The importance of light when selling in the winter months

By Team Tepilo | 17th December 2015

Advice

During the winter months the number of daylight hours are drastically reduced, which can make things difficult when it comes to showing off your home in its best light. Of course, viewings can still be carried out when the light fades, but buyers might not be so eager to view homes when it’s cold and dark outside.

As such, sellers will want to make the absolute most of the daylight hours that are available to them. Given the mildness of this year’s winter, sellers should find it easier than normal to get people to view their property in these traditionally colder and gloomier months.

Sellers should be scientific in their approach, showing off the rooms that receive the most direct sunlight and pushing the virtues of these rooms at a time when daylight is at a premium. Gardens might not be used so frequently in winter, but that doesn’t mean they should be ignored or neglected, quite the opposite. Buyers will want to see a garden that is in good condition – for one, gardens can be given a unique beauty by the harsher conditions of winter; secondly, they’ll want to visualise how they can use the garden when the weather starts to get warmer again.

Generally speaking, people prefer morning light in the bedrooms, helping them to wake naturally from sleep. By contrast, afternoon and evening light is most desired in the kitchen and living room, as this is where people tend to socialise and entertain. If your property offers this, tell prospective buyers about it. It could be a major selling point.

Windows, of course, play a vital role in flooding natural light into your home. Larger windows, as you would expect, let in plenty of light. Smaller windows are unlikely to bring in as much light as you might require. In some cases, this is not such a bad thing. Rooms that want to give off a warm, cosy vibe might not need as much light as others.

However, light and airy rooms will have significant appeal to many, particularly because they are so versatile. They can work equally well in winter, summer, spring and autumn. Big rooms with high ceilings will allow you to achieve a lighter and airier atmosphere, because of the extra natural light that can be flooded in. By contrast, smaller rooms with low ceilings will give off a more intimate ambience.

As usual, it will come down to the demographic you are targeting your property towards to determine how you make use of the light in your home. There will be things that are out of your control, too – the weather, for one; surrounding trees, buildings and hedges which could shield light from entering your home for another – but if you are able to get viewings conducted when the conditions are ideal then your chances of selling are likely to go up.

As we mentioned, people tend to prefer viewing homes when it is light outside. This is more difficult when there aren’t as many daylight hours, but not impossible. With a bit of planning and innovation, your home can be shown off at its best even when the weather outside might not be.

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Victoria Beckham to take up 40,000 sq ft of office space in White City for global HQ

3 December 2015

Victoria Beckham is rumoured to be eyeing up 40,000 square feet of offices and studio space in Garden House at the BBC’s Media Village complex.

The fashion entrepreneur is reportedly moving the global HQ of her fashion empire from Battersea to White City.

Beckham’s eponymous fashion label is eight years old and employs 150 at its studio and two atelier spaces in London . The turnover of her company stood at £30m in 2013.

Next year, Beckham is set to open a store in Hong Kong.

BBC’s Media Village complex is being developed by Stanhope and Japan’s Mitsui Fudosan.
Other tenants set to move in include John Lewis and Imperial College.

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Average rental prices in London reach over £1,400 a month

Thursday, 26 November 2015

Rental values in London have risen by 4.67% since June 2015, with the average rental price for a property in the capital standing at £1,467 compared to £1,402 in the summer, the latest figures show. Greenwich saw the largest increase taking the average rent to £1,397 per month, according to the Rentify Property Index. The firm said that this could be due to the time of year when students are starting back at university. Other areas that experienced considerable rental uplifts include Brent, with average rents in the North West London borough growing by £201 to almost £1,500 per month. Next was Newham with an increase of £197 taking the average rent to £1,378 per calendar month, then Lewisham with an increase of £194 taking the average rent to £1,305 and Lambeth with an increase of £182 to an average rent of £1,617. Areas that saw a fall in rent included Wandsworth where the average rent fell by £33, and Kingston-upon-Thames, with the average rent in the area falling by almost £90 to £1,237. Homes in the City of London have also experienced what the firm described as an unprecedented dip in price, with the average monthly rent dropping £185 to £2,149. Although this can’t be considered a long term decline, the figures do highlight seasonality in the market, according to the report, which adds that the dip in costs could be in part attributed to the school calendar, with families moving to ensure they secure the best postcode possible for their child’s education during the summer months. The data also showed how strong rental demand is across the capital. Bexley proved to be the most popular area for property hunters with an average of 10 people viewing each home in the borough each day, whilst other outer London boroughs such as Enfield and Haringey, both seeing an average of 9.6 viewers per day, also generating huge interest. ‘High cost of rent in central London is continuing to drive people away to outer boroughs in search of affordable housing. This however means that these so called cheaper locations are seeing a remarkable rise in rent due to their popularity. They are hot on the heels with central London due to strong demand,’ said Rentify chief executive officer George Spencer. ‘Furthermore, the recent buy to let tax hike introduced by the Chancellor will further constrain supply as less people invest in property to rent, making life increasingly hard for Londoners,’ he added. Source

These are London's most controversial billionaire basements

27 November 2015 | By Shruti Tripathi Chopra, Robyn Vinter

The super-rich and their love for London basements….

The former home of singer Duffy and the address at which the rules of football were first written down has collapsed thanks to a basement excavation gone wrong.
One wall of the £3.8m Barnes townhouse, which is now owned by former Phones4U boss David Kassler, completely disintegrated as builders dug beneath to create a home cinema, gym and wine room.

The company carrying out the work denied the collapse had anything to do with the basement excavation, saying it was “just an old building”.
Here are five more basement excavation controversies:

Bernie Ecclestone’s daughter, Petra

Petra Ecclestone, daughter of F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone, was forced to withdraw a planning application on a 19th Century lodge in the grounds of her Chelsea mansion after planners thought the work would be too invasive. However, the basement excavation on her Grade II listed home still went ahead despite residents objecting to the work.

Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi

The next-door neighbour of the TV chef and art collector submitted planning permission for a huge basement complex underneath the garden of the Eaton Square home in 2012. Saatchi had previously clashed with residents over building works and was accused of causing £50,000 worth of damage to some Italian marble bathroom tiles. However, despite these protests the couple were no strangers to causing disruption themselves. In 2010, they bought a former factory in Chelsea and converted it to a mansion, including, you guessed it, a massive basement excavation.

Jon Hunt

Foxtons’ billionaire founder Jon Hunt wants a humongous basement under his home in Kensington Palace Gardens to fit a tennis court, swimming pool and a showroom for his collection of Ferraris.
However, the French government has launched a legal tirade against Hunt claiming that certificates granted by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for completion of the property mogul’s project are invalid.
Hunt bought his home for £15.75m in 2007.

Lakshmi Mittal

Indian steel czar Lakshmi Mittal spent millions putting an underground complex of Turkish baths and a pool made of marble from the same quarry as the Taj Mahal. No wonder his Kensington Palace Gardens home is nicknamed “Taj Mittal”.

Hedge Fund boss Edmund Lazarus

Hedge fund boss and major Conservative Party donor Edmund Lazarus submitted plans to build a three-storey basement underneath his Victorian home in West London. If built, the basement would be more than double the size of his Holland Park home.
Lazarus was reportedly willing to fork out £16m for the basement complex. Frills and thrills include a swimming pool, gym, yoga studio, wine cellar and private cinema.

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Dog-friendly flats to rent in London command £25,000 premiums

The craze for 'handbag dogs' has led to a rise in letting enquiries from pet-owning tenants, according to EJ Harris.

By Annabel Dixon
October 12, 2015

Dog-friendly flats to rent in London command £25,000 premiums as supply fails to keep up with demand from tenants with pets, research showed today.
The craze for ‘handbag dogs’, driven by celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Simon Cowell, has led to a huge rise in letting enquiries from dog-owning tenants, according to EJ Harris.
The most sought-after addresses for tenants with pets in the prime areas of central London are around Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, Green Park and Holland Park.

There were virtually no dog-owning London tenants 10 years ago. However, up to 30 per cent of all tenants searching for a flat in London now own a pet.
In the heart of the capital alone, 8 per cent of all households now own one or more dogs – up from 7 per cent in 2010 and 4.8 per cent in 2002, according to the UK Pet Food Manufacturer's Association.
However, some 40 per cent of all flats in the prime areas of central London have head leases which ban pets.
The typical six week deposit for a one bedroom pet-friendly flat in central London, available to rent for £500 per week, is £3,000 for a pet-free tenant. However, this would rise to £5,000 for a dog-owning tenant.
And for a three bedroom flat for rent at £2,500 per week, the deposit for a tenant with a dog increases to £25,000 or more. This compares to a £15,000 deposit for a pet-free tenant, claimed EJ Harris.
The bulk of landlords of dog-friendly flats to rent in London also include a professional cleaning clause in the tenancy agreement. It requires pet-owning tenants to make an extra, non-refundable payment at the start of the tenant to cover the cost of sanitation and professional cleaning when they move out. The bill can sometimes rack up to several hundred pounds, the estate agent warned.
More than 80 per cent of the enquiries for dog-friendly flats to rent in London are from affluent English, continental European and American tenants, EJ Harris said.
Tenants are typically professional couples in their 30s and 40s as well as single socialites, 70 per cent of which are women. They tend to look for spacious one or two bedroom flats in Mayfair, Belgravia, Chelsea, Marylebone, Hyde Park, Regent’s Park, Westminster or St John’s Wood.
However, landlords’ concern that pets will cause damage to property and furnishings means that lettings to dog owners can take up to seven times longer than tenants without one.
Elizabeth Harris, managing director of EJ Harris, said: “Despite the stigma surrounding tenancies with pets, in our experience tenants who own dogs make for reliable and responsible tenants. They take good care of the property and keep their pets pampered and well trained.
“We always advise dog owning tenants to create a ‘pet CV’ that provides a detailed description of the pet. It outlines key facts regarding behavior, health and grooming, which can help alleviate the landlord’s concerns.”

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Home Advice Selling property guides How to prepare your home for sale

Selling property guides

How to prepare your home for sale

Selling your home? Not having much success? It could just be the state of the market, or the lingering bad luck from when you broke that mirror six and a half years ago.

By Property News team
September 2, 2014

Or actually, come to think of it, it could be the broken light fixtures, weed-choked garden and residual smell of fish from the bouillabaisse you served at last week's dinner party.

Take heed, home sellers - first impressions really do count.
Exterior appeal
Stand outside your home and compare it to your neighbours' properties. If you do this and it makes you feel slightly mortified, it's likely that you've already failed to impress your potential buyers.
Ask yourself:

• When was the last time I mowed the lawn?
• Have I ever cleaned those gutters out?
• Could those window frames use some fresh paint?
• Were those paving slabs always that uneven?
• Don't those children's toys have somewhere to be?
• Can people see my house number behind that embarrassingly overgrown shrub?
• Does a surplus of weeds say that I embrace all forms of nature, or that I'm a lazy homeowner who probably hasn't maintained the rest of the property very well either?

Depersonalise
Those gorgeous photographs of your daughter, husband, wife, nephew, best friend, cat and so forth that line the hallway and stairwell? Take them down. All of them. The ones in the bedroom too, and the living room, and everywhere else in the house. Don't forget the cute finger painting your three year old made you for your birthday last year that's still stuck on the fridge.
Your buyers don't want to see the lovely life you've made for yourself in your beautiful home. They want to imagine the lovely life they could make for themselves in their beautiful potential new home. Don't allow anything to clutter that vision.

Speaking of clutter
Get rid of it. If you've accumulated a lot of bits and pieces over the years (and you definitely have), now's the time to either a) throw them out, b) give them to charity or c) find proper, neat places for them in a closet or cupboard. You might even consider having a garage sale to purge your house of all that unnecessary 'stuff'. Do whatever you need to so that your buyers never have to lock eyes on it.
Pay specific attention to:

• Books, CDs and DVDs
• Ornaments and knick-knacks
• Kitchen tools and appliances that currently live on the counters
• Potted plants
• Posters on your children's bedroom walls

Another idea many sellers have embraced is renting storage space to temporarily keep any extra furniture that could be making their house feel crowded. Be radical - remove half the furniture in your living room and see how spacious, sleek and light it looks and feels without it. As a general guide, there should be enough space for people to move around the room unhindered, and enough furniture to convey the room's purpose.
Spring clean
Clean! Clean as though your life depended on it. We're not talking about a quick once-over. Serious attention to detail is necessary here.

• Dust the skirting boards (if you don't know what a skirting board is, yours probably really need dusting)
• Clean the windows (inside and out) and then polish them for extra shine
• Dust light fixtures and furniture
• Vacuum like there's no tomorrow
• Get rid of cobwebs
• Polish taps and mirrors
• Clean out the refrigerator and deodorise it by a) placing an open box of baking soda inside it to soak up odours and b) wiping down the inside surfaces with vanilla extract
• Bleach tile grout
• Scrub the oven clean - it may sound excessive, but prospective buyers are notoriously nosy and judgmental

Control your pets
No buyer wants to be greeted at the door by your charming King Charles Spaniel. Or any other breed of dog, cat, rabbit, guinea pig and so on. If possible, remove pets altogether when you're showing your property. Ask a friend or family member to take them off your hands for awhile, or better yet, take Cujo for a walk yourself. This brings us to our next point.
Get out
Presumably your estate agent knows what she's doing and has sold some houses before. Why not leave her to get on with it?
No offence, but prospective buyers don't really want you hovering over them while they're trying to nose around in your wardrobe and pass judgment on your crockery. It's a bit off-putting. If they feel awkward, they're much less likely to linger in your home and get the full impact of how great it is and how they'd very much like to buy it.
Repair, restore, revamp
The devil is in the details, and the sale of your home could be hampered by simple little things that you've stopped paying attention to. Try to look at your home from the perspective of your buyer, and think about the details that would impress or dismay you if you were in their position. Then take care of those details immediately.

• Replace broken light bulbs
• Fix leaky taps
• Fix doors and drawers that don't open or close properly
• Repair cracks in the walls
• Touch up paint and repaint altogether where necessary (in a neutral colour)
• Hang up fresh towels in the bathroom
• Get a new shower curtain and bathmat (again, choose neutral shades)
• Get rid of that busy wallpaper that you loved five years ago. Remove it and then paint the walls - don't simply paint over it, as it will be obvious to your buyer and make the wallpaper difficult to remove
• Eradicate odours - particularly those from cigarette smoke, mildew and pets. Open the windows and air out your house. Simply masking bad smells with a perfumed air freshener won't do the trick
• Replace cushion covers, bedspreads and curtains that are worn or have garish colours and patterns

Let there be light
Lots of natural light usually tops the list of things people are looking for in a home. This is great news if you own a home on a barren cliff top with ceiling-to-floor glass facing the afternoon sun, but that's not always on the cards, is it?
Fortunately, there are other ways to maximise the light in your house - natural or otherwise - and give the impression of having plenty of bright, airy space.

• Replace dim light bulbs with higher wattage
• Don't just pull open those heavy, dark curtains - pull them down altogether
• In areas of your house that are particularly dark, install some extra light fixtures
• Repaint darker rooms with light-coloured and light-reflecting paint
• Prune any trees or vines that are casting shadows inside the house

Related information

• Viewing property - helpful hints
• How to sell a house
• Choosing an estate agent to sell your home
• Guide to HIPs when selling
• How to value your home

Some information contained herein may have changed since it was first published. PrimeLocation strongly advises you to seek current legal and/or financial advice from a qualified professional.

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More British buyers in the prime London property market, research suggests

Thursday, 19 November 2015

Domestic buyers have risen to a new level of prominence in the London property market as overseas purchasers are being put off by current property tax levels, it is claimed. In the third quarter of this year some 79% of property purchases were made by domestic UK buyers, up from 75% a year ago, according to the latest London Property Monitor from March & Parson. The firm says that sales activity from domestic buyers has surged forwards to fill the gap left by overseas buyers and investors, who have been left more cautious by the strong sterling, stricter Government measures on non-domicile status, and heftier Stamp Duty for higher value purchases. As a result of this new hesitation, domestic mortgage buyers and first time buyers have become more prominent in the London market, with the proportion of mortgage buyers in Prime London soaring from 53% in the second quarter to 65% in the third quarter. At the same time, overseas and foreign nationality buyers accounted for 21% of all prime London property purchases during the third quarter which has fallen quarter on quarter, and is also down from 25% of all sales during the third quarter of 2014. This pattern is also being mirrored in the prime central London market traditionally favoured by overseas investors, with the proportion of foreign buyers standing at 32%, down from 34% in the second quarter and 37% a year ago. The investor share of the market has also dipped in the prime central London market over the past three months. Investors accounted for 35% of all prime central London sales during the third quarter, a considerable drop from 42% in the second quarter. Yet with domestic buyers stemming this shortfall, overall demand for Prime London homes has grown in the three months to September 2015, and the number of registered buyers has climbed 4%. Combined with a 5% drop in the supply of properties available on the market, and buyer competition is building as these trends diverge. There are currently 14 buyers for every available property for sale in London, increasing from 12 in Q2, and 10 at the end of 2014. According to Peter Rollings, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons the strength of sterling and government encroachments on nom-dom status make investing in the London property market seem daunting for foreign buyers. ‘This has cast some shadows over the capital, but the millions of Londoners who live and work in the city have acclimatised much more quickly to the property taxation changes, and have risen up to fill the void left by overseas purchasers and investors,’ he pointed out. ‘We’re noticing longer purchase chains than ever as domestic buyers really start to dominate the market, and demand is really putting a strain on supply. This should ensure that London houses prices and sales activity continue their ascent into 2016,’ he added. The research also shows that after a period of stalling prices from October 2014 to March 2015, house price growth in London is back in positive territory and continued a steady recovery throughout the third quarter, with average property values climbing 0.3% in three months. After experiencing such rapid house price growth in 2014 the market in outer London prime suburbs is adjusting, and as a result prime central areas of London are now seeing the strongest house price growth across the capital, with average property values boosted by 0.4% in the third quarter. But taking into account the much faster gains in the outer prime London market over the last two years, the premium a home buyer can expect to pay to live in prime central areas is in long term decline. Indeed, since the third quarter of 2013, house prices in outer London have soared 12.6%, equal to £131,000, and this has narrowed the price gap significantly between homes in prime central and outer London. The data also shows that the price premium of buying property in prime central London over outer prime neighbourhoods now stands at 74%, but this has shrunk from 98% two years previously. One bedroom homes are the most sought after in the prime London market, either as a starter home, buy to let or pied-a-terre, and have witnessed the largest increases in price in the past quarter. Average prices for a one bedroom property have risen 3.5% since the second quarter of 2015, or £21,240 in cash terms. The trend is even more pronounced in prime central areas, with smaller one bedroom properties appreciating in value by 5.9% in three months. Larger family sized properties have experienced slower price growth in the third quarter, with the typical four bedroom home increasing in value by just 0.5% in the three months to September 2015. ‘The sudden price surge in outer prime areas over the past two years has really come to challenge what we consider the prime property heartland of London, and the reality now is that the epicentre of the capital’s housing market is expanding outwards,’ said Rollings. ‘Properties in the traditional prime central stronghold will ultimately always hold their value, but after 24 months of relative price stagnation, it requires much less of a price leap than it did a few years previously, after such stellar price rises in the outer areas of the city,’ he explained. ‘We expect property further out from the centre to make the strongest gains before the end of the year, mirroring the trend evident across the capital as a whole. Properties at the lower end of spectrum have accumulated the strongest price momentum, and this is unlikely to dissipate,’ he added. Source

UK house prices rise 6.1pc as strong demand pushes up values

Prices in the capital continue to increase but the pace of growth is slowing, says the Office for National Statistics

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/property/house-prices/12000155/UK-house-prices-rise-6.1pc-as-strong-demand-pushes-up-values.htmlHouse prices across the UK have risen 6.1pc over the past year, pushing the average cost of a home in London beyond the half-million mark to £531,000.

The 6.1pc increase recorded in the year to September compared with a 5.5pc rise in the year to August. However, the pace of growth was much slower than the 12pc rise registered a year ago, says the Office for National Statistics.

The average price for a house in the UK now stands at £286,000, up from £273,000 last year.

Regionally, however, there were huge variations in growth over the 12-month period. Property prices rose 6.4pc in England and 10.2pc in Northern Ireland, but just 1.1pc in Wales and 1.1pc in Scotland.

House prices by region:

The average house price in England is £299,000, followed by £199,000 in Scotland, £175,000 in Wales and £162,000 in Northern Ireland.
• Generation no hopers: just a quarter of people in their 20s and 30s will own a home by 2025
And while the London property market remains hot, there are signs the market is slowing. Prices in the East of England grew of 8.4pc, followed by the South East at 7.4pc, while London house prices increased 7.2pc over the year.
The North East is the only English region where prices remain below their pre-downturn peak, with prices 2.4pc lower than in January 2008. Northern Ireland enjoyed the fastest rate of growth, with prices there soaring 10.2pc, albeit from a low base.

Annual house price growth by area:

  Photo: Source: ONS
The figures also suggest the market may be easing for first-time buyers. Property values purchased by first-time buyers increased 4.3pc to £216,000 in the year to September, compared with a 4.5pc rise in the year to August.
Mortgage broker SPF Private Clients said a £216,000 average price tag on a home means first-time buyers will need to save at least £11,000 for a deposit, plus moving costs, and have a salary of around £50,000.
• I've got a £95,000 deposit at age 24, but can't buy a home
Separate data earlier this year suggested the average first-time buyer needed an annual income of at least £41,000 to afford a home, while in London that figure rises to £77,000.
And while consumers might be benefitting from falling prices in some areas of life, such as travel, energy and food, the ONS said house price growth continues to outpace real term wage growth, making homes even more unaffordable for first-time buyers.
The authors of the report added that a shortage of new housing would continue to push up prices.

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