So where are the best and worst places to have owned a property this year.
Latvia has seen rises of 26% while Ireland has seen a fall of 14%.
I don’t fancy either country so I will take my chances in England. No one knows whether prices are going up or down.

MyIntroducer.com | News | Rise in buy-to-let enquiries http://t.co/JP66ORS via @AddThis

There was an excellent piece in The Times on Saturday by Patrick Hosking about the outlook for the property market and it’s attractiveness to buy to letters. The premise was that bankers are admitting to plan to put their bonuses into bricks and mortar because of the steady and improving rent levels when compared to risky investments they ask us to put our money into.
Long term prospects look good and, with transactions at low levels, it won’t take much to put some oomf back into the market if a few more investors follow the same route.
With continuing low interest rates you may want to think about having a look.
I know that we are talking about the London market now but it won’t take long for the trend to travel north. I would be happy to talk to anyone who would like to know more.

I didn’t want to mention names but the agent who was the subject of my last blog was a branch of the largest estate agency chain in the country.
Small is good.

We had a good one this morning!
One of our clients is buying and hoping to complete a related purchase this morning.
The selling agent doesn’t have a car available so they can’t get to the property to sort out the card meter for the gas supply.
Their excuse was that there was nothing booked in the diary so the negotiator lent his car to his girlfriend. The manager has a car but he’s on a training course. Have they not of walking, maybe getting a bus or maybe stretching to a taxi fare? The house is about half a mile from their office.
I hope the manager is on a customer service course. On second thoughts I hope he isn’t!

A semi detached bungalow occupying a corner site in a well established residential area served by bus with easy access to the town centre.  The property, which is equipped with gas fired central heating and UPVC framed double glazing windows, offers deceptively spacious accommodation with two bedrooms, living room and a large kitchen but could be adapted to suit individual needs.

• Two Bedrooms
• Gas Central Heating
• Double Glazing
• Popular Residential Estate

One multi office estate agent in our area has come up with what looks like an offer worth considering but is it really?

This revolutionary turn round asks the buyer to pay the seller’s charges! So think about it. If you were buying and had a choice of a few houses, paying nothing or maybe several thousand pounds which would you choose?

Firstly you may think that the seller is desperate and doesn’t have enough to pay the fee. Then you think that you don’t see why you should pay for the service the seller is getting. SO YOU GO AND FIND ANOTHER

 Maybe if you were interested in the house ( because there weren’t any others available ) you would go in with a very low offer. Don’t forget that there would be VAT to pay on top of the premium and you couldn’t stick any of this on your mortgage : you would have to find this out of YOUR  pocket as well as your own fees and deposit.

So!  Good idea or not?

Not in my opinion. A good headline grabber for the agent which may appeal to some but there is a catch. If the buyer can’t come up with the money then the seller has to pay! It’s in the contract.

Oh by the way, I don’t think the premium is refundable if you have to back out through no fault of your own.

An oft repeated saying from a long time ago ….THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH.

Watch your step!

Sales

2011 has been a year of two halves. The first half of the year followed on from the back end of 2010 and saw a fairly strong market, boosted by a shortage of supply that created slight upward movement in house prices. Mortgage supply shortages were still an issue but for agents, the main issue was gaining instructions to sell.

The General Election put a dampener on activity and the removal of Home Information Packs contributed to an increase in the volumes of property coming to the market, shifting the supply and demand ratio and, as mortgage finance remained difficult to secure and with fears of austerity measure to be announced by the Government ringing in people’s ears, the market turned turtle and sellers found it increasingly hard to secure a buyer at other than very competitive and reducing prices.

In simplistic terms the UK housing market operates between 600,000 and 1.2m transactions every year dependent upon economic factors such as price growth, employment levels, mortgage availability and cost of finance. When the market is operating at its highest volume levels it is because there are large numbers of discretionary movers who choose to move. In harder economic periods these discretionary movers exercise their discretion and stay put and market volumes are largely made up of those who have no choice but to move, often through reasons such as death, divorce or debt. Despite historically low interest rates, we are now in the latter of the aforementioned markets as people either cannot borrow or are using the opportunity to repay debt. There are also concerns as to a future of increased taxation and reduced public sector spending. In short there is no “feel good” factor and no economic imperative to encourage people to make a move.

This scenario is likely to continue for the foreseeable future and certainly through 2011. There will still be a market and house prices are likely to slip but not collapse. Volumes however will be towards the lower end of the parameters mentioned above.

Tight cost control, improving fee levels and increasing market share should be high up the agenda of all sales agents.

Lettings

Having unusually seen a market where both sales and lettings business was strong the picture has shifted to a more normal one where the strength of the lettings market runs counter-cyclical to sales. Again, this is being fuelled by an imbalance of demand over supply.

With mortgages so difficult to secure (except for those with significant deposits) the average age of a first time buyer in the UK is rapidly heading towards forty and this has seen demand for rental property increase.

The private rental market has grown and now represents just under 10% of the UK market. To put this in perspective this is up on recent years but is way below the levels of 30% plus that existed in the early 1960’s before home ownership became the desired tenure of choice amongst the majority of the population.

Simple economics dictates that when demand exceeds supply, prices rise and there has been noticeable growth in rental levels. These look set to continue in the short term. A recent report from LSL plc indicated that the average rent in the UK was £691 per month and that this was likely to reach £700 per month plus early in 2011.

With young people having been encouraged to attend University and build up student debt, with economic uncertainty and likely higher levels of unemployment, the opportunities to save for a mortgage deposit is beyond many and therefore demand for rental property looks set to remain strong. Landlords, who may be rubbing their hands together in glee at this prospect should however remain cautious about squeezing tenants for ever higher rents, as the number of defaults and consequent void periods is also likely to increase. Securing a good quality tenant who is likely to remain in situ, look after the property and pay their rent will be key to making a strong return on investment.

Source:  Integra Property Sevices. Michael Day.

I get the feeling that, if it wasn’t for the twelve inches of snow, the property market would be OK. Yes I know it’s nearly Christmas but we were doing pretty well until the Baltic blew in to stay.

So what’s going to happen? The market should see a return to activity when the presents are taken back to John Lewis because they are the wrong size and you’ve given the chocolates to your gran because she’s the only one who likes the ones with the hard centres.

Get ready for a blast after Boxing Day. Borrow your kid’s IPhone, get onto our NEW fantastic web site and find yourself a dream house. If you can’t find what you want then register for email updates, follow us on Twitter or read our blogs.

Simple as that!

VALUING TO SELL OR GET THE INSTRUCTION?

The importance of realistically pricing property to sell

As we are all aware, the property market has faced much uncertain over the past couple of years. We are no longer in a period where any house on the market, at practically any price, will almost certainly sell. It is currently a buyer’s market.

This is why it is vital that each property on the market is priced realistically and accurately. This does not mean selling a property at an undervalued price. It simply means that if you wish to sell your house then it must be priced correctly. Any unprofessional agent can quote you high valuations and misguided figures, but achieving the sale in this climate is another matter altogether.

When selling your house it is imperative that the final valuation figure that you receive is based on experience and knowledge of the local market. A useful exercise would be to ask for the values of comparable properties, just so you can get some realistic sale values in your head. And these must be values at which properties have sold, not just marketed! The last thing that anyone wants is your property for sale sitting and stagnating on the market for months with little interest because an agent has overinflated its value just to get your instruction.

GET THE FACTS, NOT THE FICTION!

See Which Houses Have Sold in Cramlington and at What Prices