Why has property played no part in the election? - 4 May 2010

Posted by Paul Collins 2 comments

And so there we have it; the final televised debate in the run-up to the General Election has taken place. The party big-hitters have all been wheeled out to claim victory in the debate for their man, regardless of the reality of the situation and the final leg of campaigning has started. While the debates have doubtless been a good thing for politics as a whole, they have highlighted just how little any of the three main parties have talked about property in this campaign.

Of course, there are various parts to housing policy and property that tie into different parts of the issues in the campaign, but it is amazing that with property still one of the main obsessions of the British public, how little clear policy we have had on the subject. This is even more serious when you think of the huge issues we face in property over the course of the next Parliament.

Without even thinking of addressing the property bubble that at least partially caused the curren…

Read More

Busman’s property holiday - 26 Jan 2010

Posted by Paul Collins 2 comments

Like many people in this industry, I find it a little difficult to get away from the property world – which is why I always like to have a good nose around any new developments in our area. Not only does it help to give me a good feeling for what people are buying at the current time, but it also reminds me why I do what I do for a living. Property; be it new or old, tidy or renovation-only material; still fascinates me.

The particular development we saw this weekend was built by Countryside Properties, but that is as much detail as I’ll give you for now – partly because I’m slightly interested in buying… Suffice to say that this was the first weekend the plots had been released to the public, so there were plenty of other house hunters on the scene.

The reason this is interesting and pertinent to a blog, is that the property we saw was possibly the first time I have walked into a new-build house in the UK and felt that there was some real though…

Read More

Agent anguish - 17 Aug 2009

Posted by Paul Collins No comments

Estate agents still have one of the worst reputations of any profession out there. Despite recently having been caught and passed in terms of popular hatred by bankers and their huge bonuses, there is little doubt that estate agents still engender roughly the same affection from the public as tax collectors, traffic wardens and dentists. Unfortunately, I was on the receiving end of an unprofessional agent this weekend – and it has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

While most of the tabloid press is happy to continue to entertain this idea for the consumption of the general public at large, from my position working in the property industry, I am able to see the best and worst of the profession. There are estate agents out there who are superb – many of them go above and beyond what is required of them to help their customers on both sides of the sale, much of it unmentioned and unrecognized.

However, there are plenty of incidents of estate agents being u…

Read More

Up or down? - 18 May 2009

Posted by Paul Collins No comments

The UK property market is becoming increasingly difficult to predict for experts, investors and journalists alike – conflicting sets of data are being produced on an almost daily basis which suggest in turns that a recovery is ready to happen; is still some way off; is already happening or may not happen at all.

Not only does this bring into question the very usefulness of releasing statistics in the first place (particularly if those figures are accompanied by a ready-made interpretation of what they mean), but they could also be said to have discernable effect on the state of the market itself. In some cases, surveys and their findings can turn into self-fulfilling prophecy. Take for example the end of 2008, when numerous surveys of consumers said that confidence in the property market was running it historically low levels. Reading that over cornflakes in the morning will have made many people less optimistic about property than they were beforehand, therefore decr…

Read More

FTBs bounce back - 28 Nov 2008

Posted by Paul Collins No comments

As the economic crisis deepens and even stalwarts of the High Street like Woolworths and MFI are talking a battering, there are some signs that the property market may be ready to think about bouncing back in the near future.

Now, before we get carried away with things, I’m not about to predict the great resurrection of the property boom in the next six months, but reports are beginning to point to, bear with me here, a beginning of a slowing in the rate of property price falls. I know, as profound statements of the positive go, this doesn’t give you much.

Numerous websites and blogs have been reporting that there are more first-time buyers in the market now than has been the case for many months. Granted, most of these reports will have been generated from the same piece of research, but the reports are out there, nonetheless. It appears that many of those looking to make their fir…

Read More

I think I've lost my...fingerprints - 18 Jul 2008

Posted by Paul Collins 1 comment

Most of us have been there – that heart-stopping moment when you delve into bag or pocket for the familiar bulk of a set of keys for the front door, and find nothing. The result is often a frantic rummaging for something you know is not there, handbag contents strewn across the front step, or pocket contents balanced precariously in one hand while the other performs a rubbish imitation of being patted down by a particularly clumsy cop.

A potential saviour of the drunken, forgetful, or just plain unfortunate is about to become reality for property buyers in leafy Surrey, as the first development to use solely biometric identification as a method of door entry goes on sale. Estate agent Townends is selling apartments at Guildford House in Surbiton which do not come with keys to the front door – all you need is a standard-issue fingerprint.

Obviously, this is much more convenient than having to take a set of keys with you everywhere, but for the security-…

Read More