The Pros and Cons of Taking Your Kids to Property Viewings
If you’re looking for a new family home in or around Wellingborough, Irthlingborough or Rushden, viewings will play a key role in your quest to find ‘The One’.
While marketing photos and virtual tours serve an important purpose, nothing rivals seeing the décor, layout and location with your own eyes.
Viewings also give buyers the chance to discuss the property with the agent and learn more about its history and the seller’s situation.
With all this in mind, where does that leave parents? … Continue Reading…
Making Tax Digital: A Timeline for Landlords on the Upcoming Changes
Did you know that HMRC plans to introduce new rules on how landlords file their tax returns?
Here’s an update on what these changes involve and a timeline for when they’ll come into force.
Making Tax Digital (MTD) is an initiative designed to streamline the tax system by fully digitising it.
As MTD has been mooted for quite some time and its implementation delayed twice already, you may have already heard about it.
But if you’re hazy on the details or have buried your … Continue Reading…
Home Sellers: Staging Your Home on a Budget OR
Are you planning to sell your home this year?
Or just curious about what your property may be worth in the current market?
Good news – this article will give you five easy-to-follow tips highlighting how effectively staging your home can boost its appeal to potential buyers.
Styling your home can also potentially speed up the sale and even increase the value of offers you receive.
Let’s dive into the tips.
Declutter and depersonalise
Start by decluttering each room to make your home appear more spacious … Continue Reading…
Landlords: Slash Your Property Void Spells
Owning a rental property isn’t just about what happens while tenants are in place; effectively managing periods when your property is unoccupied is equally important.
Every landlord faces void periods as a natural part of property letting, making it essential to prepare financially and strategically to manage its impact.
Void periods mean not only the loss of rental income but also the burden of continuing to pay the mortgage, utilities (including standing charges) and council tax without money coming in from tenants.
It … Continue Reading…
Market Review – 1st Quarter
We are already a quarter way through the year and Q1 has been a bit stop and start. The beginning of the year started particularly well with more activity from both sellers and buyers than in recent years. Nationally, January saw more sellers coming to the market than in any of the previous 8 years and sales were up over 17% against 2023.
However, February was a bit of a contrast, generally activity was down and confidence was lower, possibly because … Continue Reading…
How to Protect Your Rental from This Common Cause of Property Damage
What’s the most common reason for landlords finding themselves in hot water and needing to make an insurance claim?
The answer, according to one insurance company* at least, is ‘escape of water’. This term covers everything from burst pipes and defective washing machines to leaky loos and dripping taps.
In a recent report, the firm revealed that 35.5% of all claims paid to landlords were related to water damage.
And while most claims totalled a few thousand pounds**, some were for much, much … Continue Reading…
How to Spot an Unethical Estate Agent
Selling your home is a significant life event, and the last thing you want is to be misled by the unscrupulous practices of a minority of estate agents.
These agents and their actions give the industry a bad name.
We’ve no time for them, and neither should you.
The good news is we’re about to shine a light on some of those practices so you can look out for them and act to avoid agents who use them.
Homeowners deserve transparency and fairness when … Continue Reading…
Inherited a Rental Property? Here Are Your Options
If you’ve just inherited a rental property, then you may be wondering what your options are.
While you won’t need to make any decisions on the spot (it usually takes many months to settle an estate), it’s good to start thinking about the issues you’ll have to address in time.
The first is what you intend to do with the property. Assuming you don’t want to move in yourself, your options are to:
Continue to rent the property out. That way, you’ll earn … Continue Reading…
Thinking of Selling in Spring? Here Are Five Questions to Ask an Estate Agent
If you’re mulling over a move this spring, there are several key decisions to make.
Choosing the right estate agent to sell your home is one of the most important.
To help you make an informed decision, here are five important questions to ask any estate agent:
1. What process do you use to value my home accurately?
How an agent values your property reveals their market knowledge and commitment to getting you the best possible price. An experienced agent should provide a comprehensive … Continue Reading…
Where Many Real Buyers Come From – National Connections
One of the myths of selling a property is “put it on the internet and the buyers will flock to you”.
Sellers have found out the hard way this is not true. Buyers may use the internet to make an initial approach to an estate agent but more often than not buyers are introduced to properties by a physical conversation with estate agent’s staff.
All the technology and automation we have at our disposal are great tools for generating leads but the … Continue Reading…