Selling your house? Why you MUST paint the front door!
...with the market stagnating, it’s little touches like this — and others revealed here — that make the diffe between success an
IF YOU’RE buying or selling a home this spring — or even later in the year — you need to brush up on your housing market knowledge NOW.
The market has taken a turn for the worse and your main tasks when selling will be getting your house in tip-top shape and then setting the right price. As a buyer, meanwhile, you can bag a bargain — but only if you know the tricks of the trade . . .
THE RIGHT MOVES
UNCERTAINTY over the Brexit negotiations has hit the housing market, with a huge slowdown in the number of property sales causing average house prices to stagnate.
Property site Rightmove recorded that the total number of sales agreed was 5.5 pc down in the last quarter of 2017, compared with the same period in 2016.
And the latest Nationwide House Price Index shows that UK house price growth fell back to 2.2 pc a year in February, from 3.2 pc the previous month.
However, bear in mind that national average house prices mask regional differences. Property websites Zoopla (zoopla.co.uk/house-prices) and Rightmove (rightmove.co.uk/
house-prices) both offer breakdowns of average house prices in your area.
The good news for this year is that figures from estate agent trade body NAEA Propertymark show the number of house-hunters rose by 37 pc in January.
In December, agents registered 268 per branch, compared to 367 in January — the highest figure since September 2017.
January also saw a rise in the number of sellers — the supply of available properties rose to 36 per branch on average, from 33 in December.
However, house-hunters are being ‘very choosy’, according to a Rightmove survey. Although asking prices are higher, homes in all regions are taking longer to sell than a year ago. Properties are taking an average of 67 days to sell, compared with 54 days in May 2017.
Price-cutting by homeowners desperate to shift their property reached the highest levels in six years at the end of last year, according to Zoopla.
Just over 35 pc of the homes marketed on the site have marked down their price in the hope of achieving a sale.
HOW TO DRIVE A BUYER’S BARGAIN
GET TO KNOW ESTATE AGENTS: It helps to become the estate agent’s — and, eventually, the seller’s — favourite buyer.
Make the effort to meet them in person and always be courteous and friendly.
BE READY TO GO: Being ready to proceed will sky-rocket you to being first on an agent’s list of people to call when a new instruction lands in your favoured area. Get a mortgage agreement in principle, along with details of deposit funds.
In an ideal world, you might have sold your house or be renting, so that you are in the best position. Being chain-free not only benefits you as a buyer, but it means you can sell your own home as chain-free, which is attractive to other buyers.
CASH BUYER? PROVE IT:
If you are fortunate to be able to buy a home without any borrowing, provide the agent with proof of these funds. You’d be surprised how many people say they are cash buyers when it turns out they are not.
USE THE INTERNET:
There are a number of popular tools on Zoopla, including SmartMaps
(zoopla.co.uk/smartmaps), which allows you to search specifically where you want to buy by editing area boundaries. Meanwhile, Travel Time (zoopla.co.uk/traveltime) lets you find homes based on travel time to important points such as your workplace, a school or a family member’s home. The keyword search narrows specifics for the type of property you are looking for, such as cottage, garage, parking or garden.
HIRE A BUYING AGENT:
Buying agencies are not only for the wealthy, and they can often save you more than they charge, which is usually around 3pc of the asking price. They will search for a property according to your specifications and can help with price negotiations.
LOOK BEYOND YOUR PRICE RANGE:
Search for properties slightly above your price category to see what a little more will buy you. More importantly, you can