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

Cornwall’s not-for-profit estate agents calls for private landlords to help local people

imove Cornwall, the UK’s first not-for-profit estate agents has called for private sector landlords to assist local people with affordable, good quality private rented accommodation.

The current recession is clearly having an impact on the housing market and is placing increasing numbers of people at risk of homelessness, including people who previously would not have been considered vulnerable, according to Cornwall Council’s Homelessness Strategy.

The low-wage economy in Cornwall, seasonal nature of many dominant employment sectors, and low savings levels among average-low income households, place many people at increased risk of homelessness due to financial difficulty, says the report and in spite of recent improvements, Cornwall still lags behind the South West and the rest of the UK in terms of earnings, with average annual earnings 16.4% lower in Cornwall than the rest of the UK.

The geographical remoteness, increasing and ageing population and low wage economy in Cornwall combined with the current problems facing the national economy have led to an increase in demand for affordable accommodation, particularly in the social rented sector.

The cost of buying or renting property in the private sector has remained consistently high across Cornwall over the last few years, with affordability rates across the county in excess of 10:1.  Social housing forms only 12% of the housing stock in Cornwall, compared to 16% regionally and 23% nationally.

“It’s no surprise that many local people, particularly the young, elderly and vulnerable in our community cannot afford private rented properties in their local towns or villages” says David Gilmore from imove Cornwall.

“We would ask private landlords, who have properties to let in Cornwall and who have relatively low mortgage commitments on these properties to lower their rents to make their properties more affordable to local people.  It is a fact that if landlords have buy-to-let properties and want long-term tenants, the best way to achieve this is renting to local people, who are more likely to remain in the property long term”

“It is difficult to strike a balance between landlords who want maximum return for their properties and local tenants who need more affordable rents” says Gilmore.  “However one solution is to agree a program of home improvements between both parties.  This can be very successful.  Quite simply the tenant agrees to remain in the property for a number of years and furthermore agrees, for instance, to redecorate the property over that time.  In return the landlord agrees to lower the rent”

“This means that a local person can afford the rent and over the term of the tenancy can make some improvements to the property and the landlord quite clearly benefits by having a local person living in the property who is going to maintain and make some improvements.  Having a long-term tenant also reduces the cost of void periods and having to make improvements between tenancies”

“This is just one suggestion to improve the situation, but with some clever, out-of-the-box thinking, there are many ways private landlords and local tenants can agree a rent that serves both parties best interests”.

www.imovecornwall.org

We are looking for a good cause to support in Wadebridge

Following the great news that imove estate agents Cornwall will now be supporting Children's Hospice South West as our main charity to support, we are now seeking a local good cause to support in Wadebridge, Cornwall.  As the launch of our service draws nearer (first week of June 2011) we are now seeking a local good cause to financially support by way of donating funds from our profits.

If anyone knows of a local good cause for us to support, perhaps a new School Bus, or a new play area in the park, almost anything, please let us know by posting a reply to this message or by sending an email to mail@imovecornwall.org

imove is the UK's first not-for-profit online estate agents based in Cornwall.  Our service allows people to sell their property for a low-cost one off fee of £399 (no VAT) with all profits donated to charity and other local good causes.

imove donates funds to Childrens Hospice South West

imove estate agents in Cornwall are very pleased to announce that the funds raised from our Facebook Like campaign will be donated to the Children's Hospice South West.

Simply visit our website, Like us on facebook and we will donate £1 to Children's Hospice South West.  It's quick and easy and won't cost you a penny!

imove Cornwall is a not-for-profit online estate agents based in Cornwall.  Our service enables people living in Cornwall to sell their property for a fixed one-off fee of just £399 (no VAT), compared to traditional estate agency services (costing on average around £5000+VAT) imove Cornwall will save you thousands of pounds and you will be helping your local community.  imove estate agents is a not-for-profit social enterprise.  For more information please visit us at www.imovecornwall.org or our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Truro-United-Kingdom/Imove-cornwall/121184304626633?sk=app_168040793251518

A big big thanks to impress51 in Wadebridge for donating printed t-shirts to imove

We would like to say a huge thanks to impress51 of Wadebridge (http://www.impress51.com/).  Impress51 have agreed to very kindly donate printed work t-shirts to imove Cornwall. 

Impress51 prints clothes and gifts, such as t-shirts, work shirts, polo shirts etc.  They are based on the Trenant Industrial Estate.  imove would be happy to recommend their professional services to anyone.  impress51 of Wadebridge can we contacted on 01208 895370.

Map Maker - Google Map Online Wizard

A great big huge thanks to Rich the man behind Map Maker at http://mapmaker.donkeymagic.co.uk/index.php?map_id=19551
Rich has very kindly allowed imove Estate Agents Cornwall to use his fantastic online Google Map software for the imove cornwall website.

Map Maker from Donkey Magic is an online tool for creating custom Google Maps with your own pointers.  Very easy to use and a trully brilliant tool.

Thanks again Rich.

Do you run a charity in Wadebridge or have a Good Cause we could support?

As the imove service is almost ready to launch we are now speaking to various charities and good causes in the Wadebridge and Newquay area.  Do you run or own a charity in these areas?  Or do you have a good cause we could support.  imove Cornwall is looking to form partnerships with charities and good causes that we can donate funds to.

Please get in touch using this email address: mail@imovecornwall.org

Thanks