Cant Repeat Enough "Dont over value"

Following a recent statement by the National Association of Estate agents claiming the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors are knowingly under valuing homes, we thought we woudl side with the RICS on this one.

So the tip is simple do not over value your house, get a proper valuation by a registered survey one which is an RICS member check out http://www.rics.org/ for a full list, listen to what they say and unlike estate agents RICS members are not interested in taking a high commission for over valuing your house, so they are only interested in giving you a correct value based on the market, property and nothing else.

Think of it this way would you rather sell your house or be sitting on it for years, simply because its priced out of the market.

So in short

1. Get your house valued by a qualified surveyor, check out http://www.rics.org/ 
2. Dont be tempted by an agency to advertise for a higher price unless you are willing to have your house on the market for longer with a possible price reduction at a later stage.
3. Just remember surveyors are the only people qualified to give you an accurate market price, everyone else is just giving you a best guess.

If you want to make money from property investing and real estate investing, either join a program or buy a house for that purpose, over valuing your home is only going to end in trouble.

BuzzPages Deadline is Fast Approaching

This is more of a shout out than a tip, if you want your property to appear in the next edition of our Buzz Pages publication, please add your property to the buzzproperties.co.uk website by the end of July 2011.

Also if there is anyone who wished to advertise their company in the Buzz Pages publication please get in touch.

Do you want you house to appear in the Press

As we are fast approaching the launch of our new publication Buzz Pages, we are putting out this call to everyone who wants their property which is for sale or to let to appear in the next edition of Buzz Pages to place the property on the Buzz Properties website.

Once your property is listed on the website it will automatically appear in your local edition of Buzz Pages, totally free.

So dont miss out and advertise your propery now for free on BuzzProperties.co.uk

Dont Over Value

Despite the latest figures showing house prices across the board are on average around £221,000. Property website Rightmove annouced that in January its average sale price was a lot lower at £165,000.

The difference is that agents are over valuing houses to get the listing, the difference between £221,000 and £165,000 is a massive £56,000 or a commision of around £5,600 (based on a 1% commission).

So the word is done over value your house, or you may find you are stuck with it for a long time, all of this time being tied in to your agency.

House Prices Index Falls

According to the latest LSL figures the average house price fell to just over £221,000 during january, a drop of 0.1% since December.

So remember if you are trying to sell your property, no is the time to be more savvy and make better use of both your time and sites like http://buzzproperties.co.uk.

Get It Surveyed - Fix It Up

In todays market it id very much becoming a buyers market, due to the continued market problems and potential job losses. It is for this reason that you must actually spend some money making your house a saleable asset, this goes for whether you are trying to sell or let your property.



PEOPLE HAVE MORE CHOICE



Remember this when you are thinking of selling your property our showing it to potential tenants or purchasers, make sure everything is up to scratch and in full working order, this goes from everything from heating to the roof. Give your house a good looking over and fix everything that needs to be fixed.



One suggestion is to get a full survey done, this will give you an overall picture of your property and let you know exactly what a potential buyer will see, and that way you know what is worth fixing and what is uneconomical to fix.



After all if may be worth spending that £10,000 to keep the value in your property, or even ask a bit more.



Just remember the basics of economics and unlike the British Government "You need to spend money to make money!"



Best of luck with your property and remember that Buzz Properties is always there to help you get the most out of your property.

HIPs (Home Information Packs) No Longer Required

Its great news. As of the 21st May 2010 you no longer need an HIP or Home Information Pack when selling your house. Although you still need an EPC or Energy Performance Certificate.

Which in my view is the right decision as lots of people spent their own time and money getting qualified to carry out the EPC assessments and if the EPC was scrapped these people would be out of work.

This is great news, and if you are still looking for any necessary real estate and property forms please check out this excellent online resource all forms are updated regularly as well as covering both UK and US laws

Coalition Announces Home Information Pack (HIP) Removal

One of the good and bad things to so far come out of the new coalition government is the possible removal of the Home Information Packs (HIPs).

If you dont know what a HIP is simply it allows a potentional buyer to see facts and figures about a property prior to purchase, such as energy rating, floor plans, etc. I for one totally agree with both the Home Information Packs (HIPs) and the Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), I think they are a great way to see an at a glance view of what is one of the largest purchases you will every make.

As the HIP was only introduced back in 2007, and many people spent their own time and money to become qualified HIP providers and energy assessors, this means that potentially many people will become unemployed over night.

However as the economy has to be the new governments top priority, you will still need to provide a HIP for your property sales, and and EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) for every rental property, until any official announcement is made.

Now this being said it is in my view that despite a promise to abolish the Home Information Packs (HIPs) I think they will more likely be a step towards either.

1. The Home Information Pack (Hip) being an option when selling your property, that way the Home Information Pack (Hip) will no longer be a legal requirement, but can be seen as a sales tool in aiding the potential sale or letting of a property.
2. A simpler scheme without the need for the information contained in a Home Information Pack (HIP), mainly likely to be based around the current Energy Performance Certifcate (EPC) such as is the case for rental properties.

The fact is that until any formal announcement is made on the removal of the Home Information Pack (HIP), and even then it will be a gradual not an over night removal. You are still have a legal responsiblity to provide a Home Information Pack (HIP) for selling your property and an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for letting your property for the time being anyway.

Do Not Sell Until After Emergency Budget

With the general election finally over and the formation of a Conservative - Lib Dem government, this is an uncertain time for the UK economy.

There are only a few certain things that will come out of this, and that is change and hopefully for the better.

Now a word of caution one thing that has been announced is an emergency budget in around 50 days, and although we have just had a budget no one really knows what will happen until after this budget and mainly the new government having some time to govern.

So my advice is to take the time between now and the emergency budget to fix up your home, make the most of the weather, and remember such things as kerb appeal, first appearance and workings if you want to sell your home.

As for the actual sale, it is a safe bet that something will come out of this budget to help the economy and that will help house sales, whether this is directly connected to home sales or simply an increase in buyer confidence. So do not actually put your house on the market until after the new government has had time to adjust and the emergency budget is over. Doing this you will stand to make a better profit on your house, with a lot less hassle.

New Stamp Duty Threshold for First Time Buyers

As you may or may not have heard there is a new stamp duty threshold of £250000 for firsttime buyers. This means that for anyone who is buying there first home will not have to pay stamp duty unless the house value is above £250000.

So remember to bear this in mind when selling your home, if you are hoping it will be snapped up by first time buyers you can probably get away with raising your asking price a bit, but not too much as you will over value your house and make it a poor option.

For example if you value your house at £250000 a first time buyer will pay no stamp duty, but if you value your house at £250001 the first time buyer will pay around £7500 in stamp duty, effectively reducing your house to a real market value of around £242500 and potentially losing you the sale.

So remember if your home is valued at over £250000, you may be better off reducing your price in order to sell your house.

Also remember that is you are buying your first home, this double in the threshold means that you can now spend around £2000 more for every £100000 of asking price, on your new home up to £250000.

Springtime is finally here.

As Spring is fast approaching its now time to take care of the annual tasks, such as spring cleaning the house, tidying the garden, washing the windows.

Although this may seem like they are very selfish tasks, these are an essential part of your home selling toolkit. Think of it this way, when you go into a shop is it tidy or messy? You need to make your house look and feel like a show home and not just on the inside.

As Kerb appeal is the most important part of selling your house, as research shows that over 90% of people who are looking to buy a house will visit the house prior to making any viewing appointments at all. So make sure you get rid of the winter blues from your house and remove all the dead stuff in your garden. Making your house look as appealing as possible without needing to go in.

Just remember the viewing process as follows.

1. Kerb Appeal
2. Front of House
3. First Impressions (smells, sight and sounds on entering)
4. The grand tour
5. The specifics (Kitchen, Bathroom, back garden)

Just try to visualise the journey a potential buyer takes and make sure its a tidy one.

Cold Weather Warning

With the continued cold weather we are experiencing at the moment, I thought I would give you some advice. So this tip is more about what you should be doing to aid your house and not necessarily the sale of it.

Please make sure that you do the following if you hope to sell you house in the coming months or year and dont want to have to pay out before hand, after all people want to buy a property that is in good working order not a broken run down one.

Things to do.

1. If you are going away make sure to leave your heating and boiler set to the mode for cold weather, if it does not have this mode set it to around 5 degress celcius, this will prevent pipes freezing and bursting.

2. Open your windows - This may sound like false economy but a build up of warm humid air in your home can lead to a variety or water realted problems, including mould, damp, rot and lots more. So when you wake up open your window for around 30 minutes to get rid of the warm air built up over night, and after a bath leave it about 20 mins then open a window DO NOT OPEN YOUR BATHROOM WINDOW IMMEDIATELY AFTER HAVING YOUR BATH OR SHOWER.

3. Use your heating - try to keep your house as warm as possible, with your heating on to avoid a problem occurring with damp and humidity realted problems.

4. Lag your pipes - this may not be the best time to do this but if you can remember to lag / insulate your pipes, insulate all pipes that are heating un used spaces, such as wall cavities. You dont need to lag pipes running in rooms. This tip will heating keep your boiler in full working order.

These are just a few tips to help keep your house saleable whilst the weather is bad and save you money in the longer term.

2010 - To Sell or Not To Sell

With all the recent activities in finance world. What will 2010 bring to your intended house sale?

The first piece of advice is caution, there are conflicting views that house prices will go up next year or go down next year. The main factor that is currently having an adverse effect on the property price index is the amount of houses that are for sale. This is simple supply and demand, less supply or more more demand means prices rise.

This is currently the case as there are less houses on the market, which in turn is pushing up the prices of the houses that are up for sale. So you may be thinking then why dont you sell your house now. Well you could do that and if you wish to take the punt then you could advertise your property at no cost on BuzzProperties.co.uk and see how you go.

However my advice is this rather than risk adding to the innaccurate market prices and in turn potentially lowering house prices, wait off selling your house until later in the year. Ideally after the end of the financial year, normally around mid April. This way you will not only get a better price for your property but you will also get a realistic one, and wont run the risk of being back in the same boat a year down the track due to inflated property prices.

So in short wait until April at the earliest to sell your house if you want to maximise your property return in both the long and the short term.

Housing Recovery - Dont jump the gun

You may have heard in the papers and news that there is a bit of a housing recovery going on. The average house price has risen steadily over the last few months, and there is even talk of the economy coming out of recession.

This might should like great news if you are selling your house, but its not. As the house prices rise above current levels, agencies are too putting up their fees. Where a few months ago there were lots of 1% deals around there is a steady increase back to the average of around 4%.

So what can you do?

The best way to avoid paying high agency fees is to simply wait, as the rise in the average house price will steady back, and with Christmas on the doorstep the market will level and it will not be until at least the middle of next year, (2010) that the true average house price will be seen. So by waitng to sell your house for at least 8 months you will be able to clawback any losses and also negotiate a better agency rate without being taken to the cleaners.

It is like the old saying, 'patience is a virtue' and in the case of the housing market its true. Just hold fast and you will be better off in the longer term.

Let someone else do all the work

When it comes to selling your house it can all too quickly become one of the most stessful times in your life. So why not let someone else do all the work? This may sound too good to be true, but it isn't. As this is where Buzz Properties can help. We can do everything for you to get your house on the market, everything from taking the interior and exterior pictures, writing up the description to advising on the value of your house. Then once all this is done we can then show your house to thousands of people everyday.

Once your house is up for sales, its then up to you to simply answer any questions buyers have, show them your house and finally agree on the price. After all no estate agent in the world can show your home off as much as you can. So the best person to sell your house to potential buyers is you.

The best thing about al this is that it is competely free, to take advantage of this great idea just visit the BuzzProperties.co.uk website and complete the form. We will then be in touch to arrange for the photos to be taken and the description to be written.

Property Price Increase - Be Realistic

No doubt you have seen on the news recently that there has been a slight rise in the average house price over the last couple of months.

When you are selling your house you need to think about the sale in a realistic manner, think of the house as a place to live and not as a cash cow, an easy way to make money. Ask yourself just how much you have spent on the house in real money terms and how much sweat equity you have put in and use these to come up with the right price.

Try not to use estate agents that promise your a higher price, as the longer your house is on the market the more your are losing.

So in short think of the bigger picture when selling your house, such as how long are you willing to live where you live? have you really spent as much as you think? Just remember the simple rule your home is your castle not your bank.

Try to be Different

There are alot of nice looking fittings you can buy for all areas of your home, from the bathroom to the kitchen. The issue with most of these is that they look pretty but are not usually very good at doing the job in hand, remembering that developing your house is quite an easy task.

Most of the designer bathroom sinks, either dont hold water or splash water everywhere. So you need to ask yourself if you really want to change the fittings to ones that just dont work.

On the face of it this may not seem like an issue, the problem is that as these fittings are widely available and the chances are the people looking to buy your house have seem these fittings in the stores, and know that they are not what they try to be. Take most modern kitchens they look great but when you get down to the quality, they just dont have it. Most of them are made up of chipboard, and other poor quality materials. Since these units are available everywhere and most designs look the same, you need to ask yourself.

Do you really want your house to follow the crowd? or Do you want it to be different?

Try to buy fittings that are aware for the normal ones, and if you can afford it buy better quality fitings. This will help you house be ahead of the game and stand out from the crowd. You will also get every penny back you spend, so you have nothing to lose.

Remember being different is a good thing, and if you are looking for a different place to buy your next home, check out your local foreclosure listings or if you are thinking of taking the plunge into the whole real estate and property investing arena, keep to the be different motto.

Dont get tied to your estate agent

When it comes to selling your house you can use an estate agent, and most estate agents will have some sort or tie in. This simply means that you must sell your house through them for a minimum period, and if you sell it through anyone else in that period they still get a commission, or you can sell it yourselves and save hundreds of pounds in the process.

Now there is a big mistake that most people make when choosing an agency, and this is that a lot of people choose a Sole Seller agreement and not a Sole Agency agreement.

The different is simple

Sole Seller Agreement - You dont want this one

A Sole Seller agreement is one which states that you will only use that agency to sell your property, and they are representing you as a seller of your property, this means that if you sell through anyone else during the tie-in period you will still have to pay them a commission.

Sole Agency Agreement - This is the one you want

A Sole Agency agreement difers from the sole seller as this one states that you are only going to use one agency to sell your property during the tie in period. This is the type of agreement you want, that is if you have to be tied in with an agency. This type of agreement means you can sell your house yourself, this allows you to advertise or sell your house privately, using online services such as BuzzProperties.co.uk to sell your house, without having to pay an agency any fees at all if you sell your house yourself.

So in closing, make sure that you get the right agency and the right agreement, after all with the increased amount of house sales privately, adn increased number of sales options, being tied in can be a problem. So make sure that if you have to get tied in make sure its a sole agency agreement NOT a sole seller agreement.

Dont Use Too Many Estate Agents

When you are selling your house it is too tempting to dilute the interest by using multiple agencies, this fits into the tie in agreement a lot of agencies have. When you are trying to sell your house look around at the agencies and find the one that is best for your house.

This may be an online agency such as BuzzProperties.co.uk or one of the many high street agencies, in any case you want to use a specialist agency, and not simply put your house in every agency.

Think of it this way, you go to a supermarket for food, a garage for petrol and so on. Do the same with your house look at the agencies, and if you are selling a country house, use a specialist agent, just the same as if your selling a house in the town. Choose as few agents as possible, as this will help you retain value in your house, as if people see your house is for sale in several agents its a clear sign that its not selling, and opens you up to price negotiations.

So think of it this way the current UK planning regulations are the way they are for a reason, only have 2 or less for sale signs outside your house, not only looks better, but helps you get a better price for your house.

So spend time finding the right agent, instead of using every agent.

Quality of Work - Dont Do It Yourself

One of the most important things that people want to buy is quality.

This goes for everything in your home, from floors to walls, inside and out. If you are a competent Do It Yourselfer thats fine, but remember people are paying for your house. So its worth getting some jobs done by a professional if you are just not competent.

If we look at tiling as an example, look at the picture below









This a a classic example of bas tiling, you can clearly see the tiles are not inline, and in a whole bathroom thiss effect is magnified by multiple errors.

Don't Do It YourSelf

So if you are not competent at doing a task, where it is jsut repainting a room, to laying a new carpet. Then get someone else to do it.This fits with other tips, in that although decorating or replacing carpets will not add any value to your house, it will help it sell. So you will get any money back you put into your house, so go nuts.

Quality Sells

People will buy quality so making your house stand out from the crowd is extremely important, making it as close to a show home is vital , especially when the house is one of the largest purchases people will ever make, they are willing to pay for quality.

So look around your house and be honest with yourself, if you cant do something to a high standard, get someone else to do it.