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A spanner in the works

spanner
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Spot the difference

difference
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Introducing Ella Forman

Ella Forman
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Government consults on permitted development rights

permitted development
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Let’s hear it for bungalows

bungalows
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What is the housing market doing?

housing market
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Our guide to the Renters Reform Bill

renters reform bill
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Introducing George Berry

george berry
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Be A Medal Winner

be a medal winner
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Branch focus: Beccles

beccles
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King Of All He Surveys

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Durrants are the perfect partner for new homes

hew homes
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Durrants donates play equipment to Bungay pre-school

emmanuel
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A guide to the process of creating a Neighbourhood Plan

neighbourhood plan
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Spring into action

spring
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Jasmine Philpott featured in new motorsport podcast

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Visit our Open Day at Manor View, Halesworth

manor view halesworth
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Investing in property? Here are 10 top tips!

investing
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Spring promises more choice for the housing market

choice
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Success for Durrants clients as sites selected in housing plan

housing plan
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Negotiation not Obduration

negotiation
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Are there benefits to overpaying a mortgage?

mortgage
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Will house prices decline this year?

house prices
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Get your home ready for spring with this checklist

spring
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Durrants sponsors River Waveney Trust project

river waveney trust
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Things that landlords need to know in 2023

Durrants Things that landlords need to know in 2023 Article
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Where should property investors put their money in 2023?

Durrants Where should property investors put their money in 2023? Article
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Ditch the Compass

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Update on Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMs)

Environmental Land Management Schemes ELMs
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Introducing Felicity Thornett

Felicity Thornett Chartered Surveyor
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Consultation for a new NPPF is underway

NPPF consultation is underway
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If wishes were sales, sellers would move

if wishes were sales
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The new interest rate rise is set to do good things for the housing market

interest rates
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Santa visits Wymondham Rugby Club minis

rugby
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Durrants Christmas Jumper Day beats charity target

jumper day
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Race report: Scottish Borders Hill Rally

hill rally
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Make Do

make do
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Celebrating Beccles Switch On

Celebrating Beccles Switch On
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Durrants at the heart of Halesworth Christmas Lights

halesworth christmas lights
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Durrants Reydon property receives national interest

national interest
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What has happened in the property market during the last 50 years?

What has Happened in the Property Market During the Last 50 Years
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World Town Planning Day

World Town planning Day
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Durrants support Harleston fireworks

Durrants support harleston fireworks

Durrants are proud to once again sponsor the Harleston Fireworks display, which is being held on Friday 4 November 2022 at The Harleston Sancroft Academy.

The event has been kindly organised by Dan MacDonald and will raise funds for the Harleston Sancroft Academy.

Gates are open from 6pm with music, drink and food available before the fireworks at 7pm. Tickets can be purchased on the night for £5.00 with under 5’s free.

 

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Opposing Forces

Opposing Forces
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Race report: 24th – 25th September – Stone Enduro

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Durrants annual Charity Clay Shoot

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Cookley & Walpole Community funding

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Henham Steam Rally

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Durrants sponsor in-house Planning Consultant on Dakar Rally mission

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The A to D of the Property Market

The A to D of the Property Market Article
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March the Month for Prostate Cancer UK

March the Month Challenge
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Durrants overturns planning refusal for rural workers dwelling

planning permission
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CLA East: A zero-carbon performing home

cla east zero carbon
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Durrants at Henham Steam Rally this weekend

henham steam rally
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Hot box

Property search in Norfolk

Dominic Parravani of Durrants looks at the human side of buying and selling a home.

In the days before technology invaded the estate agency industry – flooding it with helpful and not so helpful ‘proptech’ – estate agents kept buyers’ details written on index cards that were stored in plastic boxes. These were called hot boxes in the trade and all estate agents had them.

Depending on how long buyers had been looking for a property, each card bore the scars of persistent scrutiny and revision. The cards told the stories of individuals or families. Notated were names, contact details, price range information, aspirations, desires, and even dreams. The longer the search, the fuller, more dog-eared and coffee-stained the cards became until they formed part of their subjects’ stories reflecting the struggles to make dreams come true.

Why so much detail on the cards?  Because how on earth can you find what someone truly wants in a home unless you’ve asked them and understood their answer?

Nowadays the computer has long overtaken the hot box. In some ways it’s an efficient change. But in other ways it depersonalises the process. You can’t get much more personal than a home and its occupants. A hot box was a list of human beings being human and looking for their safe place.

Strokes on a keyboard rather than scribbled notes have replaced the hot box – the lowest of low tech. But all is not lost. Because the best estate agents still have hot boxes, it’s just that these days they keep them in their heads. They haven’t needed them much over the past few years. But now they are being pressed back into service as the market changes in favour of buyers.

So, when you’re looking for someone to sell your home check out several agents. Find out what they think your property is worth and why. But also discover if their head is a hot box. Ask who’s buying, what they might be able to pay, and why they might want your house. This knowledge is basic estate agency. If someone has to use a computer to match home with buyer they’re in the wrong job, because it still needs a human to understand what another human wants and why.

Durrants would be delighted to provide a free market valuation of your property. To find out what makes Durrants different book a free valuation today.

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Durrants submits representations to East Suffolk rural housing SPD

SPD
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Government announces intervention in Nutrient Neutrality challenge

nutrient neutrality challenge
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One for the Road

one for the road
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Introducing Gabrielle Wones

gabrielle wones
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Fundraising success for Diss Community First Responders at Carnival

first responders
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Durrants at the Royal Norfolk Show

norfolk show
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Rural Housing Week shines a spotlight on affordable housing

rural housing week
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Events…

events
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Durrants sponsors the Southwold Arts Festival

southwold arts festival parade
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Recent planning trends highlight the importance of hiring the right professionals for your project

planning trends
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Durrants achieve approvals after Norfolk councils promise swift action on Nutrient Neutrality

nutrient-neutrality-3
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The Levelling Up Bill: A Summary

levelling up bill
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Durrants donates to Benjamin Foundation in Thetford

benjamin foundation
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From concept to completion – Durrants Building Consultancy

durrants building consultancy
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Build Back Better

build back better
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Potential delays to planning applications in Norfolk following Nutrient Neutrality announcements

News Article Potential delays to planning applications
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Top tips for selling your home

News Article Selling your home
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Great live music coming to Southwold

southwold jazz club
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Durrants to fundraise for Diss Community First Responders at Carnival

diss first responders
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Here be Dragons

Here be Dragons
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Spring into action

spring into action

As we head into spring, Dominic Parravani of Durrants looks at what’s required to win the race to buy a home.

Markets are forever in flux. So our handling of markets must be flexible.

We can buy, hold or sell in the stock market depending on conditions. In a fruit and vegetable market we can buy the freshest produce early in the morning at the full price. Or we can purchase what no one else has bought at a cheaper rate in the late afternoon.

The property market is also in constant flux. There are occasions when there is a lot of stock and buyers have so much choice they can take their time and sometimes make low ball offers.

But we are not in that market now. In many areas around the UK it is quite the opposite. Figures show that generally there are twice as many buyers as there are properties to buy. This is hard enough for buyers. But, in hotspot areas, there are many more buyers per property – result, a feeding frenzy.

So forget a leisurely, late evening, glass-in-hand, browse through your preferred property portal. It is not going to help very much. Because by the time a property gets onto a portal nowadays, the early bird will have already caught its worm.

Serious buyers behave differently in this sort of market. They know they need to find a property before it ever reaches a portal. And the best way to do this is to get to know their local independent estate agent so they can be first in the queue for the pick of the properties.

You see the experienced local agents know their own market best. Years of working in their area mean they know local people and – crucially – often hear first when someone is about to make a move. Then they carefully match those who want to sell with those want to buy. Property portals don’t do that.

If you are serious about buying this spring, get to know your local, well-established estate agent. You will find their knowledge and experience provide the very best in buying advice. And if you are selling, their knowledge, experience – and list of buyer contacts – is vital in a hot market.

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Make sure you take a meter reading today

meter readings
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Durrants to sponsor Diss Carnival 2022

Diss Carnival
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Introducing August Atkinson

August Atkinson
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Swings and Roundabouts

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Chained Up

chained up
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Wymondham Rugby Club support

wymondham rugby
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Over £1,000 raised for charity by Durrants clay shoot

durrants clay shoot rabi
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Durrants sponsorship of Southwold Rugby Club reaches across the world!

durrants rugby southwold
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Predicting the Present

Snowdrops
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We’re still open and here to help

Durrants in Southwold
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A new chapter awaits for historic Southwold dwelling

Montague House Southwold
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Lessons learned

House News Story
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Lodge Farm, Gisleham – Machinery Sale Results

Tractor Machinery Sale
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Loo rolls and other flying objects

sale agreed
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Durrants Holiday Cottages featured by Investors Chronicle

Durrants Holiday Cottages featured by Investors Chronicle
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I Wish

I Wish
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Booming Marvellous

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Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

Durrants Managing Director Dominic Parravani assesses the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s stamp duty changes – designed to stimulate the property market.
 
With post-Covid demand for property at a welcome high level, one thing was needed to help create what could be the most active market since the great recession: greater affordability.

Now the Chancellor has gone a long way to help through his mini-budget. From 8th July 2020 until 31st March 2021 there will be a temporary stamp duty holiday on the first £500,000 of all property sales in England and Northern Ireland. This does not affect Scotland and Wales, which have their own property transaction tax regimes.

Under Sunak’s change buyers of second homes and buy-to-let properties will also benefit, but will still have to pay the existing 3% extra duty due on the entire price.

During this tax holiday, the average stamp duty bill will fall by £4,500, and almost nine out of ten people buying a main home this year will pay no stamp duty at all. Anyone buying a home for around £475,000 will save almost £14,000 in tax.

We in the property industry have long called for the government to overhaul a tax that has become a serious hindrance to buyers. Although seen as unfair by many, the government’s annual return from stamp duty is around £12bn – roughly equivalent to 2% of the Treasury’s total tax income. However even the Prime Minister has said in the past that he wanted to scrap stamp duty up to £500,000 and reduce the top rate – on homes costing more than £1.5 million – from 12% to 7%.

With the Halifax announcing, unsurprisingly, that house prices have fallen during the four months of lockdown, the new stamp duty level and the increased desire by many to make a lifestyle change mean this is the best time for years to buy a property. As any farmer will tell you, make hay while the sun shines.

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The New Normal

new normal
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Join us for a virtual drinks reception

norfolk show
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Really Useful Engines

really useful engines
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Durrants Auctions reopening with online sales

auction rooms reopen
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Bouncy Bouncy

real estate charts
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Realism is our Vaccine

Realism is our Vaccine