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.

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

Musings of a company of London Property Search Agents

Hurray!  This morning the BBC ran a report that the Property Ombudsman is advising would-be buyers that they are under no obligation to have an appointment with the Estate Agent’s Mortgage broker if they want to see a property through the Agent.

Not long ago, we were hunting for a buy-to-let in Camden for one of our Clients.  Most Estate Agents were helpful and courteous and keen to persuade us their flats were perfect for our buyers.  One agent was shirty, rude and seemed to go out of their way to make things difficult.

During our first conversation I was categorically told that they wouldn’t show me any properties unless their mortgage broker could interview my Clients.  When we explained that their stance was illegal and not the best practice for their buyers, who presumably don’t care who buyers have their mortgages with as long as the money arrives.  After much guff and posturing from the Manager of the Estate Agent, we  were able to show our Clients the properties concerned.  Given that it took a 20 minute conversation for us to secure normal access, I wondered how First-time buyers without Property Search Agents like ourselves, were managing.

For anyone considering buying property, it is absolutely in your interest to see a truly independent mortgage broker.  In no other field would a buyer share so much personal information with someone they may end up negotiating with at a later date.  The practice immediately puts the Buyer in a compromised position. 

And if every Estate Agent tried to push buyers into seeing their mortgage broker, making appointments to view property would take so long and be so dull, it would put everyone off buying property for life!

So if you’re going property shopping any time soon, don’t believe the excuse that the vendor only wants qualified buyers to look round and threaten to go directly to the buyers if you think you can identify the property on line.  Side-stepping the agent all together will make it difficult for them to earn their fee, depending on their contract.  And if they are behaving like bully boys with their own best interests at heart rather than that of their Clients, why should they earn a fee?

If you’ve decided that you hate all Estate Agents, you can use London Property Buyers Agents like us instead and you won’t have to deal with any Estate Agents, including the nice ones and the bad apples.

Technorati Tags: Buyers agents, London Property Buyers Agents, property buyers agents

Tags: Buyers agents, London Property Buyers Agents, property buyers agents

Supplied by the Land Registry

Musings of a London Property Buyers Agent

The monthly house price index, published by the Land Registry has shown that London house prices jumped 2% in June, with pricing in the rest of the country broadly stable. 

Prices in Hackney increased by 2.7%, the highest increase, whilst those in Newham suffered most, posting a decrease of 2.7%.  Prices in Westminster, home to Belgravia, Mayfair, Marylebone and parts of Notting Hill were flat, dropping .2% since May. 

Prices in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea however followed the trend, increasing by 1.8% in a month.

To put these amounts into context, they are similar to the monthly increases we saw in 2007, although almost every borough posted house price increases then.  These new statistics mean that London prices are now down by just less than 15% since their peak.  Prices in the South East are now approximately 82.5% of those acheived at the top of the market.

There is no data on volumes of sales since the market turned in May, but we would expect an increase in activity from anecdotal evidence, hampered by a lack of stock on the market.

All in all this survey doesn’t provide much of a surprise but acknowledges what we have seen in the market and confirms the data provided by other house price indices.  Regular readers will be aware that we rely mostly on the Land Registry data, as it is based on actual sold prices so takes account of gazundering/gazumping post offer and down-valuations imposed by surveyors, unlike indices produced by most other bodies.

First time buyers should not feel too disheartened as we suspect there will be a downturn at the end of this year but the considerable jump in values in London shows that there is considerable appetite for London property and with stock very limited, I suspect this London trend will continue, albeit with significantly lower incremental changes.

Prices across England and Wales as a whole are stable, with only a 0.1% increase in June.  For more information please don’t hesitate to call us, the London Property Buyers Agents on 020 7923 7564.

Technorati Tags: Buyers agents, London Buyer's Agents, London Property Buyers Agent, London Property Buyers Agents, property buyers agents

Tags: Buyers agents, London Buyer's Agents, London Property Buyers Agent, London Property Buyers Agents, property buyers agents