{"id":884,"date":"2015-01-01T20:41:21","date_gmt":"2015-01-01T12:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/?p=884"},"modified":"2015-02-10T21:20:33","modified_gmt":"2015-02-10T13:20:33","slug":"op-ed-shame-on-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/?p=884","title":{"rendered":"OP-ED: Shame on me !!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Please note<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0\u00a0opinions, viewpoints and experiences are by definition \u2018personal\u2019. \u00a0As such, \u00a0@ZombifiedPixie asserts that her specific\u00a0personal<\/em>\u00a0experience outlined in this blog \u00a0\u00a0may \u00a0or \u00a0may \u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0be applicable to others. \u00a0It is therefore up to the reader to make his\/her own mind about the merits of this opinionated blog.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, whilst every effort is made to be honest and accurate, @ZombifiedPixie makes no claim that all details here are factual, representative or complete. \u00a0Therefore, anyone researching any of the named parties are strongly advised to continue with his\/her own research to form a more robust finding. \u00a0To be blunt, this is an honest but\u00a0opinionated diary\u00a0and therefore should not be used in isolation when forming an opinion about any of the named parties. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

By continuing to read this post, you accept the terms of this website and you accept that you are reading an opinionated blog. @ZombifiedPixie accepts no liability if the reader mis-translates an opinion as\u00a0a fact.<\/p>\n

Feedback, correction and\/or alternative viewpoints, please contact\u00a0feedback@zombifiedpixie.com<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

+ \u00a0+ \u00a0+ \u00a0+ \u00a0+ \u00a0+<\/p>\n

Shame on me! \u00a0Shame on me! \u00a0I’ve been fooled. \u00a0Despite my very best and determined efforts and ‘street smarts’, I’ve been hoodwinked. \u00a0I hang my head low in shame.<\/p>\n

Damn the London property agents!<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the\u00a0fiasco\u00a0with 325 Borough High Street (see earlier blog), I wonder if my immune system against property-agent-developer-bullshit was compromised and therefore I was more susceptible to making foolhardy decisions. \u00a0Or, perhaps it was the pressure of seeing the property market rocket ahead and the fear of incurring an opportunity cost for not proceeding rapidly enough with another property that made me listen\/accept\/digest the bullshit from the next property agent. \u00a0Regardless, I blame only myself for not recognising the deft high-pressure sales tactic used by a Daniel Cobb (London Bridge branch) agent.<\/p>\n

When I’d received this email from the agent on July 11, 2014, alarm bells should have gone off:<\/p>\n

“An offer has come in from a bulk buyer to purchase all remaining units in the XXXXX. I understand from your previous correspondence that you are returning to HK today\/tonight however the developer’s would like to know if you would like to pursue unit XXX\u00a0asap.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As I was about to hop onto a 12+ hour flight (read: \u00a0no internet access), I had to make a very quick decision. \u00a0And so, I’d advised my husband that he should\u00a0proceed with the purchase of Flat XXX \u00a0before the “bulk buyer” snaps it up.<\/p>\n

It later transpired (according to the same agent) that the developer rejected the offer to purchase all remaining units from this bulk buyer. \u00a0Unfortunately, \u00a0we\u00a0discovered this only after<\/em><\/strong> the contract was signed. \u00a0 I now wonder (and this is only a supposition) whether or not there was ever a real bulk buyer. \u00a0 Have we been hoodwinked into making a significant financial decision\u00a0based on smoke and mirrors?<\/p>\n

The other major disappointment experienced was that I was led to believe, by the very same property agent who pressurised me\u00a0to make an immediate decision, \u00a0was that once the newly built apartments are completed, there would be an uptick in property value. \u00a0This is because (rough quote here) most buyers want to see the completed product to examine the fixtures and fittings. \u00a0Furthermore, a completed product has certainty\u00a0whereas an off-plan product has more inherent risks (such as delays in completion date, construction problems, etc) and therefore an off-plan is usually priced at a discount to reflect the higher risks.<\/p>\n

So at the completion phase (Dec 2014\u00a0– Feb2015 \u2026. due to unexpected construction delays), not only was I incredibly surprised to find out that of the 19 flats in the building, only 6 flats (including ours) have been sold. \u00a0And, instead of the price uptick linked to product completion, there was a drop of 5-11% in the asking price of the remaining units! \u00a0And this is during a period when prices in London are still increasing (albeit a slower growth rate \u2026. but a growth rate nonetheless)!<\/p>\n

Again, I have to ask myself whether or not there was ever a real bulk-buyer for the remaining units. \u00a0If there was indeed one, then I could only surmise that the developers (Northstar 2000 & Acorn New Homes) must be kicking themselves dreadfully because they would have sold the remaining 13 units at a much higher price. \u00a0Instead, the remaining units are now on the market at a steep discount.<\/p>\n

The only conclusion that I could reach that made sense to me<\/em> is that the apartments were originally overpriced and thus did not sell well and as a consequence,\u00a0the Daniel Cobb agent took advantage of my flight to Hong Kong to pressurised me to make a quick decision.<\/p>\n

Shame on me for not recognising the high-pressure tactic!<\/p>\n

In short, as bitter as the above pill is to swallow, I confess that I’m still at peace with completing the property purchase. \u00a0 (This is an owner-occupied purchase and not an investment purchase. \u00a0As such, the no-rent-to-pay offsets some of the bitterness.) \u00a0Regrets are terrible and I didn’t want the enjoyment of the new flat to be tarnished by what transpired previously. \u00a0I’ve therefore filed my experiences above as “lessons learned” and hoped that in the future, I will be a little smarter and less likely to be hoodwinked by (in my opinion) untrustworthy sales agents. \u00a0And that by the time my husband and I decide to move on and sell the property, we would not be in negative equity.<\/p>\n

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Please note:\u00a0\u00a0opinions, viewpoints and experiences are by definition \u2018personal\u2019. \u00a0As such, \u00a0@ZombifiedPixie asserts that her specific\u00a0personal\u00a0experience outlined in this blog \u00a0\u00a0may \u00a0or \u00a0may \u00a0not\u00a0 \u00a0be applicable to others. \u00a0It is therefore up to the reader to make his\/her own mind about the merits of this opinionated blog. Furthermore, whilst every effort is made to be … Continue reading OP-ED: Shame on me !!!<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,96],"tags":[31,34],"class_list":["post-884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grumbly-pixie","category-opinionated-pixie","tag-crazylondonpropertymarket","tag-london-property-market"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=884"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":914,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884\/revisions\/914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zombifiedpixie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}