London tops one more list of prices: the most expensive place to live in considering the price per square meter.
In the last two decades, prices rose by 402% reaching £6,942. The rhythm of growth was almost the double of the national movement of prices.
More details in the article on Property Wire.
It has been 10 years already since the Electronic Performance Certificate (EPC) is used on the property market as an energy indicator for homes.
Basically, you can find out 3 things from an EPC:
A complete article upon the EPC and ways to improve your rating can be found at the following link.
April 2018 will bring a new ‘Minimum Energy Efficient Standards’ (MEES). The new legislation will affect landlords which will no longer be able to grant a new tenancy of the property with an Energy Performance Certificate with a rating below an E. This measure actually prepares for a more rough legislation: from April 2020 all rented properties must have an efficiency rating of E or better.
However, the real news is that once with the 10th birthday of the EPC the previous certificates (that date back more that 10 years) are invalid and will not be taken into consideration anymore.
There have been cases where people have bough leasehold properties on leasehold land, leaving themselves wide open to pay sometimes eye watering rates. While some charges start off reasonable, they very often increase sharply.
There have also been cases where the land beneath the leasehold property has been sold on, with the new contractor then imposing new rules and rates.
Source: Wikimedia.org/ labeled for re-use
Either way, homeowners face huge charges and are unlikely to be able to onward sell their properties for a decent price.
Four things you should be able to tell clients about when selling leasehold properties:
Ground rent. Usually paid annually to the landlord and may rise over time. How much is it, and what are the terms? i.e. Does it double every year or follow inflation? These costs can quickly spiral out of control.
Service charge. How much is it and what does it cover?
Reserve fund. This is a sum that leaseholders pay to a managing agent for works that may have to be addressed in the future. Is there one, and has it built up? This can be presented as a benefit to a buyer, as potential future repairs may already be covered.
Length of lease remaining. Very often, an add will advertise the lease length as it was at the very beginning of the properties life span. So, this may say 999 years’ lease. Even though only 100 years remain. If the remaining lese length is 85 years or less, be aware. Many lenders will not lend on less than 80 years. The cost of extending a lease after that time also increases dramatically.
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.
Small re-decorations might prove to change the entire look of a room if you choose your ‘target’ carefully. For example, a wood counter-top for your kitchen is going to make it look better and raise the value of your home in case you are thinking about selling it at one point.
Source: Flickr, Labeled for re-use
If you are just analyzing the idea of placing a wood counter-top we recommend you to read all the pros in this article on This Old House. Such an element can be budget-friendly, easy to maintain and refurbish from time to time, and it is strong and soft at the same time.
If you are handy enough to start a DIY project, we found some videos that you should look at before starting.
Both projects seem easy to do and the result is amazing!
Tell us or show us how you built your kitchen counter-top or, at least, what type of a counter-top you chose!
Personalized glasses out of wine bottles! Interesting and easy to do: just gather all the empty wine bottles you can find, cut them and think of what to write on them!
You will find all the instructions on the Hometalk blog. Show us the pictures if you tried it yourself!
Source of the video: Hometalk Television.
Do you have some extra time this summer and you want to spend it on doing something nice for your living room? We suggest re-modelling the bookshelves and maybe keeping only the books you would recommend in your library.
Cleaning the bookshelves can give you the sensation that you have been using your entire holiday time smartly.
First step would be to choose from your library the books you would never recommend to somebody else. Pile them up and take them to the closest books re-seller or antiquarian. You could end up with some extra money.
Use the extra money to buy a new bookshelf or maybe try to build one yourself. Here is a great video on how to build an original bookshelf in your living room or open space.
We found some more interesting ideas that you could find interesting on Pinterest.
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.
“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.
The London Underground or The Tube, as it is called, has over 260 station covering the city and proximity. The names of the stations range from absolutely normal to strange or interesting.
In the picture below you will find 75 clues that illustrate the names of the London Tube stations. It is a fun game if you’re just getting accustomed to the weary names.
Click here for the larger picture.
Source: Now. Here. This.
