The West Sussex Property Blog

We seem to be having more and more buyers registering saying that they can  not find a house to buy, 'what?' I hear you say, ' we have been trying to sell for ages' 

I know, there are an awful lot of houses that have been on the market, in some cases for over a year and only now are they getting interest, but that is because the prices have come down and the buyers are being very wary of overpaying for property.

The properties that are coming to the market for the first time, as long as they are priced correctly are selling quickly.

The World around us still goes on with more corrupt bankers being exposed and people losing there money.

If I was them I would put all my money into property!

I know, I'm bound to say that! However it is so so true. We are selling really excellent houses at prices that just seem such good value. I can only say that the market activity has picked up since the new year and although we have a long way to go before we get to previous levels of inquiries, if last Saturday's viewing level is anything to go by, we are on our way.

My advise is "If you see something you like, get on and buy it, because it probably won't be there in six months' time"

We have agreed sales on three properties recently to investors, they can only get about 3% interest on capital in the banks and they can achieve 6% on the property they have bought, plus the hope of capital growth in 2 to 3 years time.

I understand from our preferred mortgage brokers (M&M mortgage management) that various deals are around in the mortgage market from 3.99% if you have a reasonable deposit, with rates like these and lower house prices, I suggest people seize the moment. It makes moving house rather attractive.

I understand the difficulty people have with selling there house for less than they thought it was worth and many have spent money on refurbishment etc, but everyone is in the same boat. ' what you lose on the swings, you will gain on the roundabouts'.

If you are reading this and wondering what to do (and it seems quite a lot of people are) contact any of our offices for the best advise, We understand how important it is to know the price that you can achieve in the current market. One agent I heard off has been recommending to clients to put there houses on the market at 25% more than they are worth so they can be knocked down in negotiation,so the buyers think they are getting a bargain, Does he think the buying public were born yesterday?

We are now seeing more and more people accessing our website using their iphones, so we have put together a list of apps to make your house move and search easier because as the saying goes…’there’s an app for that’!

Our top 5 are:

• Rightmove
• Mortgage Toolkit
• listentotaxman.com
• Crime Map UK
• Around Me

If you are searching for property to buy, our top of the house hunting apps is Rightmove –  you can type in the area you are interested in, for example, Storrington’ to generate a list of houses for sale locally and then refine your search. Alternatively, if you are standing in say Horsham, you can hit ‘find my current location’ and the app will give you a list of all the flats and houses for sale around where you are in Horsham. This provides pictures and information on the property together with the selling agents details. As this shows properties from all the estate agents on Rightmove, it’s a one stop shop for your property search. 

Mortgage Toolkit is a great little app if you are sorting out the finance for your property purchase. It includes a mortgage calculator and also very handy guides to buying and selling properties. You can review the best buy mortgage list (although we found this a little restrictive, and request a callback from a mortgage advisor as well. Mortgage Assistant also provides you with a best buy list and this one includes deals from all the high street banks and big mortgage lenders. There is also a useful blog feature with lots of mortgage news and updates.

Whilst sorting out your mortgage you may need to some budgeting and calculations relating to your salary, and there is an app for that - listentotaxman.com works out your tax payments and you can add in other deductions as well to work out exactly where you stand each month. It updates in line with budget changes so in theory should always give you the most up to date picture (providing you download the updates!). UK Salary Calculator does a similar job so may also be worth a look.

If you are reviewing the area you are looking to move to, Crime Map UK locates where you are with your phone and then shows a map with pins indicating all the crimes locally – you can then touch to see the type of crime committed. There is a neighbourhood overview, and a camera feature although this costs extra. We’ve have been checking out our local areas of Horsham, Storrington and Pulbrough and its quite enlightening to see what has been going on.

AroundMe is a very informative app to discover what facilities there are locally. Using GPS, the app provides a list of services you may be looking for, from cashpoints to petrol stations to hospitals. You select which service you are looking for to get a list of them together with how close they are to you and exact location. This also covers restaurants, taxis, theatres and the weather – a very comprehensive app. Once you’ve moved in to your dream home, vouchercloud is a similar app, but lists businesses close to you offering deals and discounts using your iphone.

After all that, if you’d like some down time from property searching you could have a go at being an estate agent using the game app Build-a-lot where you have to buy plots, build houses and keep them in good repair and then sell them at a profit – lots of fun and quite addictive!