The media would have us believe that the property market is nursing a New Year’s party hangover. Certainly the issues that influenced the market during 2018 remain, such as Brexit-related confusion, lack of supply and affordability problems for first time buyers. And whilst the media does love to scaremonger, they tend to ignore, the perhaps rather boring reality, that the UK property market is actually surprisingly resilient.
Showing your home to prospective purchasers can be stressful enough, but children add an extra dimension, and their needs should be considered.
Every town has a variety of styles of estate agent, from the soulless “corporate” agency driven by figures, to the one-man band; from arty-contemporary to pushy-salesy. Each type tends to appeal to a specific sector of the property-owning community, and rightly so – buyers and sellers alike need to feel comfortable working with an agent that reflects their own values.
The latest research* suggests that over 1.4 million over-65s will consider downsizing in the next five years with 1 in 10 of these doing so in order to raise funds in retirement – at an average of £62,000. But for many either the finances don’t add up or there are not enough suitable homes available. We are frequently asked to help retirees with their downsizing plans and understand the issues involved.
It’s official – what we’ve suspected all along – a “traditional” estate agent gets sellers more in their pocket than the internet-only alternative. They also secure more viewings and offers!
According to research by The Advisory – an independent consumer advice group – internet-only agents rely too heavily on property portals to find buyers. In fact, portals appear to be their only tool!
From a property perspective, it would appear that the latest budget was not enough to light November’s fireworks. Nevertheless, overall, it did hint at a surprisingly stable economy, with improved growth prospects and an apparent end to the tighter austerity regime.
One way of taking advantage of the value in your home is to save money by using it as a holiday destination. Not for you of course, but for someone else!
When you market your property, you will naturally want to achieve the highest price today’s market will pay. But how do you know what this is? Sadly, there is no almanac of “correct” prices relating to an address and a date and online price “calculators” can be wildly inaccurate, so most people will take the advice of their chosen estate agent to guide them towards the right decision.
There are numerous surveys and research that seek to prove how various home improvements add a certain percentage to the value of a property.
If anyone thinks that the confusing political shenanigans of the past few weeks have destabilised the property market, they’d be wrong. If anything, we are seeing more “lubrication” in the market, as sellers realise they’d be foolish to hang on for an overly ambitious sale price in the run-up to Christmas. This in turn has freed up the market, with more undecided sellers committing to moving, as there now appears to be more choice of properties available for sale. Indeed, Rightmove reports a 16% jump in new properties coming to market in the first week of September.
