Garden as a way of expressing yourself

These days after chasing for fame (or infame in some cases), money and luxury, we have recently reached the stage where we need some comfort and peace of mind too. Here is where our creativity is starting to mess around. Your home is your keep, so radical disturbances are rather scarce and can lead to your loved ones becoming very frustrated. But what if you had a garden? A few square meters of green pitch that you could use, adapt and transform to your requirements? That would be really helpful!

Today you can be almost 100 per cent sure that your house will come with a back-garden. Even some apartments have a separate patches of green for their owners, so try and look for one, cause there is nothing better than an afternoon spend in your comfy chair with your favorite book, having a nice breeze on your face and your kids playing around in a pond. Just watch for the pond pumps and make sure you have a filtering system in place, so the water will be clear and nicely looking.

Garden equipment is something very vital to your leisure, so choose carefully. You can buy some cheap furnishings for less than a £100, including your barbecue grill, but to be honest they are not worth your time and money. It’s better to put some more cash upfront and enjoy a peace of mind with your family.

Spruce Up Your Home

If you are thinking of letting a property and planning on filling it with designer items and furniture, then now is the best time to buy. Due to the current recession, shops are putting on sales and offering items at bargain prices, just to make a sale and a little bit of money. A number of high street stores are offering items of furniture at almost half the original price.

A friend of mine bought a number of designer radiators the other week and managed to get them at a discounted price due to the store having a closing down sale. They look great and were a complete bargain!

Make sure that before you go shopping you take a look around the house to see what items you could do with being replaced. It may be useful to make a little list so you don’t forget. You may realise that the office chairs you have been using could really do with being thrown in the skip or the headboard on your bed needs updating. Now is the best time to take a trip to the shops to bag a bargain.

If you are planning on letting for the first time, then now is the time to invest in time such as washing machines and sofas for the future.

Stewart Milne Homes’s sales showing positive increase

Good days seem to be here for the housebuilder Stewart Milne Homes. Renewed optimism seen in the Scottish housing market has helped the housebuilder in registering increase in sales on its quality homes, since beginning of 2009.

From January onwards, the premium housebuilder’s sales in Scottish portfolio have risen every month with increase of over 100% during February and March 2009.

The Stewart Mine Homes group offers different incentives to buyers in the form of tailor-made purchase plans which can help individuals with mortgages.

According to Group Managing Director – Homes, John Slater, increase in number of visitors and enquiry levels is indicator of renewed optimism. He claims that the group tailors purchase plans by working closely with customers which makes buying a Stewart Milne home an affordable proposition. He supports this claim by giving example of ABeleven development in Aberdeen where growth in sales has been double every month since beginning of 2009. He asserts that given the right homes and right location, consumers are ready to buy again.

Recent UK house price data indicates that Scotland is the only area which witnessed price rise during last one year.

However, more than 50% of aspiring home buyers believe that house prices will remain static or increase marginally, while 66% consider that now is the right time to purchase a home.

25% of homes still not having buyers after six months

According to a recent research, nearly 25% of houses and 30% of flats up for sale are still on the market, not finding any buyers for more than six months. While 7% of houses and 10% of flats, are unsold for more than a year.

The research reveals that despite increasing interest being shown by the potential buyers in last few weeks, shortage of mortgages and decline in house prices kept sales static.

According to reports one-bedroom flats, normally popular with first-time buyers are hardest to sell, while three-bedroom homes are in more demand.

The market has become most stagnant in Aberystwyth in Wales, where 23% of flats and 26% of house are still unsold for last 12 months. Homes in Rochdale are also not finding buyers even after a year. Shrewsbury, Newport, Hartlepool, Torquay and Oldham are having 15 to 20% of homes waiting for sale for over a year.

According to Globrix chief executive, Daniel Lee, on the face of it figures of unsold homes paint pretty grim picture and provide no positive sign that market will recover soon. But in reality there is more optimism in the market. Estate agents are claiming that buyer interest is on the rise over last 2 months.

Lee adds that increased activity has not yet converted into tangible sales or reached the levels to clear market gridlock. He feels next couple of months will indicate the state of property market since early spring is traditionally very favourable period for property sales.

Two-thirds of mortgage borrowers still required to pay heavy deposits

Despite claims of increase in mortgage lending, the borrowers did not get any relief as two-thirds of deals are offered only on heavy deposits.

A latest report by Moneyfacts reveals that 68% of the 1,485 deals are still demanding deposit of minimum 25%.

It is also pointed out that 101 deals were offered at 90% of property’s value in the beginning of March, but the figure is down to 93 deals currently. However the number of deals with 85% of value has gone up significantly from 21 to 258 during same period.

A good news for borrowers is that Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland will be offering more loans to homeowners who sign up to the Asset Protection Scheme announced by the Government.

Recent reports are indicating recovery signs in the housing market following the Bank of England’s announcement that number of mortgage approvals increased to 38,000 in February, up 6,000 reported in January.

However, keen market observers have cautioned that it will take quite long for the market to reach normal levels.

Mean time the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors warned that it is too early to assume that property prices are on the way to recovery, as the Halifax house price index showed fall of 1.9% in the average price in March.

37% of landlords yet to get rents from tenants

National Landlord’s Association (NLA) in its recent research has found that 37% of landlords have not been paid rents by their tenants.

The survey also points out that 44% of landlords could not get their rental payments in last 6 months and NLA suggests that it is one of the major causes for significant rise in mortgage arrears and repossessions among buy-to-let borrowers.

Although the court system is found to be quite right for recovery of rents, NLA reports that only 50% of landlords have sought courts’ help to recover their losses because of inordinate delays, sometimes more than 3 months, in hearing of cases.

According to Davis Salusbury, chairman NLA, tenants must give top priority to payment of rent since delay of one month in today’s difficult conditions could be “the straw that breaks camel’s back.” He insists that mortgage has to be paid regularly.

Salusbury also informs that only 35% of buy-to-let mortgages pertain to rental properties and contrary to media reports, most landlords are not facing any threat of repossession or loss of asset.
His advice to landlords and tenants is to communicate with each other and tackle their financial problems together.

Sellers beware, Hips is now in force

The controversial Hips (Home Information Packs) which have been criticised as “waste of time” are now into force from April. The sellers will have to put it in place before going for sale of property.

Prior to introduction of new changes, vendors were able to order a Hip before putting up ‘for sale’ board, but now they are required to furnish additional details in new questionnaire.

The seller is supposed to provide pre-sale information such as council tax band, utilities, parking arrangements and details of structural alterations in the new Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ). This information will help buyer in deciding whether to make an offer.

The Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP) believes that changes in Hips will be beneficial to the buyers.

Contrary to this belief, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) argues that 89% of property professionals disagree with AHIPP’s views. NAEA, which has been opposing packs since day one, considers them as costly, unnecessary and a total failure.

NAEA also alleges that people are refraining from putting their property on sale because of Hips, as they are required to pay up to £400 for it irrespective of sale or no sale.

However, if any vendor or estate agent puts a property on sale without PIQ or Hips he/she could be fined £200.

As per the new changes, property owners will be required to wait 3 to 5 days to get required information for a pack.

Housing market seeing end of the tunnel as approvals for mortgage go up

Bank of England news brought some relief to the UK housing market as number of mortgage approvals went up compared to last month.

According to figures released by the Bank of England, mortgage approvals grew to 38,000, up 6000 in February compared with January and highest since May, 2008.

Many market observers believe that this increasing trend is probably an indication of revival of activity in housing market.

But Capital Economics’ Vicky Redwood opines that approvals are not consistent with falling house prices and need to double in number.

Market got another good news from property analysts, Hometrack, who reported that homes were selling quicker and buyers’ interest was also going up. It reported increase in number of registrations for the second consecutive month, up 9% in March, following 17% rise in February 2009.

The Hometrack’s survey involved 1,800 surveyors and agents across Wales and England and revealed that increase in aspiring buyers looking for good bargains is providing much-needed boost to the housing market.

The survey revealed 19% rise in sales agreed, although it considered this volume much below the normal levels. According to Richard Donnell, estate agents are becoming more optimistic about the market.

However, the Halifax house price index showed 2.3% fall in February and an annual drop of 17.7%.

Shortage of properties to cater rental demand boosts investment

There is spurt, for the first time in last 2 years, in purchase of more homes by landlords than in selling. Developers are also keen on letting rather than selling properties.

But it does not mean that developers are desperate or landlords are foolhardy. The data regarding demand for rentals points out that it is set to rise due to acute shortage of mortgage and increasing realisation among people about benefits of rental accommodation.

As a result of increasing repossessions, long wait for social housing and owning a home becoming almost impossible for young people, demand for letting is going up more than supply, as revealed in the findings of most surveys. It will be even more difficult for the firs-time buyers to get mortgages if the Financial Services Authority decides to ban 100% mortgages and puts “three times a borrower’s income” cap on home loans, as reported in the media.

According to report by the Centre for Cities, by 2021 demand for rental will be so high that one in five homes will have to be a rental property. Hometrack’s research head, Richard Donnell, believes that rental sector does have a larger role to play. According to him in the last few months rents have been increasing continuously in some areas as many prospective buyers were opting for renting. He predicts this will gather momentum as fewer people will afford to buy.

RBS to pass on only half of base cut to borrowers

Mortgage borrowers are being denied full base rate cut by RBS and its subsidiary NatWest. They will pass on only 50% of it to the customers.

The Bank of England had announced 0.5% base rate cut on SVRs (Standard Variable Rates) yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »