Sales

In 2023, the Bank of Mum & Dad gifted or loaned an estimated £9.4 billion to adult children buying a property. It’s a sum that has almost doubled since 2019, with generous parents and even grandparents keen to help loved ones get a foot on the property ladder.

Yes it’s a cliché but will 2025 be a case of ‘New Year, new home?’ If you are serious about purchasing a property, almost everything will be dictated by your monetary situation. Here’s how to get your finances in order before you start looking for a new home.

It is one of the most unusual property phenomena but the Boxing Day bounce is real and potential sellers can prepare for it now.

Data held by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government estimates there are almost 5 million leasehold homes in England alone. As a result, many people buy, and subsequently sell, a leasehold property.  

Many things have changed since the Covid pandemic but no one would have predicted how two new habits with no direct links to the medical world would radically shift our perspective, perhaps forever. Even more surprisingly, both habits have a direct link to property sales.

There have been multiple surveys of prospective buyers, asking them what would put them off buying a property, and one thing crops up time and time again – clutter.

There are very few instances where you’ll need a five- or even six-figure sum to proceed with your plans but buying a property is one of them. It’s not the amount you can usually find down the back of the sofa so what are the options if you need to lay your hands on a substantial amount of cash quickly?

Before you lament about the amount of rain we’ve had this summer, remember the old adage ‘it’s good for the garden’. In fact, the wet conditions may help budgets as well as flower beds, if new research is anything to go by.

As we write this blog, the temperatures are rising to the mid 20°C, the air is filled with the scent of barbeques and sales of sunscreen are soaring. We are, however, about to break the early summer spell by mentioning the C word. Christmas.

Everybody needs good neighbours but what if the people next door are a nuisance? When it comes to selling a property, the requirement for full disclosure means admitting if you’ve ever complained about the people living either side of you, or if you’re currently involved in a neighbourly spat.

We often talk about ‘adding value’ to a property but what does this actually mean? In residential terms, it means making changes or alterations to a home that increases how much it may sell for. A crucial aspect, however, is ensuring the amount of value added exceeds the cost of any work completed.

When we think of first-time buyers, we often think of young couples and fresh-faced professionals picking up the keys to their first home but recent research shows the reality can be very different.