I was sent a message last week saying:
“Hi Jeremy, this would have been something I would be extremely interested in if offered”.
The message included a link to an article in the Daily Mail with the headline:
Ellie Goulding ‘sells £3.1million London home’ after splitting from husband Caspar Jopling – and ‘makes a huge loss’
The article went on to say:
“Ellie Goulding has reportedly sold her £3.1million London home, following her split from husband Caspar Jopling…
… The five-storey, four-bedroom semi-detached townhouse in Marylebone was initially put on the market for £5.95million in October of 2020, before being slashed down by £350,000 to £5.6million a year later.
Now, according to The Sun, Ellie has discounted the property once again and sold it for for £2.55m, which is £625,000 less than she paid for it.
A source told the publication: ‘The property market is a killer at the minute and Ellie just wanted to get rid.’”
When I asked the gentleman what he liked about the house, he said that it would have been a good investment. Very true, so how did I miss this?
Well, unfortunately, the article was complete nonsense: the house sold several years ago and for closer to £5m not £3m. I expect the “source” mentioned in the article was probably the journalist’s goldfish…
Meanwhile, I had a message from someone else who had been using ChatGPT to estimate valuations and was getting some very strange suggestions – not surprising when it includes information from newspaper articles such as the one above.
The simple fact is that pretty much everything you read about property prices in prime central London is far too general to be of any real use – there are dozens of different markets within the same postcode let alone “prime central London”, so being told that the market is up or down is simply misleading.
Unfortunately, it is very easy to be influenced by such articles because they affect popular opinion. If the papers say things are dreadful, that is what will be the overriding sentiment in discussions at dinner parties, in the office, etc., which reinforces the story even if it is wrong.
And if you don’t believe me just look at the stock markets. Private investors who invest themselves have a shocking track record because they follow the press, i.e. if there is a reported panic, they sell at exactly the wrong time – near or at the bottom of the market. Conversely, they tend to buy at the top of the market when everything seems safe, but a crash is actually imminent.
But why would you take advice from a journalist on prime London property? Are they in the market every day? Do they buy dozens of properties in prime central London?
As it happens, I have just checked who the journalist is, and it transpires she is a junior showbiz reporter. Thank goodness we have her insights to rely on…
Admittedly, this is a very obvious example of a reporter not having a clue, but don’t think you can’t fall into this trap. We all do when it’s not our area of expertise. The gentleman who sent me the article is no fool. He is incredibly successful and intelligent.
Unfortunately, he is using this information to set the standard for what represents a bargain. Consequently, he is likely to miss out on great opportunities because his expectations are completely unrealistic as they are based on inaccurate data.
And I know I bore on about this point, but it is so important: there is no substitute for doing your due diligence. You MUST know what is happening to prices in your preferred area and for the type of property you wish to acquire.
This needs to be incredibly detailed. For example, what is happening to prices for apartments may be very different to houses. What is happening in the sub £2m market may be very different to the £10m+ market and the price movement of refurbished properties compared to unmodernised properties could also be miles apart.
This is far from an exhaustive list.
So please, please, please make sure that you have this knowledge, so you don’t become what I call an “estate agent victim” – the person who misses out on the best opportunities and massively overpays for average or poor properties.
If you would like to discover more about the strategies and tactics I use to find my clients the best opportunities and negotiate prices they didn’t think possible, simply contact me here or email Dee, my assistant, at [email protected].
