Persimmon homebuyers can withhold money until faults fixed

Contracts will state that 1.5% of property value can be held back until problems resolved

Persimmon, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, has responded to criticism about the quality of its homes by allowing homebuyers to withhold an average of £3,600 per home until all faults are fixed.

The company has come under fire for paying out £500m in bonuses to 150 executives and making an annual profit of £1.1bn on the back of the government’s help to buy scheme, while doing little to improve customer care and the quality of its new-build homes. Many homebuyers have complained about finding numerous defects after moving in, including leaks and cracking windows.

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How do you place a value on a unique home?

There are many resources estate agents and valuers can draw upon to ascertain the value of a home, but they all rely, in one form or another, on precedent: what other properties have sold for in the road, village or area.  But how much can past performance really be an indicator of what a future buyer is prepared to pay for their dream home?

A property that has similar neighbouring properties, perhaps in a terrace, row of semi-detached houses, or a small development of detached homes, usually has ample precedential evidence; sales over recent years will paint a picture of rises and falls in the local market; ‘done-up’ properties setting the glass ceiling for achievable sale prices, houses in need of renovation bringing up the rear.  They all make up the rich tapestry that determines your asking price.

When valuing a unique property however, the tapestry starts to unravel.  You can look for precedent: perhaps at the last sale price for the property, though if that was more than five years ago, and the house has been the subject of an improvement programme, what can this really tell us?  It might help to look at the price per square foot, which can indicate a benchmark pricing for comparable properties, though it’s a pretty complicated process to add or subtract swimming pools, acreage, a Clive Christian kitchen or an Amdega conservatory.  Ultimately, the only real way to ‘value’ a unique home is to look at four saleability factors:

• Affordability – what kind of buyer does your home most appeal to, and can they afford it? A London buyer may be able to afford more than a local, but if your home is dated, or unsuitable for a contemporary buyer, an urban buyer may dismiss it in favour of something with move-in appeal.

• Scarcity – how unique is the house?  Is it unique because it’s been extended so much over the years, the original house is unrecognisable, or is it a sixteenth century house that Elizabeth I once stayed in?

• Appeal – if you were a buyer, would you want your home?  Does it tick lots of boxes?  Does it have all that a family buyer has been dreaming of?  A pony paddock and a swimming pool may not be on their list, but may just clinch the deal for you, making sure they are thinking with their hearts, and not with their heads.

• Competition – what else could they buy for the same money?  How does it compare with yours?  Be honest – which one would you choose?

If you’re trying to sell a unique home, and would like some honest, independent advice on its saleability, why not drop me a line?  You may just be ready for some HomeTruths.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

What to read next: Linger or leave?

What to do next:  Sign up to my Selling Secrets http://www.home-truths.co.uk/selling-secrets

The post How do you place a value on a unique home? appeared first on Home Truths.

from Home Truths https://ift.tt/2Ooa9YA
via IFTTT

How do you place a value on a unique home?

There are many resources estate agents and valuers can draw upon to ascertain the value of a home, but they all rely, in one form or another, on precedent: what other properties have sold for in the road, village or area.  But how much can past performance really be an indicator of what a future buyer is prepared to pay for their dream home?

A property that has similar neighbouring properties, perhaps in a terrace, row of semi-detached houses, or a small development of detached homes, usually has ample precedential evidence; sales over recent years will paint a picture of rises and falls in the local market; ‘done-up’ properties setting the glass ceiling for achievable sale prices, houses in need of renovation bringing up the rear.  They all make up the rich tapestry that determines your asking price.

When valuing a unique property however, the tapestry starts to unravel.  You can look for precedent: perhaps at the last sale price for the property, though if that was more than five years ago, and the house has been the subject of an improvement programme, what can this really tell us?  It might help to look at the price per square foot, which can indicate a benchmark pricing for comparable properties, though it’s a pretty complicated process to add or subtract swimming pools, acreage, a Clive Christian kitchen or an Amdega conservatory.  Ultimately, the only real way to ‘value’ a unique home is to look at four saleability factors:

• Affordability – what kind of buyer does your home most appeal to, and can they afford it? A London buyer may be able to afford more than a local, but if your home is dated, or unsuitable for a contemporary buyer, an urban buyer may dismiss it in favour of something with move-in appeal.

• Scarcity – how unique is the house?  Is it unique because it’s been extended so much over the years, the original house is unrecognisable, or is it a sixteenth century house that Elizabeth I once stayed in?

• Appeal – if you were a buyer, would you want your home?  Does it tick lots of boxes?  Does it have all that a family buyer has been dreaming of?  A pony paddock and a swimming pool may not be on their list, but may just clinch the deal for you, making sure they are thinking with their hearts, and not with their heads.

• Competition – what else could they buy for the same money?  How does it compare with yours?  Be honest – which one would you choose?

If you’re trying to sell a unique home, and would like some honest, independent advice on its saleability, why not drop me a line?  You may just be ready for some HomeTruths.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

What to read next: Linger or leave?

What to do next:  Sign up to my Selling Secrets http://www.home-truths.co.uk/selling-secrets

The post How do you place a value on a unique home? appeared first on Home Truths.

from Home Truths https://ift.tt/2Ooa9YA
via IFTTT

How do you place a value on a unique home?

There are many resources estate agents and valuers can draw upon to ascertain the value of a home, but they all rely, in one form or another, on precedent: what other properties have sold for in the road, village or area.  But how much can past performance really be an indicator of what a future buyer is prepared to pay for their dream home?

A property that has similar neighbouring properties, perhaps in a terrace, row of semi-detached houses, or a small development of detached homes, usually has ample precedential evidence; sales over recent years will paint a picture of rises and falls in the local market; ‘done-up’ properties setting the glass ceiling for achievable sale prices, houses in need of renovation bringing up the rear.  They all make up the rich tapestry that determines your asking price.

When valuing a unique property however, the tapestry starts to unravel.  You can look for precedent: perhaps at the last sale price for the property, though if that was more than five years ago, and the house has been the subject of an improvement programme, what can this really tell us?  It might help to look at the price per square foot, which can indicate a benchmark pricing for comparable properties, though it’s a pretty complicated process to add or subtract swimming pools, acreage, a Clive Christian kitchen or an Amdega conservatory.  Ultimately, the only real way to ‘value’ a unique home is to look at four saleability factors:

• Affordability – what kind of buyer does your home most appeal to, and can they afford it? A London buyer may be able to afford more than a local, but if your home is dated, or unsuitable for a contemporary buyer, an urban buyer may dismiss it in favour of something with move-in appeal.

• Scarcity – how unique is the house?  Is it unique because it’s been extended so much over the years, the original house is unrecognisable, or is it a sixteenth century house that Elizabeth I once stayed in?

• Appeal – if you were a buyer, would you want your home?  Does it tick lots of boxes?  Does it have all that a family buyer has been dreaming of?  A pony paddock and a swimming pool may not be on their list, but may just clinch the deal for you, making sure they are thinking with their hearts, and not with their heads.

• Competition – what else could they buy for the same money?  How does it compare with yours?  Be honest – which one would you choose?

If you’re trying to sell a unique home, and would like some honest, independent advice on its saleability, why not drop me a line?  You may just be ready for some HomeTruths.

If you’d like my help to sell your home more effectively, please answer a few short questions here and if I think I can help you, I’ll be in touch.

What to read next: Linger or leave?

What to do next:  Sign up to my Selling Secrets http://www.home-truths.co.uk/selling-secrets

The post How do you place a value on a unique home? appeared first on Home Truths.

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Void periods and how to avoid them Nottingham Estate Agents

Landlords naturally get a bit twitchy at the thought of their properties being empty and unlet for any length of time. But the savviest landlords know that it is possible to avoid void periods altogether, or at least keep them to an absolute minimum, with one tenancy following seamlessly on from another. If you dread […]

The post Void periods and how to avoid them appeared first on OnTheMarket.com blog.

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Country diary: narcissi spring from a derelict market garden

St Dominic, Tamar Valley: Muddy ways, once trodden by donkeys carrying corn to the mill, are littered with spent catkins and lichened branches

Pheasants scuttle from the windswept field to shelter among undergrowth with sprawling flowers of Helio, Fortune, Carlton and Victoria daffodils. In this derelict market garden, on a steep slope above the defunct leats and millponds in the Radland Valley, a succession of narcissi appears in spring. Each variety was planted in a separate plot and the original rows are still discernible among the encroaching hart’s-tongue fern, dog’s mercury, bramble, thorn, overarching clumps of hazel and leaning tree-trunks covered in mosses and polypody ferns.

Within this tangled habitat, as golden catkins faded to brown, cherry plum blossom (smothering twigs and branches sprouted from the rootstock of long-fallen plum trees) showed as drifts of white smoke. On tall laurels, grown out of former trimmed hedges and shelter belts, flower spikes, scented like marzipan, also bloomed thickly in the unseasonal warmth. Gales and heavy rain have since tarnished the blossoms, but there may be a set of cherry-like fruits for the birds; laurel fruits will germinate and develop into thickets like those overhanging the stream and enveloping the ruins of the nearby miller’s house. Roe deer occasionally wander through this neglected land, benefiting from its jumble of different and absent owners who were tempted more than 40 years ago to buy little leisure plots (sold cheap, mostly unseen and with no access). Hopefully, the song of chiffchaff and blackcap will soon reverberate from the most dense and inaccessible cover, secure from walkers’ unleashed dogs.

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Country diary: narcissi spring from a derelict market garden

St Dominic, Tamar Valley: Muddy ways, once trodden by donkeys carrying corn to the mill, are littered with spent catkins and lichened branches

Pheasants scuttle from the windswept field to shelter among undergrowth with sprawling flowers of Helio, Fortune, Carlton and Victoria daffodils. In this derelict market garden, on a steep slope above the defunct leats and millponds in the Radland Valley, a succession of narcissi appears in spring. Each variety was planted in a separate plot and the original rows are still discernible among the encroaching hart’s-tongue fern, dog’s mercury, bramble, thorn, overarching clumps of hazel and leaning tree-trunks covered in mosses and polypody ferns.

Within this tangled habitat, as golden catkins faded to brown, cherry plum blossom (smothering twigs and branches sprouted from the rootstock of long-fallen plum trees) showed as drifts of white smoke. On tall laurels, grown out of former trimmed hedges and shelter belts, flower spikes, scented like marzipan, also bloomed thickly in the unseasonal warmth. Gales and heavy rain have since tarnished the blossoms, but there may be a set of cherry-like fruits for the birds; laurel fruits will germinate and develop into thickets like those overhanging the stream and enveloping the ruins of the nearby miller’s house. Roe deer occasionally wander through this neglected land, benefiting from its jumble of different and absent owners who were tempted more than 40 years ago to buy little leisure plots (sold cheap, mostly unseen and with no access). Hopefully, the song of chiffchaff and blackcap will soon reverberate from the most dense and inaccessible cover, secure from walkers’ unleashed dogs.

Continue reading...

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