The Property Sales People

2012: What lays ahead for homes and property?

2011-12-26T13:29:00.000Z

I’m writing this on 26th December which some might say is a bad time for predictions as the stomach is still churning and digesting yesterday’s Turkey dinner and copious mounts of alcoholic beverages. On the other hand it may focus my mind on whether the next 12 months are going to give any of us that ‘full’ feeling.

The danger with property market predictions is that they are generalisations. When the Halifax or Nationwide make their comments they are talking about the UK as a whole. When I make a prediction I’m talking about our particular little area of the country - incidentally East Cambridgeshire made it to No.4 in the ten best places to live in the UK http://bit.ly/vf0C4v (according to Simon Ward of www.lovemoney.com using Halifax Quality of Life survey data, and who am I to doubt him!)

The London market is buoyant with foreign investors buying and some reports will say that prices moved up even in the closing months of 2011. The north of the country has over the years lost many traditional industries and now the government cutbacks are going to hit those areas again where devolved departments have been relocated. So, the north is down, London is up and we, in the East of the country where we are not as reliant on Public Sector employment, are in a sort of Goldilocks kind of way ‘not too bad’.

The recent Eurozone bust up could cause us some property market grief because of its implications for our mortgage lenders borrowing funds to lend to us. The EU problem is not resolved yet so it is impossible for me to tell where this is all going to lead.

So, where are we headed? My gut-feel is that 2012 will be a very similar year for Ely and district as 2011. Sales levels will be reasonably good at realistic asking prices with over-priced, poorly located and badly presented properties losing out. But these factors have always been an issue, even in more robust times. It’s just even more important to balance and deal with them now.

The lack of reasonable loan-to-value mortgage funding (90-95%) will continue to hold back the volume of first time buyers and push many of them into renting. In a perverse way this is good news for buy-to-let investors and is one area of the market that I can see continuing to grow.

The volume of houses for sale will continue to be an issue and generally helps hold up prices. The table below shows data for July - September 2011 from the BBC:

The price fall for the year appears to be -4.9% . This should make our area an even more affordable place to live and coupled with all the excellent factors detailed in the Halifax survey who wouldn’t want to live around here?

Enough of predictions - let’s start the year as positively as possible, deal with whatever it throws at us as skillfully and effectively as possible and do what we do best - carry on!

Haddenham Pantomime 2012

2011-11-18T11:13:00.001Z

This year's (2012) pantomime in Haddenham near Ely is Robin Hood.

It's Panto Time in Haddenham

Oh no it isn't! Oh yes it is!

HAmDramS are resting over the Winter, before putting on a new production in the Spring.
In the meantime, the village is in panto mode once more.

This year the Arkenstall Centre presents
written and directed by HAmDramS member Robert Bush
Featuring a familiar cast of HAmDramS regulars and a cast of fantastic children,
this is a show you won't want to miss!
Evening Performances start at 7.30pm - - Saturday Matinee Performance at 2.30pm
Afterwards, from Haddenham Galleries - 01353 749188
Block bookings for 10 or more (except Sat eve) telephone 01353 740680
Licensed bar and charity raffle in aid of the Arkenstall Centre (registered charity, no. 300394)

David Clark and Company are providing a raffle prize and have an advert in the programme:

Heavy Handed Lenders

2011-09-18T14:30:00.000+01:00

This week we heard about someone who had received their 3^rd letter from the Cheltenham & Gloucester (subsidiary of that public/tax payer bailed out phenomenon known as Lloyds TSB) asking them how they proposed to pay off the balance of their mortgage in 5 years time when it reached the end of it's term. They had dismissed the first letter as an error and replied to the second letter giving as much detail as possible. I add here that the outstanding loan is interest-only so there is no capital being repaid. They have never missed a repayment – even though their business has been through and is possibly still going through the worst period in it's 25 year existence. They recently virtually paid off one mortgage account with a £25,000 cash payment and continue to overpay the balance of their loan. Not good enough for the C&G – they want details of exactly how the balance will be cleared in 5 years time! With documentary proof of the value of endowment policies that they have already been told will only cover 5% of the outstanding balance.

Could it be that the loan is on a very low rate that would not be available today? Would it be better for them if the borrower remortgaged elsewhere giving them cash to lend again at a rate that's better for them? Would it be better for them if the borrower decided to opt for a capital/repayment loan that was more expensive?

Perhaps it would be fair if the borrower wrote back to C&G and asked them for a detailed plan with proof of how the payments will be made on the £40 Billion of direct so-called 'Government Aid', otherwise know as Joe Public's money, that kept their business afloat?

Anyone else heard similar stories of bullying by state owned banks, who are probably hiding behind a facade of proposing responsible lending, hassling customers who are making their payments and doing their best to survive the recession? The person in our example has a 48% loan to property value, is in their early 50's. Is the C & G at risk of not getting their money? I think not.

PhotoSynth - A new 'tool' for estate agents?

2011-08-14T11:16:00.000+01:00

This Sunday I was scanning the Gadgets supplement in the Sunday Times on my iPAD and came across this latest photographic offering from Microsoft. A free download of Photosynth to your iPhone and away you go creating panoramas and 'Synths'. The product reminds me of something we dabbled with in the early '90's called iPIX. This involved a fish eye lens attached to a digital camera and you took 2 hemispherical photos of a room (imagine standing at the centre of a tennis ball). The 2 photos were then stitched together using some software which you could then upload to the web. I eventually grasped how to add it to a web page but it wasn't easy - or quick. This came to an end when the original iPIX company went bust. The simplicity of Photosynth and the ability to upload to your Facebook page as well as it being hosted on www.photosynth.net means this could be a winner - certainly when compared with iPIX! I'm going to have a go and report back on my next blog post

Newsletter Now Out, plus Facebook Page

2011-08-01T19:44:00.000+01:00

We have just made a major investment in reaching out to homebuyers and sellers by launching our 'intelligent' newsletter which recipients can tailor to their own interests by choosing the subject areas that they want to read about. The company we have partnered with to produce this is BriefYourMarket who have a highly effective relationship with our estate agency software provider, ExpertAgent, who enabled data from the last 5 years to be available. Obviously the initial 'test' send out whittled numbers down from over 5,000+ e-mail addresses to more manageable numbers to actually receive the newsletter. The last thing we want to do is upset people by sending them e-mails that could be construed as 'spam' and from hereon only people who subscribe or remain subscribed will receive it.

I'm interested to learn if anyone has a particular subject that they would like one of our contributing writers to talk about. Send your requests to editor@clarkhomes.co.uk and we'll see what we can do.

We have had a presence on Facebook for quite a while now but the original company page has now been dismantled in favour of the new professionally created page that incorporates a 'property search' function. We'd like to get everyone switched over to this page. A search for 'David Clark and Co' will find it. As we list new properties for sale or to rent we'll be featuring some of them here. Anyone who is really keen to buy or rent should sign up to make sure they find out about properties as early as possible. Don't worry, we'll still be phoning you, e-mailing and texting too!

Happy Sellers and Buyers!

2011-06-17T09:26:00.000+01:00

I just had to display this for everyone to see! Yvonne has been very stressed during this transaction so conveyancing solicitors will need to bear with her...

Sent: 16 June 2011 18:15
To: Barbara Harding
Subject: re our exchange

Thank you to you and David for the little extra support you gave me
latterly in the process it was much appreciated. We were afflicted
with just about very problem you can get in a conveyance..except
someone dropping down dead ! I dont know that everybody knows
everything which gummed up the works along the way but certainly I
now have a very clear idea of what is good and bad in legal and
estate business. YOU and Barbara Brooker were great and even a
Hertford estate agent I met on the way called Senel Ibrahim (of
Lanes) rang me up at intervals to ask how we were getting on..we were
hoping to buy in Hertford initially but the properties went up too
much in price.
In theory every property should have its own one to one manager 24/7
but in practice I suppose this is not possible a lot of the time
especially in larger agencies. It certainly would improve things
though if solicitors all informed their clients more often and
truthfully...there again buyers dont always play the game either as I
have seen.
I have been in an advantaged position of being able to access all
parties (with perseverance) without the restrictions of law and
ethical practice imposed upon the professionals. I fully realise
this and am aware that your role is somewhat more restricted...it
must be very frustrating for you doing this stuff sometimes if nobody
will tell you anything or the buyers are thick.

I hope you have an increasingly successful year and that the property
market goes back to its usual buzzing self very soon. I am also so
glad you sold my friend Mary's house in Beresford Road..relatively
quickly too...she has been very unwell and needs an easier place to
maintain. I tried to chemically burn out the bamboo in her garden
and it was a difficult job..did the developers think it was a
resettlement area for pandas? Nobody plants that stuff anywhere but
in pots or the garden is lost. I think solicitors and developers
need shooting..my solicitor is better than most though even she was
getting ratty towards the end- perhaps we all were.

Best Wishes

Yvonne

Fwd: HomeLet launches most comprehensive report on rental market

2011-06-09T18:19:00.001+01:00

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "HomeLet" <info@homeletnews.com>
Date: 9 June 2011 18:15:46 GMT+01:00
To: <david@clarkhomes.co.uk>
Subject: HomeLet launches most comprehensive report on rental market
Reply-To: "HomeLet" <info@homeletnews.com>

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£10 Billion of Public Land up For Grabs to Combat Housing Shortage

2011-06-07T18:09:00.000+01:00

In a report in today’s Times it was reported that 1000’s of acres of public sector land that is deemed surplus near hospitals, schools and military bases must be identified by the autumn of this year to enable a potential sell-off.

Part of the proposal is a ‘Build Now, Buy Later’ plan whereby developers can pay for land once homes are completed. It is not clear in the article whether this means physical build completion or legal sales completion. The only way it would help developer/builders with a cash-flow problem is if it were the legal sales completion where money changes hands from buyer to seller.

Let’s just look at the ‘headers’ again:

· Housing Shortage

· Surplus Land

· Developers/Builders with cash flow problems.

There is a housing shortage that is true. It was talked about before the more recent implosion of the financial system that helped create the current recession that has in turn caused a house price correction. House builders will not build at a loss. It’s not their ‘raison d’être’! So if it is not worthwhile building houses then you won’t. This situation has led to an increase in an already apparent shortage. It is worth examining where the ‘shortage’ actually is. Do we have a shortage of 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom, detached homes with triple garages and a pool? No. Do we have a shortage of 2/3 bedroom terrace and semi-detached homes? Probably Yes! I say probably because we are selling these homes that come to the market at prices that are affordable. So the key is price or affordability and it is primarily a social housing shortage.

If you have a shortage of any commodity, be it houses, flour, sugar or oranges then the price naturally rises if there is demand for it. It rises until it reaches a point where the buyers/consumers able to afford it drop off in numbers sufficient to halt further price increases (lack of sales) and the commodity remains on the shelf.

So the only way developers will buy surplus land to build homes on is if there is a market for the properties they build. The tightening of mortgage lending, by increasing deposit requirements to levels unheard of before, means that the demand for these homes is there (the shortage) but the ability to buy is not. How is this equation solved? Simplistically you sell the land very cheaply so that when the build cost and profit requirement are added you have a total price that is within the grasp of these buyers. Why would any seller sell at the bottom of a cycle? If the land is surplus it was surplus some time ago!

Unfortunately, and I’m thinking out loud here, what happens to the value of similar second hand property in the vicinity of these new homes?

The other way is to create homes built by Government (our money) on surplus land (our land) to provide for the shortage. I think they used to call them Council Houses but today’s term is Social Housing!

Just to address the last point ‘Developers/Builders with cash flow problems’. Why is this the case? Probably because they can’t sell the homes they’ve already built, on land that they paid a lot more money for, at a profit and in sufficient numbers to create that cash flow.

I’m not proposing any answers here because I’m not certain there is any totally correct answer. If you think you might have then give Grant Shapps the Housing Minister a call!

House builders discuss 95% mortgages with lenders

2011-06-01T20:44:00.000+01:00

So the house builders and the lenders have had a meeting to discuss how they can create 95% mortgages. Basically a good thing, as you would imagine most estate agents would say. But what proportion of the housing Market is represented by new homes sales to first time buyers? Also any first time buyer who purchases a new home is then a cost to the second hand Market of who knows how many sales!

If I think back 30 years my wife and I as first time buyers were providing a deposit of 10%. To do this we sold her car, saved up by not going out as much and generally committed ourselves to the task of buying our first home together. Ah, you might say, but house prices were so much cheaper then. True but my salary was just under £2,000 per annum with the prospect of perhaps another £1,000 in commission from selling at lease 6 houses per month personally. The first 4 didn't count towards commission but were to cover my costs to my employer!

I personally don't think 95% mortgages are what it's about. 90% is OK but today's first time buyers have to seriously want to do it! If that makes me sound old-fashioned then so be it. At least today's FTB's are not contending with galloping house price inflation. Qualifying for the mortgage is another can of worms. Freely available credit has enabled lots of youngsters the opportunity to get themselves a bad credit rating. The first whiff of this sort of problem and an application is rejected. Broadly this is seen as reigning in 'bad lending' but we have seen the extremes where minor misdemeanours create the same rejection.

The only way the Market as a whole will be motivated again is for reasonable lending to be restored - not just to to the new homes Market!

Britain's housing market is an unexploded economic bomb - MoneyWeek

2011-05-19T13:56:00.000+01:00

Britain's housing market is an unexploded economic bomb - MoneyWeek

By all means read this thoroughly depressing article but bear in mind that for our part we have had the best 3 month run in terms of sales, new instructions and contract exchanges since 2007 when we agree that the 'top' of the market was reached. As a broad brush generalisation estate agents are not interested in rising or falling house prices - they earn their living from actual sales so it is the volume (number) of transactions that is the real issue. Our view is that volumes are up! Home owners can only put off a move up or down the market for so long before other pressures come to bear and they simply have to do it.

If you still feel like you need to be reassured that the only way is down then take out a subscription for a regular copy of the Daily Mail!

Check out Speed-Up Conveyancing

2011-04-24T07:32:00.001+01:00

Check out this application on the App Store:

Speed-Up Conveyancing

PD Mobile Media Limited

Category: Business

Updated: 08 Feb 2011

iTunes for Mac and Windows

Please note that you have not been added to any email lists.
Copyright © 2011 iTunes S.à r.l. All rights reserved

Sent from my iPad

Moving On: Top 10 Moving Blogs

2011-04-06T11:20:00.000+01:00

I've just been e-mailed this link http://mastersinpublicadministration.com/moving-on-top-10-moving-blogs by Joseph Morris which is worth checking out if you need some assistance in the business of moving house! It's USA biased but there are some useful threads there.

Help For First Timers??

2011-03-16T16:11:00.000Z

Councils to help first-time buyers on to housing ladder

Extracted from BBC online news

Councils are to help first-time buyers get on the housing ladder by topping up their deposits.

Five councils are pioneering a scheme aimed at buyers who can afford the monthly mortgage repayments but do not have a lump sum saved up.
Many first-time buyers find it difficult to purchase a home because lenders are asking for hefty deposits.
The councils will put 20% of the price in a Lloyds TSB account, with the lender asking for a 5% deposit.
The funds will not go to the buyer and the mortgage rate will be lower.
The councils risk losing money if a buyer defaults, but they get a generous interest rate themselves.
The scheme could benefit up to 300 first-time buyers in each area, but if other councils join, thousands could potentially benefit.
Another 10 councils are waiting to join the scheme.

The scheme is called Local Lend a Hand.
"We know that a lot of young people turn to the Bank of Mum and Dad to get their foot on the ladder, but that is not a solution for everyone," said Stephen Noakes, of Lloyds TSB.

"By developing Local Lend a Hand and working with local authorities across the UK, we're broadening the prospect of home ownership to even more first-time buyers.

"Helping people to buy their first home is crucial in achieving and maintaining a sustainable housing market," he added.
The councils involved so far are Warrington, Northumberland, East Lothian, Blackpool and Newcastle-under-Lyme.
The scheme was welcomed by Housing Minister Grant Shapps, who encouraged the industry to offer greater help for first-time buyers at a recent summit.
"I am delighted to see that those on the front line of building homes and providing mortgages are stepping up their efforts to help aspiring first-time buyers get a foot on the ladder," he said.

But estate agent and property market commentator Henry Pryor said that councils should not be risking money during a time when their budgets were being squeezed.
"It is not the job of the local authority to spend council tax money propping up an over-heated housing market. If prices have to fall back so that first-time buyers can afford to buy then that is what is what should happen," he said.

Figures from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), published earlier this week, showed that only just over 2% of new mortgage lending in the final three months of 2010 was to those who could offer a deposit of less than 10% of a home's value.

David Clark and Company comment: Our local authority have just spent £500,000 on planning and design for an out of town sports venue that may never be built in the foreseeable future. If councils budgets are squeezed then we think £500,000 spent on helping local first time buyers is a better bet for the continuing economic growth of the area than providing income to architects, consultants and planning fees. If Henry Pryor (see quote above) were to see a housing market fall by the 20% needed then the days of his being in a position to make a comment as an 'estate agent and property market commentator' would be well and truly over!

Mary 'Queen of Shops' Portas Does Estate Agents

2011-02-09T22:48:00.000Z

Mary Portas 'Queen of Shops' does Estate Agents

Well done Mary! You succeeded in finding the rare dinosaur firm of estate agents that choose to use cliches to describe property and whose sales staff know nothing about the property they are selling! How have they managed to get away with it for so long? Especially with Trading Standards having the power of the Misdescriptions Act to defend the public from agents not telling it like it is.

We try to be factual, clear and honest and I believe over the last 20 years in business in Ely we have never stretched the truth. Having staff who don't know anything about a property they're selling or showing someone round, is counter productive. Several people and Ms Portas herself banged on about how much they were paying an agent to sell the property. Exactly, we only get paid if we sell it, no upfront fees, no abortive fees, no withdrawal fees. So we don't send people on viewings who know nothing about the property as we are very unlikely to make a sale - just increase our costs!

Our sales particulars are factual , but I will admit to not going into extreme detail about minor negatives as our vendor clients would not be impressed. So a property has no garden - would you not mention this? Just so you could conduct dozens of viewings to no purpose? I think not.

We sometimes produce digital video which we host on YouTube and link to our website. Last year we had a 3 bed semi at a keen price but needing lots of work. Rather than show dozens of people round we got them to view the video first then arranged viewings with those who felt they could cope. It took 6 viewings to agree a sale!

Mary used the tour guides to 'teach' the agents how to conduct a viewing. I suppose it illustrated a point but the tour guides were showing one property, 5 days a week and all day! I'd hope they did know their subject in depth. You would expect the seller to have the best knowledge of their own home but many are guilty of overselling a feature or benefit to a prospective buyer and it is not always possible to give the seller a complete 'brief' on the person(s) coming to view their home.

The business owner made a valid point that it is not just agreeing a sale that you pay your agent for but their ability to oil the wheels of the sales process as it trundles towards exchange of contracts. That's a different type of knowledge and skill and one that comes with experience and the ability to liaise with local legal and mortgage professionals to keep it on track. We have a low fall through rate which we believe is testimony to our proficiency in this area.

We'd like to value and Market your home, we'd like to show you round a property that will meet your needs. Give us a try and bring Mary with you if you like!

Interesting Rental Market Research

2011-01-07T07:40:00.000Z

SimplyBusiness.co.uk report on the Changing Face of Britain’s Landlords as Young Entrepreneurs enter the Market

Analysis from SimplyBusiness.co.uk has indicated a significant change in both the age and gender of private landlords in the UK. The traditional face of the archetypal British landlord is changing according to the study which shows there is a new, younger breed of landlord entering the private rental market; which would indicate that when it comes to property, many still think that there’s money to be made.

Comparative data of landlord insurance policies sold by SimplyBusiness.co.uk in 2006 (versus 2010) shows a marked increase in landlords aged 18-34.

Likewise the gender gap is beginning to close as 39% of landlords insured via SimplyBusiness.co.uk are female, versus 36% in 2006.

Interestingly, when comparing the types of property being insured, there hasn’t been a statistically significant change since 2006 with terraced housing still accounting for the largest proportion of private rented accommodation.

Julian Watson, landlord insurance product manager for SimplyBusiness.co.uk says:
“There is a great opportunity within the rental market at the moment, as the ongoing financial instability sees first time buyers struggling to get a foot on the property ladder and remaining in rental properties for much longer than planned. However, landlords also need to be aware of the impending housing benefit cuts which may present a challenge, as well as an opportunity to the savvy property investor.”

For those who are thinking about becoming private landlords, SimplyBusiness.co.uk would recommend thinking about the following:
1. Budget - Establish your budget beforehand. Make sure the figures stack up and that you can make money out of renting out your chosen property. Don’t forget that you’ll need to consider not only the costs for the purchase of the property but also for those you’ll be facing annually; and those maintenance costs which may occur every two to three years.
2. Save - Save for a ‘rainy day’; you might need to fund the mortgage payments yourself if your property is unoccupied; or pay for maintenance, redecoration etc.
3. Regulation - Do your research on the challenges that future regulation may bring to you as a landlord.
4. Finance - Choose the right mortgage. It’s still going to have to be paid whether you’ve got a tenant in the property or not.
5. Tenants – Decide what sort of tenants you are looking to attract, and make sure your property works for them. Additionally, make sure you select your tenants carefully, and seek references

All data is sourced from the 19,851 Landlord Insurance policies sold by SimplyBusiness in 2010; versus the 6,234 policies sold by Simply Business in 2006.

Relevant Links
http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2010/12/2010-12-23-the-changing-face-of-britains-landlords/

http://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/landlord/

For further information relating to this report, please contact:
Hannah Smith, Distilled
hannah.smith@distilled.co.uk or call 020 7183 0767

Christmas Opening 2010 & New Year 2011

2010-12-11T14:03:00.000Z

Best wishes for Christmas 2010 and New Year 2011!

This year we are closing our doors at lunchtime (12:00) on 23rd December and re-opening at 9:00 am on January 4th.
For the benefit of our tenants and landlords you can still reach us during this period by dialing 01353 645809 . Please leave a message with your name, brief description of the situation and full contact details. Our system will e-mail the voice mail to the mobile of the duty person who will be back to you as soon as possible.

The DPG (Primelocation) Research on the Market

2010-12-02T08:18:00.000Z

Well worth a read! What's the saying? "Don't believe everything you read in the papers"

Comments from DC & Co in due course.

http://issuu.com/tdpg/docs/tdpg_research_property_market_insider_winter_2010?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed

Date that Property

2010-11-09T17:26:00.000Z

Ever wondered what 'period' your home belongs to? Or if the selling agent got the date right!

Here's the (not exhaustive) guide:

How to age a home

Tudor (1485 - 1603): half-timbering, steep roof, tall and narrow windows, large chimneys
Jacobean (1603 - 1660): flat roof, columns and pilasters, decadent detail
Georgian (1714 - 1837): two chimneys, matching housefronts, large sash windows, brick walls, contrasting window frames, porticos
Victorian (1837 - 1901): slate roof, three stories, bay windows, ornate finish, Gothic and Renaissance revival, ordered room layout
Edwardian (1901 - 1919): red brick, gables, semi-detached, mansion blocks, functional design, less decoration
1920s and 1930s: functional, smaller, mock-Tudor and Georgian revival, plain doorways and lintels, Art Deco, geometric
1940s: angular and shiny surfaces, wooden panelling, tiled fireplaces
1950s: open plan design, streamlining, picture windows, minamalist, high-rise, prefabs
1960s: Large, tall windows touching floor level. Low pitch roofs. Timber cladding. The first 'estate' houses.

Sage Advice From Mike Woodfine

2010-10-27T21:08:00.000+01:00

When everyone is diving in then it's probably best not to be buying. The reverse is often true but Mike Woodfine from The Money Centre advises would be investors on the correct attitude to borrowing mortgage money. Read the Yorkshireman's advice here http://bit.ly/arQLwu !

Tory Minister Vows to End Era of House Price Booms

2010-10-14T22:07:00.000+01:00

Tory Minister Vows to End Era of House Price Booms

The latest nonsense to issue from the mouth of a Con-Dem minister has left me agitated, not to say irritated!

The Daily Mail of 13th October reported Grant Shapps’, the Housing Minister, speech to the Housing Market Intelligence conference. Read in full here http://bit.ly/dpGL4K if you are suffering from low blood pressure.

He stated: “...middle class families ... should not rely on their homes to fund retirement”. We have had a Labour Government mount a several billion pound raid on pension funds, a stock market lose our pension funds a fortune and now we have a Tory telling us that property as a pension is a mortal sin! I suppose if you are an MP or a senior civil servant then you won’t need to worry about the investment in your property as you have a gold plated, brass constructed pension that the middle-classes have, and are still being asked, to fund from their heavily taxed income, whilst paying into their poorly performing personal pension schemes.

Someone quoted the ‘middle classes’ as wanting falling prices to enable their offspring to get a foot on the property owning ladder. These would be the same people funding the 20% plus deposits required by lenders these days. Where are they doing that from? Personal savings? or from re-mortgaging the properties they have paid, or have virtually paid, off loans on. Announcing that government policy will actively seek to erode prices is unthinkable!

The conference was also treated to a suggestion that Building Regulations will be relaxed to make the construction of more new homes easier. What? The reason the UK only built 142,000 new homes last year was because builders went out of business and those that remained managed to rein in their construction to match demand. The building / property industry is governed by supply and demand. To spell it out: Low demand = reduced supply! No mortgage funds at reasonable loan-to-value ratios = No buyers!

If the government starts to talk about major cutbacks, unemployment in the public and private sectors in July but also says it won’t actually announce the detail until the 20th October then it will produce a property market that has stalled.

The reports coming out of the recent Conservative party conference have sounded like a party using the platform as a sounding board for it’s proposals but at the same time feeding a Public looking for a lead and positivity with more to fear and worry about. To paraphrase Franklin D Roosevelt: “Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself” . Oddly enough he made this comment during the USA’s 1932 elections when the depression reached it’s depth in 1933.

Another of Mr Shapps’ proposals is to help the market by holding interest rates down. Low rates are what are preventing repossessions increasing. They are not helping first time buyers as they don’t have access to the lower rates unless they have large deposit funds available to them. House prices fell after October 2007 and throughout 2008 by as much as +/- 20% which has made them attractive to first time buyers. Then the lenders, under the cover of “more responsible lending” doubled the deposit required. In common with many 50+ year olds we bought our first house at the age of 22 with a 10% deposit that we had saved and cobbled together. It was bought as a first ‘home’. Mr Shapps then states: ‘Calling for an end to the ‘lottery’ of the housing market, he said: People should think of homes as a place to live rather than a pension’

Well, the news is the vast majority of this country’s home buyers buy their property with this uppermost in their minds. The idea of buying is to end up mortgage free and at the same time rent free. The continuing remark was “buying a house shouldn’t be like playing the lottery”. Short term profit taking is the reserve of a small minority and professional developers. I think he is trying to say that people should not suffer market highs and lows, but that is not a reason for attempting to create a market that is permanently flat.

He has obviously touched a nerve as the Mail Online version of the article had attracted 327 comments by the 14th October! We are all, with a minority exception, looking at a pension short-fall and now they want to take away the ability of a large majority (bearing in mind 60+% home ownership) to add funds from their property that they have personally paid for.

How Resilient Are We to the 'Cuts'?

2010-09-21T19:05:00.000+01:00

It feels to me like the UK property market is holding it's breath waiting for the public spending cuts to finally be announced. In a late August blogpost I stated my irritation that the cuts were announced but not going to be implemented or details given until October.

Well, in advance of the actual announcements, the BBC have created a page on their website where you can check out how resilient your area may be. This is based on a number of factors to create to a figure between 1 and 324. 1 being most resilient and 324 least.

East Cambridgeshire scores 45 whilst nearby Fenland 235 and South Cambridgeshire 10!

Check out the site here: http://bbc.in/aY28rC

Sash Windows On Older Homes

2010-09-21T11:28:00.000+01:00

At the last minute we are getting our sash windows painted this week. The windows are hardwood replicas of the original Victorian ones, complete with sash cords and brass pulley wheels and were made by R S Button Joinery in 2003. This is the second time they have been painted since then so I feel they were a good investment. Luckily we were able to use the old-style narrow gap double glazed units to keep the style correct and not have over-large glazing bars. English Heritage have advice on sash windows here http://bit.ly/aQVYOH

Home Selling Tips & Suggestions

2010-09-11T17:19:00.000+01:00

This article was published in the Telegraph and is headlined

Tips for selling your house this summer

I think the comments and tips hold good for the Autumn while we wait for the 'Cuts' and really any other season of the year there is something to glean from this collection of agent's suggestions.

http://bit.ly/cu9f4i

Autumn is Just Around the Corner

2010-08-27T16:08:00.000+01:00

As I write this it is nearly the end of August and the rain, which hasn't stopped all night, is still pouring down on a bedraggled Market Place. Stallholders are regularly pushing up their canvas roofs to send a cascade of water over the ground. Depressing? Just a bit, maybe, but look on the bright side. We will soon be in September with the throngs of bored children heading back into the arms of their welcoming teachers to continue their studies towards the next crop of A* GCSE's and A levels.

What of the property market, which is now looking towards early Autumn? The coalition government announced mid Summer that they would be making their main 'Cuts' in the Autumn and I feel that the usual holiday season lull has been intensified by the prospect of this happening. If you tell a population that there is pain to come then they batten down the hatches and wait and see. The recent retail figures and mortgage approval figures may bear this out to a degree.

Once people know where they stand and the children are back at school we may see a market shake itself off and begin to move forward. I'm not talking price rises – just activity! There are parts of northern England where 45% of the working population are employed in some way by government. Similarly large numbers of people in Cambridge are employed by the NHS at the Addenbrookes hospital complex and in teaching although they have reassured us that the NHS will not be as savagely attacked as some departments.

So we fight our way to the end of the year with the prospect of a VAT rise to 20% in January 2011. That debt has to be repaid you know! If the impact of this rise is as great as the previous governments tinkering by reducing to 15% then I doubt we have too much to concern ourselves with. Lets take an average (for this area) estate agency fee of £2,000. VAT at at 17.5% adds £350 and at 20% £400. Looking at it realistically would £50 stop this transaction?

Summing up I think VAT hikes are the least of our worries. Dismantling too much government employment and projects too quickly could cause us all some problems, not just those directly employed by the public sector.

Definitely a Work of Fiction!

2010-08-12T08:53:00.000+01:00

John Phelps, a former property correspondent for the Cambridge Evening News and a property journalist for more than 30 years, has just published his first novel: Agent From Hell. He reassures me when he aserts " I have never met an estate agent like Theo Salter and, in any case, the book is not an agent's manual... it is meant to entertain!"
Priced at £8.99 it can be ordered from bookshops or from Matador Publishing. Follow this link for review and details
http://www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=1142

The Property Sales People

2012: What lays ahead for homes and property?

Haddenham Pantomime 2012

It's Panto Time in Haddenham

HAmDramS are resting over the Winter, before putting on a new production in the Spring.
In the meantime, the village is in panto mode once more.

Robin Hood

Wednesday 11th - Saturday 14th January 2012

Tickets go on sale on Saturday 3rd December at the Arkenstall Centre in Haddenham

Heavy Handed Lenders

PhotoSynth - A new 'tool' for estate agents?

Newsletter Now Out, plus Facebook Page

Happy Sellers and Buyers!

Fwd: HomeLet launches most comprehensive report on rental market

£10 Billion of Public Land up For Grabs to Combat Housing Shortage

House builders discuss 95% mortgages with lenders

Britain's housing market is an unexploded economic bomb - MoneyWeek

Check out Speed-Up Conveyancing

Speed-Up Conveyancing

Moving On: Top 10 Moving Blogs

Help For First Timers??

Councils to help first-time buyers on to housing ladder

Extracted from BBC online news

Mary 'Queen of Shops' Portas Does Estate Agents

Interesting Rental Market Research

Christmas Opening 2010 & New Year 2011

The DPG (Primelocation) Research on the Market

Date that Property

Sage Advice From Mike Woodfine

Tory Minister Vows to End Era of House Price Booms

How Resilient Are We to the 'Cuts'?

Sash Windows On Older Homes

Home Selling Tips & Suggestions

Tips for selling your house this summer

Autumn is Just Around the Corner

Definitely a Work of Fiction!

The Property Sales People

2012: What lays ahead for homes and property?

Haddenham Pantomime 2012

It's Panto Time in Haddenham

HAmDramS are resting over the Winter, before putting on a new production in the Spring. In the meantime, the village is in panto mode once more.

Robin Hood

Wednesday 11th - Saturday 14th January 2012

Tickets go on sale on Saturday 3rd December at the Arkenstall Centre in Haddenham

Heavy Handed Lenders

PhotoSynth - A new 'tool' for estate agents?

Newsletter Now Out, plus Facebook Page

Happy Sellers and Buyers!

Fwd: HomeLet launches most comprehensive report on rental market

£10 Billion of Public Land up For Grabs to Combat Housing Shortage

House builders discuss 95% mortgages with lenders

Britain's housing market is an unexploded economic bomb - MoneyWeek

Check out Speed-Up Conveyancing

Speed-Up Conveyancing

Moving On: Top 10 Moving Blogs

Help For First Timers??

Councils to help first-time buyers on to housing ladder

Extracted from BBC online news

Mary 'Queen of Shops' Portas Does Estate Agents

Interesting Rental Market Research

Christmas Opening 2010 & New Year 2011

The DPG (Primelocation) Research on the Market

Date that Property

Sage Advice From Mike Woodfine

Tory Minister Vows to End Era of House Price Booms

How Resilient Are We to the 'Cuts'?

Sash Windows On Older Homes

Home Selling Tips & Suggestions

Tips for selling your house this summer

Autumn is Just Around the Corner

Definitely a Work of Fiction!

HAmDramS are resting over the Winter, before putting on a new production in the Spring.
In the meantime, the village is in panto mode once more.