Quick Move Blog
Monday, 26 October 2009
This blog recently covered the house buying process in England; we will now have a look at the process in Scotland, where things work slightly differently.
One of first steps of the house buying process is similar to England: the buyer must obtain an "In Principle" mortgage offer. Buyers must also appoint a solicitor; solicitors are generally appointed at an earlier stage than in England - this has the benefit of eliminating gazumping, since once the vendors have accepted an offer they are legally bound to not accept another offer.
Once you have seen a property that you like your solicitor must "note interest" with the seller's agent. This isn't a commitment - it simply means that the seller's solicitor must inform you if anyone else puts in an offer – but it prevents the property from being sold without you having had the option to bid.
Another difference between the house purchase process in England and Scotland is the fact that buyers usually have a survey done before an offer is put in on a property. Should a bid be successful, the next stage of the process leads towards a legally binding agreement, so the survey allows you to make sure you're not going to be bound to something that's literally on shaky ground. The downside is, of course, that the property can only be sold to one buyer which can leave a lot of people both disappointed and out of pocket.
This "multiple survey" issue is one of the most criticised aspects of the Scottish buying system, and, unsurprisingly, more buyers are opting to submit an offer as "subject to survey".
Once you've decided on the survey issue, the next stage is to put in an offer. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a legal commitment. The Scottish house-buying system operates on an "offers over" basis, where a guide price is given and buyers are invited to offer above it.
Once the buyer has decided on the amount they want to offer, the solicitor will submit a bid on their behalf which will include a financial amount as well as a proposed Date of Entry.
Having a specified date of entry means that both parties are working to a mutually agreed deadline which neither can delay once the offer becomes binding, and this helps to stop the formation of a property chain.
When an offer is accepted, the next stage of the process is known as Concluding the Missives, and is similar to the exchange of contracts in the southern system.
Solicitors on both sides will iron out the fine and final details via a series of letters until a mutual agreement is reached.
To conclude there are points in favour and against the Scottish house purchase process. On the one hand it pretty much eliminates gazumping, which has to be a good thing, and sales don't get held up in chains, as they do down south.
On the downside, the "offers over" pricing system means that most house sales are, in effect, a closed auction with buyers often resorting to wild over-bidding in an attempt to secure a home. The issue of getting surveys done on properties buyers are interested in can be expensive for buyers.
So it’s debatable whether the Scottish system is superior to the English system, as is often stated.
Friday, 23 October 2009
Mortgage approvals are still rising, with 42,100 home loans for buyers approved in September, up 77% on the same time last year. This is the 8th month in which approvals have risen.
Lenders expect this activity to continue, with the availability of mortgages continuing to rise.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Today is the final instalment in our guide, "Top 5 Ways To Sell Your House". Over the past few days we have looked at different ways to sell your home: selling through an estate agent, selling at auction, selling privately and selling through a part exchange. Today we will look at a final option that is becoming increasingly popular with people that are looking to sell their house quickly: selling their home to a house buying company.
Since the late 90's the number of house buying companies had increased massively. Quick Move Now (QMN) was one of the first major players on the scene in 1998, and has become one of the biggest players on the market.
The usual process for selling your home to QMN is as follows: the vendor contacts us to say that they are looking for someone to buy their house. This could be for a number of reasons, such as: their house is about to be repossessed, they have to relocate quickly for their work, or they are getting divorced.
QMN takes the phone call, then arranges for 3 local estate agents to value the home. The estate agents visit your home and undertake an external and internal inspection.
There is no cost or obligation in receiving an offer to buy your home. Once a valuation has been made, an offer will be made (up to 90% of the property's value).
If the customer decides to accept the offer, they decide the date that they want the sale of the house to complete. The vendor then instructs their solicitor (QMN pay £500 towards solicitors fees).
QMN require a refundable deposit of £500, to cover some of our purchase costs, should the vendor withdraw from the sale. We then instruct a RICS surveyor who completes a Home Buyers Survey to check the structural integrity of the property. We then exchange contracts and complete on the day of your choosing subject to survey and clear legal title.
The main benefit of selling to QMN is the speed of sale. QMN can turn around a sale (from initial phone call to completion) in as little as a week, making selling to a house buyer by far the speediest of the selling avenues this blog has recently covered. This rapid turnaround period can mean the difference between your house being repossessed or not.
The benefits of QMN specifically are the fact that QMN are established professionals with years of experience, plus the fact that we use our own cash to buy, and do not rely on third parties, mortgages or investors. This means that we can often complete faster than other house buyers, since we have large cash reserves (QMN turnover was £70 million last year) to draw upon when buying houses.
Two other benefits of selling your house to QMN is that vendors avoid the expense of paying estate agent or auction fees, plus the fact that you don't need a Home Information Pack when selling to QMN; this saves significant cost and hassle.
If you are thinking "I need someone to buy my house," or "I need someone to sell my house to.", then get in contact with Quick Move Now and see how we can help
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Further evidence of the potential fragility of the recent rise in house prices was provided by the latest RICS survey, confirming what we've heard for some time now, that house prices are being underpinned by a shortage of houses for sale.
For the first time since May 2007, more surveyors reported house price rises than falls. However, this is not the case across the whole country. Prices are rising in London and the South East, but falls are reported in Wales, Yorkshire and Humber.
The fragile support for house prices is evident in figures that show new buyer enquiries rose in September but new instructions from sellers fell from August's figures, generally a quiet time in the housing market.
Part four of our series on the top 5 ways to sell your home is one of the lesser used techniques: part exchange.
The usual process goes something like this: the home owners decide that they would like to move house, and find a suitable new-build property to buy. The house builder will arrange for at least two independent valuations of your existing home and will make you an offer based on their suggestions. This is typically around 90-95 per cent of the average value returned by the surveyors, and will usually happen within seven days to a month.
Once you agree the offer, and subject to satisfactory surveys, the development company becomes your buyer, freeing you up to put in a confirmed offer on your new home. After that it’s just a case of moving in, and the part exchange is completed.
The main advantages of doing a part exchange like this with a house builder is the speed and convenience: all the hassle of selling your house is taken away, such as showing potential buyers round your property, and negotiating a selling price. The possibility the sale falling through because of the chain breaking is also removed.
Most part exchangers also find it cheaper to part exchange your property rather than pay pricey estate agent fees.
The downside of using a property part exchange is that vendors will not get the full asking price of their home; house builders will normally offer 80%-90% of the market value.
By offering less than the asking price of your property, and completing quickly and with no chain to possibly break, part exchange deals are similar to selling with a home buyer like Quick Move Now, except that QMN often gives 90% of the market value of a property; we would advise you come to us for a no-obligation valuation and offer from one of the premier home buyers in the UK: Quick Move Now.
Monday, 12 October 2009
Selling your home privately has traditionally been a much less popular option than using an estate agent, but with the arrival of the internet, it is becoming an increasingly popular option.
The procedure is quite simple: vendors first decide what price they are going to sell their property at, then simply place an ad on a property website, in the local paper or on a local community board, then wait for potential buyers to contact them. Viewings are then arranged, then the vendor prepares themselves for an army of potential buyers traipsing through their house. One of these viewers will hopefully make on offer, and if it is to the vendors' liking, it will be accepted and the deal completed.
There are a number of private house sale websites on the web including www.houseladder.co.uk, www.mypropertyforsale.co.uk and www.privatehomeseller.co.uk. Prices for advertising on these sites varies, but they typically charge £100+ for a listing. The rise in popularity of the internet in the last few years has made sites like these an increasingly attractive option for home buyers and sellers.
There are many other ways to advertise your home when selling privately: spending £50 to get some flyers printed can be a great investment, as is advertising in all sorts of magazines and local press. Word of mouth is often the best form of marketing in any industry; use it to your advantage by telling friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, anyone, that you are selling your house.
The main reason some people are choosing to sell their homes privately rather than using an auction, estate agent or house buyer is the cost savings. Spending a few hundred pounds marketing your property can be greatly preferable to spending thousands on estate agents commissions or auction fees.
The downside is the increased hassle involved in selling privately. With an estate agent, all the marketing and arranging viewings etc is done for you. With a private sale, you have to do all the running yourself. With many people having such busy lives these days, many are still choosing to go with more traditional channels.
Quick Move Now's perspective on selling privately is that it is a viable option for some people, but for those that don't have the time or energy to market their property to the public themselves, other channels would be preferable.
One reason selling to a house buyer like Quick Move Now is preferable to selling privately is the speed: when selling privately, vendors can often be waiting many months to find a buyer (as is often the case when selling through an estate agent). When selling to Quick Move Now, the process is completed in as little as two weeks. See the other benefits of using Quick Move Now here.
Friday, 9 October 2009
We've seen a few house price surveys this month that seem to indicate, at least on the surface, a housing market in the throes of recovery with price rises being recorded month on month. The latest Halifax survey showed the average house price having risen by £10,000 since April this year.
We've always argued that there is possibly further house price falls to come, particularly when you look at the underlying factors that have led to the recent rises, which is mainly a restriction in suppy. If higher prices and a more certain economy encourage more sellers, we could quickly see price levelling off as supply increases.
However, we're more concerned about the underlying economic factors such as rising unemployment that will create fear and uncertainty, negativily affecting the housing market. The recent fiscal stimulus could also lead to a rise in interest rates, which with the already tight supply of mortgages, could again constrict the market.
Fitch Ratings today has forecast that house prices in the UK still have 17% to fall from their peak in October 2007 with this further fall due entirely to te problems facing the UK economy.
Fitch had forecast that prices would fall 30% from their high and with prices down 13%, they are saying there is further to fall. Rising unemplyment, low wage inflation and poor credit will drag prices down. A fall of 30% would bring the house price-to-income ratio back to around or even below its long term average.
Fitch's report also warns that recent easing in credit is liekly to be temporary - as unemployment rises, so repossessions and arrears will rise, prompting banks to tighten their lending criteria.
High deposit requirements is meaning that there are fewer first time buyers, stifling the bottom end of the market, with most first-time buyers needing a deposit of £32,000.
One method of selling your house that has grown in popularity in recent years is selling at auction. The normal process is: the vendor registers their property with an auction house, who send an auctioneer to your house to take details and photographs for the auction catalogue. Possible buyers then visit the property in the weeks before the auction.
Before the auction the vendor agrees a reserve price, below which the house will not be sold. This is typically around 30% below the market value. Vendors also have to pay a 2.5% of the sale price fee to the auction house, and there is a catalogue entry fee of £375-£700, depending on how much space you take. You will also need to pay a solicitor to complete the sale.
When the auction happens and the hammer falls, the buyer is legally bound to purchase the property, and must pay a 10% deposit immediately. The sale will then normally complete within 28 days; this is the main reason that people sell their properties through auctions - speed. When selling through an estate agent, it can often take months for the sale to complete, from the date from which you first decide to sell. With auctions, this process is speeded up. However, even with an auction house, the sale normally takes around 2 months from start to finish, which compares unfavourable with selling to a house buyer like Quick Move Now, who can turn around in as little as two weeks.
House auctions are often used for selling properties that would be hard to sell by ordinary means (e.g. in a bad state of repair); repossessed homes; unconventional properties or properties that are in high demand. For these types of properties, selling at auction is an option, but for most people, selling at auction would normally be ill-advised, for the following reasons:
1. You can never know how much your property will sell for. An auction is a highly volatile marketplace - if there is no demand on the day of your sale, you might end up selling it below its market value.
2. You will have to pay your solicitor to be present at the auction in order to sort out any last-minute irregularities and answer questions. Depending on how enthusiastic your solicitor is about travelling, this can be quite a costly affair.
3. Selling your house at auction can be more expensive than selling it via an Estate Agent. Also, you will have to cover certain expenses even if your property does not sell.
4. No guarantee your home will sell by auction. Recent auctions have seen 50%+ of lots going unsold.
5. Fewer investors are looking to buy. Due to the credit crisis many cannot secure lending. Those with cash are buying less while they wait for the market to bottom out.
Vendors looking to sell quickly would be better off contacting Quick Move Now; that way the risk and cost of a quick house sale is reduced.
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Over the next few days this blog will be looking at different ways to sell your house, and will weigh up the relative strengths and weaknesses of each method. The first channel for selling your house we will be looking at is estate agents.
This is the most traditional way of selling a house. The process usually goes something like this: the seller decides that they want to sell their house. They select an estate agent, either by locality, reputation or size, and get in contact with them. The estate agent values the house, and they and the seller agree on a price to sell the property for. The estate agent advertises the home in their shop window, in the local press, and with a "for sale" sign outside the home. Buyers interested in the home contact the agent, an offer is made, contracts are exchanged, and the sale is completed.
Well that’s the plan. It doesn't always pan out like that. There are many points along the sale path where things can go wrong; one of these being problems with house sale chains. This issue is sides-stepped when you sell your home to a house buyer like Quick Move Now; because we use our own funds to buy houses, we are not prone to a chain collapsing.
Another advantage of using an estate agent to sell your house is the convenience: from day one the agent finds potential buyers for your house, and arranges viewings with them. This takes a lot of the hassle out of the process.
One of the disadvantages of using an estate agent to sell your home is that fact that for the duration that your house is on sale, you will have people tramping through your house to see if they like it. If you sell to Quick Move Now, you will not be disturbed in this way.
Another disadvantage of selling through an estate agent is the cost. An average estate agents fee can be up to 5% of the property value; so if you're selling a house for £250,000, you could pay a fee of up to £12,500, which is a significant cost when compared with the big savings you can make when selling your home online.
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
As the recession appears to have bottomed out for most advanced economies what does the future hold? A V shaped recovery? Or something more sinister?
There are certainly signs of green shoots now within the economy, built on the back of the governments massive fiscal stimulus. In turn stocks and house prices have benefited from the increased optimism over recent months.
The economy cannot however sustain the massive fiscal deficit that has built up. Unfortunately the very tools at the governments disposal to reduce public debt could spell the end to a recovery still in it’s infancy.
Raising taxes and cutting spending is the obvious answer but time it wrong and the government will risk a double dip recession and deflation. The housing market would then likely see a secondary crash. Cuts to spending in the public sector will mean further unemployment which alongside increases to interest rates will depress demand and increase forced house sales, driving down house prices.
Whether or not we are forced back into recession the road ahead will be rocky!
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Figures from the Halifax today show that house prices have risen by almost £10,000 since April this year, primarily driven by a lack of supply. Prices jumped by 1.6% in September to leave the average house price standing at £165,000.
These figures backup what we've begun to see in our latest Housing Market Indicators Report where we've begun to see house prices stabilising.
We still forecast uncertainty and some instability in prices - the current housing market is constrained by a lack of properties for sale. This can only be a temporary support for prices and any number of factors could lead to an increase in supply - more certainty in the economy, a loosening of financial constraints making it easier for people to get a mortgage and improving prices could encourage more people to sell their homes, all of which would depress prices again.
Friday, 2 October 2009
The latest survey from Nationwide today shows that house prices have returned to their levels of a year ago, with prices up 0.9% on the month to October. This was the 5th month in a rown that prices have risen this year.
On Nationwide's figures, prices have risen by 3.8% in the last quarter, the largest increase in 5 years. They are also 4.1% higher than at that the start of the year.
This all sounds fine for homeowners, but Nationwide cautions that the rises are unlikely to be sustained with rising unemployment and continued restrictions in housing credit. There is also the pending removal of the stamp duty holiday.
From these figures released today, it sounds as if the housing market is regaining is previous bouyancy. However, it is our view that the market is likely to get worse again in 2010 before any sustained recovery. House sale volumes are still half of what they were before the downturn, artifically helping to sustain and increase prices in ceretain areas. In many parts of the country prices are still well below levels seen last year.
With these low sales volumes, home owners are still struggling to sell their houses. Figures from Hometrack show that the average time to sell a house in August was 8.7 weeks, with people achieving 92% of the asking price, on average. We know from the many enquiries we receive here at Quick Move Now that people in many parts of the country are struggling to find buyers, with many not finding buyers despite reducing their asking prices and their houses having been on the market for 6 months or more.
If you find yourself needing to sell your house quickly, but you're struggling to find a buyer through an estate agent, call Quick Move Now on 0800 068 3366. We offer up to 85% of your home's value, but for this we do guarantee a quick sale, often being able to complete on a guaranteed cash deal within 7 days. You can get a FREE online quick house sale quote now or call us for more information.
The government has identified 22 of the UK’s hotspots for repossession in an attempt to target help and support to struggling home owners. They will attempt through media and press to stress the importance of seeking advice at the early stages of repayment difficulties.
The most at risk areas were identified as:
- Barking and Dagenham Birmingham
- Bolton Cannock Chase
- Corby Halton
- Kingston-upon-Hull Knowsley
- Liverpool Manchester
- Newham Northampton
- Nottingham Reading
- Redditch Salford
- Sandwell Sunderland
- Swindon Walsall
- Wigan Wolverhampton
How does this affect the housing market and house prices?
The Government has applied a lot of pressure to mortgage lenders to use repossession as an absolute last resort. This has no doubt limited the number of house repo’s in the short term but it is only deferring the problem. At some stage a proportion of these homes will have to come to the market through repossession. Increased public sector redundancies and increases to interest rate are a likely trigger and with the massive national debt build up this now seems inevitable!
The impact of high levels of repossession within an area effects more than just those who lose their homes. The flooding of the market by discounted property following repossession means that all prices on the market are forced to shift down to compete with the discounted pricing. Many are now predicting that this could lead to a secondary House Market Crash in the coming year, so now could be the last chance to sell their house.
Want a Quick House Sale? Quick Move Now can Help!
If you are in mortgage arrears or are facing repossession then selling your house quickly could be the best option to get your finances and life back on track. If you wish to learn more about our service visit our repossession page or contact us to discuss our Quick House Sale service in more detail on 0800 068 3366.
Quick House Sale Calculator
Fall Through Index
Refer a Friend
T: 0800 068 3366 
Email Us