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We speak regularly with our investor clients. Their priority, rightly so, is to provide high quality and cost effective accommodation whilst maximising their yield. One client we worked for had a long term rental which had become very tired and was lacking the modern conveniences tenants require. Our client found us through google and asked whether we could help renovate their property. We jumped at the chance given our 20 year history in successfully renovating and develo

How long do you normally take to find a tenant? Our clients often ask us to help them let their properties because they know that our high quality virtual staging will attract their tenant and do so quickly. The Brief A recent client came to us because they wanted to attract a tenant and do so in an eco friendly way. Virtual staging was the answer. With virtual staging, there is no furniture, no fuel, no time spent at a client site. The client brief was to implement a welco

As we move into another phase of this pandemic, let's take a moment to reflect on what that means for the housing sector, given that there's been much confusion so far. In short, the housing market remains open - so if you are looking to move home (whether as a buyer or tenant) you can continue to do so. Since the additional fourth tier was introduced on Saturday 19 December 2020, the government have updated their guidance on moving home. Moving Home The government advice on

On 5 November 2020 we entered a new hybrid version of lockdown, so what does this mean for the housing sector? What differs for the housing sector, this time round, is The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020. These Regulations allow: you to visit estate agents, letting agents, development sales offices or show homes you to view residential properties if you are looking to buy or rent preparing a home to be able to move into it mov

Here's a summary of what's been happening in the housing sector, together with an outlook for the remainder of 2020 and beyond. In short, the market continues to be buoyant as buyers want to address their primary need of more space. We suspect this theme will continue for the foreseeable future as homeworking becomes the new norm for many of us. The buoyancy has resulted in a shortfall of housing stock which in turn has resulted in the continued growth in prices. It’s inev

This is a very interesting question now, given we are in the midst of a mini boom. Even though you may have an amazing build, quite simply, there could be a number of reasons why you are not selling. Learn what these reasons could be and what to do about them. Before we get into the detail - let's remind ourselves for a moment, what you are selling - ah yes, a property not a home. The respective definitions are: Property "a building or buildings and the land belonging to it

Here's the latest news on how the housing market is performing based on input from Zoopla. Zoopla's monthly Housing Index confirms that: there is a +2.5% UK house price growth year on year activity is at its strongest since 2015. This is driven by two key factors - pent-up demand and a re-evaluation of what buyers want as a result of lockdown although the UK is in a recession, agreed sales per estate agent in August are 76% above the 5-year average 50% more homes are being l

Once you've put your home for sale, you should expect to receive regular viewings from prospective buyers, particularly now - Zoopla has confirmed it takes 27 days on average to sell a home. The combination of the pent up demand brought about by lockdown and the stamp duty holiday means that we're in unprecedented times and in fact in a mini boom. Here's six reasons why your home may not be generating enough buyer interest and what to do about it. Poor Marketing Content Yes

Surveys are a routine part of the home buying process. This is something that falls on the buyer although the negative consequences of which can directly affect the seller. The Home Owners Alliance (HOA) have provided a very helpful guide about surveys including how to get the most from them. To begin with, the HOA define a property survey and then a mortgage valuation. Knowing the differences is important so that you can understand the potential ramifications. Property Sur

The estate agent, Knight Frank, has called for the stamp duty holiday to be implemented permanently - currently this ends on 31 March 2020. They say: “On a multi-million pound property, the saving will be a small percentage of the transaction price but it represents a meaningful discount for the vast majority of UK buyers.” For the period 8 July 2020 to 3 August 2020, Knight Frank confirm that: 1. The number of offers accepted was 146% above the 5 year average for properties

Here's a roundup of how the housing market is performing during the month of July from Twenty EA, Zoopla, Savills, Nationwide and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) (based on June data). This builds on what we already shared from Rightmove last week - more on that here. In summary, these industry insights continue the theme reported by Rightmove - we're in a mini boom. Housing activity has continued to improve in July with the average house price increasing

Did you know that 95% of people are more likely to call your estate agent if your property has a 3D 360° virtual tour? Yes, that’s right. If you are thinking of selling, it is important to add value to your property in order to maximise your chances of selling quickly and for more. Whilst COVID-19 continues to warrant appropriate measures to ensure all our safety, it also presents many difficulties for those of us trying to sell or buy property - if you are a seller, you may

If you're thinking of selling or your struggling to sell, have you given much thought to staging your bedrooms? Probably not, at least when you look at the thousands of images on the on-line property portals. When your buyers visit, they want to envisage themselves living their future dreams in your bedrooms - when in reality they may be faced with a "make-do" office, laundry strewn everywhere, your wedding photos, the children's' toys, glaring coloured walls and so on. So l

New government measures to boost the construction industry were introduced last week. In short: planning permission deadlines will be extended (they usually expire after 3 years if no work has started). This will affect those sites which had an expiry date between 23 March 2020 to 31 December 2020. Planning consent is now extended until 1 April 2021. planning appeals will be speeded up permanently. This will grant the Planning Inspectorate the right to use more than one

Since the housing market re-opened on 13 May, all the signs continue to show that confidence is returning as pent up demand continues. Industry Insight from Dataloft Dataloft are property market experts, specialising in market intelligence. Based on their recent research, 95% of all sellers who were planning to move before lockdown, still plan to do so. This echoes what other industry professionals have shared. On 8 June 2020, Dataloft launched Dataloft Demand Index for the

Rightmove has indicated that the average asking price in England has increased by an average of 1.9% (+£6,266) in June, compared to March data. The average house price in England is now valued at £337,884. Rightmove’s statistics cover 95% of the market and these latest results indicate far more resilience and bounce back than had been expected. Their monthly June House Price Index also highlights the following: There were over 175,000 sellers that could not put their home f

The May edition of Halifax's House Price Index identified that: on a monthly basis - in May prices were 0.2% lower than in April on a quarterly basis (March to May) - prices were 0.5% lower than in the preceding 3 months (December to February) on a 12 month basis - prices were 2.6% higher in May compared with May 2019 The net impact of the above, is that the average house price fell by 0.2% to £237,808 in May. Source: Halifax Source: Halifax Russell Galley, managing directo

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has issued its latest monthly survey for the month of May. This survey polls estate agents and surveyors in England. This survey confirms that the housing market continues to improve since lockdown was lifted specifically for housing on 13 May 2020. The survey reports that near term sales expectations are now broadly neutral while the 12-month outlook improves slightly. In isolation, the metrics reported don't read well, h

Since the housing market re-opened on 13th May 2020, buyer activity has steadily increased. #TwentyEA report that that they have seen 3 continuous weeks of growth for both new instructions (increasing from 10,000 to approximately 24,000) and sales agreed (increasing from 5,000 to approximately 16,000). This is equivalent to around 73% of the 2019 level of activity. #NewInstructions Image: TwentyEA #SalesAgreed Image: TwentyEA Based on the last two weeks of data, TwentyEA

We're going behind the scenes to explain what virtual staging is about and the value that this brings. Virtual staging is about digitally adding furniture and accessories to your property photographs so it brings a room to life. It's a very cost effective and swift way of transforming any space within a home or development. Buyer Attention Span Since Covid-19 our world has completely changed - all buyers are searching on-line for their future home or investment. Buyers make