Government Pledges to Support Buyers and Help to Buy Scheme, How to Prepare Your Home for Winter, Plus More

Welcome to Town & Country's November newsletter.

In this edition, the government have made a serious of pledges to help improve the property market, including making the process less stressful and providing funds to help to buy.

Also this month, we share a guide on how to prepare your home for the winter months and we reveal five myths you will probably hear when selling your home.

Government Pledges to Make the House Buying Process More Efficient and Less Stressful

 

 The UK property market could be heading for a number of changes as the government plans to not only reduce the cost and speed up the process the buying a home but also take away some of the stress many buyers face by introducing new regulations.

Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, is looking for evidence from a variety of sources such as estate agents, solicitors and mortgage lenders, in a bid to improve the home buying process through better utilisation of current technology and tackle gazumping once and for all.

“We want to help everyone have a good quality home they can afford, and improving the process of buying and selling is part of delivering that. Buying a home is one of life’s largest investments, so if it goes wrong it can be costly. That’s why we’re determined to take action to make the process cheaper, faster and less stressful,” said Javid.

According to recent data, roughly 250,000 sales fall through each year as a result of gazumping, and the government is considering new regulations that would see an agreement on the sale of property locked in until it has been completed.

Javid went on to say that “This can help save people money and time so they can focus on what matters - finding their dream home. I want to hear from the industry on what more we can do to tackle this issue."

In the latest survey from the Department for Communities and Local Government, it was found that almost 70% of sellers and over 60% of buyers found the process stressful due to delays in the transaction. In addition to this, it was reported that almost half of sellers were concerned about a buyer changing their mind. Couple this with the 32% of sellers and 28% of buyers that stated that they were not satisfied with the other party’s solicitor and it is easy to see why changes are being suggested.

Javid commented “Mistrust between parties is one of the biggest issues faced, we want to look at schemes including lock-in agreements. Although one million homes are bought and sold in England each year, around a quarter of sales fall through and hundreds of millions of pounds are wasted, we want to increase confidence in the housing chain.”

Some property experts believe that an overhaul of the process involved is long overdue, such as CEO of National Association of Estate Agents, Mark Hayward. He commented “We are delighted that Government has chosen to include further estate agents regulation in the scope of their Call for Evidence into the house buying and selling process. This is a welcome review of the process, which is currently archaic and does not reflect the twenty-first century.”

Government Announces £10bn Boost to Help to Buy Scheme

 

 

In a recent announcement from the Government, Prime Minister Theresa May has stated that the government aims to give the Help to Buy Scheme a boost by injecting a further &10bn to help first-time buyers.

The Help to Buy scheme was put in place to give potential first-time buyers a leg up onto the property ladder, by allowing people with only 5% of a deposit to buy a home. Since its introduction, Help to Buy has assisted with over 130,000 purchases.

With recent figures revealing that home ownership among the current up and coming generation has fallen significantly, dropping from 46% to 20% over the last 20 years, Theresa May has pledged to help fix the housing market by providing &10bn of funding and potentially help 135,000 more buyers into their first home by 2021.

In addition to the &10bn boost, the government also announced that they will be providing &2bn to councils, allowing them to build more affordable housing and a further &2.5m would be allocated to help the completion of over 150,000 new homes throughout the country.

As expected with any move from the government, there are both believers and doubters in this plan to inject more cash into the scheme. Some property experts believe that giving buyers a leg up doesn’t get to the heart of the problem. This opinion is shared by Sam Bowman, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute: “…adding more demand without improving the supply of houses is just going to raise house prices and make homes more unaffordable for people who don't qualify for the Help to Buy subsidy.”

Others believe that this is a move in the right direction for the property market. Commercial Director at Aldermore, Charles McDowell, revealed that the latest research from their organisation showed that it would take almost a third of the country five or more years to save up enough for a home.

McDowell commented, "It is a particularly difficult time for first-time buyers due to demand significantly outmatching the supply of homes. We believe more needs to be done to increase house building, so it is promising to see that the Government has assured developers that land will be available for construction."

How to Prepare Your Home for the Winter Months

 

 

The winter months are beginning to draw in which means you might soon be seeing an increase in your heating and energy bills, especially if your home is not quite up to scratch.

1. Upgrade/service the Boiler
It’s better to deal with this one now before it gets colder. That old gas boiler you’ve got ticking away could be costing you more money than it’s worth and might not be doing the same effective job it was doing in the 80’s. Getting it serviced (or replaced!) could save you money, energy and could save you from carbon monoxide poisoning.

2. Exclude those Draughts!
You probably don’t even notice a draught during the summer months, in fact, you’re probably grateful for a bit of cold air! During the winter months, however, that draught will seriously contribute to lower temperatures in your home. Make sure you get some draught excluders for the offending doors and windows. If your chimney is decorative, it’s also worth buying a specialist draught excluder to stop the hot air escaping and the cold air rushing in.

3. Bleed the radiators!
Many of us rely on our radiators as the main source of heat during the winter months. So it makes sense that you should ensure they’re all in tip-top condition. If they feel colder at the top than they do at the bottom, then they need to be bled. Grab the key and a towel and get cracking! Your home will be toasty in no time.

4. Protect your pipes
We’ve all read the horror stories about pipes bursting on Christmas day, ruining the day for families. Protect yourself from this disaster by surrounding your pipes in a foam coat known as “lagging”.

5. Double check your energy provider
You might be able to find a better deal if you shop around for an energy provider. Less money spent on heating, more money for spending on hot chocolate and thick woolly cardigans.

Five Property Myths You Will Hear When Selling Your Home

 

If you’ve recently decided to sell your home, then you’ve probably been researching all sorts of information and asking for plenty of advice from family and friends on how to get it all wrapped up smoothly and quickly. While there are plenty of great tips out there on how to maximise the appeal of your home, there are also a few myths that seem to be passed around from time to time.

Luckily for you, we’re here to fill you in on some of the selling tips that may not be 100% true or just wrong altogether.

You get out what you put in
A property purchase is an investment, but that doesn’t mean you need to sink every penny of your income into it. Upgrading or renovating areas of your home - in most cases - increase the value of your home. However, renovations are not sure-fire profit. Just because you put &3,000 into doing up your kitchen, it doesn’t mean you’ve added &7-10,000 to the value of your home. Also, if your taste in design is somewhat ‘unique’ then there may be a chance that you’ve turned one room from a generic blank slate, into a buyer’s worst nightmare. The key to putting money into your home is to focus on function and not fashion. Install any missing modern home features, but don’t burn through cash trying to wow potential buyers with your design skills.

You should always aim high
This one isn’t necessarily specific to the property market, but it’s a fairly mainstream belief that whenever you’re negotiating you start high and let them try and work you down to something more realistic. While this may be a good tactic in some situations, when selling a home, you have to keep in mind just how competitive the market actually is. When buyers search for a home they are most likely to look for properties priced below their maximum budget and try and bring the price down further. If your home is priced unnecessarily high, then it won’t even show up on some buyers' radar and you’ll be harming your chances of booking viewings.

Timing is everything
This is one of those half true tips. It is true that Spring is a good time to put your home on the market, the market is busier that time of year and there are smaller benefits such as the return of nice weather that improves the look of any home. But just because Spring is a good time to be on the market, this doesn’t mean that the rest of the year is a poor time to sell. Realistically, people are looking at homes throughout the year and there are plenty of factors that contribute to someone’s decision to move home. There is a chance you may receive more interest during the warmer months of the year, but if someone is willing to make an offer that’s right for you at another time, then there’s no point in delaying a move 3-6 months.

It’s the interior that really matters
This is another half-truth, the interior of your home is obviously quite important when trying to sell your home. However, the exterior also plays a large role. The exterior is your homes first impression, so don’t just assume that every buyer is going to take the ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ approach to property. This doesn’t mean that you need to go all out by laying a new driveway and installing water features, but making sure the front garden is kept in good shape and doors or windows have a fresh coat of paint can go a long way in getting people in the door in the first place.

Buyers love a fixer-upper because they’re such a bargain
Although this may seem a bit of a contradiction to our earlier point, when you’re planning to sell your home, it’s important that you invest the right amount of money to help get it off the market. All buyers love a bargain and in today’s DIY world some buyers will consider a fixer upper but that is entirely dependent on what they actually need to fix. There’s a big difference between putting up a few extra shelves and repairing some faulty plumbing. You might get lucky and find a buyer that doesn’t mind getting stuck into all of it, but the longer your list of repairs is, the shorter your list of potential buyers will be.