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

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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.

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In a month when the House Price Index found that the average asking price for a property in the UK dropped 2.1% in August we are keen to See the latest Series of Location Location Location – it’s back.

Series 17 starts this week – a full 60 minutes of bickering and down to earth houshunting. Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer help UK house hunters find dream homes, starting a new series with a double challenge in Harrow and Hertfordshire that’s all about postcodes and pickiness. Channel 4 favourite househunters are about to hit the tv schedules every wednesday at 8pm starting this week (31st August 2011)

Phil and Kirstie on Location Location Location wednesdays at 8pm

The two property gurus Phil and Kirstie present Britain’s best-loved property series, as well as offering an insider’s guide on how to get buyers to make decisions. Rob and Hilary and searching in HItchin, Hertfordshire for a family home on a budget of £250k, while  Rupreet and Sundeep have a budget of £380k and are looking in Pinner which is an expensive area in Harrow.

We love it and so do you from all the emails we receive. Lets hop we see new buyers hunting down new locations and not all the revisits that Channel 4 seem to love giving us half way through a new series. Revisit are a little cheap trick, esecially when we saw the original visit on more 4 the week earlier!

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We all love Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer.  Their success includes,

• Location, Location, Location;
• Relocation, Relocation;
• Location Revisited;
• The Property Chain

it’s noteworthy of the one point they often mention, but could easily be missed. According to Phil and Kirstie when you wall in through the door of your
potential property, the first 11 seconds is all they need to ascertain the interest and initial impression.

11 Seconds includes hallway

If that’s the case then maybe the room that needs more attention than most and gets so little attention that it’s not even vowed as a room - the entrance and hallway

How important to keep it fresh the hall way bright, clean and clutter free.

Rather than fighting through cuts like a trip to Narnia and tripping over shoes, the aim should be to provide maximum space and homeliness.
Apart from decluytering and a neutral colour scheme, add a few mirrors and a couple of healthy plants.

Phil and Kirstie say it takes just 11 crucial seconds

A recent discussion asked why are Kirstie and Phil so succesful? There is no mistaking they have a chemistry that is unique to them, you would almost assume they were married the way they treat each other. Kirstie’s flustering and off-the-cuff opinions tended to bemuse and mildly irritate Phil in equal measure – although touchingly in private he often picks fluff off her coat, a gesture usually restricted to partners or parents. It certainly works for them and its viewing figures.

Phil and Kirstie – Our Conclusion

So in conclusion remember 11 seconds is almost all you have to make a positive impression. That’s not a very large window, but one that you can certainly improve once you are conscious of it. So we beleive Phil and Kirsties tip is about right. If anyone has found this article useful please let us know.

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This week Rightmove Places was released by RightMove.

We decided to take a look and see what this  local messages and reviews site had to offer for its visitors.

First glimpse Rightmove places looks like an effort to make a Facebook community for online buyers and sellers. in effect RightMoves answer to social media. A Twitter meets Facebook with a Trip Advisor community thrown in for good measure.  A place to share and discover the places your are looking at. So rather than Trip advisor only recommending hotels and accommodation Rightmove Places allows Doctors Dentist, Football teams Local Pubs, almost anything in an area or “Place” to have a rating and review.

Rightmove Places - a Trip Advisor for house-hunters

Placebook

Rightmove have seen the need to keep in with the social media scene as last year they became the first property website to add the Facebook ‘like’ plugin to each property details page, allowing for content to be shared between home-hunters and their friends. Rightmove Places is now the next stage on. Some are calling it Placebook.

Rightmove claim “It’s an innovative new social media website aimed at providing home-hunters with an at-a-glance overview of the locations where they are searching for property. Major brands are growing more and more aware of the need to provide relevant hyperlocal content to their consumers as shown by the recent launch of sites such as Google Hotpot, Facebook Places and Yahoo Local. Rightmove Places will bring this dimension to the property search process, which is by definition a highly localised process”.

Rightmove Places Design

The site itself is far more modern and appealing than the current Rightmove.co.uk web site. In fact it makes the mother site look shabby. So the design is colourful and appealing and its very easy to sign up and register.

You can then create and share neighbourhood alerts and messages for events, clubs or even a lost cat! What’s happening in your area, any festivals, concerts, village fetes and so on? It triumphs in th fact you can ask neighbours what the area is like without knocking on there door. Time will tell on how biased and open to abuse this system of recommendation is, but it certainly will provide a new tool for those relocating.

Our conclusion : Rightmove Places is  a Trip Advisor for house-hunters

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When it comes to moving, there is enough to think about. We have already looked at articles on who needs to know you’ve moved, you know the type, post office, DVLA, tax office, local council and so on, but what about ways to let your friends and family know your new address?

Here are 5 tips to help everyone you care for know how to keep in touch and with the dramatic change in social technology, this list is quite different to one a decade back!

1 Business cards

It may sound a bit off topic, but you can use the facility to customise business cards on-line as a great way to make a non business moving card. For example at Vista Print, you can upload any image and lettering, then print 250 business cards for around £5. They look great and are a very professional way to let everyone know your new address. The chances are they won’t even realise it was a business card.

2 Social networking

Chances are you are connected to all your friends and family by one form or another of social networking, either Facebook, My space, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Nothing could be simpler than firing off a tweet to all those who know you that you have recently moved and to email you for your address. Caution is required as if you make your address too public, you could end up with some internet party being arranged with the world and his wife turning up!

5 ways to let everyone know you've moved house

3 Letter writing

It’s very old fashioned, but everyone loves a letter in the post. It’s known as Snail Mail, but it still has a real charm. So if you do have the time, a personal letter in the post will always be appreciatted, letting friends know how the move went and arranging a time to have them over in the future.

4 Email

This is probably the easiest option and most universal, send a group email to everyone in your contacts list. If you have already corresponded with them by email then it shouldn’t go into their junk mail but beware of that, especially if you are sending a template email from a card hosting website, which is the other online option.

5 Make your own cards

Similar to letter writing, in a sense its a lot more personal and time consuming. A craft shop can provide the card and then set to work designing a “move house” card . You

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For any massive Take That’s Robbie Williams fans, it’s not very often you get a chance to take on the bachelor pad of a rock star. For those looking for property, a few million in their back pocket and looking for a 3 bedroom terraced retreat, then this may be what your looking for.

Rightmove recently added the property and its obviously had a lot of interest, as its sighted in the middle of the trendy Notting Hill part of London. Robbie spent over 4 years in the property before moving back up north to his multi-million pound home in Manchester.

Robbie Williams old batchelor pad

The 3 bedroom property on Kensington Park Road boasts a Bose Lifestyle integrated music system, a private entrance way, a large roof garden. It’s a modest bachelor pad in West London compared to his current property. His home is back on the market for £3.45million

London estate agents Domus Nova are the agent to contact if you do desire to entertain the idea.

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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

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Monopoly Helps Property Developers - Literally

Start slow and then build up:

Constantly look for great deals:

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Monopoly will help you in the real world of property development – that’s a growing view that is taking on a lot more meaning during this current recession amongst many developers!
Surely not. Monopoly is a game of luck rather than skill, and I would never win second prize in a beauty contest unless only two entered!

But when you start to consider Monopoly as a business model and have in mind it was invented during The Great Depression of 1934, you wonder whether it is worth taking seriously. Some insist that using strategy and skill, Monopoly can be won, and certainly you can increase your odds of success by following some fundamental truths found in the real world of estate agents and property development.

So we took a look in detail and drew some interesting parallels.

Listen to your statistics:

Monopoly is a game of numbers and statistics and these stats are well documented.
For example, which three spaces are landed on most frequently?
1st Trafalgar Square
2nd Fenchurch Street Station
3rd The Go square

How many dice rolls will it take to break even on your investment when three houses are placed on the suggested Bow Street, Marlborough Street and Vine Street set? 9.5.
How about Mayfair with no houses? 120.52.
On average, how many rolls does it take to navigate around the board once? 5.
What percentage of rolls results in doubles? 17%.
To win at Monopoly regularly, one must know the maths.

Property Developers Lesson:
The same is true in property investing. When evaluating a property, know the numbers and statistics.
When we evaluate a potential purchase, we find comparable rents and sales. We also know how certain property features will impact rents and our ability to rent the property quickly. For example, we’ve learned that a fenced yard and basement are very important to many renters. And we have a good idea of the difference in rent between a three bedroom and four bedroom single family home. We consider expenses, such as property tax, insurance, and estimated maintenance and vacancy costs. We check current interest rates and calculate financing costs. From these numbers, we can estimate cash flow. Knowing these numbers cold is critical to getting the most out of your investment.

Below are percentages for landing on any of the squares of the monopoly game.
The figures also have to take into account the probabilities for visiting jail and being in jail. (Hopefully this part won’t reflect the reall world application for you!) Each square shows the percent chance that a player will land on it after a single roll of the dice. The statistics are based on how it works out in the long run, so dont get to concerned on a one off throw.

These numbers indicate the percent chance that you will “end up” on each square after a roll, not just land on it. This is the reason the Chance and Community Chest probabilities are low. These figures take into account being sent to another square because of a Chance card.

Long Term Probabilities for Ending Up on Each of the Squares in Monopoly

Location, Location its all about location:

If you could start a game by buying a set of properties of your choice on the board, which set would you pick?
Many would pick the Mayfair and Park Lane set, because you can charge the highest rent when some one lands on your property. Others would pick the Regent Street, Oxford Street and Bond Street set because rents are still high and you own three properties, thus increasing the chance of collecting rent.
Both options would be a strategic mistake though as the best group to own is the Bow Street, Marlborough Street and Vine Street set. Why? Because rolling a 6 or 8 from jail lands a player on these properties, in other words its a fact, they receive the most traffic on the board. Although the rents aren’t as high as other properties, neither is the cost to buy or improve them. This is where it’s about the long term ROI (return on investment).

Property Developers Lesson:
Location is critical to the real world of investing in property. Even within the same neighborhood, similar houses can vary significantly in value and rental income potential. studying the area where you invest and keeping updated on new developments is critical to successful investing. The best rental investments are not in the least expensive areas like Old Kent Road and Whitechapel Road or the most expensive areas like Mayfair and Park Lane. The real world shows that the best rental values are in nice, safe middle class neighborhoods and in decent school districts.

Collect more than £200 as Monopoly Helps Property Developers

Don’t over improve your property:

Once you have a set, and are able to build houses you will need cash to make improvements. So what is the best way to add investment and improve your property? You shouldn’t add four houses and then a hotel just because you can afford it? Over improving a property in monopoly can deplete your cash and make it almost impossible to ever break even on your investment. And how much you improve a property will vary from set to the next. The best choice depends on the cost of improvements and the potential return. For the Bow Street, Marlborough Street and Vine Street group, it’s best to add 3 houses on the properties. The cost-benefit analysis doesn’t justify a fourth house or eventual hotel.

Property Developers Lesson:
The same is true in the real world. When you buy homes that need work and improvement, you don’t want to over improve the property for the area. Just look for improvements that increase the home’s value or rents or that help rent the property more quickly. If an improvement does neither then it may be best to hold the investment.

More ways Monopoly Helps Property Developers tomorrow

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