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Not so long ago the governor of the bank of England, Mark Carney, said that interest rates would not rise until the unemployment rate hits 7%. At the last count it had gone down to 7.4% and all indicators point towards a continuing decrease. When unemployment does hit 7%, this will not mean an instant hike in the bank base rate (currently 0.5%), but it will become an option. Many economists expect this to happen towards the end of this year or the start 2015. If you were fortunate enough to come out of a fixed rate mortgage when the rates started to decline at the end of 2007, your mortgage...
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A year ago the government launched an initiative for householders to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and hopefully save money through loans to install measures such as insulation, heating, draught proofing, double glazing and renewable energy such as solar panels. Has it been worth it? No seems to be the overwhelming response for private homeowners but it is a different matter for landlords. The principle of the scheme is sound where you pay for an energy assessor to visit your property and based on recommendations, borrow the money to pay for energy and money saving works to be...
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The opportunities opened up by technology in estate agency have been enormous, yet many local agents simply use their website as a glorified shop window. Like any agency window, the properties displayed need to be regularly updated and presented in a way that inspires buyers to take things further. But a good estate agency website is more than a simple property search tool. If that’s all it did, it would be a bit like only being able to get the news on TV! The first thing many prospective sellers do is check out local agents’ websites. Does the home page give a clear impression of the “...
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There is a strong argument for creating maximum exposure for a property during its time on the market, and much of our effort and resources are spent achieving the right exposure in the right places. However, one of the most powerful ways of securing a fast sale at a high price can actually result from minimal exposure – or rather exposure only to a select few! It works by taking advantage of the fact that people enjoy being offered something on an exclusive basis, especially when it is a property that is “just about to come onto the market”. So we often offer our new instructions “off-market...
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You may have noticed that we are among the first local estate agents actively to use QR (Quick Response) codes, and with good reason. A QR code is the increasingly familiar black and white square matrix you see alongside our property adverts and window displays. As progressive estate agents we have always been keen to embrace technological innovation, but not for its own sake. QR codes are a great example of smart technology being used to the tremendous advantage of both our buyers and sellers. QR codes are used by the people with smartphones such as iPhone, HTC, Samsung, Sony etc. ...
