Musings of a London Property Finder

Election fever today as the country goes to the polls to elect the MEPs, who have a much worse record on expenses, one would presume, than that the motley crew who sit at Westminster.  However life outside elected politics continues but there were no surprises when the Bank of England released a statement today saying that the Monetary Policy Committee had voted to hold the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%.

The Committee also voted to continue with its programme of asset purchases totalling £125 billion financed by the issuance of central bank reserves. The Committee expects that the announced programme will take another two months to complete but with all the talk of green shoots, many commentators are now rather grudgingly admitting that it might have worked.

From the view of a London Property Finder, we are certainly seeing an increase of activity at all ends of the market.  First time buyers are keen to buy; it’s flat hunting time for parents seeking a safe home for their offspring due to start university in October and foreign buyers are still keen to invest in the UK while their currencies buy them more pounds than usual.  All in all, the combination of low interest rates and cheaper house prices are encouraging people to buy and keeping prices steady at 2006 levels in most cases in London.  Now if only all the property buyers would all employ us to do the looking!

Technorati Tags: Interest Rates, London Property Finder

Tags: Interest Rates, London Property Finder

Musings of a London Property Finder

Given my career as a London Property Finder I have to work with Estate Agents on a daily basis so frequently meet the over-bearing ones, the brainless ones and the really great, knowledgeable, if perhaps optimistic property aficionados.  Yes - as a Property Finder - I’ve met them all and just which camp Philip Taylor would fall into, I don’t know but we loved him and now he’s gone!!   But all is not lost - inevitably he’ll be back to help the finalists win the last task - will Kate be one of the final two, I ask myself?  But until then perhaps I will run into him in the flesh.   Many Estate Agents employ casual staff, including actors, musicians, comedians and wannabe TV stars just waiting for their big break, so we will watch with interest and let you know if we meet Philip from The Apprentice any time soon. 

Which leads me to Kirsty.  She’s probably not the first person to buy next door to dodgy neighbours and she won’t be the last!  But if you’re looking to buy in London and you want to know who’s next door then talk to us as we do a huge number of checks not only on the property purchased but also on them next door, or the next few doors, to be precise!

To the more mundane - the Bank of England has maintained interest rates at 0.5% as predicted, as they wait to see if the quantitative easing measures announced earlier this year have worked as planned.  Certainly the country seems a happier place than it has done for a while - clearly we are all fed up of doom and gloom, however given the house price indices published yesterday (see yesterday’s post for more), house prices are continuing to go down in the capital.  So it’s still a Buyer’s market and since we’re doing so much off-market at the moment - a London Property Finder’s dream!

Technorati Tags: Interest Rates, Kirsty Allsop, London Property Finder, Philip from the Apprentice, S&M neighbours

Tags: Interest Rates, Kirsty Allsop, London Property Finder, Philip from the Apprentice, S&M neighbours

Musings of a London Property Search Agent

The silver lining of the credit crunch / recession/ economic crisis for homeowners, or at least mortgagors has to be the low interest rates we are all enjoying at the moment.  Predictably the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to maintain interest rates at 0.5% leaving those on tracker and variable rate mortgages quids in.  At least until rates jump again - which many have predicted to be next year.  If you are ready to buy then contact the London property Search Agent

Technorati Tags: Interest Rates, London Property Search Agent, tracker mortgages, variable ratemortgages

Tags: Interest Rates, London Property Search Agent, tracker mortgages, variable ratemortgages