Musings of the upmarket London Property Finders

It’s conference season again and with most people believing the Tory takeover will be a shoe-in next year, Labour are on the defensive and one of the first things on the agenda at their annual conference today was an attack on Tory housing plans. 

John Healey the Housing Minister suggested the Conservatives would abolish assistance to those struggling to pay mortgages and allow property developments to go ahead without the often draconian requirements for social housing.  He added that plans for social tenants in Conservative-controlled Hammersmith and Fulham would ‘double or triple rents and put their homes on the line with 2 months notice’.

The government meanwhile outlined plans to add a further £180m to fund 1,200 more affordable homes.  The thing is, we can think of several ghastly developments which would eat that up in no time.  Land with planning for development and affordable housing is still being sold relatively cheaply, particularly where a housing association has already agreed to buy the social housing element and with banks now cautiously lending to developers again, 1,200 more affordable homes don’t really get our vote.  Particularly when they are likely to be the first flats hit when the recession bites again.

With all this, coupled with the Liberal Democrats ill-conceived  idea to tax houses worth over £1 million, we wish the politicians would just leave us London Property Finders and other Property people to get on with things and stop interfering.

Technorati Tags: Labour housing plans, Lib Dem housing plans, London House Prices, London property finders, Tory housing plans

Tags: Labour housing plans, Lib Dem housing plans, London House Prices, London property finders, Tory housing plans

Musings of the London Property Buyers Agents

We’re no experts on the American property market - actually, we know nothing about the American property market but for us in London, a 36% drop sounds like very bad news - normally reserved for the repossessions market.

So has Hef been foreclosed?  Apparently not, but according to the Wall Street Journal, he and Mrs Hef (they split in 1998) have apparently accepted an offer of $18 million, $10 million less than the asking price from 25 year old Daren Metropoulos, the son of C. Dean Metropoulos, a super-successful private equity investor.

The house in question is not Playboy Mansion, where Hugh Hefner still lives with the ‘playmates’ but the smaller version next door where his wife had been living.

So was it just grossly over-priced to begin with or has Hugh taken a hit where it hurts?  There are a few top end drops in London at the moment, but they are almost exclusively the reserve of the handful of people like us in the know.  If you need London Property Buyers Agents who might just be able to secure a similar gem, in London, you can contact us here.

Technorati Tags: Buyers agents, Hugh Hefner's house, Hugh Hefner's house for sale, London Property Buyers Agents, property buyers agents

Tags: Buyers agents, Hugh Hefner's house, Hugh Hefner's house for sale, London Property Buyers Agents, property buyers agents

Musings of the best London Property Buyers Agents

According to Estate Agent Today, Miles Shipside the Commercial Director at Rightmove has announced that they have had their biggest ever day - which is newsworthy, because it comes in the middle of the summer holiday and in the middle of a recession.

Already feeling suspicious, it turns out their second best day was last March, when very little was happening in the property market.  So are people just window-shopping?  We know from anecdotal evidence that people are buying again.  More people seem to be buying this year than last year and there is definitely little stock in many areas in many several price ranges, although we are starting to see an increase in properties coming to the market.

Equally you could argue that everyone is checking up on their house price by browsing house prices for other homes in the neighbourhood.  As for us, Manse and Garret Property Buyers Agents are still forcasting a few bargains before Christmas, and we’re not convinced there will be a genuine surge in house prices in most parts of London, any time soon.

Estate Agent Today

Technorati Tags: House Prices, London Property Buyers Agents, Rightmove

Tags: House Prices, London Property Buyers Agents, Rightmove