I love Christmas and always have done. Normally I go over the top and try to make everything perfect at home and at work. I always think back to when I was growing up, my mum and dad would do absolutely everything to make sure we always enjoyed the festive season.
It sounds idyllic but the house was always decorated to within an inch of its life, food was plentiful and there was always lots of presents under the tree (I still believe that Santa had a lot to do with the presents though), most of all the house was always filled with love.
I know that not everyone has such a fantastic time and I am fully aware that for some people, Christmas can be very difficult for many, many reasons. Covid-19 and especially this newer Omicron variant have certainly played a big part in this year’s celebrations.
It seems strange to think that taking lateral flow tests or going for a PCR test are now part of our daily routines. I have friends and family affected by these things like my dad, who has just had an operation, so has had to be careful not to get any form of illness especially Covid, or his operation would have been cancelled.
Another friend needs to see a family member in a care home and has to ensure that he is safe, so he takes a flow test every day. We recently had a party at our house for a select few friends, we asked all of the guests to take a lateral flow test prior to coming to ensure that the event could take place with a real sense of security.
I managed to do most of my Christmas shopping online this year, not as a preference but as a precaution. I had to go in to the city just once in the build up to Christmas and I will admit it was not a pleasant experience, it felt suffocating and isolating having to wear face masks and not being able to read people’s expressions as their faces were covered, it also felt uncomfortable to see some people not wearing masks (I know that there are some people that are exempt), but without wearing their lanyard or badge to show this, it caused a sense of worry.
When you hear that the Queen has cancelled her family Christmas celebrations you have to ask whether this virus will ever let us have a normal life again?
Going in to 2022 feels like going in to the unknown again. Will pubs and clubs be forced to close over the New Year celebrations? Will sporting events have to be held behind closed doors? Will theatres and concerts have to be cancelled or rescheduled (yet again)? The biggest question that is worrying everyone is will we need to go into another lockdown?
The housing market has seen a bit of a boom during these Covid days, as home owners are now looking for bigger and better homes to live and to work in. Houses are being snapped up as soon as they come on the market and rental properties are in the highest demand for a decade.
Interest rates have been at their lowest for a long, long time, even with the quarter percent rate rise, borrowing is still cheap. Combine this with the fact that most people have stated that this year they have not spent nearly as much on Christmas, holidays, clothes, concerts or anything else as they normally would have, makes me wonder if we might see another New Year house buying boom.
At Cross Keys Estates, we introduced a new customer portal called PropertyFile. This is a clear online window for a seller to see what marketing has been done for their property and what viewings have been booked, as well as what the feedback from these viewings was.
If you are a landlord, this portal will show you all actions that are related to your rental property such as any maintenance issues, inspection reports, viewings, feedback, marketing and what offers to rent have come in. In short, this portal gives you direct access to see what your agent is doing for you and has already proved hugely popular with our existing clients.
So far over the last four years, Cross Keys Estates have seen an increase in the levels of business for the first quarter of each year, but this year we have also seen the closure of several well known and established estate agents. These closures could be due to the increased pressure from the online agents and this has also resulted in agents having to lower their fees whilst the running cost for estate agents have increased year on year.
I go back to my previous comment about going in to 2022 as entering the unknown; Cross Keys Estates finish their second decade as a leading force in Plymouth’s housing market. I am confident that if you decide that this is the year that you move, you could not be in better hands than that of the award winning Cross Keys team.
So here we are again, Halloween is just around the corner and there are Christmas adverts on the television already. Buyers are trying their best to buy properties to be moved in to by Christmas, companies are organizing much missed office festivities and life does seem to be back to the way it was prior to the pandemic hitting us. Even though it may seem and feel familiar to days gone by, there are a few changes that we are having to live with and incorporate in to our lives thus making things the new norm.
Stamp duty, or the lack of it, up until recent weeks, has been a major driving factor for the huge growth in both property values and property sales. The original stamp duty holiday was due to end on March 31 2021. However, Mr Sunak decided to extend the deadline until October, opting for a more phased approach. The rate of stamp duty which applies to your purchase depends on the date that you complete your property purchase and not the date that you exchanged contracts.
From March 31 to June 30 2021, buyers paid no tax on the first £500,000 on a property in England and Wales. Buyers could have saved up to £15,000 in tax thanks to the holiday. From July 1 to September 30, the threshold was tapered down to £250,000 which means no stamp duty is paid on a residential property bought for up to this amount. October 1st saw the nil rate band return to the standard amount of £125,000 and for first time buyers, this is set at £300,000.
In my opinion the other reasons for this unprecedented bolstering in the market has simply been life style and the way in which it has changed for everyone. Previously people bought a property because they thought it would be a great fit for their lifestyles, but when you think back our way of living has changed. Previously we woke up, showered, maybe grabbed breakfast, ran out the door either to work or to school. We came home late in the afternoon or early evenings, walked the dog, cooked dinner, did some homework or housework, maybe watched Coronation Street, Emmerdale or EastEnders and retired to bed only to repeat this pattern again day after day after day.
With the Lockdowns came an enforced new way of living. We found we had time, time that previously been taken away from us with the daily commute, the school run and doing the weekly shop. What could we do with this new found luxury? We baked, we learnt a new skill or even a new language, we did a lot of gardening, some of did a little bit more drinking than previously and some did the opposite and took up fitness and well being tasks. Our homes became our work places, our classrooms, we created man caves and hobby/crafting rooms. Lots of us made bars at home, had virtual diners or quiz nights with friends that we couldn’t physically be with. In short, the need of our homes changed, we required them to be more than a place to eat, sleep and clean.
Our homes now needed to be all things to all people and this is where a lot of people realized that they needed more and in some cases much more from their homes. As a result of this thinking, buyers are now looking to future proof their new homes, if they only needed two bedrooms previously, they are now looking at 3 or 4 bedroomed properties, if they had a courtyard before now, they are looking for a garden, if they had a garden, they are now looking for bigger gardens and so on and so on. This has inevitably led to property prices going up sharply as has the demand for them. The larger and usually more expensive properties are now the ones with the most interest from buyers and since lending is at one of its cheapest rates ever, borrowing does not seem to be as much of an issue as it has been previously. With us not being able to go out, travel, dine or shop, a lot of us have managed to save up for good deposits.
From 1918 up to 1920 we had the Spanish flu and after this came the roaring 20’s. Could we be seeing history repeating itself even if it is in a slightly reduced way?
I will end with this, here at Cross Keys Estates, we are selling more properties within the first few days of marketing than ever before and most of them are exceeding their asking prices by quite some way due to the current demand.
If you are thinking of selling or if you simply want to know the current value of your property, please do not hesitate to give one of our qualified and experienced members of staff a call.
I have written many an article for various publications over the last 20 years so I thought it was high time that I wrote a blog based on one of my biggest passions in life, gardening.
Yes I am an estate agent so I write a lot about all different aspects of the property market and houses in general but the garden is one of the biggest rooms that you have in your property. There are so many benefits to gardening that people just don’t realise such as exercise, which gives you stress relief, clean air and a great sense of achievement once tasks are completed.
Another benefit from having a good garden is the added value that it puts on your property. If I have learnt anything from this pandemic that we have all endured, it’s having an outside space to go in to is a real blessing. More and more of our buyers are specifically looking for properties that have good outside areas whether it be a balcony, courtyard or sprawling gardens. The better the garden is presented then the more attractive that is to potential buyers.
Now I’m not underestimating the amount of work, time and money that it takes to create a lovely garden but I really cannot stress how important it is as part of your lifestyle or property maintenance. As a result, I have created a Facebook group “The Gardening Club” to encourage as many people as possible to join in, learn, ask questions and start discussions on all aspects of gardening from garden design to plant propagation. Please feel free to join our Facebook Group.
Having recently moved myself, I have realised just how important the garden is to me. My previous home was a lovely Victorian semi detached property in the rather urban area of Plymouth called Peverell. My garden took over two years to create and I had to start planning the garden from day one as we were doing a full refurbishment on the house, which included a large rear extension that cut into the existing garden. As I moved in to the house in early January there didn’t seem to be many plants in the garden apart from a few shrubs. When we got to March, the garden exploded with all kinds of plants in every square inch of the garden. The previous owner was obviously a massive gardening fan and did a magnificent job, however our plans for the property meant that we would have to take up nearly all the plants. I enlisted the help of my mother, who has always been green-fingered, to help me. We transplanted a few hundred plants form my garden to hers and kept around another 50 plants for me to put in our garden once the groundworks were completed, by the end of the day there was only one plant that we didn’t move, a very established and beautiful acer tree, we decided to design the garden around this tree.
At the start of the first lockdown, March 2020, the garden became a haven for Craig and myself as the weather was great and we were not allowed to go anywhere. I found myself spending hours just pottering around, weeding, taking cuttings, mowing the lawn and sitting down with a nice glass of Pinot Grigio.
Now that Craig and I have moved again (this time to our forever home) and after promising never to move over the festive period, we moved in to our new house officially on 23rd December. I will admit that this was pure and utter chaos again. Our new house comes with more garden, a lot more garden, in fact the new garden is about 50 times bigger than our previous one and comes with several lawn areas, a knot garden, a maze and a private woodland.
When we started working on the gardens. the first thing we did was tackle all the brambles and ivy that had taken over. There is a good sense of satisfaction revealing the lovely stone walls that were beneath. Now when I cut the grass it is five and a half miles (I know this as I wear my pedometer). Having such a large amount of garden also comes with a lot of responsibilities, it is our intention to make the gardens much more in keeping with the house, so far we have managed to get the gardens under control and in a manageable state, however it is certainly going to take some work (I estimate that we will need up to five years) to have the gardens the way I have imagined them.
The Gardening Club is something that I thought of a while ago, during the second lockdown, as a way to bring lots of green=fingered enthusiasts together and share ideas. Now I think that there are a lot of budding gardeners (do you see what I did there) out there who are looking for new friends to help them with advice, hacks, ideas, recommendations and even swapping plants, seeds or cuttings. I have been amazed by just how quickly people have joined the club and totally blown away by how nice, friendly and helpful the members have been. From total beginners to others who are quite accomplished at their craft.
If you are looking at a possible move, or even if it is your first property purchase, maybe consider how the outside space will work for you? Is there a garden, balcony or simply a window box that you can grow things in? If you do not have any outside space, how about trying house plants? All plants make you feel better when you know that you have grown them.