Helping Innovate Property (HIP) – Blog, Housing Market News and Articles

You’ve cleaned the windows, weeded the garden, touched up the paintwork and swept the drive, and still nobody wants to buy your well priced and presentable house. The scenario is familiar to all who have gone through the rigmarole of selling a property, but all is not lost; within an affordable budget there are a few things you can do that will most certainly add to the desirability of your house.

I imagine a number have been put off already by the word ‘budget’, but read on and you’ll see that a major impact can be made for relatively little outlay.

Paint the walls

The first step is to look at the walls. If you have heavily patterned wallpaper it can be off-putting for some buyers, as many will look at the décor and decide that it is not ‘for them’ as much as the last house they viewed.

The trick is to present a blank canvas. Read the rest of this entry »

Every day we read of drastic predictions for housing prices and the imminent crash of the property market, but when a report states that the average house has fallen by ‘X’ percent since a given date, one has to remember that the figure is taken across all areas of the country. It figures, that some locations must be performing considerably better than others. So where are they?

If you think I’m about to list a series of villages populated by football players and other super-rich types, you may be surprised, for the places on the list are as varied as could possible be.

Analysts have pointed to areas that have already suffered drastic losses in the period before the recent downturn – among these is the town of Warrington, a former industrial area that is undergoing regeneration. The latter is another factor in beating the fall, as areas that are already at rock bottom and are being spruced up and reinvented are generally performing very well.

An airport on Anglesey

An interesting exception to the gloom and doom is the Welsh island of Anglesey, a popular holiday destination to the north of the principality. Anglesey has recently opened an airport, bringing it much closer to England and Wales with regular flights to Cardiff. Agents in Anglesey report healthy sales, with no notable reductions of late.

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UK Property sales have slowed or as some describe ‘died’ and mortgage applications are at the lowest acceptance rates for years. The UK property market can seem to be in a tail spin at present and it is hard to look anywhere without apparent bad news emerging. Though, is it bad news for everyone?

For those people on fixed rate mortgages that are coming to an end with a high Loan-to-value (LTV) mortgage deal there are without doubt; unfortunately going to be difficult times ahead and the possibility of securing a mortgage with an attractive interest rate seems to be reducing.

However, to bring some positivity into the current market it does present attractive buying opportunities for some. Lets take our young couple who entered the property market 5 years ago and successfully obtained a relatively small mortgage in todays standards and have made their mortgage repayments since then on time.

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The final part of our Property Purchase Completion Guide we take a looka what happens when things dont go as planned.

Completions that don’t happen on the day

There are occasions when, for a number of reasons, completion does not happen on the day. Obviously this can cause serious difficulties however there are a few things that you can do to help mitigate these difficulties and any financial losses:

• Make sure you are available to speak to your lawyer and to the selling agents at all times. Find out what time your lawyer will be finishing for the day and see if there will be anyone staying later who could deal with any last minute issues

• If you are also selling a property do not hand the keys to your purchaser or allow them to move their belongings in unless your lawyer has advised you to do so

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The property completion proceedings are further discussed in Part 2 of of our guide; including some of the obstacles that you may encounter when buying your next home.

Events on the day of completion

In the normal course the completion monies will be sent by your lawyer early on the day of completion to the account of the seller’s lawyer. If you are also selling a property then your lawyer will need to receive the funds from your purchaser’s lawyer first which obviously means the monies would be transferred to your seller’s lawyer later in the day.

Your property purchase is considered completed when the seller’s lawyer receives the completion monies and when the seller vacates the property. As the lawyers cannot control what time the funds will reach their destinations there is no guarantee as to what time completion will take place. However, generally  it will be around lunchtime.

The contract will incorporate a latest time for completion. This will either be as per the standard conditions of sale, in which it will be 2pm, or it may be varied. It is very rare that it will be later than 2pm but it is quite common for it to be earlier, perhaps 1pm or even as early as 12. If the matter has not completed by this latest time then the party who has caused the delay in breach of the contract (see below).

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Property completion is the day that you get the keys to your new property and that the money is paid over to the seller’s lawyer. The date will have been agreed between you and the home seller prior to exchange of contracts and will be a fixed date on which both you and the property seller are contractually bound to complete. Over the next week we will be publishing our 3 part guide to Property Completion.

Agreeing a completion date

Before your lawyer exchanges the contract you will be asked for a completion date. There will usually be at least one week between exchange and completion to allow time for the mortgage funds to be ordered from your lender and final searches to be completed (though this can often be done quicker if required) and it must be a weekday but other than that you and your seller are free to agree a date that suits you both.

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The doom and gloom that pervades in the UK economy at the moment is exerting a heavy impact on the housing market – in fact, there are many who cite the wilful granting of excessive mortgages as the core of the current financial crisis.

This is somewhat unfair as, although it is clear that banks have been lax of late in controlling lending, the root of the problem lays with general mismanagement, with the housing market a convenient scapegoat.

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I think it’s fair to say that we’ve all been hit by the credit crunch in some way or other, if you haven’t, lucky you. What seems to have taken the biggest loss is the value of our humble abodes; the press would have us believe that property prices are falling at a staggering rate, so where does that leave the home owners that are still desperate to sell. Its dog eat dog, so how do we add value and make our homes more appealing without it costing us the earth.

First impressions are of paramount importance so if the front of your house is looking a little worse for wear it’s maybe time to update and refresh. Start with the front door, if it needs a lick of paint get the brush out, if not, hot soapy water and some elbow grease should do the trick. Pull out any unsightly weeds, sweep the path, mow the lawn, check the security light works and if the pocket can stretch get some planters to brighten the place up.

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The Bank of England recently reduced interest rates by 0.5% and many home owners looked forward to a reduction in their mortgage repayments, however has this been the case?

Some lenders have not immediately reduced their interest rates on existing mortgages as most were hoping for as the property market continues to struggle.

For banks’ customers with tracker mortgages guaranteed not to be greater than the defined gap between interest rates and mortgage rates; are likely to see the biggest interest rates cuts and will be seen on their repayments on their house loan in the coming weeks or months, dependant on their individual mortgage terms and conditions.

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You’ve located the house of your dreams, or should we be more realistic here and say you’ve located a property that ticks some of the boxes and has the ‘feel’ you were hoping for you? It’s true what they say; your gut instinct will tell you if it’s the right one for you. However, our emotions can run riot and cloud our judgements so it is essential to lead with your head and not with your heart.

So you’ve made a decision to put an offer in, but where do you start. How much you want the property will very much dictate that first offer, you may well jump in with both feet and give the vendor exactly what they’re asking for, alternatively, you may opt to play it cool and try your luck with a cheeky offer. In the initial stages you may be tempted to offer the ridiculous but do this with caution as you could end up losing credibility with the agent and ultimately lose the sale.

Before you commit to anything think long and hard, this is one of the biggest decisions you are ever likely to make and the road to purchasing a property can be long, hard and costly!

I’ve pulled together some of my thoughts to aid your ‘hopefully’ successful negotiations:-

First and foremost, do your research, look at similar houses on the market and compare prices, are you getting more or less for your money? If the property needs work, reflect this in your offer and let the Agent know why you’ve done this.

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Deciding on ‘the’ house is part of our guide to buying your next home and potentially one of the biggest decisions you are ever likely to make. There are a number of factors to consider, this will differ from person to person but there are key themes than run throughout any search be it for a one-bed flat or five-bed detached.

The pessimist in me would automatically say that we all generally want what we can’t have; however is this always the case?

Let’s consider budget, you’ve made an informed decision that you are able to borrow, make the repayments and continue to live a semi-normal life. You have a limit and you should stick to it.

Secondly you’ve pulled together a list of essential and desirable criteria that your new home must meet, this could be 3 bedrooms, separate garage, land to develop or something as simple as a down stairs toilet. You now know exactly what you want so start the search with this in mind.

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