Your Right Move » Buying

High Search Low Rightmove Results

Zanet — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:38:22 +0000

Where have all the properties gone? We are seeing Zoopla and Rightmove report unusual changes in 2012. With high search and yet low Rightmove results it’s clear that properties are not entering the market quickly.

The opening weeks of 2012 have revealed a remarkable need for finding property but very little to be found in the search results.

The January 2012 report says search activity is up 27%. Yet it’s the lowest ever number of new sellers.

Rightmove Blog Reports – Rightmove’s early indicators of housing market activity in 2012 show that interest in buying is strong despite the lack of mortgage finance. The willingness or ability of new sellers to come to market remains weak.

Search activity on Rightmove during the first 10 days of 2012 reached new record heights, up by 27% on the same period in 2011, as prospective movers intensively research the market.

Regarding these Low Rightmove Results

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove comments on the Low Rightmove Results.
Old records are being shattered as search activity is up by a staggering 27% on this time compared to 2011. Potential buyers and sellers are looking more often and researching more thoroughly. In areas where there is a lot of property up for sale, buyers are looking hard for properties that tempt them. Potential buyers are wanting something really special in terms of value, potential, location or quality of finish.

The increased market fragmentation caused by the credit crunch means that success in selling now requires a very careful and complex micro-market analysis. Rather than a wishful price-punt to see what happens, care is being taken. There can be hotspots and blackspots by property type within the same geographic location depending on local buyer confidence. Other demographics and the ability to obtain a mortgage is effecting potential sellers. More than ever do your research and take expert advice.

Zoopla havent reported there findings officially on Low property results, but they and have focused on the purple cab advertising campaign along with the findings that buying beats renting in 94% of UK towns.

Rightmove Android App

Zanet — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:27:39 +0000

I can’t believe that the Rightmove Android App doesn’t exist. This week I moved from an iPhone to the excellent Samsung Galaxy S2 and started filling the phone up with all the standard Apps. But why on earth haven’t Rightmove released the Android version of its great mobile app for the other 13m smartphone users in the UK?

Even a Freelance Programmer, Damon Skelhorn had a go at building one. He got to the stage where he felt he should seek permission to release the app using the data supplied from Rightmove before continuing. Unfortunately property search website Rightmove refused to give Damon permission.

Rightmove Android App Exists – Just

So what are Rightmoves plans to support the millions of Android mobiles out there in the UK?
It seems they have already made up there mind that they will cater for Android rather than design an App for the Android. Having already launched apps for iPhone and iPad, they will cover other devices with a new mobile website.

The new site is built in HTML5, and replicates the GPS and mapping features of the app, and extends Rightmove’s reach to the rest of the users in the UK.

Developer Stephen Mellish said “With the increasing reach of operating systems such as Android and the ever growing number of alternative options, mobile sites create a more inclusive way to target users. HTML5 is also allowing brands to replicate the feel of an ‘app’ through an mobile site which is increasing its appeal to marketers.”

If you are an iPhone user, then take a look at the app with its smart new QR Reader. Over a million properties in your pocket. You can also see properties for sale or rent around you using GPS functionality. But I do think they are missing a trick by not having a Rightmove Android App ! http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-you/iphone-application

UK house prices

Zanet — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:53:09 +0000

Will Uk house prices fall or rise in the coming year ? What will the 2012 house market bring ?
We take a look at what the experts are saying and look to see whether the housing gloom is about to lift.

While the average house prices in the UK will have actually risen by 1.3pc by the end of 2011, with inflation currently at 5pc, property values are falling in real terms.

Rightmove expect UK House Prices to drop

Predictions for 2012 UK house prices

The Telegraph predicts 2012 will not see a revivial. They report “Inflation and the eurozone debt crisis will have a negative effect on house prices next year.”

This is Money’s property expert Simon Lambert speaks of Estate agents claiming of a stand-off between sellers and buyers. The sellers reluctant to cut prices and the buyers unwilling to pay over the odds. Home sellers must either have a desirable property to sell in an in-demand area or be willing to lower their expectations, if they want to get a sold sign up outside their house.

Rightmove report UK House prices will show uncertainty. 2012 will be just as challenging as they’ve been in 2011. Asking prices are expected to rise by a mere 2%. Inflation-adjusted house prices will continue to fall in 2012, or at best stand still.

Your Mortgage Decisions predict great variances in house price movement across the UK. With the south and in particular London and the home counties faring considerably better than northern England, Wales and Scotland. It would not surprise me to see some gains as significant as 5% to 10% within a commutable distance to London, as has been the case this year for pockets of desirable housing served well by schools, transport links and good community facilities such as leisure and retail. Other areas are likely to see a more benign outlook with a neutral to 5 to 10% decline in the areas of highest unemployment.

Capital Economics expect prices to decline by 5% in both 2012 and 2013.
UK House prices often follow the USA trend the following year. so while the UK doesnt have any exciting changes, The United States are predicting a better change. Newspapers in New York predict a positive outlook. Wall Street expect the U.S. economy to keep growing, albeit at a sluggish 2% annual rate but fast enough to avoid a recession. In the CFA’s survey, only 12% of respondents said they expect the U.S. economy to contract in 2012.

Rightmove improves property listings

Zanet — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:46:46 +0000

Rightmove is already the UK’s largetst property listings website, but now things have become even better for the huge listing site.

A recent survey revealed that potential property buyers complained that often the properties viewed in the search results were often out of date. So a team of developers have now improved the quality of the results.

Rightmove now provides an improved property listing

Rightmove claim this new update will improve the data quality and involves the removal of out-dated sales and lettings properties using a range of new filters and detection controls. The data quality programme has been introduced following consultation with estate agents. The aim was to establish what would represent a fair period of time for certain properties to be left on the site.

Quality and accurate property listings

Rightmove comments regarding the property listings : “The data quality measures we have introduced emphasise Rightmove’s commitment to maintaining an accurate property search facility for home-hunters and a fair and highly effective advertising environment for our member agents.Given the frustration that inaccurate or misleading advertising causes for home-hunters, we felt it right to introduce measures which restrict the amount of stock left on the site when it’s no longer available. This activity is equally frustrating for the majority of Rightmove member agents who keep their advertised properties in order and up-to-date.”

Rightmove started the data quality programme in January with the removal of over 50,000 ‘for sale’ properties, which had been cross-referenced with the Land Registry to reveal they had already been sold. So its been quite a clean up on the listings.

The data quality measures were widened this week to target properties indicated as being unavailable for excessively long periods of time such as resale properties listed as ‘Sold Subject to Contract’ and lettings properties listed as ‘Let Agreed’. Over 80,000 properties will be removed under this new measure.

All Rightmove member agents have since been kept informed of each new data quality measures. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

Update: It’s worth noting that this was a change in the property listings which is hidden data, not the actual presentation of the listings themselves, so little differences will be seen.

Phil and Kirsty – Location

Zanet — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:32:43 +0000

Don’t you just love Phil and Kirsty, and there back again for another new series.
Catch the new series of Location, Location, Location on Wednesdays at 8pm on Channel 4.

Phil and Kirsty, like a favourite Aunty and Uncle they almost row in front of the nation on the great show
Property experts Phil Spencer and Kirsty Allsop were asked for advice on beating the house price slump. They are famous for their down to earth approach and no nonsense understanding of the UK house market. Below are there Top 10 Tips for beating the house Price Crash.

Phil and Kirsty Top Location Location location Tips

Phil and Kirsty from Relocation Relocation

1. Take Your Time

The advice we’d give in this market is largely the same as we’d give in any market. If you’re selling your house, don’t rush into buying. Take your time, even rent for a few months while you look to make sure. Any purchase in this OR ANY market should be for the long term, so it’s important to get it right.

2. Sit Tight

Here is some good advice in a recession from Kirsty Allsop.
Don’t engage with the market if you don’t have to. Unless you HAVE to move house, sit tight and wait it out.

3. Get A Good Deal

Phil from Relocation Relocation suggest you haggle hard when buying – bear in mind the house may soon be worth less than you paid for it – the market always has troughs and peaks.

4. Make Money from a Room

Rent out a room in your house. If you are struggling to make repayments on your mortgage, consider taking in a lodger to lighten the load.

5. Get a Kerb Appeal

The biggest challenge as a seller is getting people through the door – pay close attention to the exterior of your property.

6. Be Realistic

Phil and Kirsty often speak of being realistic. It’s all relative – remember, when house prices fall, you may take a hit on your own sale, but you can make this up when buying as the drop hits the whole market.

7. Sort Your Mortgage –its Costing You

For most people, their mortgage is their biggest debt – and in a credit crunch you want to limit your debt as much as possible. If you’re on an interest only mortgage, lessen your chances of negative equity by changing to a repayment. Before you do anything, though, seek professional advice from an independent financial advisor.

8. Take Advantage Of Rate Cuts

If you are already on a repayment, consider if you can take advantage of recent interest rate cuts to pay a little bit more of the capital each month. The more you pay, the faster you run from negative equity – and the quicker you’ll own your home outright.

9. Look After Your Property

Even if it’s not with a new bathroom or kitchen – keeping paintwork fresh, boilers regularly serviced and gardens well maintained can work wonders. And it’s cheaper to fix little problems rather than wait until they’re big ones.

10. Look For Innovative Ways To Get A Good Deal

Kirsty Allsop suggests house swaps are a good way to beat the stale market conditions. And for many types of people, like first time buyers, key workers or those in social housing, there are government and commercial schemes to help you get on the property ladder.

UPDATE: It seems Phil and Kirsty are really on form in the latest series on Channel 4

10 Downing Street For Sale

Zanet — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 12:16:42 +0000

10 Downing Street isn’t for sale, but if it was…

With Right Move, Tepilo, Zoopla, Up my street or Find a property, we are a nosey bunch in the UK. If we aren’t buying property, we love to know what Mrs Jones paid for hers down the road. Or what the neighbours house looks like on an estate agents site. 10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as “Number 10″, is the headquarters of Her Majesty’s Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now invariably held by the Prime Minister.

Just imagine if 10 Downing Street was for sale

So what if 10 Downing Street was for sale? well we know its not that simple if you want to move into that address and it certainly isn’t based on price alone. Though imagine for a moment if it was a simple as an asking price…

Zoopla recently valued the residential portion of 10 Downing Street, worked out under which PM value was lost and gained, calculated the stamp duty payable in April 2011 (at 5%, that’s £225K) if it was for sale on the open market, and identified and worked out the value of other 10 Downing Streets around the UK.

Here are their reported results for 10 Downing Street:

Gordon Brown currently worth a £4,574,831
Tony Blair when he left was worth £5,037,251
John Major £1,644,558
Margaret Thatcher £1,804,952

Zoopla also reports that property prices have risen since the last election in 2005 in each of the party leaders’ constituencies

by over 12% in David Cameron’s;
by just over 5% in Nick Clegg’s
by almost 19% in Gordon Brown’s

So there you have it, thanks to Zoopla we now know it’s not been the best property boom in recent times, which of course we knew already.

Assement on new mortgages

Zanet — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:28:47 +0000

Self-certification loans will become a thing of the past on new mortgages. For thoses seeking new mortgages, that may prove difficult but the right news. Thats certainly the view as this week there are further efforts to make borrowing only for those who really can jump through the hoops first.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) want to prevent a return to risky lending and so have proposed some new rules.FSA report that lenders had behaved with “irrational exuberance” – a phrase first used by the US Fed chairman Alan Greenspan during the dotcom bubble – in the run-up to the credit crunch, and had offered mortgages as loss leaders, subsidised by payment protection insurance premiums.

Ideally they want to force income checks before lending allong with encouraging banks and building societies to avoid making assumptions.

Dangers for new mortgages

The danger in the past is to assume house prices always go up.

FSA claim that its main aim is not to make it difficult to borrow, but rather protect property buyers.

The FSA proposes three core mortgage lending principles:

Lenders should only agree mortgages or loans with a reasonable expectation that the customer can repay without relying on uncertain future house price rises. Banks and building societies must verify income for every mortgage applicant.

Lenders should assess the borrowers ability to repay a loan on the basis interest rates might rise

Interest-only mortgages can only be agreed if the borrower can prove a strategy for repaying the loan from other resources and that the plans do not rely on future house price rises.

This comes on the week where reports show that mortgage repayments are cheaper than rental bills but many first-time borrowers can’t get a mortgage. Its a catch situation that few can break into. Potential home owners are doomed if they do and doomed if they don’t they end up paying more than a repayment mortgage renting, yet they are renting because no one will lend to them.

Are you in a position similar to the above? We want to hear your comments on whether the banks should make it difficult for new new mortgages and first time borrowers?

Chancellors housing market boost

Zanet — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:43:34 +0000

Did the Chancellors housing market boost give a small lift to the sector?

The Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement last week announced 35 transport initiatives that will boost a number of locations and thereby boost prices in the surrounding areas.

It may of been a slightly hidden benefit but it is expected to help boost the housing market in North Cambridge, North Buckinghamshire and North Oxfordshire and South London looks like finally getting the Northern Line Tube station as part of the Battersea Power Station redevelopment.Some are calling it the “Battersea buzz” and are seeing a large property price increase with anything from 10 to 20 per cent ahead seasonal prices.

More housing market boosts will come next year in 2012. The Chancellor is funding improved links to the M56 and A6 at Manchester Airport.

Improved transport infrastructure always boosts the house prices. It is always a main factor in the choice home buyers make if relocating. Additional benefits will be seen the M3 near Portsmouth will similarly enhance some employment hotspots.

Housing market boost

The Chancellors housing market transcript:

We can today give the go ahead around the country to 35 new road and rail schemes that support economic development.

The Chancellors housing market boost started in the North West.

He continued…

We will electrify the transpennine express between Manchester and Leeds, build the Manchester Airport and Crewe link roads and work with Merseyside to turn the vision of the Atlantic Gateway into reality.

In Yorkshire and the Humber, there will be new stations and new tram capacity – and we will halve the tolls on the Humber Bridge.

I want to pay tribute to my HFs the Members for Beverley and for Brigg and Goole for campaigning with other local MPs over many years to make this happen. Under this Government it has.

In the North East we will bring forward investment on the Tyne and Wear Metro.

In the Midlands, the A45, the A43, the A453 link, the Kettering Bypass, and the M1 and M6 will all be improved.

In the South West, the Bristol link road and the A380 bypass will go ahead.

And for families across that region facing the highest water charges in Britain, the Government will cut the household bills of all South West Water customers by £50 a year.

In the East of England, we will make immediate improvements to the A14.

In the South East, we will build a new railway link between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Bedford that will create an estimated 12,000 new jobs.

Start working on a new crossing of the Lower Thames.

Chancellors housing market boost continued with news on how he will explore all the options for maintaining the UK’s aviation hub status, with the exception of a third runway at Heathrow.

Right here in London we will work with the Mayor on options for other new river crossings, for example at Silvertown.

And we will support the extension of the Northern Line to Battersea in partnership with the private sector. This could bring 25,000 new jobs to the area.

Devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will get their Barnett share – and we’re working with them to improve the links between our nations, such as the M4 in South Wales and the overnight rail service to north of the border.

This all amounts to a huge commitment to overhauling the physical transport infrastructure of our nation.

What are your views on the Chancellors housing market boost? Let us know below.

Rightmove report 4 year drop

Zanet — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:56:08 +0000

The largest drop for 4 years has been reported this week. The asking price of homes being put up for sale has fallen by 3.1% in the past month, according to the property website Rightmove.

As a result of the economic uncertainty and concerns about the state of the eurozone, asking prices are reflecting a dramatic fall. The worst fall since December 2007. It could be due to would- be sellers postponing their marketing until the new year. The weekly supply of homes put on the market is now at the lowest since the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008.

All 10 regions in England and Wales tracked by Rightmove showed falling asking prices in November, the first time in more than three years they have all declined together. Shipside said that it’s “no great surprise” that property owners looking for a sale “have had to accept a substantial haircut on their asking prices.” Nationally, values were up 1.2 percent from a year earlier in November.

It does provide a positive spin for those looking to pickup a property bargain.

Great Tips on House Buying

Zanet — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:49:34 +0000

We all love tips and often hear potential buyers asking us, do you have any really great tips for buying the right house? what do you do when you want to really get an advantage over the other buyers? Are there any obvious tips or trciks that i may of overlooked? Well today we have put together a few tips that may prove valuable. Many are obvious, but there may be one or two you just forgot about or were pleased of the reminder, so may we present to you Your Right Move’s tips on house buying:

When house viewing have a plan

When viewing a house it is always a good idea to have a plan of what you want to find out from the visit. Have this written down on paper, in case you get carried away and forget to ask some important questions.

Make sure you do actually want to live there for some time. Buying property should also have the idea that you will live there for some time. check out the area at night time, in the day time, during rush hour, just try and live the area as best as you can, so that you don’t uncover any shocks once you’ve moved in.

Rightmove expect UK House Prices to drop

How to negotiate a good price

Its always best to negotiate in person if at all possible, but often with Estate agents serving as the middle man this will be done on the phone. Never give away your overly keen interest as this may make it very difficult to keep the price down if they know you are prepared to pay the world for the property. Let them know that you have viewed plenty of homes, and that you understand the property market and how much the home should be worth. Play a bit hard to get and don’t rush into making an offer; take the time to think about it. Stay polite, however stressed or angry you feel. Aggression will not get you anywhere. Remember that if a seller has two equal offers, they will probably go for the buyers with whom they feel most attracted to.

Keep in mind the importance of location.

There is a reason why Phil and kirsty called there successful Channel 4 programme, Location, Location, Location. Finding the dream house is always great. But what about your dream location? Does it contain all your essentials, like a local groceries, schools etc. Don’t just focus on the property; focus on the bigger picture. Make sure the local area is equipped for your requirements. – You could check out the location on fixmystreet.com. This site gives you a breakdown of reported issues in the location. Flooding, Potholes and sunken drains, street lighting and overhanging trees – its all on there. Of course a proper environmental search should be carried out as part of the legal requirement

How to approach the right figure to offer

What clues have you picked up during the viewing? Did the vendor reveal they are desperate to sell as they have seen a property they love. If they need to sell quickly, they will be more likely to accept a lower sum than the asking price. Has the property been for sale for months? If the seller is having difficulty selling the house, they are more likely to accept a lower price. Check whether the asking price has dropped since it went on the market by accessing the history on rightmove.co.uk or zoopla.co.uk