Once upon a time there was a land of milk and honey just
around every corner; all you needed to do was borrow a little bit more than you
could afford to pay back, tell a few white lies on your mortgage application,
back to back sell your investments, increase your yields on paper to make them
look more attractive, invent a few tenancy agreements, re-mortgage, re-finance,
ring a few loan companies for deposits….. but then “somehow” it all went
horribly wrong.
We can all sit and point the finger at the banks for
“allowing” people to borrow way in excess of their means, and can all put
pictures of bankers on our dart boards, but at some point people have to take
personal responsibility for their own greed. Realistically many owner occupiers
borrowed way beyond their reasonable capabilities on a never-never promise of
paying back the monies on interest only agreements with no security backing,
and investors’ eyes lit up at the idea of a 15% yield with “no catch” sold to
them by investment companies; the general public have to take on a level of
responsibility.
I have attended no end of appointments for vendors needing
to sell properties that they bought at the top of the market, for too much
money, having not done their research, wanting to make a fast buck, having not
considered the prospect of a house being empty if not let for the promised
values, or with no back-up plan for if they couldn’t make one month’s mortgage
payment. An old-fashioned view is that you should always have enough money
saved to cover your outgoings for three months, just in case. Do you?
Because of the banking crisis, and the economic climate, it
is fair to say that over recent times it has become a buyer’s market once again
in the world of property.
So, if you are selling a product it has to look right to
attract the best buyers.
At Spencers, we have been helping our clients to improve
their homes by offering our own “House Doctor” advice to see if any
improvements would be worthwhile doing before going onto the market. It has
become blatantly obvious that, with deposits needing to be higher, that every
penny counts, especially for first time buyers looking to move.
I will be posting on our blog some before and after photos
for a project that we are currently working on so watch this space. Otherwise,
why not call me to chat about what we can do for you to help you try to sell
your property?
Call Nicola Spencer of Spencers Agents on 0114 2683682 or
email Nicola@SpencersEstateAgents.co.uk
to have a chat.
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