bit.

Most of the new people to the area are ex-SW Londonites. [we were].

People tend to stay once they get there - partly because they hatch and want schools etc. The market you are in is the sweet spot for developers at the moment - they have forced up the prices for any decent house on any land because they get planning for a £2.5M 4-5000sq foot house and build to the plot's extremities - which is why you are mostly looking at crap for £1M.

You want to work out what's walking distance to a station too - if it's Oxshott, bear in mind that the Fairmile part of Cobham is a walk straight through the woods (and a pleasant walk it is too), if it's Cobham, the houses in walking distance to the station are not particularly great - mostly sub £900K 1930's archetypal suburbia nearest the station.

Esher is again a place where it's a bit odd to find something desirable for walking to the station - Sandown Park being in the way..... there are a couple of cheaper private roads near Esher centre - up to about £1.5M, these are mainly nice enough houses - but will probably require a bit of modernising to offer truly comfortable modern living. There are a couple of private estates on Copsem Lane (A244) out of Esher - these are probably £1.5-1.6M - no swimming pools and not as much privacy as you'd think, but solid, decent family houses with reasonable places in walking distance.... (Esher centre) - you can't really walk to the station from there though.

For trains, Esher is better than Oxshott/Cobham - but if you get the right trains, you can get the train in from Oxshott in sub 30 mins (and home again at night).

[We live on the border of Oxshott and Cobham, as you can probably guess.... - I have my eye open (always) for a move up, but I want a house I can gut and redo to our tastes - I am competing with the builders at the moment for that step up - though like you - I am finding it hard to get property - we may just extend to get two more bedroom suites and a cinema room (though she'll no doubt call it a nursery..].]

If you do find somewhere you like the look of - PM and if I can, I'll tell you what I know of the locale and what's being built in the area.....

We moved from Wandsworth/Putney to Weybridge a few months ago. I think there is a more frequent service from Weybridge/Walton on Thames to/from Waterloo than from Esher. The fastest trains get to Waterloo in 29 minutes and the service is surprisingly reliable.

I've only been monitoring one house that didn't sell

http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.a...p;agentid=00662

when it was shown to us it was 699K.

very odd peculiar house that looks like it needs north of £100K spending on it on a small plot with very small room sizes and let's be honest, only its builder could love its looks and it's not in the best position opposite the shops (if I have it right). It's also too far to walk to the station, right ?

Was it ever worth £699K - is it worth £625K or whatever for its site value - because the house is not worth it on its own.

Well the Property for sale in Esher are very good. I mean the area is very nice and the properties are brilliant with lots of space around them.



The market in London seems to be predictable but that doesn't help in buying property at the right time since they all very expensive, and there never seems to be a right time!

I hate to be nosy and admit to being a northerner but how does one move from a 2 bed maisonettte in putney which is worth less than £500k to a £1m house. Am i way out with my valuation of 2 bed maisonettes in Putney or do people in the south east really earn that much more than us in the north.

I'd really like to understand this and would be happy to hear from anyone if they have the answer


Is it city bonuses ??

Rachman,

All true - hence why we didn't buy it! I was merely using it as an example that not everything flies off the shelf. I would say that it is within walking distance of the station - 15 minutes?

I know that 2 bed flats are going for more than 400k so it wouldn't surprise me that 2 bed maisonettte is over 500k. I lost a bet recently that Putney prices wouldn't go up 10% over the last year - in fact I was underwater around half way through the bet!

If you paid £250K for the Putney flat 3 or 4 years ago and were single when you bought, you both had a flat, that's the thick end of probably £900K of flat now - probably £400K of combined equity. You'll probably be earning north of £120K as a couple on averageish London professional wages (or single wages of say £140K/150k would be typical/normal for a mid 30 something professional who is good at what he does) - so the missus (or househusband in these enlightened times) does not need to earn much if at all.

Wages are simply much much higher in town. I am a northerner too - I would earn a quarter (or a third if I got paid right at the top of the Manchester market) of what I do now working back up north, my missus would earn a third of her current wages - we'd work a bit less hard but we'd earn loads less - we'd live in a much smaller house and we'd have fewer good holidays, I'd not buy my watches, Porsches and toys and Jimmy Choo would have to make a stock market announcement about their fall in profits.

So you can afford a bigger mortgage and you still have money to live on. Bonuses help (though mine are less than 15-20% of salary), but the salaries (in the financial and professional services sector at least) are massively higher - it's why I moved at least.

It's still a big mortgage/risk to take on though ........ - we took it on because it works for us - I will be able (touch wood) to retire at 40 if I want to and will never HAVE to work again if I do it right - if I'd stayed in Manchester, I'll be working till I am 55-60.

It's how most people have done it (that I know).

Many thanks for this. Only point i would pick up on is that I think prices in the midlands are probably 1/3 rd of that in London now (a 12 year old 4 bed detached in easy commuting distance of birmingham and in a nice self contained village for £300k ). i appreciate that one day you can come back up north and bank a load of equity (assuming house prices in London do not crash and that we in the midlands do not increase our prices for rich Southerners)

Esher has really calmed down, but there are a few chancers. Take this one for instance:
It was on the market just over a year ago for 525k, needing a bit of work, don't know how much.

Here it is now for 850K 1 year later

Hilarious.

Nice and roomy house on the same road, just a few doors away

And this one is 950k, still a vast amount of money, but a much nicer, more traditional, big Esher house. Been on the market for a while and unable to sell, so overpriced. Assuming it would sell at 900, but the owners are greedy, what does it really make the 1st one worth?

I reckon, the improvements would cost around 70k, so let's be charitable and say that extensions get back the money you paid for them, and that the extension added 70-75k to the house from Day 1. Say a 30% increase on 600k in 1 year = 780k, which 3 months ago would have been about right, but now, I think they have fallen back. We were told back then by an EA that prices were "frothy" and "toppy" and that 0.5 on the BoE base rate would cause them to fall back.

Incidentally, the 3rd bedroom is small, and that puts a severe upper limit on the house round here. I would say 725 would be more reasonably.

I will be tracking this, from my rental bunker elsewhere in sunny Esher.
If it goes for 850, we have just seen the very top of the market round here, or we have made an enormous mistake by STRing.

Something similar not far away was on for 995 and didn't sell till the asking price was down at 695. But I mentioned that in another post and don't want to get boring.

That first one is a classic example of trying to get people who don't want to do any work and charging a premium for it. Like you, I'd have priced it in the low to mid £700Ks.

The second one needs £60-80K on it and is big but typical of a badly extended house - priced per square foot - it's fugly, dated and the wrong end of Ember Lane for top money. I'd not want to pay more than say £775K to £800K for it and then do it up - there is also a ceiling on Ember Lane - caused by the fact these houses tend to be smaller - pushing the market up like they are trying to do for this is not going to work for a house that's 'tired'.... - absolute chancers - there's no money in it for a developer/fixer upper and it's too big/expensive for most people going to do the work themselves. It WILL sit there for a while as the sellers believe it's worth more than it is. By the time you've done the work, the house would have to be worth £1.3M to justify the stamp duty, agent's fees, interest payments and work done (and a small profit) - it won't be because the max price there for a house (whether 6 beds or not) is probably just over £1M (maybe £1.1M at a push) - this is not the house that's going to get it....

Yeah, but the developers are moving into Ember Lane (or at least they have been, they might be thinking twice at the moment). It is handy for the station, but I agree it is definitely not a premier road in Esher, particularly as it is a rush hour cut through when hampton court way is busy (and even when it isn't). Also everyone who doesn't want to pay for the station car park, sticks their car in Ember Lane.

I haven't seen the inside of the 950k property. Sounds like you have. Are you a local EA?

EA, God no - I just looked at the photos, took a view on the age of the occupants and noted they'd stripped the floor in the dining room and put in an old person's take on a modern bathroom - complete with carpet.

The outside is straight out of the mid 1980's - faux French chateau colours - very naff. It's also overextended as is - badly done too with just cheap rendering covering what I suspect is just blockwork. The back was remodelled in the 1980's too - just look at the 'Italianate villa' arches and awnings.

the developers prefer the smaller houses on the wider plots - this is priced too high for them to be interested - as I say, on a sq foot basis, not taking into account the negatives of the way it looks or the condition....

Those blue/green roof-tile houses are quite popular round Esher though. Back in May, one went on one of those Open Days for "well over" the 850 guide price. It wasn't as big as this one (crap extension notwithstanding) and was on a better road. Whenever they come up they used to go very quickly. Not this one, but as you say, it needs work and is probably over priced at the moment and I would say ridiculously over priced in about a year.

Well we would have both been wrong, because Snivals are now showing it as under offer. WTF??

Shome mishtake shurely?

Incidentally, to anyone for whom the price of Esher is a bit high (99.5% of the country I would think), Walton on Thames has a better train service to Waterloo than Esher and has some very nice areas around. It also has a newly opened shopping centre with all the usual suspects (Carluccios, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Starbucks and Costas). It is cheaper than Esher as well, but not that much.

However, it can be a bit Chavvy in places. Burwood Park and Ashley Park are good places but if you have kids you need to be on the right side of Queens Road/Hersham Road (can't remember which one) otherwise, it's Rydens School, which doesn't have a great reputation.

We were looking to move there but it fell through and that is when we decided to rent.

Hi,

I have relocated from the midlands to this area recently. Been looking around for some time, need a semi or terrace close to mainline station and in driving distance to Epsom with a max budget of 330k.

Been looking in Esher recently and found an area called Sheriff Close.

Can anyone tell me why these are much cheaper than the rest of Esher? They look ok, I realise it's the cheap part of Esher but they just seem a bit too good to be true.

There are also 3 up for sale in this small area, warning sign? EA says it's a 'coincidence'! I don't believe in them.

This is the link (if it works):

http://www.gpees.co.uk/property-details.ph...&rps=gptrps

council estate
railway
sewage works
industrial estate
not really Esher
ex local authority (or similar) property at a guess.

for starters.

Plus getting to Epsom in the morning down the A244 through Oxshott and Malden Rushett in less than an hour. Good luck.

I'd look at Ashtead or Leatherhead.

You make it sound lovely! Seriously, thanks for your response.

We have a couple of viewings there on Saturday, I'll take a look. I'm afraid my budget is proving a serious limitation, been looking for 6 months now.

On the traffic, I currently drive from Thames Ditton every day to Epsom down the A240 and it takes about 30 mins so I would probably go that way.

Depressing stuff moving from Nottingham where I had a nice 2 bed semi with a large garden in a nice area which I'm being offered in the region of £100k for at the moment!

Sorry to be so negative, but there's no point not being blunt.

I'd try, Dorking - but it's a small town (nice though), Leatherhead (parts are chavvy but not that bad), keep away from 'that side of the railway' in Epsom - you go there, you'll know why...., parts of Banstead and uptowards Tadworth are cheaper than others, but I think you have to be choosy.

I'd go for Dorking and commute that extra 5 minutes.... - does the train not go straight into Epsom from there ?

Bluntness appreciated, that's the reason I asked!

Will do the viewing anyway, but with eyes wide open.

Will take a look at Dorking, thanks for your comments.

Dorking is nice and there is Epsom itself which has nice parts.

That is definitely a scraggy end of Esher, right by all those things that Rachman mentioned.

If you are going to buy, and are concerned about prices holding their value, then this isn't the right house I would say. These will be the first to go down in Esher, although Esher will hold its value in general better than a lot of places.

Rachman, it sounds like you have the same journey as me to get to the M25.

Recently I have gone towards cobham, down fairmile lane round to stoke road and then right by the garden centre and then right again after the disabled foundation HQ. Brings you out at the roundabout just b4 the m25 roundabout. I reckon it saves about 1015 minutes with all the cr@p in Oxshott at the moment.

Just recently moved into Thames Ditton (Weston Green end) and can thoroughly recommend it. Ember Lane is only 10 minutes from where we live but I find that area souless. I've got Esher station, Thames Ditton and Hinchley Wood station 8, 10 and 12 minutes walk respectively. (TD station is in zone 6 so train fares are cheaper). Esher high street's a 20 minute walk and Kingston a 10 minute drive.

Also if you get yourself in the right catchment area of Thames Ditton you've got superb state education from 5 through 18 with Thames Ditton Infant, Thames Ditton Junior, Hinchley Wood and Esher College - the reason all the oldies are steadily being replaced by young families. It's pricey - but where isn't. Certainly a much better bet than Ember lane or the souless area around Esher station, why prices are pretty similar.

TBF, Ember Lane is in the catchment areas for most of these schools, but I agree that Thames Ditton has a nicer villagey feel to it. The Stitchery does lovely chocolates as well.

The disadvantage of TD is that the trains aren't as good as the Esher service, but as you say if you are somewhere in the middle of those 3 stations, you can choose which one you want to go to/from.

Incidentally, scrap the route I mentioned the other day, it is horrendous at the moment. I think the Fairmile Lane Junction Traffic Lights are not set properly. The queue was back almost to Esher Toen this morning.

Do your research carefully on schools - we did (having had such a bad experience with primary schools in Wandsworth). The catchment area for Hinchley Wood secondary school (based on distance) is getting smaller each year. It now extends approximately to the river Mole, but as the school is getting better each year (as it is now a highly rated school) and more and more families move in, the catchment area will shrink. From Ember Lane you may also struggle with TD infant (one of the best infant schools in the UK) and TD junior. We know people who've pulled their kids from private to go to Hinchley Wood, because it's a very good school

If you want to educate your kids in the state system, as we do, Ember lane and surrounds could leave you ina tricky situation. If your out of the catchment area for Hinchley Wood for example, the nearest school is then Esher High, which is a poor school.

I think it depends on which side of EL you are and how far down you are. The Met Police End will get you into TDIS. obviously.

Our kids are past that though, won't say any more, since I wouldn't want people guessing who I am


We know people who have pulled their kids out of TD Juniors to go to Danes Hill...

Hinchley Wood Seniors only recently has a good rep, it used to be pretty poor (and can be again).

Went to view today, you were spot on!

Also viewed 3 houses in Epsom on the Manor Park estate, quite like one, anyone have any experience of this estate? Seems ok.

Mixed. A lot of local authority stuff and the usual edged in tiny houses with awful parking. BUt new houses, walkable to Epsom, not as bad as other parts, I think it's vulnerable if the market turns as I suspect there's an awful lot there is rented stock - and I suggest you could rent for a lot less than the mortgage interest.

If you have young kids, I think there are a lot of new friends for your kids.

I would want to walk round the estate at night, I use the David Lloyd just across from there and I see the chav Saxos going into the estate.

I don't like newbuild estates, so I am biased, but I'd still buy an older house in Dorking for less.

If you were really cynical, you could ask the estate agent about the local authority housed gippos on the back end of that estate.

Will have a drive about in the evening (not in a saxo VTR!) and see what it's like, did it last night and seemed quiet.

There appears to be a nicer side of the estate with larger houses, the other side has some smaller starter homes and isn't as well kept. Fortunately this house is on the good side.

Hi all,

Hope you don't mind my jumping in here.

Have been looking at flats in Elmbridge - mainly Cobham and Weybridge. I'm disabled and can only live on one level - hence the flat needed.

Weybride is awash with flats, however I'm putting in offers below asking price and they are not being accepted. The asking prices are really over the top.

The flats don't sell and the owners end up putting tenants in them or takes them off the market and leaves them empty. Hopefully one day one of them will sell to me...

The asking prices of the flats are silly. I look up the original price paid and then calculate the new price to offer them. It's not working!

One recent property I put in an offer and the seller accepts a higher one from elsewhere. Surprise, surprise it doesn't value at survey and the seller takes it off the market.

I'm sick of renting and not being able to adapt the flat properly. The expense of doing this, and then having the lease end is too hard.

Any ideas for now and for the longer term?

Not a problem.

Have you looked at the new block at Effingham Junction ? 5 minutes away but not in a town/village.

Or the ones on the Tilt - the new ones - I think a couple of them are for sale. Or you have the ones on Leigh Hill whatisname or Pendenza - but they look a bit crap to me.

There's a nice one for sale in Hatchford Manor, but it's nearly a million quid. Nice though

I looked at these, I thought they were overpriced - there is the new block going up near Waitrose, and I think there's some assisted living - I don't know if it's elderly only - there too - or it's the Sunrise Living on the A3 roundabout at Copsem Lane - but I guess you don't want them.

Have you looked at Broomhill or Claremont (Court/House) in Oxshott ?

I am getting a lot of interest from estate agents at the moment in Weybridge, Walton-on-Thames, Thames Ditton areas.

Apparently trying for 10% off will not be scorned according to 3 different estate agents (600-750k bracket).



The fun/grim reality has only just begun - I am waiting and my wife is starting to realise that my intransigence might be well founded.

Got a call today from an EA in Weybridge.
Were we still looking?
No we have decided to rent for a while.
Oh OK, because one of the details we have sent you has just been reduced.

Other EAs have been told we are no longer looking.

I should have paid a bit more attention, but rather than winding them up, I was desperate to get them off the phone.

Thank you Rachman for your very full reply.

I looked at the Penzenza and the Tilt but as it was at the end there was nothing in my price range. The Tilt had one left but there was no gas (all electric) to the flat and it was just out of my price range. If gas had been connected to the "station side" flats I would have bought one. Tried to talk this through with the developers but they were not at all helpful so gave up.

I went back and had a chat with one of the residents when I saw one on the market. They don't feel very secure there and a flat was burgled. They are trying to gate the community to stop people driving and walking through.

The one that was for sale, had my usual problem. Bought with stamp duty paid etc and now wanting to sell at a premium. I'll wait and see what happens there.

The same thing happened with one at the Banner Homes on Between St's. Bought with stamp duty paid and then put on the market at an inflated price. No interest, so sat vacant and now I think they have put a tenant in there.

I noticed that Banner Homes had bought another plot on between St's and I think that is the one you mean near Waitrose. I've put my name on the waiting list for details when available.

I'll try the Effingham Junction development. Looked there a couple of years ago and couldn't find much in the way of easy to get a wheelchair into flats. Will also try the Oxshott ones you mentioned but I've a feeling that they were out of my price range. Will re-look.

Wish that so many developments for the elderly would take the young disabled. Won't even let me have a look as I'm too young. The Banner Homes development "The Grange" would have been ideal but only for the over '50's and they say that they can't budge on this.

Thanks again!

Thank you Tomas and HPC poster,

There may be some hope for me yet!

Update the house I have had my eye on has now in the space of 10 weeks reduced twice.

6 weeks ago by £30k

Yesterday by £20k

+ the owner was willing to accept £50k off if we wanted to negotiate last week apparently so I dont think much will have changed this week.

down down you bring me down as Ian Brown once sung.

I'll let her sweat for as long as possible and then offer 15% further off and see what happens.

I fully expect it to be not the best timing but I will at least be ensuring 20% off whilst prices will drop 30%+ in the area over 3 years or so. Unless of course global banking meltdown destroys the whole system and brings ruinous deflation.

Life must be lived.

Tomas,

Which area is the place you are being offered a discount on. The reason I ask is that when we bought in Weybridge a few months back there wasn't much negociation in price but it will be good to see prices coming down.

Update

We viewed the house again that I have outlined in the thread above.
.
We have basically ruled it out due to the amount of overhaul it requires and that fact it is 10m from a relatively busy road in Walton-on-Thames/Hersham border.

Spoke to the agent this morning just to get a feel for what might be possible just to find out.

After going through the drawbacks etc I said that we could potentially be interested at the 500k mark - originally listed at 700k and now resting at 650k.

He said would we consider 550k? I said our current thinking is 500k and then we would think.

He said OK he would talk to them!

Weighing things up we would not buy this house even at 500k as 100k would need to be spent doing it up and the proximity to the fairly busy road is a negative to far.

Interesting though.

If he comes back saying accepted then I will say I have to discuss this with my wife before declining. Its just not right and the future for the housing market looks even bleaker in my opinion.

I feel a bit cheeky though no denying it.

Very interesting. Can you provide a link? I can promise we are not looking for a house on a busy road, although we were thinking of moving that way in the summer. It fell through and thank goodness for that I say.

I can't see anything on Findaproperty that fits the description.

I am sure you won't be, but if you aren't sure even at 500k, don't feel obliged to go through with it if you are not happy.
You can always say that you thought about it over the weekend and decided not to. That's what happened to the people we were going to buy off.

Wow Tomas,

What a result.

Do you have any idea if others houses in that street have been selling and what initial "markup" the agent put on the house? I usually look in the land registry webpage.

Don't bother with the house if it's not "the one". Sounds as if you will have the pick of the market.

Kindest regards,

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-882...=4&tr_t=buy

Link above.

Beautiful looking house, detached, nice layout, massive drawback in terms of location on Burwood Road. Right next to road where cars whizz by at 45mph.

Can hear cars quite loudly in front of house and in garden.

Would require new double-glazed sash window

Complete redecoration - hasnt been touched in 20 odd years is my best guess

Two new bathrooms

New carpets

New conservatory (not double glazed and not good build quality

New kitchen

= 100k renovations at least

Ability to sell-on in a few years without losing money on initial buy (500k if he comes back to saying they would consider it + 100k renovations) is negligeble IMHO.

Would be correct value at 400k maybe (considering investment needed) but it will always remain on a busy road - so very risky whatever.

Hi Tomas,
I did see that, but forgot that Burwood road was busy.
It looks a nice house, and I can understand from the above why there are no pictures of the kitchen and bathroom.

I was going to include a comment on fixer-uppers based on our experience, but didn't want to mention anything if it is something you know all about already.

Incidentally, there has been a definite flight to quality over the last few months round here. Houses on main roads aren't selling however nice they are inside. They will probably sell if the price is right obviously.

I'd agree about the flight to quality that is occuring around these parts.

Pretty much everything in the 600-700k mark has a pretty large drawback - next to busy road, rail line, poor quality neighbour housing etc.

What it highlights is that we are in a very stodgy period where houses are still being priced high on old news. It will take a few months for the real problems of our economy and housing market to trickle through before any of it is worthwhile and the better quality house start being marketed and priced down.

From dealing with estate agents as part of the viewing process it is clear that the stench of fear is all around. Patience is a virtue now as this is a one-way bet. It just depends on how low each local area goes.

I get the feeling that the stockbroker belt is going to be clobbered as the middle-classes bought into this debt bubble. This did not necessarily happen last time as area like Weybridge etc seemed to dip less last time around. This time I think they may be just as bad as the 1/2 bedders.

That's interesting to hear. A friend warned us against our STR strategy as last time Esher only dropped around 10%, which of course freaked mrs bob, who is worried about the whole thing.

I think that 30% falls are very much on the cards. And for properties that have to sell (for death, moving into nursing homes, divorce, foreclosure etc) like that one in Burwood Road appears to be, it could be even more.

In fact if it was originally on for 700k and they consider 500k, then that is already a 30% drop. Of course you won't see that reflected in the official figures because it never sold at 700k. And if you were to pimp it up and sell it for 650, then it would register as an increase of 30% in the house price stats in the time it took for you to do it up.

Also, Mrs bob, who remembers these things, says that house in Burwood Rd has been on since May and she thinks it started with an asking price of more than 700, possibly 750. Hmm.

Certainly been on for a while and £700k is as high as I have seen it but I can only account for the last 2 months or so.

House hunting lark is an interesting experience where you have to fine tune your senses. This was a wood for the trees one where the house was pretty and well laid out so you for a period considered it despite its mainly failings. The wife is at the end of her tether in pokey 2up 2 down in Oatlands. The concept of waiting another 6 months after many years of renting has lead to many a night watching tv in separate rooms.

We may go up a bracket to the 700-850k area and start watching what is going on there across the Surbiton to Weybridge train line route.

I expect the 850k properties may be 750k properties by Jan-Mar time once the froth is wiped off. By the time they consider a no chain, good to go offer I would hope 700k would be realistic.

I cant imagine in the normal scheme of things that 850k would dip any lower than 650k at the bottom of the crash (25% off) in this area. Unless of course we really do face financial armegeddon and universal 50% off over a long drawn out period.

Its best to see how the next 6 months play out in the world of finance, unemployment etc with commentary and analysis by our good friends of this board.

update....

"Would I consider 595k?"

No

So from 700k to 595k in the space of two months (-15%).

She'll have trouble selling it at all methinks.

Ha, since you wouldn't consider 550, it's unlikely you would consider 595. In that case perhaps they would consider 450. Don't they know that propertyy is coming down.
Maybe they would consider the 20 pence you found under the sofa plus the fluff from your navel.

Walton on thames has a really good service up to London. Better than Esher, particularly for those late night returns.

We would have been happy to move there to the house we found, but I prefer the idea of staying in Esher for a much lower price. As you say things will become clearer in the next 6 months to a year.