Buyer's Guide (3) : "The Buy-To-Let Guru"

As for buy-to-let, David Lawrenson, author of the best-selling Successful Property Letting: How to Make Money in Buy-to-Let, is not slipping on the black armband just yet.

Quite the opposite, though he urges investors to do their research:

"It's an extremely good time to buy investment property. Vendors are willing to take offers and you can generally get very good deals, depending on the area.

"First-time buyers are getting scared by the headlines and they're choosing to rent. Rents are going up very strongly and will continue to do so. I'm buying, and the other investors I know are very excited about the opportunities available now, especially from the auction houses.

"One problem for both first-time buyers and buy-to-let is that though the base rate may be coming down, the margins charged over the base rate have increased and the fees are going higher.

"And there is an oversupply in the landlord market of one- and two-bed flats in the cities. Look for properties anywhere where the transport infrastructure is improving and buy two- and three-bed houses in areas with strong economies. Avoid the oversupplied one- and two-bed identikit flats.

"If I was a first-time buyer I'd get on with buying now. Come the end of the year the opportunity may be gone."

- www.findaproperty.com -

Buyer's Guide (2) : "The Bullish Economist"

Economist John Wriglesworth of the Wriglesworth PR company has long been a bullish reader of the market and takes the opposite view. He insists that no-one with plans to stay put for a few years should be afraid to step onto, or up, the ladder:

"It's a good time to buy as long as you're in it for five years or so, not looking to make a quick buck.

"Over the longer term prices will grow because of lack of supply. There's population growth, the green lobby, immigration, divorce, demand for holiday homes, and with a fixed supply and growing demand there's no way other than up.

"We've probably reached the end of the boom, but if you're wanting to get onto the ladder it doesn't really matter when you get on. Prices won't crash, and in the long term you can't lose."

- www.findaproperty.com -

Buyer's Guide (1) : "The Biggest Bear In The Forest"

First up, let's start with the man who thinks the market still has a long way to fall.

Jonathan Davis, Chartered Financial Planner and Managing Director Spokesman for House Price Crash, has been waiting a long time for a downturn and is gleefully predicting a bloodbath:

"It's a great time to sell, but there's no one buying. Buy-to-let is effectively dead so no one is buying at the bottom of the chains and they are falling apart.

"I think prices will fall by about ten per cent this year, and around 35 per cent over the next four or five years, but the timing depends on which part of the country you live in.

"We should be looking at prices falling until 2010 in London and the South East and up to 2012 or 2013 around the country.

"If you're trading up it's a terrible time, but it's a brilliant time to rent because there's a massive glut of properties available and owners continue to offer great deals."

Buyer's Guide : A Good Time To Move ? (Preview)

The housing market has been suffering since the credit crunch, but behind the gloomy headlines is a more complicated reality.

While prices fell for the fourth month in a row over January, nationally the falls only affected 23 per cent of the country, compared to 30 per cent in December, leaving 77 per cent of the country unaffected.

And although loans for house purchase are down, and buyers are adopting a wait-and-see attitude, website traffic reveals that people still remain very interested in bricks and mortar.

Our stats here at FindaProperty.com showed a 19 per cent year-on-year rise in visitor numbers in January, a trend that suggests there's still a large number of potential buyers keeping their eyes on the market.

Commenting on the figures, our own expert, Content Editor Mike O'Flynn, says: "A cooling market has put buyers in the driver's seat, and with prices falling in some areas there are undoubtedly deals to be done.

"Supply is up and demand is down, so now, before the spring surge kicks in, could well be the perfect moment to snap up a bargain."

That point is borne out by recent figures from Hometrack revealing that sellers are accepting offers at an average of 93.5 per cent of asking price. Not great for them, but a relief for struggling first-time buyers.

- www.findaproperty.com -

Top Ten Tips for a Quick Sale

Top Ten Tips for a Quick Sale

1. Catch-up with 'deferred maintenance'

Oil the door hinges, stop squeaky floorboards with talcum powder, replace washers on dripping taps and missing hooks on the curtains.

Empty all the bins and keep them clean. Don't forget to take that pile of rubbish to the tip.

2. Drive-by desirability

House buyers drive by before they pick the houses to view. Make yours stand out by painting the door a bright colour, planting window boxes or tubs of colourful flowers and tidying up the garden. And ensure that the house number is visible from the road.

3. The big clear out

Clutter can be distracting to people trying to visualise living in your home. Take it to your local charity shops or pack your knick-knacks in boxes and stack them in the garage ready for the day you move. Dress back up with a few choice pieces.

4. Good views

Clean the windowpanes and woodwork with a good household detergent. This improves the look of the room and lets in the natural daylight. Much easier than redecorating but almost as effective.

5. Neat windows

Dry or steam-cleaning the curtains really does lift the room and it removes all those built-up odours. Replace nets with muslin drapes or blinds. They are less fussy and old-fashioned and if you replace curtains with blinds it opens up the room.

6. Welcome in

Hallways need to be welcoming. Keep it clean, light and clutter free. Adding a mirror can make a dark hall seem much lighter and bigger. Don't paint it or too bold or dark a colour.

7. Creating a lifestyle that sells

Think ‘show home’. Turn on the lights, have lovely made-up beds with good quality linen and no dirty washing. And fresh fluffy towels in the nice clean bathroom.

8. Define the space

What makes a bedroom a bedroom and a dining room a dining room? A bed and a table, of course. There’s making the bed (or throwing back the covers) and then there’s making a feature out of the bed.

9. Floors

Carpets and flooring are a large outlay for the new homeowner and that could cost you the sale. They can also hold unpleasant odours so get them cleaned. If they are wearing thin, pull them up. Bare floorboards and a rug can be a cost effective alternative and is very popular for downstairs rooms.

Replace all carpet in kitchens, bathrooms and cloakrooms with easy to clean cushion flooring.

10. Surf Stoppers

Buyers use internet photos to narrow down their choices. So make sure you get only the best photos of your property published.

- www.findaproperty.com -

House Prices Up In January

House prices increased by 0.9 per cent in January after falling by -0.4 per cent the previous month, according to the latest figures from the Land Registry.

The report reflects sold prices in England and Wales for the month before, and so is a definitive record of what has happened in the market.

However, despite the monthly gain, annual appreciation still slipped to 6.4 per cent from 6.7 per cent in December.