Your Right Move » Houses

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?

7 Homes Never Seen on Rightmove

Zanet — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:03:14 +0000

Chances are these homes will never be seen on Rightmove. Ok they are all based in America and Rightmove is UK based, but even so. Could you really afford these Hollywood homes?

So we present 7 homes you can’t afford

1. Bill Gates home

Bill Gates Home

He has the finest home technology. Apparently has an automated human dwelling. I bet it has windows too.The hillside is in an earthquake zone, so the foundation sits on concrete piers and uses tiebacks and steel reinforcements several times stronger than the minimums set by the building code. Massive retaining walls, several feet thick in places, created a drainage problem, solved by collecting runoff in buried pipes that feed into the estuary.

2.Eddie Murphy’s House

Eddie Murphy’s House

The Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe-, Screen Actors Guild Award- and Golden Raspberry-winning actor and comedian lives here. Murphy’s all-brick, gated and walled 32-room property is in the East Hill section of Englewood and sits high on a 4-acre knoll. It is star-studded estate with a full-size racquetball court, an indoor pool with a glass roof, a two-lane bowling alley, professional recording music studio, elevator, and carriage house with gym.

3. Oprah Winfrey’s House

Oprah Winfrey - Montecito, California

Oprah Winfrey paid $50 million in 2001 for the 23,000-square-foot Georgian-style home she calls the “Promised Land.” Last year the spread was appraised at just under $85 million. For such a public persona, Winfrey ferociously guards the privacy of her home, situated on 43 acres. At a Barack Obama fund raiser last year, guests were strictly prohibited from entering the house, and cameras were forbidden.

4. Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s House

Lopez House - Los Angeles, CA

Good thing J.Lo and March Anthony have all this space what with their twins and all. Marc Anthony probably requested a house of this magnitude so he can hide from his wife’s diva demands. J.Lo lives in a seven bedroom and fourteen bathroom, 12,217 sq. ft home

5. John Travoltas House

John Travoltas House Ocala, Florida

John Travolta is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award-winning American actor, dancer, and singer, best known for his leading roles in films such as Saturday Night Fever, Grease and Pulp Fiction, John Travolta is aviation-mad and has lived with planes outside his door for a while now, previously living in a fly-in community near Daytona but had to move after other residents said his jet’s were too big for their facility. Now he lives in his current house in Ocala, Florida and he has a airstrip where most people have a driveway.

6. Halle Berry House

Hale Berry House in Malibu, CA

Halle Berry’s owns an $8 million estate in Malibu, CA. Nearly every room has a coastline view. Halle Berry is an American actress, former fashion model and beauty queen. Berry has received Emmy and Golden Globe awards for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, and an Academy Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance in Monster’s Ball, becoming the first and still only woman of African-American descent to have won the award for Best Actress.

7. Ryan Seacrest House

Ryan Seacrests - Los Angeles, CA

This 10,000 square foot crib once belonged to Kevin Costner. The house boasts five bedrooms, a media room, billiards room, tennis court, gym, pool, spa and staff quarters. Los Angeles, CA – Ryan Seacrest recently purchased Kevin Costner’s Los Angeles home for $11.5 million.

Now please let us know if you find any of these on Rightmove or Zoopla
We are convinced that these are never seen on Rightmove and never will be!

Do you know of any other Houses in this league?

No related posts.

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.

How to sell your house on Rightmove

Zanet — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 12:46:59 +0000

Selling your house on the Rightmove web site is certainly a great way to be seen and find many more potential purchasers. But how do you get on there? Most good estate agents are experts in selling properties and will know that a web prescence is essential for capturing the market of people moving into the area. So the next question follows: how do you choose a reliable Estate agent in the UK market with a good Rightmove presence?

You won't see a RightMove estate agents in your road

As 25% of buyers found their property on the Rightmove web site, it is a priority to make sure your agent can advertise your home on Right move. You may find it is worth paying more to choose a proactive agent who will
ultimately achieve a better price for your property.

Before you commit yourself to one agent, take narrow down your estate agent list to approximately three finalists who you want to invite to do a valuation. Make sure you ask them how they will invest in marketing on behalf of the vendor and should, at the very least, take photos of your property. Also ask how long it takes to go live on Rightmove as it could take up to a week and yet shouldn’t take longer than a day or two after approval.

Rightmove enhanced advertising options

You may want to speak to your chosen agents about the Rightmove enhanced advertising options, Showcase and Premium Display to help sell your home even faster. You may need to negotiate with each agent to get the best commission rate though the lowest rate doesn’t always mean the best service.

Check out the estate agents profile describing their business. Does your estate agent belong to Ombudsman for Estate Agents or the National Association of Estate Agents. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is also acceptable.

Don’t forget if the estate agents don’t impress you, it’s unlikely they’ll impress your Right move.co.uk visitors.

Property price gap grows

Zanet — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:32:11 +0000

According to the Rightmove House Price Index this month, it found that UK average asking prices increased by 2.8% over the past month driven by strong price growth in the South.

lf you are looking to move to the north of the country from the South, the growing price gap will let you buy a lot more house for your money”.

The North/South price divide means that you can now buy two properties in the North for the price of one in South!

A real plus - draw a search

Rightmove’s House Price Index also found that asking prices in London reached a new record high.

The Rightmove House Index gives further details on the average asking price for a property in the UK increased by 2.8% over the past month to leave the average asking price for a UK property now at £239,672. This figure masks a two-tier market in which the price gap between the north of the country and the south has never been wider. Asking prices in the south (East Anglia, South East, South West and Greater London) increased by 4.7% over the past month but fell 0.7% in the north (East Midlands, West Midlands, Wales, North West, Yorks & Humber and North East), and average property prices in the south (£336,743) are now more than double those in the north (£164,347).

Do you think the North south divide will ever disappear in the UK. Is it due to several factors including the London commuter pull along with higher temperatures in the South?

Have your say on the property price gap below:

3 Apps you need if your house hunting

Zanet — Mon, 23 May 2011 08:16:42 +0000

Viewing property has never been easier, as more of the big property companies release apps for the iphone and other mobile operating systems.

If you have ever walked around an area and thought how much you would love to live here, then these apps are priceless. The apps will help you find available properties in your area of interest with ease.

Today we just wanted to make sure you have the best apps on your mobile. All free and downloadable and now most come with some extra features for the latest iPhone 3GS and version 4.

Rightmove App

The rightmove app is going to give you the most property to view. It’s not overly exciting, but you will find it is very usable. The rightmove app enables you to save your favourite properties so they’re always easy to get to. It also uses Geo Location so the app will find other properties near your current location.

Download the rightmove app here

Zoopla App

The Zoopla app is a little smarter, and a great addition to the rightmove app. Several estate agents list property only on the Zoopla app, so to get an almost complete understanding of the housing market both apps will compliment each other. Zoopla app also provides a 15 year history of property prices in your hand.

The map led search along with results by geography, price, keywords makes it very easy to use.

Download the Zoopla app here

Findaproperty App

Finally its worth having the Findaproperty app on your mobile, as it has a remarkable facility to search using the camera view to see properties for sale and rent in your current location. Using the Augmented Reality view you will be presented with properties within an ½ mile radius, and be able to see these plotted on a compass in the top right corner of the screen. Property labels will appear on the camera view screen that show the distance to the property, the price, the number of bedrooms and a thumbnail image.

findaproperty augmented app is a great improvement

Download the Findaproperty app here

We hope this has given you some useful pointers. Let us know if you feel there are better apps available. From time to time we do compare apps. For example last year we ran a series of article entitled : Zoopla Versus Rightmove App

Zoopla acquired Houseprices

Zanet — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 07:39:24 +0000

Zoopla continues it’s growth by acquiring HOUSEPRICES.CO.UK

Zoopla.co.uk announced today (4th January 2011) that it has acquired Houseprices.co.uk, the UK’s #1 sold house prices website, for an undisclosed sum.

Zoopla shows it’s intent to become the UK’s largest property site as well as the fastest growing.

So will it intergrate with Zoopla or continue to remain seperate?
Zoopla inform us it will keep it’s separate brand but link directly to the Zoopla.co.uk website, allowing users to easily access local properties for sale, current property value estimates and other Zoopla features and tools.

Houseprices.co.uk was one of the first websites in the UK to offer Land Registry sold house price information free to consumers. It quickly became, and has since remained, the leading standalone website for property price paid data in the UK, attracting over 1 million visits per month.

Houseprices.co.uk was set up in 2005 and gives access to over 11 million house price paid records in England and Wales that have sold since the year 2000.

Zoopla acquired Houseprices today

The deal is a natural fit for Zoopla, which leads the market in online property pricing information and provides a further opportunity to build on its already impressive growth. It is also a win for estate agents and homebuilders who advertise their properties on Zoopla.co.uk as they will now benefit from further exposure and leads as a result of this deal.

Alex Chesterman, Founder & CEO of Zoopla said: “This acquisition adds to the growing list of websites that we now either own directly or power exclusively, extending our reach even further and allowing us to offer our agent and developer members exposure to a unique and unrivalled online audience. Houseprices.co.uk has built a very strong following over the years by offering a great service, which we intend to continue.”

Beeny’s Restoration Nightmare

Zanet — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 19:53:56 +0000

Sarah Beeny, well-known for readjusting would-be developers in Channel 4′s Property Ladder, takes on her own renovation project and it’s a developer’s nightmare.

Now Sarah can listen to her own voice as she takes on an incredible property challenge during this 3 part mini-series at Rise Hall near Hull.

According to reviews, the opening clips are of the rather grand hall in question, but it’s all a bit Downton Abbey meets Emmerdale as we kick proceedings off with some shots of rolling hills, great expanses of water and a regal stately home. Beeny is then found sat in front of a roaring fire talking about the massive task ahead of her.

Sarah Beeny's Restoration Nightmare

The project comes complete with just about every developer’s nightmare; the ceilings are leaking, fungus is growing on the walls and there appear to be several types of plant sprouting out of the bathroom fixtures. It becomes quickly apparent that the main concern for the couple is going to be money, and it is certainly invigorating to see Beeny struggle to cope with an escalating budget whilst having to try and practice what she has preached to the nation for so long. But as the narrator, actor Stephen Tomkinson, explains, failure for Sarah is not an option.

The 97-room wreck of a Georgian house set in 30 acres of Capability Brown parkland that Sarah Beeny and her husband plan to turn into a wedding venue. But Rise Hall is a “money pit” says Beeny, as she sets about transforming a 1970s gym built when Rise was a school, into a banqueting hall. In the midst of a recession when people are losing their homes, it’s hard to care about the success of what is really a business venture.

Really looking forward to this one
Some how i can only imagine it will work out well, unless would they really show it on Channel 4?