Blog

It probably comes as no surprise that Brexit has been affecting property prices across the country, from your average semi-detached family home to the millionaire mansions like those found in West London. 

But how is Brexit affecting mortgages? 

Mortgage lenders have been offering better mortgage deals in the hope that they can entice buyers and convince them that Brexit is not the end of the world after all. However, property buyers are not easy to convince at the best of times and rightly so as buying a house will probably be the largest financial commitment you will ever make. 

So, do you take advantage of the cheaper house prices now or wait another 6 months to see if they fall even further? That is a very good question. The problem is, the answer is never going to be clear cut.

Whether the Government manages to agree a deal for Brexit or not, the property market has already suffered with house prices flat lining in many regions and slumping in others. Even the low interest rates haven’t persuaded house buyers to take advantage and it is perhaps not that widely known that, the current lending rates are almost the lowest recorded in the history of mortgage lending.

Understandably, buyers don’t want to purchase a property for the value to fall in 6 months and perhaps continue to fall as this may leave them in negative equity. Even if you plan to buy your forever home, a simple change in circumstances like sudden unemployment could be catastrophic to a home owner, especially if the property value has decreased.

Even buyers and investors looking for a short-term property purchase are tending to tread cautiously as economic cycles tend to take longer than 5 years to ride themselves out and they may be left short changed if their property value has fallen. 

If you are on the other end of the scale and are trying to sell your property but are struggling, why don’t you give OK Property a call. OK property are able to provide you with a quick sale service where there are no fees payable to solicitors, estate agents or OK Property themselves. They simply offer you an option to sell your property quickly with none of the hassle so you can move on with your life. 

The team at OK Property are here to help - perhaps your circumstances have changed and you need to sell your house asap due to a divorce, repossession, redundancy or unemployment. If you are looking to relocate, pay off your current mortgage or clear your debts. Perhaps you or your partner have fallen ill and have to move to a better suited property or you have had experienced house chain problems and are feeling frustrated and let down by the process of the traditional estate agent route.

Contact OK Property today for your no obligation quote on 0800 270 7571.

According to Zoopla, the property market value has dropped by an astonishing £27 billion since the beginning of 2018. That’s almost a £3.5 billion drop per month or £5.12 per day!!

The statistics revealed that the worst affected area is the South West of England with a 2.51% drop in property value followed by the East Midlands and the Yorkshire and Humber regions which saw a value drop of 1.22% and 2.12%.

The overall property market value has dropped by 0.33% according to the study and as you can probably imagine, the finger of blame is being pointed directly at Brexit. According to a spokesperson for Zoopla, the findings were ‘not surprising’ due to the uncertainty of the property market ahead of the formidable Brexit. 

If you have a property on the market that you are struggling to sell and cannot afford to let the property market values slip any further, please contact OK Property today for a free valuation.

We can guarantee a sale without the need for viewings, without the need for your property to be advertised or to have a for sale sign outside and more importantly, without the need to pay any fees!

How much would your life change if you were able to sell your home within 2-3 weeks? We have cash buyers looking for homes just like yours so please do not hesitate to contact OK Property for your free valuation completed by our experienced Valuer on a private and confidential basis.

According to KPMG, it is likely that the next casualty of the ever-lengthening high street closure list will be Estate Agents.

Huge retail companies have been wiped out in recent years and with the ever-slowing property market and increasing competition from online Estate Agents, seeing properties being advertised in shop windows may become a thing of the past.

Not only are the traditional high street Estate Agents having to cope with a stagnant property market and fierce competition online, but they are having to cope with new legislative challenges too. 

It has been reported that Britain’s biggest estate agency, Countrywide, have had to seek emergency funding after losing two thirds of their share value in one day! On the contrary, online estate agents such as Purplebricks are slowly gaining market share according to KPMG’s forecast.

Brexit is also causing a direct issue in London with Foxtons estate agents reporting a slowing property market. 

If you have your property on the market and have lost faith in your estate agent, please do not hesitate in asking OK Property to give you a free, no obligation valuation to see if selling your property to us is a better option for you.

Unlike transitional estate agents, we already have investors waiting to purchase property just like yours and it is in their best interests as well as ours to progress a sale as quickly as possible. A cash purchase will normally be completed within 2-3 weeks and the best bit, we do not charge any commission, legal fees or any sort of fee to you as the seller. 

OK Property can purchase any type of property, from flats to semidetached, bungalows to terrace houses in any condition, whether that be brand new or derelict. 

So if you have lost faith in your estate agent and fear the worst when it comes to the property market, please give us a call and we will guide you through the process of selling your property quickly to OK Property.

31st July 2018

Can we blame everything on the 2018 summer heatwave?

Whilst June has been dominated by red hot temperatures and scorching sunshine, the UK’s house prices flatlined with the average house price hovering around £225,654, according to the latest Halifax house price index.

House prices were 0.7% lower between April and June 2018 compared with last year’s stats for the same quarter. 

The property market has been described as ‘lacking lustre’ by property experts and they are pointing the finger at Brexit, surprise surprise. There is also uncertainty around the interest rate rise which will not be good news for those who have to borrow to buy. 

Mortgage approvals have been low too, which is understandable with the anticipated interest rate increase with between 63,000 and 67,000 mortgage approvals since the beginning of 2018.

If you have a property on the market and feel like you have been let down by your agent, speak to OK Property. We understand your concerns about the property market and perhaps you need a quick sale due to your personal circumstances or would prefer to sell sooner rather than later with Brexit looming.

Even if your property is not currently on the market and you are simply thinking about selling, please consider OK Property as an alternative to the traditional high street or online estate agent route. 

Perhaps you have previous experienced of selling via an estate agent and simply don’t want to go through the hassle of arranging times and dates for market appraisals, photographers, EPC inspectors, getting the house spick and span every time a viewing is on the cards, appointments with solicitors, mortgage advisors, the list goes on... 

You will be thankful to hear that this is not the way OK Property works, you will have one contact who will keep everything as simple and straight forward as it should be and we can sell your home in a matter of weeks. Probably the same amount of time as it takes for your property to appear on Rightmove via a traditional agent!

Our team will be very happy to answer your questions and provide you with an offer to enable a quick sale. At OK Property we have cash investors waiting to buy properties in all areas of the UK, regardless of the size or condition.

So please contact OK Property today.

Could it be that the steady drop in house prices is actually the property market correcting itself and becoming more affordable? Or is it the start of episode 2 of the economic crash?

That is the question on the lips of many but only time will tell. The Nationwide house price index has recorded a decline in property prices since summer 2017 and to the surprise of many, even the London property market has been affected.

It has been hinted that London’s property market is going to be hit the hardest when Britain leaves the EU after a price drop of 1.6% this year alone. Hamptons International released figures which highlight a record number of Londoners leaving the City life and moving up North. They claim that during the first 6 months of 2018 just under 30,300 Londoners moved out of the Capital, a 16% increase on those who made the move during the same period in 2007.

Value for money may be one of the reasons behind the new-found love of the North and to put things into perspective, you can purchase a large detached house in the City of Birmingham for around £425,000 compared to a 2 bedroom flat located above a row of shops in East London. 

I know which one I would choose!

Property experts have agreed that the dramatic rise in property prices experienced over the past 5 years had come to an end but if you have your property on the market or are looking to sell your house in the near future, please contact OK Property before the housing market situation worsens and your property is worth less than your mortgage debt!  

OK Property can purchase your home in a matter of weeks rather than months with many cash sales taking place between 2-3 weeks compared to 3-6 months if you were to find a buyer via the traditional estate agent sales method. 

What also makes OK Property very different from high street estate agents is that we are happy to buy your property in any condition which means that you don’t have to spend time renovating or decorating your property to make it open market friendly. This will save you time and money.

Another advantage of using OK Property is that you won’t have to pay us a penny for selling your home unlike estate agents who charge you a fee either calculated on a percentage basis or a fixed fee for selling your home, no matter how long it takes! 

We also pay for your legal fees meaning OK Property is by bar the best way to sell your home quickly, easily and without spending a fortune on fees!

Please contact us and speak to our experienced team with any questions you may have or to book a free, private and confidential, no obligation property valuation. 

In the month of August, the property market value experienced the biggest month on month drop since July 2012. 

According to the latest lenders index, annual growth has fallen by 2% in the past year and the month on month values dropped by 0.5% which is the biggest monthly fall since the year London hosted the Olympic Games.

It is a known fact that property values are falling and with the biggest drop having taken place last month, how much more is the average house price going to fall? 

At the moment the average house price is £214,745 and according to Nationwide’s chief economist, the economy has been subdued and there is also a lot of pressure on household budgets which is set to continue because of uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

The knock-on effect is that, homeowners with properties they would like to sell, perhaps because they would like to downsize or they are looking to upsize or relocate, become hesitant to put their homes on the market because they cannot find a property to buy themselves. 

This then creates a shortage of stock meaning that the sellers who want or need to move cannot find anything suitable so they don’t advertise their current property for sale! It’s a vicious circle of uncertainty and hesitation.

Of course, first time buyers who don’t have to worry about selling a property will likely become disheartened by the lack of stock on the market and may stop looking for their first home because they are unsatisfied by the properties available. 

There is also talk of the interest rate increasing once the final deal for Brexit has been negotiated and experts predict challenges ahead for anyone with a large amount of debt attached to their home. 

Negative equity could be a reality for many homeowners in the future which can prevent you from being able to move or remortgage your property and then of course, the terrifying thought of having your home repossessed may come to light.

If you are worried about the future of the property market and are looking to sell your home before the Brexit negotiations come to a close and a deal is sealed, please speak to one of our professional advisors at OK Property.

At OK Property, we are more than happy to provide you with the option of selling your home either to us or to one of our cash rich investors and perhaps removing a lot of weight from your shoulders.

We have even saved properties from being repossessed in the past because we have been able to provide a guarantee to the mortgage lender that we will buy the property so it’s never too late to call us, we’ve helped hundreds of people out of this stressful situation.