new home

2018 is all about ceilings! Aim high for your property and choose something impressive to look at!

We found some ‘over the top’ statement ceilings on Vogue:

Aim High: Statement Ceilings Are 2018’s Most Romantic and Dramatic Decor Trend

And we found out the inspiration for these new trends in 2018:

Most Beautiful Church Ceilings

Gaze up at even more beautiful church ceilings here: http://archdg.co/MCP8Pep

Posted by Architectural Digest on Wednesday, 1 August 2018

Now… how would your statement ceiling look like? What source of inspiration would you choose?

Nature?… Maybe a forest-like ceiling would look great in your home. The sky is the limit!

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Buying a property for the first time can be a daunting process, but so long as you have the right knowledge and know the rules you have to follow, it’s a straightforward process. Below, we’ve consolidated the main things you need to prepare and consider, to make sure your home-buying journey goes as smoothly as possible.

1. Things to consider before the hunt begins

It’s definitely wise to find out how much mortgage lenders are willing to give to you before you start home hunting, so you know what price range you can be aiming for. Visit a few and they will give you a rough estimate, based on deposit size, income and other variables.

Explore a variety of different areas – not just with online research, such as crime rate, transport links and amenities, but by physically having a walk around local areas and getting a feel for them before you decide which works for you.

It’s also worth spending some time improving your credit report before you get to the home-hunting stage, as this will influence how much lenders are willing to give to you. Being on the electoral roll, having a credit card with safe spend amounts on it and steady, regular bill payments over the years will all improve your rating. The rating will also tell you what’s counting against you, so you can improve this before you get to buy your property.

2. Get your finances in order

Have you got all your finances in order? Costs you’ll need to consider are:

  • Deposit – this is usually 5% – 20% of the property price and the more you pay upfront, the better mortgage deal you can get.
  • Stamp duty – if you’re a first-time buyer, you will only pay stamp duty after the first £300,000 of your property on a property up to the value of £500,000.
  • Legal fees – ask friends or family for a trusted solicitor.
  • Service charges – if you’re moving into a leasehold development, make sure you can afford the annual service charges for maintenance of shared areas.
  • Survey cost – once you’ve picked a home and made an offer, you’ll pay for a survey to check there are no underlying issues you missed.
  • Removal costs – look into the level of removal help you need. If you have a lot of furniture and you need manpower, this can be quite expensive and something you haven’t accounted for in your budgeting.
  • Extras – it’s worth putting aside some funds for the cost of redecoration or furnishings you need immediately after moving into your new home.

3. Property particulars

Explore this blog of questions it’s important to ask when you’re viewing the property, but the most important one when you’re buying, is to ask how much lease is left on the property if it’s a leasehold. If it’s less than 75 years, you may struggle to get a mortgage. Other important questions to ask would be around the age of appliances, what work has been done on the property in recent years and what spaces are shared in a leasehold property and what the service charges are for these.

 

4. Mortgage time

You’ll need to get your paperwork in order next, so first stop is an approval in principle from your mortgage provider which lasts for 30 days. In this time, you must decide on a mortgage provider and can make an offer on a property.

When submitting paperwork for a mortgage, you’ll have to provide evidence of your income, and information about your outgoings, such as any debt, household bills and other costs, so that the mortgage provider can assess your situation and make sure you’re reliable before they agree to lend to you.

 

5. Offer, Exchange, Completion

Within a couple of days of submitting your claim for a mortgage, you will receive an offer which outlines the rules of your mortgage. You will then exchange paperwork with the home seller through your solicitor. Then, on the completion date you will officially take ownership of the property after you have made the payment to the seller.

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Anybody in contact with the real estate market in the UK might have noticed until now that the housing crisis. The main issue is the huge gap between supply and demand, but specialists argue that there is more than meets the eye.

However, politicians have stepped in and initiated a couple of measurements that are supposed to increase supply on the market by creating new homes in the future years.

The government’s policy was clearly outlined today during Theresa May’s speech and the main target points seem to be:

  • The creation of up to FIVE New Towns between Oxford and Cambridge to create the UK’s own ‘Silicon Corridor’, an apparent ‘Brain Belt’.
  • Supporting transport infrastructure including an expressway and enhanced rail services between the two cities.
  • The removal of decision making from local councils that continually fail to build adequate homes with the introduction of minimum housing targets for each area and a tough enforcement approach based on the delivery of those homes.
  • A focus on providing geo-targeted ‘affordable’ housing for key workers where there is a shortage of such stock.
  • Continued Green Belt protection.
  • An encouragement for developers to ‘build upwards’ in cities.
  • A ‘use it or lose it’ policy on land owned by developers with planning permission.

All of the above are detailed and commented in a very good summed-up article on Property Reporter.

It seems promising… now let’s hope for the best! And, moreover, let’s hope these measures will suffice for the refreshment of the real estate market.

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Welcome to 2018! Optimism tells us it is going to be a great and exuberant year, so be prepared!

Consider it a DIY project or your new home and make the best of it. As we know from the previous year already, anything can be changed and we tried to prove it with helping articles, tips& tricks, and a handful of useful advice.

Let us guide you through 2018 as well and enjoy the ride that will make you reconsider your perspectives about a home.

Photo source: Pinterest http://bit.ly/2qdJcfn

First things first, we trust a general guideline about the trends to follow in the year to come. Elle Decor made a list based on Pinterest searches and it features:

  1. Wall art
  2. Patterned plants
  3. Mixed metallics
  4. Terrazzo flooring
  5. Statement ceilings
  6. Spa-inspired bathrooms

You will find details and pictures in the article.

What have you been thinking about changing in your house this year?

 

Photo source: Pinterest http://bit.ly/2lJfYA6

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Photo source: Independent http://bit.ly/2AeQVhX

New home, new bed, new mattress? Well, if you had some troubles with the last one, you will find this is a great opportunity to improve… your sleep! Ah, and what a relief that is on some hard, hard days!

In order to make the right decision when choosing a new mattress, read this helpful article on Independent and keep this in mind when searching for it:

  • What type of mattress makes you most comfortable? Open spring mattress, pocket spring mattress, memory foam mattress, or latex mattress.
  • What size does it match your bed? The UK standard sizes for mattresses are: small single, single, small duble, double, kingsize, super kingsize.
  • Firmness: soft, medium soft, medium firm, or firm.

Of course the decision is important enough to read thoroughly some more articles. We also recommend:

How To Choose The Right Mattress for your New Home

What type of firmness do you prefer for a resting night sleep?

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A house, even when very carefully chosen, will surely need some… updating. Even new houses designed all according to the first buyers’ wishes can be subject to modifications once living inside it.

Houses that are already at the second or the third owner will be ‘remastered’ to fit the ‘taste‘ of the new owner.

But which are the most common changes a buyer makes in his new home?! Replacing floors and windows, some new furniture, and general repairs are the top 3.

As this article on Property Wire tells us, the average cost in the first 5 years goes to £10,000.

British owners spend over £10,000 on average updating their property in first five years

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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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Photo source: Ficklr http://bit.ly/2wtCBwL

Original reclaimed timber flooring has a truly authentic appearance, which celebrates the marks, dents and scuffs of its age and radiates the richness of its historic past to add a layer of depth and warmth to the home. It also works exceptionally well with under-floor heating or in kitchens with range cookers, as the age of the wood means that it is stable and has already been acclimatized for centuries.

Reclaimed timber can also be a good choice if you need to match existing floorboards to extend flooring into other rooms, or replace damaged original boards. Go for the thickest boards you can accommodate and then maintain them with a light sanding every 15 years or so, to bring the floor back to how it was when you installed it.

Unique history

Reclaimed flooring is often rescued from historic houses that are beyond repair, industrial buildings, factories or dockyards. The majority of available boards are Victorian, made from timber originally used as floorboards, joists, beams or close boarded roofs, but the wood can be more than 400 years old, sourced from anywhere in the world. The planks must be dried in racks to ensure they will not shrink, split or expand when fitted. They should be moisture tested before being installed, but with already so many years’ drying out, the wood is usually dry enough. In order to retain the patina of the reclaimed floor, the wood is passed through a drum sander and lightly brushed, leaving the aged marks undamaged.

Care and attention

Personally, I love the look of a waxed floor but it does need more regular attention than other finishes. A fresh wax every year would be ideal. Water-based varnishes are a close second choice, and will last up to five years without doing anything other than sweeping.

Creative uses

I’ve noticed an emerging trend over the past few years of people getting more creative with reclaimed wood. Such examples are cladding walls to create an alternative focal point, or using it to custom-make a rustic-looking headboard.

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Photo source: Property Reporter

Downsizing on the property market is actually the opposite of climbing on the property ladder. Reducing the size of your home should come as a natural resolution when the house you own is too big for your necessities or too expensive for you.

However, the decision of changing homes can come very difficult, especially within people of a certain age. A recent study showed that most retirees that should downsize choose not to because of a series of reason, the most important being the emotional factor.

Reasons why downsizing is a difficult decision to make:

  • emotional ties like memories created in their family home;
  • not finding the right new property to move in;
  • high moving costs;
  • the high stamp duty that should be paid.

Despite this, advisers and consultants should be prepared and recommend solutions to those who face a hard time choosing to downsize. As the article on Property Reporter mentions, equity release is a solution and should be carefully offered to some of the clients.

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Preparing to leave a house can be a bit of a hustle – mentally and practically. Both of these aspects require ahead preparation.

To make things easier, start to plan the moving as soon as possible. Even immediately after you signed the papers for a new house.

Photo source: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8783/17027548557_253e53a072_c.jpg

Here are some steps that can be made even two months before the actual move.

Keep vs. throw away-s. Decide what you want to take away with you to your new home and put it on a list. Go through every room of the house and put away the things that aren’t helpful for you anymore. Leave them for the future inhabitant of the house – if they agreed to this, or  simply throw them away.

Get all the wrapping supplies. Estimate the number of boxes you are going to need and buy them or ask a local shop to keep some of their product boxes for you. You will also need: bubble tape, tape, markers. Think about the special containers for the dishes or your wardrobe.

Early packing. With even a month before the moving you can start to pack some of the items you do not use frequently. Label them clearly and put them aside.

If you are even more into detailed planning you can use this timeline on RealSimple.com. Try to stick to it as closely as possible because delays mean rescheduling and takes even more of your precious time.

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