Forget location, location, location, the new mantra for property investors is staycation, staycation, staycation. Just ask Mathew Rees. He and his family own around 220 buy-to-let houses and flats in Greater Manchester and Cheshire, but they are so certain that the pandemic has ushered in a new golden era for UK breaks … [Read more...]
How to Prepare Your Home for Winter Weather
Have you heard about the new “worst-case scenario” game this month? Forget swimming with sharks or being chased by killer clowns, what would you do if your home was suddenly struck by atrocious weather and you lost power, heat, wi-fi and water? It has been a cold, harsh reality for an estimated one million households … [Read more...]
Why House Prices Have Risen Faster in Wales Than Anywhere Else in the UK
Was there anybody who didn’t move to the countryside during the pandemic? It seems like the world did, with much-publicised property gold rushes in the Cotswolds and Cornwall. However, the biggest price rises in the past year have not been in Oxfordshire, the West Country or other posh London outposts: the new … [Read more...]
Do You Have the Bottle?
British wine is thriving - and owning a vineyard property offers a whole new way of life. British wines are scooping awards, beating blends from France, Italy and Spain and, as the industry thrives and quality improves, our dreams of days strolling among the vines in our own vineyards are becoming a reality. In … [Read more...]
First Winter in the Sticks – Give your Home an MOT
For many who fled cities in the pandemic, this is their first rural winter. This winter is going to be very different from any that Alexandra and Joshua Knight have ever experience before. Earlier this year they moved from a suburban cul-de-sac in Oxted, Surrey to a remote house with an acre of land in … [Read more...]
Is a Reckoning Coming for the Property Market?
Rocketing prices and an extreme supply crunch mean that, for most buyers, the property market is an unpleasant place to be. For Jennifer Brown*, a 79-year-old pensioner, the situation is stark. Mrs Brown wanted to downsize from the four-bedroom house she has lived in for 22 years in a village in Suffolk. When … [Read more...]
What to do if your house is ‘down valued’
There are ways to fight back and preserve your property deal if a bank says you're paying too much. Mortgage brokers have warned that down valuing is on the rise, which could mean buyers paying thousands of pounds more to secure their dream home. Down valuations occur when a surveyor, working on behalf of a bank … [Read more...]
Seven Ways to Boost your Holiday Let Profits
Little details make a big difference in a competitive market – here's how to stand out: In May, Ghillie James and her husband bought a five-bedroom farmhouse outside Bath – despite never having seen it. They exchanged on the property, which cost more than £1m, from their home in Singapore, where they had lived for a … [Read more...]
