Support your local businesses

Please support your local independent family run businesses (like ours here at Roberts, Edwards & Worrall).

A new venture Laser Skin Clinic has recently opened its doors in Woolton and in West Derby. Go and be treated like a VIP. Please show your support by checking out their website at thelaserskinclinic.co.uk or go to their facebook page facebook.com/thelaserskinclinic and you could win over £500 worth of Skin treatments!

Roberts, Edwards & Worrall pleased to support Imagine Appeal

Michael and Ashley from Roberts, Edwards & Worrall attended The Clothes Throw last night, a stylish way to support the Imagine Appeal at Alder Hay Childrens Hospital. The event, which was an auction of celebrity clothes modelled on the cat walk at Liverpool Ones fabulous Palm Sugar lounge. Thousands of pounds were raised on the night and loads more cash is still being donated throughout this week as part of the Clothes Throw event. Check out http://www.theclothesthrow.com/ for all the details.

BBC report - Three Reasons for rising rents

Three reasons for rising rents

By Kevin Peachey Personal finance reporter, BBC News

The rental market has created some tough conditions for tenants

People are cutting spending on food and heating in order to finance their rent payments, according to the housing charity Shelter.

In August, the cost of renting a home rose at its fastest rate for a year, and tenants increasingly missed payments, LSL Property Services found.
So, as housing charities warn that rents are becoming unaffordable for some, how did the market end up like this?
Are the roots of the issue found in long-term housing strategy, or is it all to do with the state of the UK economy?
Here, those involved in the market explain what they consider to be the key reasons behind rising rent levels.

Not enough homes have been built

Shelter say that private rents are unaffordable in 55% of English boroughs, having already risen at one-and-a-half times the rate of incomes in the 10 years to 2007.
The "primary reason" for this, it says, is the failure to build enough homes in recent years, and in recent decades.
David Newnes, of LSL, who owns letting agents Your Move and Reeds Rains, says the supply of rental properties has not increased enough to keep pace with the rising number of tenants.
The lack of newly built properties also comes as the UK population is growing.
New house building is at a post-war low, with just 134,000 new homes built in the UK in 2010, government figures show.
That was the lowest number in any year since 1949, and just 31% of the peak number for building, which was 426,000 in 1968.
Since 1990, the building of "social" housing by housing associations has been lower than new local authority building seen in the 1960s, 1970s or the early 1980s.
Housing Minister Grant Shapps says that councils will now be rewarded for freeing up disused public land to build on.

Renting is a lifestyle choice

The Shelter research suggests that rent levels are more affordable in cities such as Manchester and Birmingham, than in some rural areas.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove: "This problem is going to grow and grow"

But estate agents say that demand is higher, even in the cities, because people like the flexibility of renting, rather than owning a home.
"Historically, we have been a nation of home owners, but we have started to see a shift in the way people live, a shift which could well gather pace in the future," says Carolyn Mellor, of Manchester-based estate agents Homes4u.
"Now more people are making a lifestyle choice not to commit to the financial burden of a mortgage, and to benefit from the flexibility of renting in the long term rather than the short term.
"Inevitably, this means that less old stock is coming back onto the market, and the supply-demand balance is being disrupted."
Simon Ward, director of the Dorset-based estate agents Mr Green, says: "With many young people still reluctant to take on the responsibility of a mortgage, there is a temptation to talk of a Generation Rent - suffering ever increasing rent, but unwilling or unable to take out a mortgage."
A recent report for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors suggested that home ownership in England has been falling since 2003 and has also fallen in the US, Australia, Austria, Finland and the Irish Republic, among others.
If current trends were projected forward, then by 2025 the percentage of home ownership could be below 60% - lower than most other European countries.

First-time buyers cannot get on the property ladder

The banking crisis had a significant impact on those trying to buy their first homes. Banks had to pull back their lending, and be more careful who they were going to give mortgages to.
As a result, many first-time buyers realised they needed to save a lot more than they expected for a deposit. In the meantime they needed somewhere to live - and that often came through the private rental sector.
"With more people seeking to rent, rents will inevitably rise. It is pure supply and demand," says Suzanne Bradshaw, of Derby-based independent mortgage broker Mortgage Arena.
"As long as mortgage criteria remain as they are at present, namely stringent, rents will remain very high."
Matt Hutchinson, director of flat and house-share website Spareroom.co.uk, says: "People who would normally be looking to buy their first property after renting for a few years are either unable to because they cannot secure a mortgage, or are reluctant to because of all the uncertainty surrounding interest rates and property prices so are renting for longer as a result.
"The knock-on effect is that existing rental properties are off the market longer, and with fewer new rental properties becoming available, the supply-demand balance is completely off kilter."
This has also provided an opportunity for investors, if they can afford it, says Mr Newnes, at LSL.
"With high demand and the expectation of high rental income, there are a growing number of investors turning to the buy-to-let market as an alternative investment opportunity," he says.
"In response lenders are now offering a wider range of mortgages, at more affordable prices, which is driving investors to purchase properties which would have normally been bought by home buyers."

This weeks Liverpool Property paper is out!

Link here to see this weeks Liverpool Property paper

Marketing Madness

What is going on! Rightmove says the average marketing price of properties on their property portal is  £233,139 (Sept 2011). The Land Registry tell us that the average selling price is £162,347 (Aug 2011). A MASSIVE difference of over £70,000! If your average house was on the market for £230,000 would you accept offers of around £160,000?? Who is causing this gap? Are sellers being greedy? Are they inflating the price to test the market? Are they showing off or being cheeky and really not expecting to sell? Is it the Estate Agents overvaluing to get the business. Its true to say that sellers are savvy and will on most occaisions invite multiple agents to offer them a true market appraisal! Well Rightmove and many other property spokespeople are saying prices are too high. This index proves it!

As an example - we at Roberts, Edwards & Worrall have just agreed a sale on a nice semi detached property marketed at around £170,000, The sale was negotiated and agreed at £165,000. A good deal for both buyer and seller. Another, very similar property in the same road has gone on the market with another local agent. This agent, known for their sometimes under hand tactics, are marketing theirs at £185,000. Yes, definately pushing the price up trying to get a better sale (and commission no doubt)! Thats not too bad, and the chances are that, if they want to sell, the sellers will need to bring the price down. Well, today, just further up the road, a smaller house with a smaller garden, with an extra room has just been put on the market for £280,000!

Its no wonder so many overpriced houses are on the market and why there is such a gap between the marketing value and the selling price.

To all sellers- get your valuer to explain how he/she has valued your property and get them to show you proof! Get them to talk about what sales are happening in your locality and to show you some comparible evidence. Get your Agent to market your property at a realistic price, else you may never sell!   

#Property In The News - House prices see decline of 0.3%

House prices saw a 0.3% decline in August, leaving the sale price of the typical home at just over £162,000, the Land Registry has said.

House prices saw a 0.3% decline in August, leaving the sale price of the typical home at just over £162,000, the Land Registry has said.

The figures, which cover transactions in England and Wales, represent a reversal on the 1.3% increase in values between June and July.

The West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, the North East, the South East, the North West and the South West all experienced falls in August, while Wales was hardest hit with a 1.7% drop.

House prices in Wales are now down by 5.5% on a year ago, with the average home valued at £117,534.

The latest House Price Index across England and Wales showed an annual decrease of 2.6%, taking the average property value down to £162,347.

Prices in the East, the East Midlands and London all rose between July and August. The East saw the biggest monthly increase, with average prices at £175,079 in August thanks to a jump of 0.8%.

The only region in England and Wales to see a rise over the last 12 months was London, where homes have gone up by 2.1%. The measure of house prices is seen as being particularly volatile at present because transactions are below pre-recession levels.

The latest figures show that over the year to June, the number of completed house sales in England and Wales went down by 13% to 54,776. Fewer luxury homes are being snapped up, with the number of properties sold in England and Wales for more than £1 million down by 28% over the year to June 2011, to 465.

Lucy Pendleton, of James Pendleton estate agents, said the figures highlighted the gulf between London and other areas.

She added: "The gulf between London and the rest of the country is becoming more acute, with the average home in the capital now costing 2.15 times as much as the average in England and Wales. In other areas of the UK, most notably the North East, prices remain under real pressure."

UK house prices treading water, says Nationwide

House prices continued to "tread water" in September - rising by 0.1% compared with the previous month, the Nationwide said.

This left the average price of a home 0.3% lower than a year earlier, at £166,256, the building society said.
Prices for the three months to September compared with the previous quarter were unchanged.
Market turmoil as a result of the eurozone debt crisis had hit confidence among buyers, Nationwide said.
"Sentiment towards major purchases is depressed, as a result of weak labour market conditions and ongoing pressure on household budgets from above-target inflation," said Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist.
'Sluggish demand'
He predicted that property prices would remain fairly stable over the rest of 2011, although the outlook for the global economy had "darkened".
The struggle for people to find new jobs has resulted in "sluggish demand" from potential buyers.
That, together with a gradual rise in the number of properties on the market, had led to the current market conditions.
Some of these issues are most acute in the north-east of England.
Data from the Land Registry on Wednesday showed that prices in the region had fallen by 7.8% in the year to August.
In Hartlepool, prices had dropped by 15.7% over the same period, leaving the average home worth £82,561.
David Sharpe, a sales negotiator at Dowen estate agents in the port town, said that times were difficult for sellers, especially if they were unwilling to drop their asking prices.
"We are telling people to be realistic. If the price is right then it will sell," he said.
Negative equity
Many of the properties coming onto the market in Hartlepool were the result of repossessions, he said. These included repossessed properties from landlords who had overstretched themselves.
This meant there were some two-bedroom homes in need of some work that were on the market for £20,000.
However, at the other end of the market, Dowen had just sold an eight-bedroom period property at auction for £345,000.
Many properties were selling if prices were lowered, Mr Sharpe said, including one "extreme case" which recently sold at auction for £30,000 when it had originally been on the market for £80,000.
Dropping prices was not necessarily an option for some sellers though.
"Those who bought at the peak of the market may well have borrowed more than the property is now worth," he said.