Tag: Sell

Dominic Parravani of Durrants enjoys some spring sunshine and considers whether this is a good time to buy and sell property.

There was a time when spring was the perfect season to put one’s property on the market. There were charmingly simple reasons for this. In May the trees are newly in leaf and everything seems fresh, the days are warmer and longer, and buyers often like to move in by the summer holidays or before the start of a new school year. Yes, spring has always been a perfect time to enter the property market.

Nowadays however, although the above still hold true, there are many additional and sometimes less charming reasons to trigger a sale and purchase. So why could an owner benefit by selling this spring rather than later in the year?

Kyiv might be over 1300 miles from London, but what is going on there and the longer-term ramifications of the war with Russia mean the future is uncertain. Energy and food price rises mean we can’t predict the future cost of living, and escalating interest rates mean our mortgages will be higher, but by how much? The way we work is changing. Many employers are eager for workers to get back to the office, so the five-days-a-week work-from-home idyll isn’t as much a given as it was. Covid is still a worry.

So whichever way you cut it we are surrounded by uncertainty, and the property market like any other market hates uncertainty.

The only thing we do know is what is happening today. So, if you are sitting on the fence waiting for a sign, let this be the sign. You might not have anywhere to move to yet and, yes, currently there are few properties for sale. But that is because everyone else is sitting on the same fence. However, it’s incredible how things can open up once you have made the first move. One thing is certain though, nothing will ever open up unless you do make a move.

So, is spring 2022 an excellent time to sell? It is a brilliant time to sell. First, there are all the traditional reasons to sell at this time of year. But now we think this is probably the top of a bull market, and so do most other leading estate agents. Prices could fall back a little and there probably won’t be the buying frenzy we saw last year. There will be more property on the market with which to compete. If anything should get you off the fence it’s when all the selling stars are aligned – and they are now.

Old charts printed ‘Here be dragons’ in unexplored waters. In property if you want some certainty it’s often better not to chase dragons.

Dominic Parravani of Durrants advises prospective sellers and buyers not to wait until the property market gets back to ‘normal’.

Who remembers the boom and bust property markets of the early 1970s or the late 1980s? Who remembers the MIRAS debacle in 1988 and 15% mortgage interest rates? More people will remember recent mini booms and busts, general elections, Black Wednesday, the Scottish referendum, the banking crisis, Brexit and, of course, the global pandemic. Over the years all these events, large and small, have affected the market to a greater or lesser extent.

So, if anyone is waiting for the property market to get back to normal they will wait a long time as there is no normal property market. In property we have to play the cards we are dealt. Sometimes the market will benefit the buyer, and sometimes the seller. In all these years the market has never suited both buyers and sellers at the same time. But then what you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts.

It is essential to understand that the market is continually in flux. We now have the challenge of low stocks of property for sale, increasing interest rates and property values in some areas rising steeply. Will this continue? No. Why? Because nothing continues unchanged in property for long. Things are constantly moving.

So, my advice is to play the property, not the market. Find a deal that works for you. Please don’t wait for the market to normalise; it won’t. Don’t try and wait until we have reached the top of the market to sell, because when you think that the market has reached the top, it will already be too late. Winning in property is finding the right property deal for you when you need it. Put another way, would you rather have a perfect property or a perfect market? I know which I would choose.

Dominic Parravani of Durrants looks at the difference between someone who wants to buy a property and someone who does buy a property.
 
Even seasoned estate agents say that there has rarely been a property market like this. “Property prices rising at pre-banking crisis levels”, “Properties for sale – numbers lowest in decades”, scream the press in reaction to comments made by lenders, property websites and other interested parties.
 
Moving might not be complicated for buyers who don’t need a mortgage and have no upward chain, or for sellers with no downward chain. But for everyone else, these can be testing times.
 
The problem is getting chained up with nowhere to go – becoming stuck in a line of dependent deals, especially when the top of the chain can’t find a property to buy.
 
It’s a wonder anyone moves anywhere with the market so thin on stock, and when getting a deal through often takes between 16 and 20 weeks. Four to five months is a long time in a property transaction – a lot can happen. But the miracle is that even in this market people do move. How? Mostly it is down to the desire of buyers and sellers, coupled with the skill of their estate agent.
 
If buyers and sellers were to sit or work in an estate agent’s office for a week, they would begin to understand that the tricky bit isn’t so much finding a buyer but getting a chain of deals, sometimes with four or five links, across the line. Finding a willing buyer is one thing, finding an able one is a very different matter. Everyone gets to see the sold board go up. But few get to see the effort that went into getting it there.
 
So, when choosing an estate agent in this market don’t just go for the one who says they can get you a buyer – everyone says that: instead go for the one who can get you through to completion. There is a vital difference between the two. 

Dominic Parravani of Durrants ignores the New Year crystal ball and looks instead at what is actually happening to the property market at the moment.

A recent survey by a national estate agency group revealed that over fifty per cent of home buyers make a buying decision during their first viewing. Any experienced estate agent would say that they don’t need a survey to tell them that.

First impressions are a crucial component in influencing a home buying decision. Hence a clean and tidy house is essential in creating a market-ready property. Neatness must extend to the front garden, where a proportion of buyers often make their decisions to purchase or not even as they walk up to the front door for the first time.

Why are such important decisions made in moments? It’s because for most buyers a home is about the heart: it must feel right for them. A property can have the correct number of rooms, the right amount of space, face the right direction and have dozens of other desirable features, including being priced correctly.  Still, if something doesn’t feel right it’s not right, and a buyer can detect that in seconds.

We’ve compiled some top tips to make sure your property is ready to look its best for potential buyers.

As we stride into 2022, newspapers and social media are awash with industry experts’ property market predictions. But experienced estate agents know that it is the present they have to address. The vast majority of home buyers and sellers are dealing with the now.

Happily, the present is easier to comment on accurately. Early indications this year are that there is no let-up in demand. But stocks remain low, keeping pressure on values and pushing up prices in many areas, making this a particularly good time to sell.

Yes, property buyers must keep their eye on cost-of-living rises, as mortgage affordability and potential energy supply cost increases will be of concern in the weeks and months ahead. Indeed, banks and building societies might toughen up their lending criteria, especially if we see more small, incremental interest rate rises. 

Buyers need to make wise decisions when choosing a home, as they should always buy within their means. But, within the bounds of fiscal responsibility, people still choose a home instinctively. Property may have become a commodity, but a home is more than that. It is shelter, security and a comfort blanket, and no one needs a survey to tell them that.

Durrants Charitable Foundation is delighted to have supported the Village Hall Committee at St Margaret South Elmham for a first aid training course.

Village Hall Chairman, Phillip Kidner contacted Durrants to request support so that 12 local residents could take part in a course and learn vital skills that could help the community if needed.

The first air course was run by MJ Training and covered basic first aid skills as well as CPR.

Dominic Parravani of Durrants considers changes in the real estate market as 2021 draws to a close.

It was only as recently as the 1930s that electric light became standard in new homes built in urban areas of the UK. Now, just 90 years later, our fridge-freezers can tell us when we are out of fish fingers. The march of change in materials, technology and taste is as relentless as life itself.

As we look forward to the New Year we all share in the sorrow that the last two years have brought to so many. We also face significant social and economic challenges during this post Brexit, post pandemic and, down-the-line, post fossil fuel era when gas-fired heating will go the same way as gas-fired lighting.

The property market too has seen enormous changes in the past few years, and it will continue to do so as it steadily moves from white hot, Covid-affected panic buying to a more considered mood in the New Year.

The market is in constant flux, just as individuals’ personal circumstances are. Buying a home at any stage of life is usually a thrilling event – if somewhat nerve-racking at times. Moving is often borne of new independence or marriage, cohabitation, birth, career success, fulfilled ambition, or even a fresh and exciting chapter brought on by empty nest relocation.

Whatever changes happen in 2022 we hope they will be good for you, and we stand ready to spread the joy in helping people into a new home and a joyous new chapter of their lives.

Happy New Year.