Updating Estate Agents Blogs

I have to admit it's quite hard to produce regular, interesting and original content for the imove estate agents blog.  My email inbox is full of SEO email tips and advice, all of which keep telling me to post original content to the imove blog to attract visitors.  Easier said than done.

Anyway slightly off-topic but I thought I wouold let anyone who is interested know that if you do own a blogger template (this one is) then changing the design of the template is very easy.  I am not going to repeat 'how to change your blogger template' as there are thousands of free pages already available.  But did you know there are also hundreds, possibly thousands of completely free Blogger templates?

A quick Google search will find you tons of free Blogger templates.  I have changed ours today just to freshen it up a little.

Vendor’s Sell Houses Better Than Estate Agents

Is it really any surprise when you turn up to view your dream home that you will be given the grand tour by non other than the part-time chap who works in the factory mid-week and your friendly local estate agents at the weekends? 

I’m not having a dig at those people that have two jobs to make ends meet, let’s be honest he probably works a lot harder than most full-time estate agents, but really is he trained sufficiently to show buyers around properties?  I mean does he know ‘everything’ about your possible dream home, the biggest money spend of your life?  You’re not going to reach for your purse and blow £550,000 without knowing everything about a property, right?  Will the agent know how long it takes to get to the local school in rush hour traffic on a Monday morning?  What are the neighbours like?  And I don’t mean are they nice or potential terrorists, what are they really like?

It amazes me (and it will blow your mind for sure) when you realise that the vast majority of estate agents are almost completely untrained, totally lacking in any real knowledge of property transactions and void of any background information on the properties they are selling.

I remember turning up at my first day for work at a very well known firm of estate agents in one of the garden cities.  I was thinking, probably like you, that I would be enrolled on a two week intensive course of ‘property wisdom’, I would literally be stuffed with knowledge, I would boar my friends on a Friday night in the pub with my new property encyclopaedia style knowledge.  No, my Manager at the time, a middle aged northern chap called it ‘training-on-the-job’. 

There was some more formal training further down the line, but it was training on how to win more sales, how to sell more of this, how to sell more of that.  Almost nothing on the technical side of property law, nothing on marketing and defiantly nothing on customer service.

So my ‘on-the-job training’ consisted of doing the job mixed in with a lot of guess work.  My first ever viewing was a farce.  I showed a lovely couple from Wales a £250,000 detached house.  The owners had ‘entrusted’ the viewings to the estate agent (err that was me!).  Everything was going fine (when I say that what I really mean is I stood at the front door whilst the viewers wondered around the house on their own) up until the viewers first question.  It went something like this “Young man, the AGA in the kitchen, I assume it’s included in the price”?  I paused for about, well let’s call it a nano-second and said “I think so, yes I think so, yes I think it is”  (that’s a yes then).

I am sure reading this you can guess what happened next, I really don’t want to detail exactly what obscenities the owner shouted down the phone to me the next day when it kind of popped up midway through negotiating that buyers offer that the AGA was included in the sale.  How was I to know that an AGA costs £6,000?  It didn’t matter that much anyway because the buyer withdrew their offer the following weekend when my Manager was debating whether AGA’s can control the central heating with the very happy (prior to that phone call) buyer.  Of course AGA’s don’t control heating, or hot water, they are just very nice cookers

Was I completely at fault?  I was 18, born in a large inner city town, I had never even seen an AGA until that first viewing.  Doesn’t everyone leave their cooker?

Well I am going to say it was down to my lack of training.  Sure the estate agents course wouldn’t contain a half hour session on joys of owning an AGA, but any estate agents training course would have taught me what to say when asked a question to which I could not 100% say I knew the answer to.

You will be surprised to hear that my point is not that estate agents are not trained in how to actually conduct a good viewing of a property, but actually that estate agents should not be the one’s showing people a property, it should be the owner. 

Who knows a property best?  Who knows how the heating works and roughly what it costs to operate in the winter? Who knows the short cut to the school, and better still what is the local school like?  Who knows when the fences were last maintained? How does that shared driveway work with the neighbour?  I could go on (but I won’t).

The point is nobody knows the property like the owner.  So wherever possible the viewing should be done by the owner.  And anyway do any of your buyers out there want an estate agent to ‘sell’ you the property?  Let’s be honest there isn’t anything an agent could tell you that would make you fall in love with a property that you just didn’t like is there?  You either love it and want it now (the property that is), it ticks some of the boxes and you might come back once you have seen some potentially better properties or you don’t like it and it’s not an option.  Did you need a ‘trained’ estate agent to help you make that decision?

In fact what I have learnt over the past fifteen years is that quite often it’s the small tangible things that are important to many buyers.  I remember once back in my home town, showing a nice little three bedroom 1930’s house to a buyer.  At the end of the viewing they said they weren’t interested, I can’t remember they’re excuse, but they weren’t interested.  Just before they were about to leave the house the chap pointed at a door under the stairs and said “that’s just a small cupboard right”?  And with all my training brimming to the surface, ensuring that I gave a professional, honest answer, I replied “I am not sure how big the cupboard is sir, shall we open it and take a look”?

It turned out to be the largest under-stairs cupboard I have ever seen, it was huge.  Having been knocked through to an old coal shed that was part of the property, what was a standard run of the mill 1930’s under-stairs broom cupboard was now a very large walk-in cupboard.  Needless to say the couple made a full-asking price offer that same day.  All based on the fact that the property had this massive cupboard!

If the owner was present at the viewing, they would have discussed the cupboard with the buyer.

This article is starting to sound like a parody of my worst moments as an estate agent, but can we honestly expect every member of staff of an estate agents office to know the intimate details of every single property they have on the market?  Some agencies have in excess of 150 properties on the market at any one time, some firm’s employ 15-20 members of staff, some part-time and some full-time, can we expect each and every employ of the firm to know every single detail about each property?  No of course we can’t, it’s just not practical or realistic.

I know there will be some people reading this who will say this isn’t a problem and if an agent doesn’t know the answer to a question they just find out the answer and get back to the buyer.  And yes in the ideal world that should happen, but the reality is, it doesn’t.  Ask anyone who has been house-hunting, do estate agents call you back?  Do agents come back to you with answers to questions? 

I would however say that even the most experienced house seller should research what to say and what not to say before they launch themselves in to showing people around their property.  A quick Google search or even asking your friendly ‘experienced’ agent should do the trick.

Recommend someone with a house to sell or rent and get paid £100 CASH

imove estate agents Cornwall have this week launched an easy way to earn £100 cash.  Simply recommend someone who has a property they want to sell or rent and if they instruct imove to sell or let their property, we will pay you £100 cash.  It's that simple.  In addition we will donate £20.00 to Children's Hospice South West.

imove Cornwall is the UK's first and only not-for-profit estate agents.  We cover the whole of Cornwall and offer two fantastic packages that will save your friend, neighbour, family member thousands of pounds.  They can pay £399 upfront to sell or let their property, or pay £1000 no sale, no fee on completion.

All our profits are donated to local charities and good causes. 

We have in excess of 20 years experience, are open much longer than any other estate agent (from 8am to 8pm Monday to Sunday) and we advertise properties right across the Internet to thousands of potential buyers.

Recommend someone today and we will pay you £100 cash.  www.imovecornwall.org

Offer ends 7th August 2011 at 8pm. 

imove Cornwall launches online web chat feature

Not happy with just being the UK's first ever not-for-profit estate agents, imove Cornwall, based in Wadebridge and Truro, has today launched another first.  An online chat feature has been added to their website, www.imovecornwall.org .  Online chat let's customers ask quick questions to imove staff, without the need to pick up the phone!

David Gilmore, from imove explains "We realise the way in which customers use the Internet is changing.  Users tend to visit sites and click-away if they can't find what they are looking for and for many online house hunters the thought of picking up the phone to speak to an agent is the last thing they really want to do.  If the information they are looking for is not obvious they will move on"

 

"This is why we have implemented an online chat feature to our website.  Customers can ask quick questions directly to our staff through a simple chat window.  It's really easy to use and we hope that users find it helpful"

Website chat software has been around for a number of years and is very popular in the US.  Online chat enables web users to initiate conversations with sales or support staff without the need to pick up the telephone or send an e-mail.

New and improved website launched by imove Cornwall

Today we have launched an overhauled version of our website.  It's designed to be clearer and easy to navigate.

Designer, David Gilmore explains the changes.  "Following customer feedback we decided to make some alterations to the way in which the site is navigated.  Pages are now easier to navigate and load times have been significantly reduced".

The new site went live this morning and has already had some positive feedback from visitors.  "The look and feel of the site is modern and fresh" says Gilmore, "and with the addition of some additional information about how selling your property with imove is made so easy, we are sure customers will find the site easier, clearer and more informative".

The newly designed imove Cornwall website can be found at : www.imovecornwall.org

House prices remained stable in June

The latest Nationwide House Price Index shows that house prices were unchanged in June and the price of a typical home in June is just 1.1% lower than one year ago. Demand remains subdued, but so does supply. The average house price is now £168,205.

Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's Chief Economist, said: "Stability remained the theme in June, with house prices flat over the month. This left house prices 1.1% below the level prevailing in June 2010. At 0.3%, the three month on three month measure of house prices was slightly weaker than the 0.6% pace of increase recorded in May.

"The property market has moved sideways over the past six months, and June's data suggest that trend is being maintained through the summer months. Housing market demand has remained subdued of late, as evidenced by the still weak level of mortgage applications in recent months and the sluggish pace of new buyer enquiries reported by surveyors.

"There have been a few encouraging developments for households, but to date this hasn't been enough to reinvigorate the housing market. Employment has been edging up and consumer confidence surged in May - although the latter may have had more to do with unusually warm weather and extra bank holidays, rather than signalling the arrival of any recovery-related feel good factor.

"Ultimately, these positives have not been enough to make up for the ongoing squeeze on households. With debt levels still high, the need to repair household finances is undiminished. However, sluggish economic growth, and wages rising at less than half the rate of inflation, means that consumers are struggling to make progress in repairing their finances.

"Developments on the supply side of the housing market are also failing to drive the market one way or the other. The low rate of building in recent years has limited the flow of new properties available for sale, while low interest rates are helping to support mortgage affordability and reduce the number of distressed sales. This has meant that the market has not become over supplied, despite the weak state of buyer demand.

"It's hard to make the case for prices rising or falling sharply over the remainder of 2011 if the economy develops as we expect. Economic growth looks set to gather pace in the months ahead, but is likely to remain unspectacular. This in turn points to only modest gains in employment and sluggish wage increases, which will continue to keep many potential buyers on the sidelines.

"At the same time, the chances of a near term increase in interest rates appear to have diminished. Ultra-low interest rates should continue to support affordability for some time yet and keep a lid on forced sales. Overall, a combination of low transaction volumes, still tight housing supply and flattish house prices looks set to stay for the remainder of the year."

Mark Green from imove Cornwall, the UK’s first not-for-profit online estate agents based in Cornwall says “Those Vendor’s who do need to sell their property need to take caution in pricing their property.  It’s crucial to get your marketing price just right for the current market”

Imove provides a professional platform for sellers to sell their property and pay a one-off low fee of just £399 (with no VAT to pay).  www.imovecornwall.org

The cost of owning a home by the sea has more that doubled over the past decade

A Halifax report found that property prices in seven out of 10 seaside towns in England and Wales have seen greater increases than the national average since 2001.

Wadebridge in Cornwall, a few miles inland from the coast, saw the biggest rise in average house prices.
Prices in the town have risen from £100,406 to £370,902.

It is followed by Maryport in the Lake District, and Tenby in west Wales.

The Halifax found that six of the 10 seaside towns that have seen the biggest rise in prices since 2001 are in the north of England or Wales, with three in the south west of England, and one in East Anglia.

However, the 10 most expensive seaside towns remain in the south west of England, with property in Sandbanks in Dorset being the most expensive, followed by Padstow in Cornwall.

The average price of a house in Sandbanks is now £532,652, while in Padstow it is £381,916.

Outside of England, the Mumbles in Swansea has the highest average house prices, at £263,494.

Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Halifax, said: "Seaside towns have always been popular places to live, but they have perhaps become even more so in recent years.

"This is certainly true if we take house prices as an indicator of desirability."

Yet not all seaside towns have high house prices.
At Withernsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, the average cost of a home is £99,153.
Rhyl on the north Wales coast has the lowest seaside house prices in Wales, with an average of £121,838

Wadebridge

http://www.imovecornwall.org/

Mortgage Lenders Continue To Let Down House Hunters

Buyers are still failing to overcome the significant barriers to home ownership that the current housing market represents, according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA).

The latest monthly market report from the NAEA showed only minor decreases across supply and demand during the month of May, when 275 people registered with an average estate agents office, compared to 277 in April.

The average number of sales agreed per estate agency office stayed at eight for the fourth month in a row. But the percentage of sales to first time buyers increased from 21% in April to 24% in May. The average number of properties for sale per office decreased slightly from 69 to 68.

According to the NAEA, the combination of large deposit demands, pressure on household finances and the gloomy economic picture for the UK is causing stagnation in the housing market.

President of the NAEA, Wendy Evans-Scott said: "Demand for property remains consistent but the barriers to buying are proving impossible to overcome for the vast majority of consumers.

Mark Green, Chairman of the UK’s first not-for-profit online estate agents, imove Cornwall says "The banks must find a balance between the easy ‘give-money-to-anyone’ lending of the past ten years and the strictness of the current mortgage lending rules; the governments attempt to force banks to lend has clearly failed and many buyers are still facing strict criteria which prevents them from obtaining a mortgage”

So is there a solution?  “Well assuming the coalition will steer clear of introducing legislation to ‘force’ the mortgage lenders to actually lend there is no real solution, says Green.  “I think we will have to sit it out and wait for them to begin lending in their own time”

http://www.imovecornwall.org/

House prices will have fallen over 30 per cent in real terms

Unless something odd happens, this week is likely to see an interesting but under-announced milestone: falls in house prices, in real terms, from their 2007 peak, exceeding 30 per cent (on the well-known Halifax measure). In cash terms, house prices peaked in August 2007, and fell 22 per cent to March 2009. After picking up a little in the second half of 2009 and early 2010, they went back to falling from mid-2010, and have been broadly flat during 2011.

But because inflation is high, that flat performance in cash terms for housing in 2011 means that, after adjusting for inflation, house prices have been falling apace. In real terms, since January 2010, house prices have fallen a further 12 per cent.

David Gilmore from imove Cornwall says :
"In real terms, house prices are now down 20 per cent.  They are now back to the levels seen in 2002 – a year in which prices rose around 19 per cent. If the experience of the 1970s and 1990s is duplicated, they would fall perhaps another 5 to 10 per cent. In our view they are only over-priced about 5 per cent now. But when there are large swings, markets overshoot. The price-earnings ratio is now around 4.4. In 1995, the price-earnings ratio fell below 3.1. Falling back to that would mean nearly 30 per cent further falls in prices – as much again as we’ve already had".

"If sellers are motivated to sell they need to be pricing their property to sell.  Do your own research on average prices in your area and select a competitive marketing price".

imove Cornwall is the UK's first not-for-profit online estate agents. Sell any size property for just £399 (no VAT) with all profits donated to local good causes.  www.imovecornwall.org

Online agents could kick start the housing recovery

Imove Cornwall is the latest online estate agents to open it’s virtual doors to the Cornish property market and it is claimed these new breed of digital agencies could kick start the housing recovery.

David Gilmore, from imove Cornwall, says: 'Similar to low cost airlines who changed the market with the introduction of online bookings and discounted flights, we believe that online estate agents are the way forward.  I would even go as far to say that the revolution of online agents could kick start the housing market if the much lower fees allow sellers to reduce the prices of their house in order for a quicker sale”
Online agents are certainly cheaper than traditional agents. High street agents tend to charge percentage fees based on the sale price of your property but with nothing to pay if you don't sell.
In the height of the property boom some agents would charge as little as 1 or 1.5% but a sluggish market has seen that creep up to around 2.5%. This means selling a £200,000 property would cost £5,000 plus VAT.
Online agents on the other hand tend to offer a range of pricing options. Typically these include a flat fee option and other pricing deals which have a smaller upfront fee and another fee on completion.
Currently imove Cornwall has started with one fee option for customers in Cornwall.  A straight low cost fee of £399, with no VAT to pay.
Imove director Mark Green says the site offers massive internet coverage for a simple low cost.  “We are in the process of developing additional fee options for customers, which we hope to launch within the next few months”
“High Street agents charge a fortune in fees in order to cover the colossal overheads of multiple premises and the wastage from 'no sale-no fee' which, attractive as it initially sounds, means that the successful seller heavily subsidises those that do not sell” says Green.
Most online agents get your property as much coverage on internet property portals as traditional estate agents do.  But many do not offer local newspaper advertising.  Imove claims to be different as it offers it’s customers local newspaper advertising at cost price.
“Most estate agents will advise seller’s that newspapers do not attract buyers” says Mark Green from imove, “however many seller’s still want their property advertised in the local newspaper.  With imove seller’s can purchase cost-price advertising”.
Imove Cornwall was launched in June 2011 and is the UK’s first not-for-profit online estate agents where all profits are donated to local good causes.
http://www.imovecornwall.org/

Renting is more expensive than buying

Renting a home in Britain is currently 9.7% more expensive than owning on average. And it is cheaper to buy instead of rent in four in five of the 50 largest towns and cities across the country, according to the latest research from leading property website Zoopla.co.uk.

The research looks at the current asking prices and rents of two-bedroom flats around the country and assumes interest-only mortgage payments of 5% p.a. to provide a comparison to the cost of renting.

The range of results by location provides some very interesting insight into where it is best to rent instead of buy and vice versa. Milton Keynes tops the list of places where renting is the far less attractive option with average rents exceeding the cost of servicing a mortgage by a staggering 43%, leaving renters there on average £2,964 per year worse off compared to owners. At the other end of the scale, it is currently much more cost effective to rent in Poole than buy with renting 27% cheaper and the average tenant better off by £3,240 per year by renting instead of buying.

Even in London, which has by far the highest property prices in the country and where the average 2 bedroom flat is going for £431,366, buying is still 16% more cost-effective than renting. With average rents at £2,137 per month in the capital versus an average cost of a 5% interest-only mortgage at £1,797 per month, renters pay an extra £4,080 annually compared to owners.

Nicholas Leeming, business development director of Zoopla.co.uk, commented: "The relative cost of renting as opposed to buying has increased over the past 12 months as rents have risen and house prices and interest rates have remained flat. Almost 750,000 would-be first-time buyers have reluctantly ended up as renters over the past 3 years as a result of being unable to get a mortgage. With current house prices and interest rates where they are and with rents on the rise, for those who can get a mortgage, there may never have been a better time to buy."

Source: UKPropertyShop

Mortgage Lenders Are Refusing To Move Your Mortgage – Even Though The Small Print Says You Can

The Financial Ombudsman Service – a free service that can compel banks and other financial institutions to compensate consumers when they are treated unfairly has been receiving increasing numbers of complaints from mortgage customers who want to transfer their mortgages to a new property according to lovemoney.com.

Many mortgages are portable. When you sell your home and buy another, you can move your mortgage to a new property. This process is called 'porting'.

The Financial Ombudsman's annual report states that mortgage complaints as a whole are down to 7,100 in 2011 from 7,500 in 2010. And while it does not give exact figures about porting, it writes that it has seen an increase in the number of complaints from people who have had their ports refused.
The problem is that lenders reassess home owners as if they were new customers, yet they have also toughened up their lending criteria in the past few years. Hence, if you fail the new criteria, you can be turned down for the port even if you don't want to borrow any extra money and your financial circumstances have improved.

The FOS writes 'It is unusual to see mortgage contracts that allow the consumer unconditionally to “port” their mortgage as a contractual right.' It seems that lenders might not have explained this clearly enough to some aggrieved customers.

If you have recently gone self-employed, you may be rejected as more risky, even if your income has risen. While this might also have happened to you before the financial crisis, it appears more likely now, since lenders are being more conservative.

Mark Green from imove Cornwall, the UK’s first not-for-profit, community lead estate agency firm says “mortgage lenders should make it clear that the porting of the mortgage (moving your mortgage from one property to another) will only be allowed if your circumstances have not changed.  If your circumstances have changed, lenders should tell customers they will be assessed as a new customer which may mean they may not be able to port the mortgage”

House Prices in South West Continue to Rise Despite Depressed Market

House prices in the South West rose by 0.6% in May 2011, compared to April 2011.  According to property portal website Rightmove, the average asking price in May was £262,243 compared to April’s £260,593.  This is despite the gloomy picture many experts are painting of the market.

Seller’s are now waiting for around 90 days to obtain a sale says the Rightmove report.

“Seller’s need to be aware of just how difficult the housing market is” says Mark Green from imove Cornwall.  “The South West has been hit hard with the average earnings to property price gap increasing, making it unaffordable for many local people to buy a property”.

imove Cornwall is calling on the Government to step-in and help local people.

“We believe that in some Cornish towns, property prices are still relatively too high.  Something needs to be done to ensure that local people can afford to purchase homes in their local area”

Graph from Rightmove, showing the average time a property is on the market

Rental costs will keep rising, says Rics

Rents are continuing to rise for tenants and more increases are expected in the coming months, a survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)  has suggested.

About 42% more surveyors reported a rise in rents than those who saw a fall during the three months to the end of April, the RICS survey said.

Some 33% more surveyors expect rents to go up than those predicting a fall.

RICS spokesman James Scott-Lee says "Although we are beginning to see more mortgages aimed at first-time buyers, many potential homeowners are still restricted from getting a foot on the property ladder, leading to increased demand in an already oversubscribed rental market".

"There has been a small uplift in supply, but the imbalance between demand and availability can only mean rents will continue to rise."

First-time buyers

A separate survey, published last month, said that rental costs in England and Wales had reached a record high in April 2011.  LSL Property Services said the average rent stood at £692 a month.

“There is a distinct lack of first time buyers looking for property” says Mark Green, Chairman of imove Cornwall, the UK’s first not for profit online estate agents based in Wadebridge and Truro.

“Since the launch of our new service two weeks ago we have had many buyers register on our database, but not one first time buyer” says Green.  “And that’s despite the fact that we are selling, what I think is a very, very cheap first time buyer property in St Dennis, near St Austell, for just £45,000”.

imove Cornwall - as seen in The Observer newspaper!

We continue to be overwhelmed by the local and national media coverage we are receiving.  Today imove Cornwall has an article printed about us in The Observer newspaper.  The article focuses on the new wave of online estate agents who are saving seller's thousands of pounds, just like imove Cornwall.

imove Cornwall is a not-for-profit online estate agents which charges a low one-off fixed fee of just £399 to sell any size property, anywhere in Cornwall.

"There has been some negative criticism of imove" says Chairman Mark Green.  "However this criticism is from other estate agents.  I think it's difficult for traditional agents to accept that we have decided to setup a not-for-profit social enterprise which invests profits for the local community rather than for investors or shareholders".

"It's not all about making profit for yourself" says Mark, "there are vulnerable people in my community that need financial help and if we can raise significant funds to help local good causes, then that makes me feel a lot better than making profit for myself"

You can read the article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/jun/05/cut-price-estate-agents


www.imovecornwall.org

Dan Rogerson, Minister of Parliament for North Cornwall on imove Cornwall

imove Cornwall has received a welcome comment from Dan Rogerson, MP.

"Your new social enterprise sounds very interesting and I am sure that there is room in the local market place for it"

Dan Rogerson is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for North Cornwall. He is campaigning for a fair deal for Cornwall.

He joined the Liberal Democrats while still at school to help fight for the election of Paul Tyler, who was Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall from 1992-2005. Dan then graduated from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth with a degree in politics including a work placement in Parliament with Paddy Ashdown, the then party leader. From 1996 until 2002 Dan worked in local Government and then for a University while fighting political campaigns in his own time. He was elected a councillor in 1999, gaining a seat from Labour with a 27% swing. He then served as Deputy Group Leader.
He was elected to represent his home constituency in Parliament on 5th May 2005

imove Cornwall makes the Cornish Guardian newspaper

This mornings edition of the Cornish Guardian newspaper has carried a storey about imove Cornwall, the UK's first not-for-profit estate agents.

Mark Green, Chairman of imove Cornwall says "we are of course delighted with the press coverage we are experiencing. and hope this leads to more people choosing imove to sell their property".

imove Cornwall is an online estate agents covering the whole of Cornwall.  For just £399 people can sell their property and save thousands of pounds.

Famous philanthropist wishes imove well

Dame Stephanie Shirley (http://www.steveshirley.com/) , the famous philanthropist this week sent imove these very kind comments:

"What an interesting, and ambitious, enterprise! 

You won’t be popular with the established agents but I wish you well!"

FROM WIKI : Dame Stephanie "Steve" Shirley, DBE, FRA, FREng, FRSA (born September 16, 1933, Dortmund, Germany) is a British businesswoman and philanthropist. She originally arrived in Britain as an unaccompanied Kindertransport child refugee.^[1] She was placed with foster parents and later re-united with her biological parents, but later claimed she "never really bonded with them".^{[citation needed]}
In 1962, Shirley founded the software company, F.I. Group (later Xansa, acquired by Steria), and was concerned with creating work opportunities for women with dependents - and employed only women until 1975's Sex Discrimination Act made that illegal. She adopted the name "Steve" to help her in the male-dominated business world.^[2] She officially retired at the age of 60 in 1993 and has taken up philanthropy since then.
Shirley was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1980 Queen's Birthday Honours,^[3] and promoted Dame Commander (DBE) in the New Year Honours, 2000.^[4]
In 1987, she gained the Freedom of the City of London. She was President of the British Computer Society from 1989 to 1990. In 1985, she was awarded a Recognition of Information Technology Award. In 1999 she received the Mountbatten Medal.^{[citation needed]}
She has reportedly donated most^[5] of her £150m wealth (from the internal sale to the company staff and later the flotation of F.I. Group) to charity during her retirement.^[6] Beneficiaries include the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and the Oxford Internet Institute, part of the Oxford University, through the Shirley Foundation. Her late son Giles (1963–1998) was autistic and she became an early member of the National Autism Society.^[7] This special interest has led her to instigate and fund research in this field, for example, through the Autism Research Centre led by Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen.

An Interview with Journalist Graham Norwood

Yesterday was quite a day for Chairman of imove Cornwall, Mark Green.  Several hours of speaking to journalists finalised with a telephone interview with Graham Norwood (http://www.grahamnorwood.info/).

Graham writes for various national newspapers.  imove Cornwall's storey may make the Sunday Observer this weekend and possible The Guardian Online.

Thanks to Graham for picking up our storey.

imove Cornwall Offers Free 3D Floor Plans

imove estate agents Cornwall has partnered with www.themobileagent.co.uk to provide state-of-the-art three dimensional floor-plans for all properties sold with imove's amazingly low sale fee of £399.

"We were approached by The Mobile Agent earlier today, after they saw an article about our charity work, and have been offered the use of their fantastic floor-plans free of charge" said Mark Green, Chairman of imove Cornwall.

James Davis from www.themobileagents.co.uk said "I recently read your article on Estate Agent today newsletter, and learned about your not for profit company supporting charities. We are one of the leading floor plan companies in the UK, and would like to offer our service to you free of charge"

In a deal that will save imove Cornwall money so that we can raise even more funds for good causes Mark Green says "We are delighted that www.themobileagent.co.uk has offered their brilliant software to us free of charge.  It's a very generous offer and now means we can offer seller's in Cornwall top of the range floor-plans at no extra cost.

Floor plans are very useful as they provide a clear picture of the layout of a home. This enables a potential purchaser to visualise how best to utilise the space to suit their own needs, how furniture could be arranged and may give some insight into the further potential of the property.

"Having tested the software today we are delighted with the results and we are sure seller's using imove will also be delighted"

We love the press coverage - but please get the facts straight

imove Cornwall has been receiving enormous press coverage from online and offline media. Our storey first appeared on www.businesscornwall.co.uk on Thursday 26th May 2011.  However the storey incorrectly stated that imove Cornwall was the 'brainchild' of David Gilmore.  And whilst David is an excellent member of staff, he is the Fund Raising Manager for imove Cornwall and the social enterprise was not his idea.

Many other online media platforms have picked up the storey in the past few days, which is fantastic, but please any press/bloggers/webmasters reading this blog, please ensure your information is accurate before publishing.

Simon Willis
imove Cornwall

Seller's - Get Realistic With Your Price

Mark Green, from imove Cornwall has called for seller's to get realistic with their properties marketing price.

"It's blatantly obvious to most people that property prices have declined in recent years, however many seller's still aren't adjusting their properties marketing price accordingly, with many seller's still adamant they can achieve values seen in late 2008"

According to September 2010 report from the The Nationwide prices were up around 5% compared to the same period in 2009, however since then prices have been in decline. 

Interactive Property Price Graph
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/interactive/2008/apr/15/houseprices

"But the bigger problem is the lack of buyers, the over-supply of properties and lack of mortgage finance available" says Mark Green.  "The problem Vendors face is if they haven't obtained a sale within the first three months of marketing, their agent looses interest and you get pushed to the back of the pile.  It's not the way it should work, but being honest, it is a fact.  Of course it doesn't mean you won't sell after that period, but many sellers heavily rely on their estate agent to sell their property and if the agent looses interest - you could be in trouble"

Don't Just Rely On What An Estate Agent Says
There are many agents who will over-value your property simply to gain a signed contract with you for say six months.  The agent knows your property won't sell at their valuation, but now they have you in a contract they can begin working on you to reduce the price to what it should be.  It's a very well known tactic that many agents use.

"Seller's should not choose an agent simply on the basis of their valuation.  You should do your own research to be sure what your property is worth.  And with so much freely available information on the Internet, researching your own value is actually pretty easy"

Head over to www.zoopla.co,uk or www.rightmove.co.uk and click on 'House Prices'.  Both sites offer you statistical information on house prices.  From here seller's should be able to work out their properties value.

www.imovecornwall.org

Selling A Property? First Impressions Count

IF first impressions count when it comes to selling your home then the front garden should receive most of your attention. A clean and tidy home can only help sway the buyer once they are inside but, particularly at this time of year a beautiful garden can convince someone that this is the place to put down their own roots.
It’s not just the arrival of the Chelsea Flower Show. The garden can be seen by many homeowners as that ‘extra room’ where they can spend a relaxing summer’s evening or indulge in their hobby of gardening. And the promise of good weather for the bank holiday weekend means many house hunters will be keeping a special eye on your lawn and borders.
While the green-fingered among us will be sitting smug at this advice, there are others hitting the panic button. Fortunately there is plenty of advice on the web about giving your garden a quick makeover.
Gardenadvice.co.uk offers a number of tips and in particular makes the often-forgotten point that you need to aim the garden at the potential buyer, not yourself. You may be very happy with pretty borders and delicate garden ornaments but if that popular school down the road is a draw for the family-buyer then you need to show that your garden is child-friendly. Or if you’re in a quiet retirement quarter of town then low-maintenance needs to be the key.
Earth Designs, writing for the Garden and Landscape Directory, suggests that – as with interior decorating – neutrality is the key. Offering a potential buyer a blank canvas on which they can imagine their own designs will work best.

“It’s worth spending money preparing your house for sale and if your garden requires an overhaul or makeover do it now” Says David Gilmore from imove Cornwall, the south west’s newest community lead not-for-profit estate agents.

“It is the first thing a buyer sees when looking at your properties photographs on the Internet and set’s the tone for the viewing when the buyer walks up your path or driveway”

www.imovecornwall.org

Original source: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/05/24/online-house-hunter-border-lines/

Urgent reform of the housing market needed

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has called for urgent and fundamental reform of the housing market after the failure of policy-makers to learn the lessons from previous boom and bust cycles, which have led to the UK having one of the most persistently volatile housing markets in the world.

Convened by JRF in 2009 and consisting of interdisciplinary experts, the JRF Housing Market Taskforce has undertaken a system-wide review of the UK's housing market. Its report recommends a series of policy options that together would help create a more stable housing market, to protect existing home owners and enable more new households to get onto the property ladder.

Recommendations to help reduce house price volatility include:

An increase in the supply of housing
Supply is central to managing house price volatility. The scale of the increase required, however, means that this alone will not reduce volatility in the market.

The reform of both Stamp Duty and Council Tax
These existing taxation tools could help to reduce house price volatility in the shorter term. Both Stamp Duty and Council Tax should be linked to the real value of a property and regularly updated.

Stamp Duty: the current 'slab' structure of stamp duty should be replaced with a 'slice' structure whereby only the value that exceeds the threshold is taxed or taxed at a higher rate (similar to income tax). Thresholds should be uprated regularly in line with consumer price inflation.

Council Tax: in the short-term, the number of bands should be extended. In the medium term, there should be a move towards a system based on a fixed percentage of a property's value. In the long-term a national property tax could be created with safeguards for low-income households.

A better safety net for homeowners based on shared responsibility between lenders, borrowers and Government
The current safety net for homeowners is inadequate and has required extensive Government intervention during downturns.

Lenders need to lend responsibly, achieving the right balance between access to mortgages and the risk of default.

Active steps need to be taken to improve borrowers' financial capability to ensure they have sufficient information and skills to make informed choices about what they can afford.

A partnership insurance model with contributions from borrowers, lenders and government should also be adopted to meet mortgage payments when borrowers lose income through redundancy or illness.

Speaking today at the launch of the report, Julia Unwin, Chief Executive of the JRF, said: "Since the 1970s, there have been four boom and bust cycles in the housing market. This persistent instability distorts housing choices, inhibits house-building, and drives arrears and possession rates, putting people at great risk, and creates wealth inequality between the generations.

"We have set out to provide a series of policy options that together would help provide long-term stability in the market. I urge policy-makers to look at these and act now, because the seeds of the next housing boom have already been sown."

imove Cornwall Senior Partner Mark Green says “The instability in the UK housing market has caused a great deal of suffering to many people, reform is something we feel passionately about.  In recent years home owners in Cornwall have seen their house value decline and for many people they are in, or close to negative equity, a familiar phrase for many who remember the early 1990’s”

imove Cornwall is a not-for-profit social enterprise.  imove offers home owners the opportunity to sell their property for a low one-off fixed cost of £399 (no VAT) which will save house owners thousands of pounds.

David Cameron aims to boost Big Society

Prime Minister David Cameron is to make another attempt to promote the Big Society, by encouraging more charitable donations and volunteering.

Initiatives will include donating at cash machines and by mobile phone, and the use of social networking sites to promote the Big Society.

Government policies will be tested for social value as well as value for money, the government says.

A White Paper will set out plans for more than £40m in additional funding for the voluntary sector.

In a keynote speech to mark the White Paper, David Cameron will highlight strong families, strong communities and strong relationships.

"The Big Society is not some fluffy add-on to more gritty and more important subjects. This is about as gritty and important as it gets - giving everyone the chance to get on in life and making our country a better place to live."

imove Cornwall was an idea inspired by the Big Society.  As the UK’s first ever not-for-profit estate agents, imove sells clients properties all over Cornwall for a low fixed price of £399, with all profits going straight to local good causes and charities.  Find out more at http://www.imovecornwall.org/

imove Cornwall Workwear T-Shirts Printed by Imprint51 Wadebridge

A big huge thanks to Imprint51 Wadebridge (http://www.imprint51.com/) for donating work T-shirts to imove Cornwall.

We provided Imprint51 with a basic layout of what we wanted and were totally blown away with the high quality of the product and the print. 

Thank you once again Imprint51 Wadebridge.  Anyone looking for printed garments for special events, running clubs, schools or events,we would highly recommend Imprint51.

Trend in house prices continues modest decline

The Halifax House Price Index for April 2011 reports a -3.7% annual fall in prices. During the last quarter prices fell by -1.2% and over the last month prices were down by -1.4%. The average house price is now £160,395.

Commenting, Martin Ellis, housing economist, said: "The latest figures show that the underlying trend in house prices continues to be one of modest decline. Prices in the three months to April were 1.2% lower than in the previous three months. There was a 1.4% fall in prices in April following no change in March.

"Weak confidence amongst households, partly due to uncertainty over the economic outlook, is constraining housing demand and resulting in some downward movement in prices. Signs of a modest tightening in housing market conditions, a relatively low burden of servicing mortgage debt and an increase in the number of people in employment are all likely to be providing support for house prices, curbing the pace of decline. There are signs that house sales are stabilising albeit at a level lower than the historical average."

David Gilmore from imove Cornwall, the UK’s first not-for-profit estate agents based in Wadebridge and Truro, says “Sellers need to be careful in these uncertain times. There are buyers who are actively seeking properties, but they are looking for a good deal.  This means that sellers need to select a competitive asking price to entice buyers.  This is of course difficult when many people have seen their equity slowly depleted over recent years”.

imove Cornwall provides a cost-effective platform for home owners to sell their property for a one-off cost of £399, with no VAT.  All profits from imove Cornwall are donated to local charities and other good causes.

“Our solution is to offer house sellers a low one-off fee of just £399” says Gilmore. “People using imove will save thousands of pounds in moving costs and we would encourage people to use those savings to lower their asking price to entice buyers”.

http://www.imovecornwall.org/

Asking Prices Rise To Their Highest For Three Years

Undeterred by reports of falling house prices, confident sellers have pushed their asking prices up this month to the highest level for nearly three years.

Rightmove reports that asking prices for ‘new-to-market’ properties now average £238,874. The last time they were higher was in June 2008.

Asking prices are now only marginally (1.5% or £3,626) below their all-time high recorded at their peak in May 2008.

Asking prices for new-to-market property rose 1.3% in April, which itself was 1.7% ahead of March this year.

However, the blunt truth is that more properties are failing to sell.

According to Rightmove, average unsold properties per estate agents office rose from 74 to 76 in the last month. It is the largest number of properties for sale per branch in May that Rightmove has yet recorded.  The website notes that there are few ‘genuinely proceedable’ buyers.

While there has also been a 30% reduction in new sellers to the market, Rightmove believes there has been an even larger fall in new buyers.

Director Miles Shipside said: “The increase in agents’ property stock levels, combined with a reduction in the number of properties coming to market, suggests that the number of buyers has fallen even faster than the number of sellers, and transaction volumes will therefore remain low as we move into the traditional summer slowdown.

Mark Green from imove Cornwall, the UK’s first not-for-profit online estate agents says “Sellers should be very wary of the asking price they select for their property, we would advise that sellers do their own research on property values rather than just relying on estate agents”

www.imovecornwall.org

imove Cornwall, Warns of Looming Interest Rate Increases

imove Cornwall, the UK’s first not-for-profit estate agents has today warned home owners in Cornwall that the days of low interest mortgage repayments may be coming to an end.

An interest rate rise to halt high inflation is on the cards, experts have warned.
The Bank of England governor, Mervyn King, yesterday signaled that families should prepare for a rise, ending two years of historic low interest rates.
“Higher mortgage repayments could be a major problem for homeowners in Cornwall, who have been led into believing that their monthly mortgage repayments would stay low for years” says Senior Partner of imove Cornwall, Mark Green.
“The Bank of England has predicted a gloomy outlook which may see interest rates rise, affecting a large number of families in Cornwall”
A rate rise to 1 per cent would increase monthly repayments on an average £150,000 variable rate mortgage by £43 a month or £516 a year
Two-thirds of homeowners in the UK have a variable rate mortgage, meaning nearly eight million households would pay more.
On top of the possible interest rate rise warnings, the Bank of England has painted a bleak picture of elevated  inflation, rising energy bills and slow economic growth.

Senior Partner Mark Green says “My concern is, those families who are already struggling to make ends meet may have to think seriously about down-sizing their property or moving to a cheaper area.  But this may prove difficult to accomplish whilst the property market is still somewhat depressed and the cost of moving house is prohibitive for many people” 

“The average cost of estate agency services in Cornwall is around £5000 + VAT” says Green.  “For many people that £5000 is all they have left in their property to enable them to move”

One solution is to use a low-cost online estate agency service.

“Online agents are able to significantly reduce the cost of selling a property, because their overheads are so much lower than a traditional high street agent.  Imove Cornwall has been specifically setup to help people in Cornwall and with a one-off upfront cost of just £399 (with no VAT) we are able to save people thousands of pounds”

Imove Cornwall is a not-for-profit online estate agents serving the Cornish community.  Setup as a social enterprise, imove’s profits are donated to local charities, such as Children’s Hospice South West and other local good causes.

For more information please visit : www.imovecornwall.org

imove Cornwall, Warns of Looming Interest Rate Increases

imove Cornwall, the UK’s first not-for-profit estate agents has today warned home owners in Cornwall that the days of low interest mortgage repayments may be coming to an end.

An interest rate rise to halt high inflation is on the cards, experts have warned.
The Bank of England governor, Mervyn King, yesterday signaled that families should prepare for a rise, ending two years of historic low interest rates.
“Higher mortgage repayments could be a major problem for homeowners in Cornwall, who have been led into believing that their monthly mortgage repayments would stay low for years” says Senior Partner of imove Cornwall, Mark Green.
“The Bank of England has predicted a gloomy outlook which may see interest rates rise, affecting a large number of families in Cornwall”
A rate rise to 1 per cent would increase monthly repayments on an average £150,000 variable rate mortgage by £43 a month or £516 a year
Two-thirds of homeowners in the UK have a variable rate mortgage, meaning nearly eight million households would pay more.
On top of the possible interest rate rise warnings, the Bank of England has painted a bleak picture of elevated  inflation, rising energy bills and slow economic growth.

Senior Partner Mark Green says “My concern is, those families who are already struggling to make ends meet may have to think seriously about down-sizing their property or moving to a cheaper area.  But this may prove difficult to accomplish whilst the property market is still somewhat depressed and the cost of moving house is prohibitive for many people” 

“The average cost of estate agency services in Cornwall is around £5000 + VAT” says Green.  “For many people that £5000 is all they have left in their property to enable them to move”

One solution is to use a low-cost online estate agency service.

“Online agents are able to significantly reduce the cost of selling a property, because their overheads are so much lower than a traditional high street agent.  Imove Cornwall has been specifically setup to help people in Cornwall and with a one-off upfront cost of just £399 (with no VAT) we are able to save people thousands of pounds”

Imove Cornwall is a not-for-profit online estate agents serving the Cornish community.  Setup as a social enterprise, imove’s profits are donated to local charities, such as Children’s Hospice South West and other local good causes.

For more information please visit : www.imovecornwall.org