Real Estate

Source: Flickr, labeled for re-use

There are numerous reasons why a house is not selling. It could be the fault of the estate agent, a lack of market activity, or an unattractive property presentation.

Divorce cases. These are very off putting to buyers. Even if the agent has not been informed or has been asked not to say anything, somehow, the buyer picks up on the atmosphere. If a divorce is the reason for selling, then try to vacate the property before the agent starts to do viewings.

If you are trying to sell your home but for some reason it’s just not happening, then it may be time to ask yourself a couple of questions. And be honest…

Could I be more flexible for viewing times and days?

Am I assisting or hindering the viewing?

Am I presenting my property to the best possible standard?

Should I consider a price reduction?

Am I being given viewing feedback from my agent?

Some useful tips seem obvious but are regularly overlooked by many. The simplest of things can make or break a sale. What is parking like in the street? If you have a drive, keep it car free. Allow the prospective purchaser to use the driveway.

What day are the bins collected in your street? If your street is a victim of looking untidy in the run-up to bin collection day, then try to find a day when the street looks presentable.

If you live in a street that has a school, then do DO NOT have any viewings around the time that parents are parked in your street when collecting their children from school, as parking will be hard to find. Likewise, if the neighbours’ children are a nightmare, then they will also be at school.

If you have a great feature in your home, i.e. the rear garden, then try to book viewings when the sun is up and upon the garden.

Calm background music is always a nice touch, as this can set a mood in the property.

A sure-fire tip is to think ‘Show Home’. If you have collected a lifetime of memories over the years, start to box it all away and store it under the stairs. You have already made up your mind to move, so start the process and start to pack away.

Make sure that the house smells nice, free from pet odour and smoke.

Make sure that pets are out of the house… You may love them, but not everyone will.

 

Finally, we will live in a home on average for 10 years. Statistically speaking, you will probably only have to sell a home 5 times… So choose an agent wisely and allow them to take the stress out of the selling process for you.

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How close are you to the point of reaching that much dreamed moment of buying your own place? If you’re already at the point of searching for a property, it’s time to wake up!

Source: Wikipedia, labeled for reuse

Deciding that you need a home of your own and getting to the point of eventually searching for the right place for you can be quite a long road to walk. You know exactly how your house looks in your dreams, but finding it on the market is a real challenge.

Not necessarily wanting to shatter your dreams, here are some advice you might want to follow when searching for a property.

Stay on the budget. Assuming you already know your limits – how much a financial institution or the bank of ‘Mum and Dad’ can offer you, it is very important to not cross these limits in any way. The temptation is huge when you see those pictures of the perfect house just a little above your price range, but the extra cost will just lead to new extra costs. Remember that it can be just as frustrating to live in an empty house because you might not be able to buy any furniture for it.

Keep it real. Make a plan of exactly what your needs are. You might want to ask yourself from time to time:

Do I really need that enormous kitchen?

Is an extra bedroom going to be of any other use that to deposit things in it?

Will I really use the two bathrooms in this apartment?

Location, location, location. You might search for places around your working place or near your friends. Keep in mind that jobs change and people move so pick a place that has good connections and nice surroundings. Because that is exactly what you are going to be using/ seeing every day.

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“Your home is your castle” or “Your castle is your home”? In some very fortunate cases, the later is also true for real castles and their inhabitants. 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle Labeled for reuse.

All across Europe, castles have been built as a sign of fortune and fame. Queens, kings and their children – princes and princesses, lived once in the most fortified and beautiful buildings in their land.

In those times, only royalty could live the fairy-tale of having a home that included: a dance hall, at least one dining room with an enormous table, bedrooms for themselves and the servants, more than one bathroom, a library, dressing rooms, and stables. Well, this is the kind of house you want to play hide-and-seek in as a child.

Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Krakow_Wawel_20070804_0930.jpg Labeled for reuse.

However, those fortunate (and we mean this in the most literal way, as in owning a fortune) enough can still live in a castle today. Europe has castles that can be lived in today in countries like Italy, Germany, France, and UK. The largest inhabited castle is the Windsor Castle in Berkshire, for example. One can also sleep in the Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, and maybe feel like the Sleeping Beauty waiting to be awakened by a prince.

These type of properties usually have prices that exceed 2,000,000 GBP. Just like in the case of a normal property, the price depends on the number of bedrooms. An indoor garden the size of a park or a football field rises the value of the property, just like a big balcony might raise the value of an apartment.

If you are one of the potential buyers of a castle, to get a clear picture of what your life will be like, please read this article. It will give you a sense of the burdens, not only the advantages of living in a castle. Like the “agonizing five (5) minute walk to the home from the car” or the “We forgot the butter” problem.

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The first noted beach hut goes back to Australia as early as 1862. The bathing boxes are thought to have been constructed to protect the Victorian’s morality during a time of both male and females covering their bodies, even while on the beach. Just after this time, beach huts were seen in England, France and Italy.

Up until 2003, The Queen had a beach hut in Norfolk. The royal family had this for 70 years. The artist Tracey Emin recently sold her beach hut in Whitstable for £75,000 to Charles Saatchi.

Typically, a beach hut is a brightly coloured small wooden construction placed on/ near the beach. On the inside they are simply furnished, with a small fridge freezer and a sofa.

They are generally used to shelter from the sun or wind, or to change into and out of a swimming costume. Some beach huts have been modified with either a gas or electricity supply.

Today, depending on the location of the beach hut, it could set you back as much as £30,000, with Brighton being in “Top 10 Beach Hut Locations”. This is still cheaper than a caravan, and without the dreaded site fee’s.

If you live in a big city and just need to unwind for a day, this could be a good solution for a get-away. The biggest decision will probably be ‘What colour should I paint it?’.

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As we mentioned in a previous article, you should give a closer look to the outdoor space of the property when trying to sell it.

The garden is one key point for making a good impression! Just take a look at your garden now and try to imagine how it can be better organized or designed. Some extra elements might do the trick (create a small pond or a path with paving stone) and turn your garden into the selling proposition of your property.

We found these ideas useful and very practical for landscaping the garden and getting it ready for a viewing.

However, the best advice in the article on Property Division is this one: always keep in mind the type of buyer you are targeting. Millennials will need a simple, but friendly garden – the gathering place for BBQ s and late dinners with friends. Couples with children will want the garden for the children to play and with a very ‘homely’ design. Elders see the garden as a relaxing place and will want a comfortable garden with low maintenance.

Read more on the subject and share with us your idea of landscaping the garden!

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Start your own crowdfunding for a buy-to-let project with just £100?

Or did you think of using Virtual Reality for viewing a building that isn’t even built yet?

There are a lot of ways of using technology in the property market for selling and buying purposes. Most of them focus on the selling part – enhancing the experience of becoming an owner before actually buying.

Proptech is the general name for every technological service or feature used on the property market. Technology is just starting to take over our daily life, and we are going to see more and more of it in the years to come.

An analysis on PropertyReporter covers the way Proptech will find its rightful place in the estate business.

More about it in the article ‘Have we only seen the tip of the proptech iceberg?‘.

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A better supplied market does not seem to be the answer for forcing rental prices to go down. At least not around London. 

Latest data showed that in the second quarter of 2017 the rental offer increased by 7% in the areas around London. At the same time, the average rent per month reached £790 – going up by 2.8% in comparison with the previous quarter.

Supply of rental properties rises in UK, but rents still going up too

Inside London, rents dropped by 0.2%, however, with an average rent at £1,934 per month.

To get a clear view of the market, go to the Victor Michael website in the ‘Letting’ section.

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More than half of the income of almost 14% of tenants goes on rents. Moreover, the proportion reduces to 30% for 43% of private renters, but it is still very high for those wanting to become house owners. Spending this much on rent equals on the long-term an incapacity to save money for a deposit to buy a new home.

The situation seems to be on a loop in England and Wales, at least for young people. The latest research shows that the number of people under 25 years old becoming owners reduced to half in the last 20 years.

The Local Government Association (LGA) suggests that building new affordable homes for rents and buying is the solution designed for a generation that cannot get out of the loop. Details in this article on Property Wire.

A generation is stuck in a rent log jam in England and Wales, unable to afford to buy

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Millennials prove to be wise and take easy steps into becoming home owners. Young people (18 – 34 year old) are very considerate when it comes to financial planning. Latest research shows that they choose to re-mortgage, but they make sure that it will not surpass their monthly income.

Considering all the age categories re-paying their mortgages, millennials are making the biggest contribution to the overall budget: £908 per month.

The main reason for re-mortgaging is reducing the costs of their monthly mortgage which is a savvy way of looking at these type of financial solutions.

More upon the subject of the millennials behavior when it comes to mortgages in the latest article on Property Reporter.

Image copyright: Property Reporter

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