Your Right Move » Guide

Outside indoors

Zanet — Wed, 30 May 2012 12:44:23 +0000

I have to say that one of the biggest wow factors for me, is seeing outside inside.

Initially a few plants suffice in a flat as a first time buyer. But as my taste matures as i become older, i find i’m more inclined towards choosing ways to go a few steps further.

Making interior space feel bigger, brighter and contemporary has to be a step in the right direction for modern living.

Outside inside

Plants

Large, healthy pot plants indoors will ensure that your indoor living space feels more like a conservatory – and therefore linked to the garden. This is a cheap trick that anyone can copy, no matter what the architecture of their home is like. Furniture and accessories, Marks & Spencer

Glass

Whether French doors or large picture windows that overlook a garden, they should be kept clear of clutter. Keep curtains and blinds to a minimum as this can quickly loose the positive effect of the light into the room. A simple trick is to use glass whenever possible as it brings the outdoors in and keeps reflecting light around the interior room.

Floor

Try to match your flooring from inside to outside and keep it to exactly the same level. This will give the impression that the rooms are one. For instance if you’ve got traditional wooden floorboards indoors or even laminate flooring then choose decking outdoors and ensure the boards all run in the same direction.

Colours

Using green at your windows will help bring the garden and indoors together too. That could mean blinds or even painting the walls around the windows green. Use mid-toned wood indoors to match plants on patio – it’s even worth painting your walls and fences in similar tones. Painting your garden furniture to reflect the colour scheme in the room nearest the garden is a really easy way to link the two spaces visually.

Furniture

Garden furniture that would look just as good indoors is a trick that you can use to blur the indoor/outdoor divide. Look for furniture indoors that complements your garden furniture, too.

Lighting

Even if it’s too cold to go outdoors in the winter, there’s no reason not to light the garden well, so that you can enjoy it from within. Go for low energy options where possible, and turn the lights off when the garden’s no longer in view… Outdoor fires, Ecosmart Fire

Shelter

A wooden awning with vine or plants growing accross can provide a real feel of outside/inside. The disadvantage is it may block light. An awning over the windows or doors that lead to your garden provides shelter outdoors.It also allows you to keep the doors or windows wide open when it’s warm and raining.

REVEALED, what property feeds on our igoogle

Zanet — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:00:20 +0000

Today I reveal some of the best RSS feeds for keeping us up to date on UK property and Mortgage news. There are hundreds of great widgets and apps and feeds on the web today and property news feeds are essential if you want to keep up with current changes in the UK housing market.

So I thought it would be cool to reveal ours.

Telegraph Property News
Property news from the Telegraph, at least a few daily updates – superb resource for property news
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertynews/

Tepilo – Blog RSS Feed
The Blog from house expert Sarah Beeny, another promiding site to keep an eye on offering everything Rightmove offers but without the costs
http://www.tepilo.com/blog/

The Latest From Aboutproperty.co.uk
A consumer site for everyone interested in homes and property. Dedicated to news for homeowners and people seeking to become homeowners.
http://www.aboutproperty.co.uk/

Screen Grab of Property Feeds

Zoopla.co.uk Blog
Zoopla is the new kid on the block and has had an incredible year. With recent TV advertising, its become obvious Zoopla intends to challenge Right Moves supremacy.
http://blog.zoopla.co.uk/

Mortgages
Our 2nd helping from the Telegraph feed, this time detailed and insightful financial advice, including the latest information about mortgage rates and taking out a mortgage.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/mortgages/

The 4 Homes Blog
Channel 4 is the UK largest television station for Home releated programmes and this feed is a great way to keep alert to the current programmes related to home improvement, grand designs or property ladder and of course Location location.
http://blogs.channel4.com/4homes/

Your Right Move
Our very own rss feed just to make sure its updates are showing (and of course we are slightly biased)
http://www.yourrightmove.co.uk/blog

uk mortgage – Google News
Google newshas various sections including a UK mortgage news area.
http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned=uk&hl=en&q=uk+mortgage

Google alerts – “House prices” location: United Kingdom
This is a Google Alert for the keywords “House prices”. I would suggest you also set an alert for your specific interests. It’s a great rescource for finding new sites.

Property feeds are essential for keeping an eye on the property market, hopefully we have introduced you to a few new ones to keep an eye on.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Buying

Zanet — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:35:59 +0000

The Buying Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

Now I’m about to reveal my normal process for buying a property. Years ago a walk along the local high street and a visit to each estate agent was my only option while taking a day off work. Today its all changed. Far from my priority to visit shops and talk to estate agents, I can now search for my ideal property at any time a like from the comfort of my current home.

Until recently I only really bothered with Rightmove. More than 90% of all UK Estate Agents choose to be members of Rightmove. It’s the largest and most established site with a boasts of 4 times more property than any other house buying site. Though it would be ignorant to think that that is where your search should finish. Findaproperty, Fish4homes and Zoopla are well established and worth a search. The new kid on the block is Sarah Beeny’s Tepilo. This has only a few properties, but it looks likely to grow and is worth keeping an eye on as I’m a believer that this might just succeed far beyond its predecessors as its entirely free for sellers and it uses Google maps to the full.

So what do you need before searching to buy a property?

buying your house online

Below are a list of what you need in effect if you entered these site with the basic four details you would probably get some good ideas of what you can buy for your money.

Where you want to live eg. place name or post code
The Minimum number of bedrooms required
Your Minimum price
Your Maximum price

Other details may be useful but for our favorite 5 you’ll find it will get you started

www.Rightmove.co.uk

Rightmove.co.uk is the UK’s number one property website. We are not estate agents but we aim to be the place for UK home movers to find details of all properties available to buy or rent.

postcode
radius of postcode up to 40 miles
Type of property eg. flat or house
Minimum number of bedrooms
Maximum number of bedrooms
How recent it was added to the site (anytime, 24 hours or last 2 weeks)

www.findaproperty.com

FindaProperty.com claims to be one of the leading property web-site with a comprehensive search facility for house-hunters to find a home – both sales and rentals.
It now publishes the details of over 626,614 properties to buy

place name or post code
Minimum number of bedrooms
Minimum price
Maximum price

www.zoopla.co.uk

Zoopla recently announced that it has acquired UpMyStreet.com, one of the UK’s leading and longest standing property information websites, for an undisclosed sum. You can’t ignore Zoopla and its claim of being the UK’s leading market resource for a property finder to search property for sale, find houses and flats to rent, see house prices paid and current property values all in one place.

place name or post code
Minimum price
Maximum price
Type of property eg. flat or house
Minimum number of bedrooms

www.tepilo.co.uk

Tepilo is an alternative way to buy, sell or let your property and it’s free. You maintain 100% control and pay 0% commission! Search across the UK and get advice from me along the way

place name or post code
refine with price
refine with distance

Advanced Details
property type
bedrooms
Bathrooms
Receptions
Outside Space
Parking
Tenure

www.fish4homes.co.uk

Claims to be the leading property website, fish4homes, celebrates a decade helping agents generate enquiries.
claims 276,653 houses and flats for sale
it looks a little run down the site with its latest news almost a year old!

The ten steps below cover the main stages you will go through when buying a home.

Work out how much you can afford
Get a mortgage agreement in principle
Choose your home from the list above.
View the properties as soon as possible.
Hire a solicitor or conveyancer
Make an offer
Have a survey and valuation
Finalise your mortgage
Exchange contracts
Organise your move

Over the coming weeks we are running some simple tests on the online sites we use to help our visitors buy a property.

The tests will include :

Which property site is the most usable?
Which site has the greatest number of properties?
Which property site provides the easiest search?
Which site provides the best support?
Which property site is best value for money for a buyer and seller?

10 Downing Street For Sale

Zanet — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:16:42 +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.

No related posts.

Rightmove House Price Index

Zanet — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:46:00 +0000

Rightmove has long released it’s monthly House Price Index. But we are impressed to see that this months index for April 2012 uses the trendy infographics. So take a look at this months Rightmove House Price Index using a Infographic.

The infographic reveals that the average asking price for a property in the UK is now at a new record

Back in May 2008 we saw the previous peak in London along with the South West also set new asking price records this month. This is actually keepingthe national average up and as is seen on the chart the national average property is now peaking at £243,737

But how far are the other UK regions from their last peak price? The infographic from Rightmove gives you a clear indication on how things have changed in your ara of the UK.

Rightmove House Price Index Infographic

The read areas indicate the amount of time since the last peak.

The larger the red slice the longer the time since its peak – so with the North West area its now 5 years ago since its last peak of £184,122 and currently 9.1% below the last peak with an average property currently asking £167,352

You can see the complete House index graphic on http://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/files/2012/04/INFOGRAPHIC-April-HPI-regional-peaks-digital.jpg

Choosing the right tradesmen

Zanet — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:42:40 +0000

How to choose the right tradesmen for home improvements – and check your home insurance to know where you stand

So, you’ve taken the plunge and decided to do some work on your home. There are many things you can do yourself, but others where you may well need the help of tradesmen. And don’t forget that before doing any work on your home, you really should consider whether it has any implications on your home insurance policy.

You’ve probably heard stories of home improvements gone wrong – everything from dodgy electrics to duff plumping. If you’re bringing in tradesmen, make sure they have their own insurance policy to cover your home and possessions in case anything goes wrong.

Tried and tested

If you’re using tradesmen, choosing the right one can be the difference between a good and bad job. To begin with, always make sure you employ reputable and qualified plumbers, electricians and gas fitters – ask your friends and family if they can recommend a local tradesman or company. The same goes with other trades as well, such as plasterers, carpenters and so on. There’s no better recommendation than word of mouth.

Check that they are registered with a recognised governing body too – and that they have their own insurance for any work they carry out. That way, if they have a mishap and damage your home or possessions, it will help to give you peace of mind that they will take responsibility and handle it professionally.

DIY

For all the little jobs that you can do yourself, like painting the walls or putting up some shelves, you should also look at your home insurance policy to see where you stand. You may like to get some home insurance quotes online to see what’s on offer.

Some home insurance policies will cover you for DIY mishaps as standard but you may have to pay extra to have accidental damage cover. The only real way you can be sure is to check your policy before you start work. That way you can get on with the work without worrying about the implications on your home insurance policy.

Whatever you do to your home, make sure you use tradesmen who are qualified and professional – and are properly covered to work in your home.

Whether you’re doing work to your home or not, it’s always sensible to have good home insurance in place. Halifax offers both home and contents insurance together. Visit Halifax’s website to find a great deal today.

5 Simple Ways to Add Value To Your Property

Zanet — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:57:00 +0000

Sometimes its easy to think that adding the most beautiful home improvement that you’ve always dreamed of will be valued by every buyer walking through your property and therefore clinch the deal. How wrong that thinking would be! So what genuine suggestions would add value to your property and by how much?

You can ask local estate agents as an initial starting point. There often well informed and offer free advice, it’s likely they will be able to see for themselves when valuing the property obvious areas that can add value to your property.

The 5 Simple Ways to Add Value To Your Property

1 Identify your largest Market – Major value
you need to be aware of what is selling well locally. This tells you the type of people moving into the area and this should dictate who you market to as it increases the chances of a sale dramatically, even a potential price bid and we all love those when we are the benefactor. Are Two bedroomed or Three bedroomed houses selling well? What market will you be aiming at and what are these people’s needs? This may well lead to a decsion to keep a bedroom and not make it into an en-suite. Or not to knock down the garage. So in effect sometimes doing nothing and keeping the things the same can be a value knowing the market beforehand.

2. Expand the Kitchen add upto 15% value
If any area of the house has changed in the minds of buyers in the last decade or two, its the kitchen area. Kitchens are seen as the hub of the home, so enlarging to create a multi-functional room will add value to your property.

Extending The Kitchen by working out the most cost-effective solutions. Either taking space from adjacent areas within the home, adding an extension by taking from the garden or just linking to a dining room to make one combined space are the most common solutions.

Once you have maximised the size of the kitchen then make the most of the layout of the kitchen. There are many free kitchen planning services out on the high street and this will provide a great basis for maximising your space with ideas drom there kitchen range. An open plan dining area and possibly living area overlooking the garden with double doors is the most preferred setup.

3. Loft Conversions or An En Suite Bathroom add upto 10% value
If bedrooms are needed to sell property, then a loft conversion can be a simple and effective way to acheive this, alot easier than extensions in many ways as planning permission and application can be quite minimal.

There are loft companies that will do the complete works from planning right through to the final paintwork. This is a great way to increase your market value and yet have little worries. If your more hands on it will probably be slightly cheaper, but make sure your builder has experience and ask to see his work beforehand.

With the adding of an ensuite to a master bedroom it’s worth bearing in mind it doesn’t need to be large, but it should be clean and well lit.

4. Curb appeal works add upto 5% value
Often overlooked, but how your property looks before walking through the door has a massive impact. So much so, that some won’t even walk through the door after a drive by.Easy wins are consistent window design, a well-proportioned entrance. Avoid peeling paintwork or cracked windows.

Familiarity of your own property doesn’t always help and almost makes the obvious areas of improvement invisible, so ask someone passing by, it may be embarrassing but listen as what they say is probably a good direction to consider.

5. Adding An Extra Bedroom or Conservatory add upto 20% value
It may cost a sum, but it will put your property into a new league of buyers with a larger budget.Take into account the road your living in and the largest market in your area before making this decision, in fact its step 1 above that should dictate this as a clear way forward.

With all the above additions, good advice before any decisions are made is vital. If the property’s volume is increased by 15% you will need planning permission. If its within the property then the chances are it fine. In all cases consider each option with care.

If you want to add value to your property you may find this article useful - A great free guide on this web site: How to Value your property

Would you buy a house without a bath

Zanet — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:47:13 +0000

Q. Would you buy a house without a bath?
A. No I always wash before viewing houses with an estate agent!

Well that’s not quite what the question means….Have you noticed how more properties are moving for showers and en-suites in favor of a bath. Is this really a move in the right direction. Have you viewed a house without a bath on your last viewing session? Even recently a friend of mine decided that he would remove his bath to make way for an extra bedroom and survive on a walk-in shower. Drastic or genius?

I found myself asking the same question, should i reduce my bathroom into a smaller but practical shower to enable one of the walls to make way for an en-suite on the master bedroom? For me it would make sense as I rarely bath and always shower, but would it effect my house price and its selling appeal?

A house without a bath - Good idea?

A recent survey claimed 11 per cent of people said they had removed their family bath in the last few years. Also the Telegraph earlier this week reported on how times has change. As a bath was once considered the true sign of being middle class and the height of fashion, with fewer than half of all households in the 1951 census having one. But they now being left unused, or even ripped out by families keen to build large walk-in showers. The study of 3,000 households found that the average number of baths taken by each adult had fallen from nine times a month a decade ago, to just five times this year.

Additionally with the increased charges on water and water meters, people are far more concerned about the amount of water used in the house. Bricks in toilet cisterns is another trend catching on in recent years.

It appears that the majority of people today prefer a shower to a bath. But there are still times in life when a good soak in a radox bath is needed.

My conclusion on house without a bath debate:

Although showers are practical and popular for day to day living, the bath provides a place to relax and unwind in a busy world, and a place to have a radox bubble bath with a bright yellow duck. Baths still have a place, therefore I decided to keep my bath, just in case.

What about toy though? Does a house without a bath make sense?

No related posts.

How to use Rightmove

Zanet — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:01:39 +0000

The other day Rightmove asked its users how they used Rightmove. We thought we would consider it from our standpoint today and provide you with our view on how to use rightmove.

With various ways of accessing Rightmoves data we have several options but for serious househunters the web site has to be the ultimate experience. Knowing that your saved searches and properties will always be in one place.

We prefer using the web site and the making sure when we use our mobile we sync the results to our account. So we recommend you log in to your account as you can then save any properties you discover regardless of which computer or application your using. Rightmove Mobile is made to sync with your online account as is the iPad and iPhone versions.

How to use Rightmove on an Ipad

The Rightmove iPad app is free and avaialble on the app store. It uses the same database as the standard web site, so you won’t miss any properties. It enables buying and renting property. Simply use the ‘Rent’ tab to see all the latest properties to rent on the iPad.

So I know many of you make a coffee, put your legs up and explore over a million UK properties for sale or rent at your fingertips using the iPad.

Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Download here

How to use Rightmove on iPhone and other mobiles

The iPhone version is ideal if your on the move and need to have a very quick access to the knowledge on local property. Similar features to the iPad version, but also boasts a QR code (Quick Response code). This is a type of bar code that can be easily scanned with your smart phone. It will take you straight to a web page, without the hassle of typing in long and complicated web addresses.

The iPhone app boasts Maps, account syncing, floor plans, bigger images than the previous version and of course is free to download.

The newly re-launched Rightmove app has some great features. Rounds and rounds of intensive user testing and learning have resulted in this super-sleek, intuitive and completely free app. So wherever you are, you’ll have over 90% of the UK’s properties for sale or rent at your fingertips.

Although the iPhone app is aimed at iPhone or iPod Touch users, you can also visit the mobile site on any smart phone including Android powered phones. Mobile Site here or visit Rightmove web site and your phone should be recognised as a mobile.

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.Requires iOS 4.0 or later. Download here

Rightmove Desktop

Finally don’t forget the Rightmove Desktop – This isn’t the web site. It’s a full application to run on your laptop or notebook. Compare properties more easily than the standard Rightmove web site

Desktop is Rightmove tailored to your needs
Easy access to your latest searches and recently viewed properties.
Homepage created around your needs.
Instant pop-up property alerts while your on your computer
Be notified of newly added or updated properties instantly on your desktop.
See more properties, more easily
Gallery view showing up to 100 properties per page.
Sort by date added to Rightmove.

We’ve revealed How to use Rightmove on various application, now its your turn. Tell us how you like to access Rightmove

How do I buy a property?

Zanet — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 10:57:24 +0000

For many visitors to this site this may seem to be a question that you wonder why we ask. How do I buy a property? Is like asking how do I go shopping for some. but consider the millions of UK web users who have never purchased property. This site is for there benefit too.

How do I buy a property? It’s So Confusing!

Firstly you will need to know your spending power. Unless you have been gifted a lump sum then you will need to speak to your bank or building society to arrange a mortgage.

A mortgage is simply a loan which is particularly low interest to enable a way of borrowing money to buy a house. However, unlike other loans a mortgage is secured against your house, which means if you repeatedly miss repayments your provider could seize your property.

There are normally two types of loans, a repayment mortgage or an interest-only mortgage?

A repayment mortgage means your monthly payment will go towards paying both the interest charges on your loan and the loan itself. So by the end of the mortgage term your loan will be paid off in full and you will own your house. With an interest-only mortgage, on the other hand, as the name suggests, you only have to pay the interest charges on your loan each month. This means that your monthly payments will be much cheaper, but when your mortgage term ends you will still be left with the loan to pay off. It’s crucial therefore that you have a well thought through savings or investment plan to do this in place from the start.

Each lender will do its own affordability assessment when you apply for a mortgage based on your income and expenditure. In the past they have loaned beyond a persons affordability. This has been frowned upon in recent times.

Once you have your agreed mortgage in principle, you can then take advantage of your local estate agents and some great online tools. You would of no dowbt discovered Rightmove.co.uk and Zoopla.co.uk. We have reviewed both sites in past articles, so do read up on them.

Once you have seen a few properties and arranged a viewing, shortlist the ones that suit you, maybe take a friend for advice. Make sure you can afford to make an offer that is sensibly close to the asking price.

If you have agreed a price, the Estate agent will ask to see your affordability. Its at this point the agreed mortgage starts to become a reality.

You will need to make an application for your mortgage, arrange a solicitor or conveyancer to handle the legal issues, and take advice from the estate agent as he will be as keen as you for all parties to complete the deal (he doesnt get paid unless it completes)

Then you should consider a survey on your potential property. Many lenders will require this as they are putting there money against the property.

Normally the process from agreeing a price to moving in takes around 2 to 3 months.

Then open the champagne as you probably have plenty of DIY ahead of you, but you made it into your first property!

So feel free if you can add a few tips in helping our new visitors asking How do I buy a property? or any other questions that may be relevent.