Iconic Films

2 for 1 tickets to Singin' In The Rain, this coming Monday. Book now

Navigation - link to other main sections from here

From The Sunday Times

June 10, 2007

Difficulty selling in Derbyshire

Jon Neale

When Tony Ward, 35, and Karen Wheeldon,37, put their Derbyshire home on the market in February, in preparation for their emigration to Australia, they expected a quick sale. After all, there had been a host of headlines claiming there was a shortage of country houses.

Their place, the Old Rectory, in Appleby Magna, Derbyshire, is exactly the sort of property that is supposedly so much in demand. The main house is an eight-bed Georgian pile in seven acres of grounds. There is a self-contained two-bed guest cottage, and a renovated coach house and stables have been transformed into Ward’s office. It has a swimming pool, tennis court and stunning views across open countryside.

The Old Rectory has been home to the couple for five years, and more recently, to their son, Charlie, 10 months – and they have extensively refurbished it, though it remains full of original features. Add in its location – just off the M42 near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in an idyllic village close to the border with both Warwickshire and Leicestershire – and a quick sale seemed fairly certain, despite the £1.5m price tag. Four months later, however, the house has still not sold and the couple have been forced to drop the price to £1.45m.

“We have had a lot of interested parties, and a number of people who have had second and third viewings,” says Ward, who works in the fashion industry. “The prospective buyers seem as if they have the disposable income and could afford the move, but they are not making a decision.

“It’s difficult to know why people are taking a long time. We had someone here at the weekend for his second viewing, and he brought his family along. Now he wants to bring his business partner. He said he had been looking for this type of home, and that his wife liked it. It’s as if he is looking for someone to say that property is still a good buy and a safe investment. There’s a lack of confidence. Everyone’s looking for a seal of approval. That’s the best way I can describe it.”

It's always a shame when people struggle to sell their house. However, this is a classic counter-example of the "worth what someone is prepared to pay for it" mantra.

Hopefully, by now, Tony and Karen will have found a buyer and completed (after all this article is over 4 months old as I type). Otherwise they may well be in for a rough time in the current property market.

People say that house prices are now finally starting to slow, but I've seen the signs coming for a long time. The most recent price rises have been driven by hot-spots, some of this activity has filtered elsewhere, but for years I've seen marginal properties sitting on the market for months. Any house too distant from an employment centre without good transport links or properties without enough character to justify their price just sit there, especially if they are overpriced.

Remember, most house price indexes are generated from completed sales, and asking price indexes will lag until people get desperate.

Hamilton Grayton, Newmarket,

You don't jump in with both feet to spend that sort of money without very carefully thinking about it. From my point of view I think they are over pricing what they have. Â£1.5m is a lot of money, looking at other sold properties in that area I think it's overpriced by about Â£0.5m. But what do I know I'm only the man in the street looking for a modest sized, modest priced property that my meager salary will allow me to buy.

peter, Sheffield,