Property News

  Well it has certainly been quite a year so far in the property market – especially in Yorkshire. Continued stories of ferocious competition, block viewing days, best and final offers, gazumping and there doesn’t seem to be much let…

  There has been a part of the property market that has been steadily gaining strength which I refer to as ‘the hidden property sector’. This hidden sector is the off-market sector, and remains hidden to many. To the uninitiated, these…

  There have been moments nothing short of insanity in the Yorkshire market recently, with exceptionally high prices being achieved, sealed bids, jaw-dropping competition and no let up – what a phenomenal property market we’ve seen! As we exited the…

  The property sector continues to be in the news for all the wrong reasons, with various injustices coming into the public eye. Whether it’s the cladding scandal, the Leasehold debacle, mortgage prisoners or PLC developers cutting corners behind the…

  The onslaught of advertising We are bombarded constantly from advertisers, all vying for position to get in front of us with the sole purpose to make us buy. Not so long ago this was restricted to just newspapers, magazines…

  648,114 empty homes – let that sink in for a moment. That is the number the Government published in their report from October last year, on the number of uninhabited homes in the UK. Of this, 225,845 were classed…

  When selling your property, have you ever asked the question – ‘what are you really paying an estate agent for?’ The sceptics out there will say this sounds like an oxymoron; however it has never been more important to…

  Cladding isn’t just cladding. Following the tragic events at Grenfell in 2017, it has come to light that a high proportion of ‘modern’ apartment blocks across the UK were built and fitted with inadequate and flammable cladding, balconies, cavity…

  As I write, there are widespread reports that the market is ‘on fire’. Ferocious pace, competition for properties, best and final offers – the list goes on. Given the current relentless market activity, many may be lulled into a…

  From time to time I’ll be asked by a vendor if they should be using one estate agent or two to better their chances of selling their home – to which I often advise this isn’t necessarily the better…

  Walking around the open countryside surrounding Harrogate the other weekend, my heart sank when I came over the horizon and saw butchered landscapes, strewn with heavy duty excavators, mountains of rubble and the beginnings of yet more mass-scale new…

  There are a few taboo subjects when it comes to the property sector and one of the most common seems to be when it comes to property guide prices. Start mentioning this to most vendors and they immediately get…

  Time. It is one of the most important factors when trying to buy or sell your home – more often than not, matters do not move at the pace you want – don’t even get me started on local…

  Property Leasehold reforms seem to be here, with the Government now intervening and yet again the PLC developers are in the news for all the wrong reasons. In September, the four largest house builders were investigated after ‘troubling evidence’…

  Apples – sometimes you bite into one and what lies beneath the pristine surface, is nothing but a floury rotten core. You could say this is like buying a new build home from a PLC developer (ie one who…