Ever since the Stamp-duty hikes of 2015, the British country house market has been overshadowed by the increase in stamp duty (SDLT) and this has resulted in a fall in the number of transactions and a partial paralysis of the market. We are often asked if the Brexit vote has been the problem and … [Read more...]
Beyond the call of duty
The British country house market is a vast and richly varied picture, with many different layers depending on area and price range, so trying to come up with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ comment can be something of a struggle - but some universal truths seem to be emerging. George Osborne’s 2015 parting … [Read more...]
What’s involved in finding an ‘off-market’ property to buy?
I have bought around 400 properties for clients over the last 30 years, and in most cases the buyer just wouldn’t have found the house on their own. Many people ask me, how do you find owners that want to sell their properties privately? This is what’s termed ‘off market’: when a property for sale … [Read more...]
Are you hiring a search agent or a buying agent? Be sure you know the difference.
When you select a buying agent, check if they really are a ‘buying’ agent! It sounds nit-picking but you need to understand the difference between search and buying in the agent’s description. I’m not just being pedantic. It’s not just semantics. The clue is in the terms: a search agent does … [Read more...]
How’s the market?
There is a general truism in life that says if you ask ten people to describe the same event, you’ll get ten very different accounts, all seen from subtly different perspectives; this is partly why insurance companies are frequently confronted by two wildly differing accounts of the same car … [Read more...]
One of the most important parts of our job is understanding the psychology of the seller
Jonathan Harington’s ‘stiff-legged terrier’ syndrome My first boss said, ‘we are not agents we are nannies’ and forty years on I can safely say he was not far wrong. Understanding the psychology of both the seller and buyer is vital to make a deal happen and helps prevent what I have always called, … [Read more...]