As each month and year goes by, more and more people are taking to the internet to search for their next home and therefore more and more people are looking to sell their property via the internet. Selling your home on the web is no longer considered to be the territory of the brave few, it is the only way that makes any sense if you want to reach the biggest possible audience for your home.

In January of this year Rightmove announced record traffic to its web site making it seventh in the chart of most viewed websites in the UK.

It was beaten only by Google, Facebook, eBay, YouTube, Amazon and Yahoo, and even succeeded in beating BBC News which came eighth. The next highest placed property website was Zoopla at 83, followed by FindaProperty at 111 and Primelocation at 193.

We established House Revolution specifically to harness the power of the internet, to sell houses quickly and cost effectively. We’ve long since understood that Rightmove is now the only shop window that matters in the property sector. And that’s why we’ve worked hard to build a strong relationship with the team at Rightmove, ensuring we know exactly the way to present our customers’ properties to get the best possible chance of a sale.

So if you want to sell your home, the first move you should consider is away from the high street and onto the web. House Revolution – our fees may be low but our service is high. For more information please call our fabulous team: 0845 017 6060

Interest in the UK housing market edged up in March according to a new survey.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said that, during the month, 9% more surveyors reported a rise in inquiries from potential buyers than those reporting a fall sighting warmer weather and the ending of the stamp duty holiday as possible reasons.

But with interest up, house prices in all regions (except London) continued to fall. The declines were modest, Rics said, with surveyors reporting price falls of up to 2%.

Asking prices for properties that have come on to the market in the last month have gone up by 1.6%, Rightmove reported last month

It means that asking prices for properties new to the market have shot up by 4.9% so far this year.

It is the largest first-quarter increase since 2004, with the average new asking price now standing at £236,939 – up from £233,252 a month ago.

Average asking prices are now 2.2% higher nationally than this time a year ago. The biggest price rises have been in typical first-time buyer territory, with terrace houses up by 2.8% and flats by 3.1% in the last month.

For a full understanding up your house value contact the House Revolution team today on : 08450 017 6060

Under the new regulations an EPC must now be commissioned and secured within seven days of a property being marketed for sale with a further 21 days if the EPC is proving hard to secure, and the first page of the EPC must now be attached to estate agents property particulars.

The moves were announced by CLG minister Andrew Stunnell under the guise of eco-friendliness saying the package of measures would make energy information on properties easier to understand, which if followed could help customers save money on their fuel bills.

He also emphasised that Domestic Energy Assessors will have undergone further training to ensure that the new-look EPCs – to be used from April 6 onwards – are produced to a consistently high standard and assured advice is given to prospective home owners.

For help obtaining your EPC just call our friendly team : 08450017 6060

Times are tough for estate agents and when the going gets tough the tough go door knocking.

Touting, which is basically an estate agent activity usually targeted from head office knocking on your door with the express desire to make you ditch your current agent in favour of them. However irritating and annoying this activity it is not actually illegal. There are guidelines which I have outlined below but there is also an agenda at play here.   

Guidelines: The code of conduct issued by the National Association of Estate Agents says that touting is only acceptable if it takes the form of a written letter, addressed to you by name and delivered via the Royal Mail. They state that Door-knocking is totally unacceptable.

That said the worst outcome for the naughty estate agent is to be booted out of the association but bear in mind, you don’t actually need to belong to the NAEA (and many don’t) to trade.. Now you can see the scale of the problem.

House Revolution is a member of the NAEA. We don’t and never will knock on doors. It’s a grubby, intrusive desperate act and my strong view is, if your business can’t succeed by fair and honest means then quit and do something else! 

Anyway, if you would like to read the guide click here: 

What is the Agenda? Estate agents put huge effort and resources getting property onto their books and property that is already on the market is easy pickings. The owners have already made the decision to sell! Agents  find homes for sale in the same way as any buyer, online OR simple spot the for sale board.

Their approach is normally soft and friendly but the message is always the same: “we can sell your home and your current agent can’t!”

If you unpick this statement it’s truly ludicrous. Unless the touting agent is blessed with magical ‘pixie dust’ which when sprinkled on your roof makes it sell and trust me, no such dust is available, all that happens is the new agent will simply repeat your marketing eg Rightmove etc, sign you into a lengthy contract and very possibly charge you more.  Oh, yes and suggest you reduce you’re price but you don’t need to change agents to do that!

 The only agenda here is theirs. There is no magic dust, just hard work and a bit of patience.

If your relationship with your chosen agent is a good one and they are working with you to sell your home you should no reason to change but maybe just thank the touting agent for their interest and comment how nice it is to see that the ‘oh so subtle’ art of encyclopaedia Britannica selling is alive and well ! 

Chris Sargisson

Founder

House Revolution                  

The Land Registry has reported that house prices, compared with December went up 1.1% in January.

The average house price in England and Wales now stands at £161,545 – an annual fall of 1%.

However, the average price is boosted by London, where the average is £351,305 – a monthly rise of 2.5% and an annual rise of 2.9%.

London remains the only region where house prices have not fallen over the last year.

The Land Registry has no up to date figures for transactions, but reports that from August to November last year, there was an average of 60,422 sales per month – up slightly on the monthly average of 58,485 sales for the same period in 2010.

 For an up to date, free & no obligation valuation of your home contact us today on 0845 017 6060 OR visit our website and do it online

I have three nuggets of goodish news for you this week. Fingers crossed things are starting to improve.   

• Good news number one, if you’re a home owner you might be pleased to hear that House asking prices have climbed 4.1 per cent in February. New research from Rightmove revealed that valuations have risen by 4.1 per cent when compared with figures recorded for January. If correct this represents the most significant climb for around a decade with the levels similar to those reached in April 2002. 
• Good news number two, A study revealed that more mortgage deals have gone through during January, with the amount of products available with a ten per cent deposit having increased by around one-third when compared to that reported a year ago.   
• Lastly, Number thee ‘news of positiveness’  (I don’t think that’s actually a real word.) Five out of ten respondents to the same survey above think property as a lower risk asset 

Remember, House Revolution – a new breed of estate agent is half the cost of a typical high street agent. If your thinking of selling Call us today: 0845 017 6060  

According to Estate Agent Today Rightmove is due to announce record traffic to its web site in January, propelling it to seventh place in the chart of most page-viewed websites in the UK.

It was beaten only by Google, Facebook, eBay, YouTube, Amazon and Yahoo, and even succeeded in beating BBC News which came eighth.

The next highest placed property website, according to Experian Hitwize, was Zoopla at 83, followed by FindaProperty at 111 and Primelocation at 193.

Rightmove pulled off the feat after clocking up nearly 800 million page views in January.

The site had 13 million unique visitors last month, another record.

At House Revolution we market your property on all these websites, a far better place to find a buy than a high street estate agent window. Keeping away from the high steet keeps our fees are low but does not effect our ablity to sell property. For more information please call our fabulous team: 0845 017 6060    

A shortage of ‘first-time sellers’ means that the number of terrace homes and flats being put up for sale are down 31% and 28% on the third quarter of last year, Rightmove said this morning.

One-third of potential first-time buyers said that their biggest single concern is being able to find the right property. Only one in 12 cited their ability to meet monthly mortgage payments as a major concern, but raising a deposit was the biggest concern, cited by four in ten potential first-time buyers. One in 14 expressed concerns about fluctuating house prices, although a small majority – 55% of those questioned in the Rightmove study – said they thought asking prices too high.

The survey showed that around one in four (24.3%) of all likely buyers over the next 12 months will be first-timers. While this is up 1.5% on a year ago, it is a long way short of the historic long-term norm of 40% – and the figures are disturbingly distorted by the London effect. The results were analysed from over 15,000 responses.

If you have a Flat or Terrace to sell please get in touch, we would love to help whilst saving you money on your fess and giveing you a better service to boot !

At House Revolution we take the job of providing first class estate agency very seriously. All our customer managers are required to study hard to gain a recognised qualification in estate agency practice as governed by the National Association of Estate Agents. As you can see from the photo, based on the size of the text book it’s a big task.

Hopefully Deborah’s confused and perplexed face will be smiling very soon when the exam results come through. Good luck Debs and Rachel, who is also taking the exams but she hid when we got the camera out. We know you will shine in the exams as indeed you already do every day with our customers!

House Revolution, committed to providing excellent professional service at low cost.

House Revolution makes a refreshing change to the normal type of estate agent we have worked with in the past.

They were professional & helpful at all times, & were extremely good at keeping in contact & keeping us informed. I always felt that each member of the team was giving us an un-boast opinion, without spin like many agents (unusual!).

I felt as though I was dealing with people just like me – straight forward, honest, & clear with no hidden agendas. It also suited us best to do our own viewings but I understand HR will organise this for you if desired. Their online feedback system is also useful so you can find out at any time what the viewer thought of your property. I would definitely recommend them – what a nice bunch of authentic people – & when you think of the money I saved, much better value for money than all other estate agents. Love Kath