Real Estate

Proud to be the WINNER of The Property Investor & Homebuyer Show for THE BEST INNOVATIVE COMPANY OF THE YEAR!! Thank you! 🙌🏻

Posted by Victor Michael Estate Agents on Friday, 6 October 2017

The Victor Michael team was a winner at the Property Investor & Homebuyer Show this year.

Victor Michael received the award for the best innovative company of the year. The show happened between 6 – 7 October 2017 at London ExCeL International Exhibition Centre and it is the UK’s longest running exhibition of property.

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It seems that interest rates will stay low for a while yet, and that has encouraged investors to look to commercial property in the UK for a steady and reliable yield. Over the last 17 years, we have seen income make up the majority of the return enjoyed by investors.

Photo source: Property Division http://bit.ly/2y6aPte

While stability in time is certain both for bonds and investments in the right properties, what is the right choice for investors. The analysis on Property Division takes a lot of variables into discussion and it is of help for investors in London nowadays.

Are Property Investments still Outperforming Bonds?

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Photo source: Property Division http://bit.ly/2hKFy8Y

Valuable advice for Buy-to-Let landlords to be ready for 2018:

1. Mortgage Interest Tax Relief Changes

2. Utilising Airbnb To Avoid Void Periods

3. New PRA Rules For Portfolio Landlords

4. New Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES)

5. London House Prices & Rental Yields

More in this article on Property Division:

5 THINGS BUY-TO-LET LANDLORDS NEED TO KNOW GOING INTO 2018

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Photo source: Property Reporter http://bit.ly/2yWdhQP

If the housing plan reaches its target, the number of new homes built will definitely satisfy – or at least keep pace with – the demand. We are talking about 100,000 new and affordable homes each year.

The target seems now very far away and the main cause is lack of lands to build on. Latest research and solutions suggest swamping green-belt lands might be an efficient answer. This measure means that new properties can be built on lands on which the protection will be removed, in return for creating a new area of protected land elsewhere.

More land needs to be released for new homes in the UK to meet demand

The same resolution to build on green-belt lands was promoted a year ago. At that point, the opposition was strong enough against the idea.

Last year the question was if swamping green-belt lands was a step in the right direction, as this article on Property Reporter puts it. Since a year after the specialists reach the same point and with the same resolution, maybe it is the only answer.

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‘Prefabricated’ houses appeared in the Second World War as a necessity. Fast reconstruction was the need then.

These days, prefab houses might be a new trend. The need they should be fulfilling now is the increased demand of homes and the super-fast pace they should be built.

The UK is one of the main countries in which this need can already be seen on the property market. However, prefab homes are going to bring some new problems to the market, starting with viability, and ending with insurance.

A good point of view on the problem of creating new communities based on prefab houses can be found in this article on Property Division:

Are prefabs set to make a comeback?

And if you want a clear image of how how prefab/ fast houses can look like, here are some ideas:

Photo sources: Inhabitat

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Home automation or domotics is building automation for a home, called a smart home or smart house. It involves the control and automation of lighting, heating (such as smart thermostats), ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), and security, as well as home appliances such as washer/dryers, ovens or refrigerators/freezers. Wi-Fi is often used for remote monitoring and control. Home devices, when remotely monitored and controlled via the Internet, are an important constituent of the Internet of Things. Modern systems generally consist of switches and sensors connected to a central hub sometimes called a “gateway” from which the system is controlled with a user interface that is interacted either with a wall-mounted terminal, mobile phone software, tablet computer or a web interface, often but not always via Internet cloud services.

Even from the mere definition on Wikipedia, you know what to expect of a Smart Home. It is the ‘house of the future’ as we have seen it in movies a long time ago.

Complete automation of systems inside a house and the possibility to remote control them became a reality in the last few years. Because of the house’s ability to ‘respond’ to requests and needs of the inhabitants, it was named in the real estate domain a ‘smart home’. But is it smart enough to fascinate an English buyer?

Photo source: Property Reporter http://bit.ly/2x5GpDi

Latest research shows that most Brits are afraid of smart homes because of reasons like:

  • unapproved data collection;
  • hackers;
  • web viruses.

More details in the article on Property Reporter:

Majority of Brits are fearful of ‘Smart Homes’

Distrust in this type of a ‘connected house’ can be caused by lack of knowledge. Maybe testing the house before can prove to be a good way to increase confidence in home systems and technologies.

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Staging (theatre), the process of selecting, designing, adapting to, or modifying the performance space for a play or film. […]

Home staging, preparing a residence for sale in real estate.

If you’re not sure about what to improve to your home before the viewings, just go to the front door or the gate to the yard and start stepping inside like you are a potential buyer.

You will see with a stranger’s eyes the small cracks in the pavement, the old paint, and the untidy bathroom.

Here’s some more ideas of how to quickly ‘beautify’ your house:

Setting to sell: the art of property staging

Photo source: Property Division http://bit.ly/2fBfqMT

Make sure to make a budget before setting to renovate your house. Make it buyer friendly on a low budget, don’t give it a new face or a costly make-over. You might fall in love with the new face and decide not to sell it.

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In 1980 an average property in London cost £24,000. Year by year, the price increased in an average rhythm of 7%. The same type of property now costs £223,257. The price multiplied by almost 9.5 times.

Image source: http://bit.ly/2yLg8fs

How about affordability among people living in the UK? The rise in the property price should have been alright and easy to handle if the earnings rose proportionally. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

In the last decade, median individual annual earnings in Britain rose by 68%, whilst the house prices grew by 259%. The inequity is the real gap between generations.

The complete study and a very efficient analysis you can find on Property Division.

Historic House Prices: Research Shows Your Parents Definitely Had it Easier

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We would have expected that this matter turn into an urgent one for landlords and tenants too. Despite the continuous talks upon the Grenfell fire and measures to be taken to prevent something like that happening ever again, apparently landlords forgot about the subject.

Majority of tenants say landlords have not discussed fire safety after deadly Grenfell disaster

As a tenant you can also take the matter into your hands and ask from your landlord to keep you informed about potential risks in case of any accidents, fire safety, and fire exists.

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