Sell your property with least expenses - Know the cost involved in selling your house

Selling a property isn't as easy, short-processed and quick, as the word sell sounds. There are many steps that are involved in selling a property/house/home and almost all of these steps require incurring some cost in one way or the other. You just cannot get that large lump sum of your home/property, before fully implementing the process of selling and implementing requires you to incur.

So which are the expenses/costs which you generally need to incur being a seller?

Your first obvious cost would be to refurnish your house. This is all if you wish to. Good furnishes houses are known to fetch you good price.
After that you decide to sell your home and with that also the way through which you'll make you home sale.

You've many options at your disposal. You can choose to make a sale though either of the ways:

1. Estate agent
2. Auction
3. Private sale

You can opt for any channel of selling, but while you do so, do compute the cost of all the channels, very carefully in terms of expenses/costs/fees that they charge.

In case you decide to sell it through an estate agent, you should know that the usually charge a commission and that is usually between 2-3% of your house's selling price. So, more often than not, it is the selling price of your property which actually decides an agent's fees. However, you can talk to your agent and come to a consensus, on a price on which both of you agree. So, a bargain can be done here. However, do not bargain too much for a price that is unrealistic.

In case you decide to sell your property through an auction, the fees they charge is about 2% of the selling price. Now, there are some auction houses whose fee will include the advertising charge, while some of the other may charge you for the fee which is excluding the advertising for the house sale, thereby charging you differently on the advertising cost. So, it is advisable you know what actually constitutes your fee and accordingly select an auction house for selling your house.

In case you go for a private sale, you need not worry about any sort of fees, for you yourself are an agent. Therefore, you only need to incur the marketing costs and that cost also depends on how you market.

However, you should keep in mind the time-frame in which you will need to sell your house. Since, it is much wiser to consider easy and quick ways of selling, for the amount of loss incurred by delaying the sale will be more than the fees charged by the channels. These days, there an option of selling homes through cash buyers- buyers who buys your home at cash, quickly without much hassles, without any cost and legally.

At last, when you decide to sell your home, you need conveyancing. It is for this stage that you'll need a lawyer or a solicitor. Solicitors charge according to the selling price of your house. Usually a bargain with them works out, thereby helping you save some money in the process.

All in all, before, you sell your house, it is worthwhile you consider on all the mentioned factors and accordingly choose a way, a way, with least expenses.

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Emir of Qatar renovates 185 year old Britain’s mansion, makes it worth £200m

Qatar's royal family has set their foothold in UK's property. The family has spent on renovating a grade II property, now making it worth £200m – making it Britain's costliest property.

The emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, had brought the property, named Dudley House in London's Park Lane, for a mere £37.4m in 2006, tried lavishing by renovating, now making it worth the what is the most priced property in Britain. Not only the amount spent on renovation, there are various other points worth considering about the property which is all set to aid it as the priciest mansion of UK.

• The house is known to give splendid view of the Hyde Park.
• It has a presence of a 50ft ballroom, an 81ft picture gallery and furniture
• 17 bedrooms and 14 reception rooms
• 44,000 sq ft of space
• Knocked down three different properties to make it to one grand mansion

The Sunday Times updates on the interior, states the interior designing has been kept intact to the original Regency and Victorian interiors.
Further, to let you imagine the interior, Gary Hersham, head of Beauchamp Estates, said: 'There is gold leaf throughout. The other main colors are cream and neutral - it is very tastefully done.

The ceilings are ornate and very high, although these have been dropped in the bathrooms, which are all marble. There is a very grand staircase, and chandeliers throughout.'

The Dudley House was built in 1827 for the Dudley Ward family, to become a hang out place for Edward VII, where he would meet his mistress in secret. According to property experts the house could get sold for £250m.

With this, now there have sprung up many properties like such. The 36-38 Queen Anne's Gate was bought for £50m, and is not all set to get itself renovated, trying to make it include, double height basement, swimming pool and underground car park. On the other hand, Luxury property experts, point out Bridgewater House in Westminster, could fetch as much as Dudley House. This grand property is owned the family of Yiannis Latsis.

While the rest of the UK is seen facing problems in owning a house and are considering on renting a house for longer term and even those who are trying to own are doing so through mortgage finance and later to only find them in the debt and or the ones who are renting are finding themselves trapped in rent arrears. On the contrary, this seems quite dubious and ironic that properties are being bought, renovated and then sold, all a royal's game. This is the ground reality, a royal trend.

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House prices in UK’s official beauty spot hits the roof

Latest reports from the property market reveal, house prices in UK's most spectacular sites is seen climbing sharply.

The prices have been noticed to increase by an average of nearly £110,000 in the past ten years. This makes it an average of £900 a month in the past decade of such Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), UK.

According to the report by Lloyds TSB, home prices have surged in four areas of AONB. The beauty spots included the likes of - Solway Coast in Cumbria, the Northumberland Coast, the Kent Downs, the Forest of Bowland in the North West and Cornwall.

Where these places saw themselves getting a doubled price, there on the other spectrum, are places which have registered not so massive growths. These were Dedham Vale on the Suffolk-Essex border which saw a steep rise in price at about 61%, with North Wessex Downs saw a rise of 66%.

The report further states that the average home prices in these areas have outgrown the average annual gross earning by seven times, marking a price of £235,215 in 2012, thereby making it actually exorbitant and has made its affordability sinking.

The report found that people pay nearly £15,000 to stay in such areas. Among them, Surrey Hills is the most expensive AONB in England costing £407,568 while the Forest of Bowland is the most expensive outside of southern England, property prices of £212,301.

"The relatively high property values in many of these locations reflect the quality of life benefits associated with living in some of our most idyllic beauty spots," explains Suren Thiru, housing economist for Lloyds TSB.

"However, the fact that property prices have typically risen considerably faster than average earnings has created significant affordability difficulties for many of those living and working in such locations," Thiru adds.

Whether an area is outstanding or not, is defined in previous landscape whose distinctive character and natural beauty are so outstanding that it is in the nation's interest to safeguard them.

The price of buying a home has inflated in recent times and has thereby definitely outdone the rise in the cost of living of people.

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Property asking price skyrockets, but the Eurozone crisis coupled with the sporting season in Europe, sadden sellers

The latest data from UK property listing website, Rightmove, announced highest record of Property asking price, however, the trend might be crunched in presence of enough number of homes for sale and the summer sports in UK are set to deter this trend.

Right move has observed this trend to be for the third month in a raw, by home sellers of London and South East.

However, the report has got bad news for the property dwellers of unpopular areas. For them, they will have to lower their house asking price keeping in mind the Eurozone financial crisis. More so, the summer in UK is marked as a sporting season for having Euro 2012 and the London 2012 Olympics which will keep the potential home buyers away from buying.

'Agents report a two-tier market where those who can afford to price realistically are selling, while those who are equity-poor are struggling to sell as they often have to price up to make any prospect of a move viable,' said Miles Shipside, director at Rightmove.

Added to this, the report recorded increased number of supply in terms of sellers, with 29,394 new sellers a week-'highest new listing run-rate for two years.'

The national average rate of asking prices has risen to one percent in the month to mid-June to £246,235.

The report said: 'In spite of sellers' current record price aspirations, in real terms they are still an average of 13% lower. London is the only region where there has been an inflation-busting increase over the same five year timescale, with asking prices 3% ahead of the national Retail Price Index (RPI).'

The latest survey from Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, noticed a tough time for sellers with estate agents selling less than four homes a week in May on average, despite the fact that May traditionally has been an apt month registering higher sales of home.

Report further stated how sellers are forced to sell their property at a price then their expected price and otherwise the sellers who don't get their price, get reluctant to sell and wait for the right buyer, making their property stay on hold for a longer period of time.

Mr Shipside said: 'It remains a very local market ruled by property style and location, and a few minutes study will reveal whether your property is hot or not.

'The traditionally more active spring window is closing and a summer of sporting distractions underway. Cutting your asking price to be cheaper than your competition and promoting your selling points better will be the key to avoid being an also-ran in the race to sell.'

Therefore, even though the property asking price is seen rising, the current economic and social happenings in UK, shall not allow the trend to sustain and thereby not let the sellers get an advantage.

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Are you planning to Relocate?

  Moving from one location to the other is indeed a stressful time. Not only is the whole process physically tiring but also affect you psychologically and emotionally when you leave the place and people with whom you’ve had almost spent so much of your life’s time.

Having a decent amount of experience in this field, now we really know as to what it takes when relocating a house or business. To make the process easier for you, we provide you with complete relocation solutions.  We know that relocation is a stressful event, physically, mentally and emotionally. Looking after the physical aspect, we very well try to provide our clients with services such that that they fell happy and excited to be a part of the new home or office they are getting relocated to.  That is the only motto behind our existence. For this we make sure that we give enough detailed attention to our clients’ needs and accordingly provide with solutions. Honestly, on this is the true reason for our best services.
We ensure that we provide our clients with the following services as effectively and efficiently as possible:

• Expert packaging and removal services
• Temporary and permanent home search services
• Educational and school facilities
• Cross cultural orientation and training facilities
• Neighborhood orientation facility
• Last but not the least and most important, complete information on the local area and services and helpline service facilities.

Removal services:

So, now if you’re planning to move from one place in UK to other or from other country to UK, (planning to relocate) you can now avail to the services of removal/moving companies in UK and be rest assured of the moving process and safety with it.

Our removal facility has devised comprehensive ways of moving such that is personalized to your needs.  Under our relocation services, we provide you with any distant removal services, which are domestic as well as international.  With the presence of numerous amount of vehicles with regular departures to all cities within the country or outside which makes our International removal service to be perfect and one that is highly approachable by people who are relocating. We also provide business relocation services and thus any removal services needed in those areas.

Storage services:

While relocating, not only you need the help of removal companies, but also that of storage companies. At fast sell home, we ensure you to provide with a range of different packaging options such that they are tailor made to suit your needs.  We make sure your valuables are just kept saved and secured, thoroughly packed by us while your luggage is being relocated by a removal company. Our storage services have latest storage materials and equipment to protect your valuables from scratches in transit.

So, now while relocating, you needn’t worry about the safety and fragility of your valuables, because fast sell home’s relocation services provide you with one of the best storage companies in UK.

We have a national as well as international removal and storage facilities, to provide you with smooth, flexible and less cumbersome in process.  So, now whenever you are moving your house, office, nationally or internationally, and you need storage and removals for your house or office relocation, fast sell home is just right for you.

Get a removal and storage quote today, quickly. Contact us.

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Are you getting Divorced and you need to Sell your Home?

  You are partners and are now willing to separate and get a divorce for reasons known to you. Now, if also one of your partner is in debt and are seeking divorce, then to get yourself out from the debt and also peacefully finish your divorce proceeding, then you have no choice else than to sell your home. Since, you’re seeking divorce and you’d want to sell your home before that, then you’ve no option else than selling your home quickly through fast cash property buyers UK.

You may be in debt and you also want to seek divorce. One is financial commitment while other is a personal commitment and you feel obliged to fulfill both your obligations. You can settle your debts by selling your home and then look on to preceding your divorce smoothly.  In such a situation you wouldn’t want to waste your time in making your house being sold through traditional means of selling, i.e. through chains or estate agents, etc.  The facility of Quick/Fast sell home UK, helps you sell your house quick in cash.

Now, the process of getting a divorce is much easier and simpler provided both the partners agrees to it and get the procedure done completed by a divorce lawyers/divorce solicitors in London/UK.  It is advisable to seek help from your family lawyer as they can help you get things done quickly with much lesser hassle.  However, in absence of the family lawyer, it is better advisable to take divorce advice from divorce solicitors so that they can help you establish what actually is right for you.

First of all it is always advisable to take advice on the relationship, then consider divorce finances and help seek consensus of both the partners on the needs and requirements out of divorce.  Among all those requirements, you need to give explanation of the basic and important most points of the divorce:

• Who will look after the children
• How much will the husband give in the alimony
• Reasons for seeking divorce, to be known from both the sides.

Then decide on who gets what in terms of property and assets. If either of the partners doesn’t agree on the divisions then the lawyers of both the parties can help you reach a conclusion by chalking out a mutually agreeable divorce asset division plan.

After all that has been mentioned above has been agreed to, then just follow through the process.  For that both the parties need to get agreed for the divorce, then file a divorce petition, then request a ‘decree nisi’ order which basically means that court has no objection whatsoever in your getting divorced and at last you will need to obtain another legal document called ‘decree absolute’ which becomes the legal basis for ending your marriage.  Once you get that and you’re officially and legally divorced.

Before seeking divorce, it is of vital importance that you seek relationship advice from a counselor, if that doesn’t work then approach the divorce solicitors and make sure both the parties agree on getting a divorce, then on who will take care of the kids, about divorce settlement and finances.

In such an hour of immense importance for your life, when you would want to sell your home, you would of sure want it to sell quickly.

We, at Fast sell home, understand the pressure you’re going though and thus help you by providing an offer to sell quickly your property on cash.

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Latest repossession trend in UK

Research shows that the North and South of UK face vast differences as far as repossession is concerned. Research from e. surv chartered surveyors point out the situation of higher repossessions in North UK as compared to South UK.

Report points the causes of higher unemployment, austerity and effects weak economy jolting the Northern UK.  The highest repossessions are faced in the North East, M62 corridor and Greater Yorkshire, while, the South and South East, faces fewer repossession.

Report marks at the condition of the North UK’s employees who hit by the economic downturn, are mostly working in the public sector, making them unable to repay their mortgage payments.

‘Banks are playing a vital role in keeping people in their homes. They’ve been increasingly forbearing to borrowers in mortgages in arrears, and this has kept repossessions levels deflated. But it can’t last forever. The pace of public sector austerity is quickening, and the economy has ground to a standstill. This will push up unemployment and pillage personal finances, forcing more people into mortgage arrears,’ said Richard Sexton, business development director of e.surv.

‘On top of that, the cost of funding mortgages is increasing for banks. Their balance sheets are being stretched to busting point by the euro zone crisis, which will mean they simply can’t afford to support as many struggling borrowers. With the north more exposed to the grind of public sector austerity and a downturn in the economy, the north-south divide in repossessions levels could become even starker over the coming months,’ he explained.

‘Spending cuts, negative real wage growth, falling house prices and public sector unemployment have hit the north much harder than the south. This has opened up a gaping geographical divide in repossessions levels. With local economies in the north declining faster than their southern counterparts, proportionally more northern borrowers have struggled to keep up with their mortgage repayments, and banks have been forced to repossess more  homes,’ Sexton pointed out.

‘The South and South East, with a bigger proportion of the workforce employed in the private sector, haven’t been left as groggy by the economic blows dealt by the government’s austerity programme,’ he added.

Repossessions in North east were higher than the national average of 15 per 10,000 households, Darlington and Durham, facing n average of 24 repossessions per 10,000 households, 60% higher than the national average.  Whereas, repossessions were much lower across the Cotswolds, the West Midlands, the West Country and the southern coast of England, almost around 12 to 13 repossessions per 10,000 households in the second half of 2011, some 20% lower than the national average.

The reason for lower rate of repossessions in South UK is mostly because there are a great number of retirees with huge savings, and also the employment in the public sector is much lower. Much of the people there are into private sector, making them not affect by the economic jolts of the government’s austerity program.

‘Repossessions levels can vary wildly, even within a confined geographical space, thanks to local disparities in affluence and employment rates. Particularly in larger cities, there are can be pockets of wealthy borrowers close to council estates,’ said Sexton.

‘We’re seeing a broader trend of less affluent, higher risk borrowers gravitating towards the city centre, with wealthy homeowners moving into the leafy suburbs. London is a slightly different beast. It is the most pronounced example of how repossessions can vary locally. It has wealthy enclaves, like the City and Canary Wharf on the doorstep of poorer areas like Tower Hamlets and Dagenham,’ he added.

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Foreign investment in UK’s properties

Qataris have shown much of their interest in buying UK property. With the selling of properties in UK getting tough at this time, the cash rich investors, Qataris have bought off many properties in UK, especially in the UK capital London.

For instance, the rich investors of Qatar have bought he £2bn Shard, all 1,016 feet of it, making it the Europe’s tallest skyscraper. Else from that, they have already invested in Canary Wharf, Harrods and One Hyde Park, most expensive blocks of London.

To amaze you, the country's Sandhurst-educated ruler, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, also owns a part of Sainsbury supermarket, huge chunk of London Stock Exchange and also the Olympic village.

According to the reports by economics consultancy, Fathom Consulting, commercial properties in UK that too in up market and posh areas, have been noticed to garner huge overseas investments.

Further the report has remarked that the properties in Prime London has outperformed than the properties in Greater London by 30% and in overall UK by 34%. "This has led to a growing belief that prime central London is special and entirely separate from the rest of the UK property market. That it's in a class of its own," the report says.

The fact is also aided by a report from Development Securities which noticed that London remains a hotspot as far as foreign investment is concerned leaving behind New York and Paris. The report concluded that at the end of 2011 52% of the City of London's office space was foreign-owned.

Joining the Qataris in the race are also millionaires and tycoons of Greeks and Spain respectively. However, this is true only for rich people. For when the economy faces a recession, the investments are discouraged.
All in all, London is indeed a pie every foreign investor would want to have. Keeping in mind the current economic situation in UK, money from foreign investment can really help heal the economy.

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UK house prices registers highest annual decline rate

According to the latest reports on house prices for sale in UK, noticed the highest decline in rate of houses in last three years.  The challenging economic time of UK has hit hard on the property prices making it way cheaper in June.

This is the biggest fall registered from August 2009, of 1.5 % year-on-year to £165,738 on average. The situation is not so same for all the cities in UK, however, that said, there is a decline in prices overall by an average of 1%. However, in London, the prices during this time were up by 1%.

The immediate cause for this situation can be attributed to the ending of stamp duty concession for the first time home buyers in UK which ended in March.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said prices are likely to remain "fairly stable" over the next 12 months amid a lack of homes on the market, continuing a trend seen over the past two years.

"The slightly weaker trend we've observed since March is unsurprising, given the difficult economic backdrop, with the UK economy dipping back into recession at the start of the year and few signs of a near-term rebound," he said.

Else than the problem of ending the stamp duty concession, the other reason for increase house prices is the non-availability of the easy/soft mortgage finance. If the lending becomes cheaper by the banks in England, the situation could be come down to normal.

Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said: "While the recent lending figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders were encouraging, here we are back down to earth with a bump. The Olympics and traditional summer lull mean the next few months look set to be even more challenging.

"However, a number of lenders have reduced their fixed rates in the past couple of weeks, reflecting cheaper Swap rates and a desire to transact some decent levels of business ahead of the quieter summer months, so those looking for a mortgage will find some good options at the moment."

While some say that the outlook will better in the second half of 2012, the others say that the economic downturn will not cease and shall aggravate, making it danger that the house prices will fall more.

The ongoing Euro zone crisis have created a situation in which the households who have taken a mortgage loan to buy a house are busy repaying the mortgage, and the new mortgage schemes or lending schemes that are coming are obviously keeping a high rate in order to benefit themselves from the ongoing financial crunch.

All in all, this is indeed a grim situation, the government really needs to do something concrete in terms of banking schemes that shall benefit the housing and property market in UK.

Read More

UK house prices registers highest annual decline rate

According to the latest reports on house prices for sale in UK, noticed the highest decline in rate of houses in last three years.  The challenging economic time of UK has hit hard on the property prices making it way cheaper in June.

This is the biggest fall registered from August 2009, of 1.5 % year-on-year to £165,738 on average. The situation is not so same for all the cities in UK, however, that said, there is a decline in prices overall by an average of 1%. However, in London, the prices during this time were up by 1%.

The immediate cause for this situation can be attributed to the ending of stamp duty concession for the first time home buyers in UK which ended in March.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said prices are likely to remain "fairly stable" over the next 12 months amid a lack of homes on the market, continuing a trend seen over the past two years.

"The slightly weaker trend we've observed since March is unsurprising, given the difficult economic backdrop, with the UK economy dipping back into recession at the start of the year and few signs of a near-term rebound," he said.

Else than the problem of ending the stamp duty concession, the other reason for increase house prices is the non-availability of the easy/soft mortgage finance. If the lending becomes cheaper by the banks in England, the situation could be come down to normal.

Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said: "While the recent lending figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders were encouraging, here we are back down to earth with a bump. The Olympics and traditional summer lull mean the next few months look set to be even more challenging.

"However, a number of lenders have reduced their fixed rates in the past couple of weeks, reflecting cheaper Swap rates and a desire to transact some decent levels of business ahead of the quieter summer months, so those looking for a mortgage will find some good options at the moment."

While some say that the outlook will better in the second half of 2012, the others say that the economic downturn will not cease and shall aggravate, making it danger that the house prices will fall more.

The ongoing Euro zone crisis have created a situation in which the households who have taken a mortgage loan to buy a house are busy repaying the mortgage, and the new mortgage schemes or lending schemes that are coming are obviously keeping a high rate in order to benefit themselves from the ongoing financial crunch.

All in all, this is indeed a grim situation, the government really needs to do something concrete in terms of banking schemes that shall benefit the housing and property market in UK.

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