Of these, some 47% said they’ve felt a ‘presence’ in their home, 29% claimed they have experienced strange and unearthly chills around the property, and 16% of those living in a suspected haunted house revealed that they had actually seen a ghost there.
Whilst there were some who claimed to have seen a spectre haunting their home, others had experienced the aftermath of spiritual activity, according to a Halloween poll from Ocean Finance.
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Property buyers, sellers and investors are usually eager to hear about the latest real estate hot spots but now new research reveals the UK’s property investment black spots.
Property prices in some of the worst performing areas are falling by more than 7% per year with popular areas in London featuring prominently in the top 20 black spots compiled by Home.co.uk.
The firm’s research also shows that landlords’ return on investment is also on the slide, with 11 locations recording negative real percentage yield, which occurs when the value of the property depreciates by more than the annual rent. Moreover, it’s not just the North that is suffering price falls.
What happened to the hot London housing market, the one in which you could sell any dark, noisy, mini-Victorian conversion for a million quid?
It seems it is fading. A quick look at news from Strutt & Parker gives some background. The overall value of the transactions the agent conducted in the third quarter of this year was down 21% on the same period last year.
Sep 12
7
A Home Is Not Capital
A home isn’t capital in the economists’ sense of the word. Economists refer to the purchase of goods that are used in the production of other goods or services as an investment in capital.
Capital isn’t itself consumed – though it often wears out and depreciates in the production process. So, for example, a butcher buying meat isn’t investing in capital, but if he or she buys a new chopping table that is a capital investment.
So if you extrapolate this for houses, your own home is not your capital, but a house or flat bought specifically to rent out is capital – as is any subsequent investment to improve the structure or décor etc.
So if you’re buying furniture for a fully-furnished flat you’re renting out, this is an investment in capital, but buying purely for your own use isn’t.
All this may seem obvious and relatively unimportant, but it’s an important distinction to make if you somehow see buying a home as a route to making money. It can be – but only if you’re lucky and/or if you intend to put a huge amount of effort into improving its value while you live there – with a view to moving onward and upwards repeating the process.
This is important. Until around 2007, one could be forgiven for thinking that a home for the family was somehow an investment in capital because of the property boom. But anyone understanding the important distinction outlined here wouldn’t have fallen into the trap of over-extending themselves in thinking that such “capital” investment was bound to pay off.
And as we all buy and sell in the same market, it’s wise to ignore the value of the home you’ve bought to live in, and to simply enjoy it – unless you plan to turn it into capital by letting it out, that is.
When you are looking for a flat or house to rent, you’ll notice that you have to make one choice before starting to look in earnest – whether to rent somewhere that comes furnished or unfurnished.
Renting a furnished place makes a lot of sense as it means that you don’t have to worry about the extra expense of buying furniture, getting it delivered and choosing things that you can take with you to your next home.
However, some of the furnished flats that are on the market have furniture that you’d rather not live with and it can be a pain if you already own some furniture and won’t have enough room for it. And there’s also the fact that the rent is higher on furnished properties.
With today’s reasonable furniture prices, buying furniture for a rental flat shouldn’t cost too much. Almost everywhere you look, there’s a furniture sale on somewhere and you can get some real bargains if you search for them.
When you’re choosing furniture for an unfurnished place, get the basics first before you buy niceties like coffee tables and bookcases. Start with what you need to function properly – a bed, a dining table and chairs, a sofa, somewhere to stand the TV. You’ll also need white goods like a washing machine and fridge freezer – although some landlords supply these even though they advertise the property as unfurnished.
When picking out furniture, try to buy with the future in mind. You want to buy furniture that will suit any style property, as you don’t know what future homes you will live in. Going for classic and timeless choices like oak and pine furniture means that the pieces you choose will suit other places that you live in, as well as the rental you are buying them for today. You can find solid wooden furnishings in many a furniture sale – both online and on the high street.
Overall, it’s probably best to go down the unfurnished route, unless you know you are going to be relocating to another area of the country in a very short time.
By Ian Campbell
Yet Nick Clegg is partly right. But a tax on the wealthy needs to be fair and predictable, not the quick grab that he advocates. Property tax is the way to do it.
Taxing the wealthy is tricky. The government reduced the top rate of income tax from 50 percent to 45 percent in the budget. George Osborne, the Chancellor, claimed on shaky evidence that the higher rate didn’t raise additional revenue. Clegg’s statement may be his political response. Furthermore, disappointing fiscal numbers are another spur. In the first four months of the tax year, government borrowing was 11.6 billion pounds higher than a year ago. The deficit is rising, not falling.
Apr 12
20
Make a House Home
If you yearn for a welcoming home environment, yet it doesn’t feel like it, there are ways you can make it more cosy, by changing the décor that you use in the rooms.
Colour is really important; if you have white walls and white carpets the room can have a clean, cool feeling but it can also be a little clinical. It’s also a bit of a gamble choosing such a light colour if you have children living in your home!
For a cosier ambience in the living room it might be more appropriate to choose warm tones like yellows, oranges and light browns. Like the glow of a fire, these colours can bring warmth to a room, and make it feel like a welcoming space for the family to come to at the end of a busy day.
Whether you choose to put the colour in the furniture or on the walls and flooring is up to you. There are some things to be said for having the colour on the walls, as it’s easy to change the paintwork; it only takes a couple of hours to repaint a room. And furniture is a lot more expensive to replace than buying a pot of paint.
In the shops today, there are some great sofa colours available and some really great patterns available too. Choosing a strong colour or pattern can make a real statement in your living room – it can create a much more interesting look than picking a plain neutral tone.
Other items that could add warmth to the room are display cabinets made of wood rather than the more modern looking ones that are finished in white or black.
If you want to get some great inspiration for how to add warmth to your home through decoration and furnishing, have a look at home design magazines and go to your local furniture store where there are plenty of room sets laid out to give you some great ideas.
The new high speed rail link between London and Birmingham recently approved by the UK government means that property owners along the route should seek advice.
Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for Transport, has revealed the exact route showing that Phase One will pass through open countryside in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire including the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
‘Since the initial announcement in March 2010, HS2 has had a marked effect on the local property market, creating a significant amount of uncertainty and anxiety leading to many properties being blighted by the proposals. We hope the Government’s announcement of the exact route to be taken will bring confidence back into the market,’ said Nicholas Rudge, head of Savills Residential in Banbury.
Posted in Interesting News by .
While efforts continue to stimulate the domestic economy, events unfolding outside the UK are still calling the shots on UK property, it says in its commercial property market outlook report for the third quarter.
But in the face of global uncertainty, and with senior debt having dried up, the London property market is benefitting from cash injections, particularly from foreign investors.
Posted in Real Estate by .
England will have a 750,000 shortfall of homes by 2025, with London, the South East, the East of England and Yorkshire and Humberside the worst affected.
“We are facing a housing crisis, with a huge gap between the supply of new houses and our demand for more homes,” IPPR senior research fellow Andy Hull said. “The forthcoming housing strategy will be a serious test of whether the government appreciates the depth of our housing crisis and is smart enough to unlock the funding to build new homes. We also need Government action to get developers developing.”
Posted in Construction Finances Important Real Estate by .
