The common misconception is that the property market dies a rather slow and miserable death over the festive season and in a way this makes sense.

Who wants to put their home on the market when no one is buying and who would want to move when there are so many other enjoyable things to be doing instead.

Estate agents, mortgage brokers and solicitors begin to wind down for the year so getting anything done or even started becomes nigh on impossible.

However ask yourself this, could you be missing out? Is there something you are not seeing?

From an investors position, Christmas can be an exceptionally good period because your competition, the other buyers out there, have pretty much packed up and are waiting for the new year.

Look at the reasons why you buy:

Is there good stock available right now?

Yes, and the prices are still competitive. If a property has been sat around on the market for a long time, there may be potential for a reduction, a hearty one at that.

Are Interest rates low?

Yes and they won’t be getting any lower, in fact, they are only going to go up so lending will become more and more expensive.

Are lenders lending?

For the time being, yes they are but no one knows how long this will continue for. Lenders only have a certain amount of money to lend so, if there lending, you should be spending.

Time to tick the boxes . . . .

Supply (Yes)

Low rates (Yes)

Lending (Yes)

Simply to see why so many of the ‘savvy’ investors are buying property as I write.

Author: Julian Sonnessa

Since 2007 when the market changed considerably for everyone in the industry and owners alike, the shift from the big corner offices with high rents and bright lights is slowly changing. Like all business  when things get tight good leadership and change is the only option and way forward.

Since the introduction of the internet every business has adapted and changed to be more transparent and accessible.

This has also lead the way with property owners seeking to save on selling their house by selling privately and cutting out the middle man thus saving a couple of thousand pounds, whilst in theory this is a great idea there can be some pitfalls as the owner and buyer will have to mediate between themselves and when things go wrong eg survey, mortgage etc re negotiation can be fraught and sometimes will lead to the sale falling thru with the buyer and seller falling out with each other.

So there seemed to be a gap in the market which has been filled with cost effective online National Estate Agents like Get An Offer Estate Agents to name one, these agents have moved into the twenty first century with low cost selling fees pleasing the seller who wanted to save and also having the advantage of using the middle man to iron out any problems that might arise during the sale, with a high street attitude adopting the no sale no fee rule this is a great middle alternative to doing it yourself where a lot of do it yourself online agencies require upfront fees with no guarantee of a sale.

So with the market changing this has lead the way to a new breed of Estate Agents who have adapted to the new aspirations of a seller with a service which is little changed from the High Street Estate Agents.

Author: Chris Lunson

10 DAY Traffic Jam!

This is a story that grabbed our attention after all the disruption we have been experiencing with the Snow! And we thought we had problems being stuck in the SNOW overnight spare a though for thousands of Chinese motorists who for five days, have been stuck in the world’s worst traffic jam that stretches for 60 miles. And even worse, the 10-day queue is expected to remain backed up until at least the end of the month.

The mother of all road works have spawned a temporary and very slow-moving community. Truck drivers, their vehicles packed with coal from Inner Mongolia, wash themselves in the scorching heat by the roadside, play cards to pass the time, and sleep beneath their lorries. Occasionally they get back into the vehicles to move forward a few inches ? then turn off the engines and get out again.

After the beep… Hands up if you’ve ever done this on a Friday afternoon!

Government employees still working despite Monday’s strike were told to ‘imitate answer machines’ to cope with calls from the public. Staff at the Department for Work and Pensions in Carlisle said they were given a brief script to read out, in the style of a telephone answering machine, before hanging up. The instruction by managers was leaked on Facebook after chit-chat between strikers from the Public and Commercial Services Union and their colleagues who had stayed at work.

House prices fall 0.1% but hopes rise

House prices fell by 0.1% in November but there are hopes the market may be stabilising, Halifax said today.

Property prices in the three months to November were 0.7% lower than a year earlier, which was their first annual decline since November 2009.

However, Halifax said there were signs homeowners were becoming more reluctant to put properties on the market, which would help slow the recent quarterly falls in house prices.

The month-on-month decline in November took the average house price to £164,708 and followed a record 3.7% fall in September and a 1.8% increase in October.

Halifax said the varied monthly pattern is consistent with a relatively flat underlying trend for house prices.

The quarter-on-quarter figures are generally seen as smoother indicator of the market because they strip out some of the monthly fluctuations.

Prices in the three months to November were 2.1% lower than the preceding three months.

Last month, Halifax reported that prices showed a 1.2% quarter-on-quarter decline, the biggest fall since June 2009.

But Halifax pointed out that the quarterly declines were well below the declines of 5% to 6% in the second half of 2008.

It does not expect to see a significant fall in prices and believes interest rates will remain low for an extended period, which will help mortgage availability.

Read the full story here http://tinyurl.com/299yc82