The Cobb Blog

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2011-02-09T14:48:00.002Z

I have been using Twitter for my updates lately and not logging on here so much, so please sign up to @joannacobb for more frequent property updates

MARKET UPDATE FEBRUARY 2010

2010-03-24T15:59:00.001Z

Again things inching forward, prices remain static, and there are some first time buyers and investors starting to view properties thus helping improve the interest and ultimately sales at the bottom end of the market. Still very slow progress, but better than last year.

MARKET UPDATE JANUARY 2010

2010-03-24T15:58:00.000Z

Thankfully things picked up fairly quickly after the Christmas lull, with new instructions, viewings and sales all on the up.

BUDGET 2010 UPDATE

2010-03-24T15:55:00.003Z

Good news!
From the Chancellor's Budget announced today there will be a two year stamp duty land tax relief for first time buyer's for residential property purchases up to £250,000. To pay for this there is an introduction of an additional 5% rate of stamp duty land tax for residential property over £1,000,000 from 2011-2012. There has been an extension of the freeze in the inheritance tax allowance of £325,000 until 2014 - 2015.

Happy New Year

2010-01-07T11:43:00.003Z

Cobb Property are celebrating the New Year with a re-vamp to our office premises. We are also currently working on re-designing our website and adding numerous new features, adding a new range of designs for our property brochures and are investing heavily in advertising in our local paper which still delivers plenty of leads on the properties advertised there. We wish all our clients a Happy New Year and a successful, prosperous and healthy 2010.

MARKET UPDATE DECEMBER 2009

2010-01-07T11:39:00.002Z

December was an excellent month for sales completing. Lots of sales would have been adversely affected by delaying completion until January as the Stamp Duty exemption up to £175,000 dropped back down to £125,000. Also with the VAT increasing and wanting to spend the festive period in their new property, it spurred clients on to get moving before Christmas. Viewings and valuations were consistent with December traditionally being the quietest month as people are spending time and effort with family.

MARKET FORECAST - SPRING 2010

2010-01-07T11:30:00.002Z

Well the weather is stopping people from making unecessary journeys and keeping children off school and parents off work, so viewing numbers are lower than expected and we have been re-arranging some appointments to help accommodate. There are quite a lot of people lined up ready to go onto the market this month and are just in the process of doing all the "tidying up" jobs, organising HIPs and taking down Christmas decorations. Also properties that have been on the market for a little while now are likely to drop their price to compete with the fresh stock.

Stamp Duty and VAT Changes Looming

2009-12-03T10:57:00.001Z

From 1st January the Stamp Duty exemption threshold is going back down to £125,000 from £175,000 so all properties that are currently "going through" in this range will need to complete on or before 31st December 2009.

Also VAT increases back to it's original rate of 17.5% from 15%, this will affect solicitors and estate agents fees plus many other fees and costs.

MARKET UPDATE NOVEMBER 2009

2009-12-03T10:54:00.002Z

As the nights have drawn in and the weather has been horrible, the month of November was quieter than October. This is the traditional seasonal slow down as we head towards Christmas. Having said that, most of the calls we receive and make are more positive, it seems that there aren't many people wasting time looking for a property unless they sincerely wish to buy one. Market appraisals are still fairly slow, but there are a good number of sales due to exchange and complete before the end of 2009, especially those between £125,000 and £175,000 so that the buyers are exempt from paying stamp duty.

Preparations in full swing for our Christmas Party to thank clients

2009-12-03T10:40:00.002Z

Our whole team has been busy organising our Christmas Party which we are hosting tonight at The Castle House Hotel from 4-9pm. There are going to be a range of property professionals in attendance including: Accountant, Architects, Builder, Plumbers, Interior Designer, Financial Advisor, Solicitor and Energy Assessor / Home Inspector. There should be approximately 175 guests in attendance and we are looking forward to welcoming everyone.

OFT Report about Estate Agents - we aren't all bad!

2009-12-03T10:38:00.000Z

OFT report says - Consumer satisfaction with the services provided by estate agents has improved
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) last week published four research reports undertaken as part of its market study into home buying and selling. These comprise a survey of estate agents, a survey of trading standard services and both qualitative and quantitative consumer research.

Consumer satisfaction with the services provided by estate agents has improved - 88 per cent of both buyers and sellers were satisfied with the service provided by estate agents, a higher level of satisfaction than five years ago (72 per cent of buyers and 74 per cent of sellers). The majority of consumer complaints in the sector are about the individual buyer or seller on the other side of the transaction or their solicitor, rather than with the estate agent involved.

Most buyers said that the estate agent had described the options available for taking third party services, but did not push them - the majority (82 per cent) did not feel that they had received a 'hard sell'.

In the home buying and selling process, estate agents represent the seller. When asked whose interests they felt the estate agent from whom they bought their property was representing, 53 per cent of buyers felt that the estate agent was working equally on behalf of them and the seller, 40 per cent felt that the estate agent was working mostly on the seller's behalf, while six per cent felt that the estate agent was working mostly on their behalf, as a buyer.

Nineteen per cent of buyers said they had experienced a purchase falling through after they had made an offer that the seller had accepted - the most common reason for a sale falling through was another buyer made a better offer, followed by the buyer withdrawing after a survey showed problems with the house, and problems elsewhere in the chain

Better than national average in sale price achieved

2009-12-03T10:36:00.000Z

In a nationwide survey by Hometrack, the proportion of the asking price being achieved currently stands at 93.2% in November 2009. At Cobb Property we achieved 98%.

MARKET UPDATE OCTOBER 2009

2009-11-05T17:07:00.007Z

Traditionally, October is a good selling month; however viewings have dropped a little since September. Having said that, the conversion rate to offers is better and we have fewer insincere applicants which can only be a good thing. There is a distinct lack of new property being marketed and it is imperative that all current stock is priced appropriately and presented brilliantly to attract the cautious buyer.

MARKET UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2009

2009-11-05T16:58:00.004Z

The children are back at school and the nights have started to draw in and buyers are starting to think about moving before Christmas. Viewings have been stable over the past month and whilst it is still quite challenging to convert an offer to a sale, it can be done with hard work and lots of patience.

STAFF ADDITIONS

2009-08-22T15:20:00.003+01:00

I can't believe how much busier we have been lately, I have even employed three new members of staff - Rebecca Wallace and Samantha Jones-Davies are here full time and Vicky Dudley assists us on Saturdays to help us serve our clients.
Samantha Barrow has passed her Technical Award in Residential Estate Agency and Charlotte Teague has started her studying for the Technical Award in Residential Lettings and Management. I really do have a great team here working with me.

I SHOULD WRITE A BOOK...

2009-08-22T15:15:00.002+01:00

I have been amazed at how many stories I have to tell about my life as an Estate Agent, chatting to friends the other night, one of them suggested I should write a book. I might one day.
There was the house that the owner kept for people leaving prison and it had the remains of a 5 year old roast chicken left on the cooker. It was green and crawling with maggots.......
The time I knocked on the door to carry out a pre-arranged viewing only to meet the owner coming out of the shower having forgotton we were going.......
The day the owner told the viewers (and a staff member) all about why he had changed the bathroom suite. Trust me you don't want to know why.

Maybe one day...

MARKET UPDATE - AUGUST 2009

2009-08-22T15:11:00.003+01:00

We have had our best week for over eighteen months last week with five sales agreed and yet more offers still under negotiation. I am hopeful that this renewed confidence is due to buyers not panicking that if they buy a property today that it will be worth less tomorrow. Most buyers are thinking more of it as a long term investment and we seem to be at the end of the slide in prices, with them now bumping along the bottom. Lets hope nothing else happens to set them off again.

Welcome back to the sun too! Herefordshire is such a beautiful county, I adore my job in these Summer months, driving around our glorious countryside, watching the crops changing and now being harvested. I am one lucky girl!

MARKET UPDATE - JULY 2009

2009-08-22T15:07:00.003+01:00

The sun has gone again. Typical, no BBQ Summer for us. Anyway at least things are still inching forward, the people I talk to on a day to day basis don't seem quite as depressed about moving / selling / buying / renting as they have done over the past eighteen months. I have just made sure throughout it all that I keep smiling and working hard. It's amazing what results dilligence and elbow grease can bring..... our viewing numbers are up and offers too!

Still sales are shaky right through to exchange of contracts with more falling through than would in better times. But at least more buyers are willing to look and owners are more realistic about the price they will accept.

MARKET UPDATE - JUNE 2009

2009-08-22T15:05:00.004+01:00

Thank goodness the sun is out! How lovely to see it again, it helps our properties look so much more attractive in the photographs we take when there is a blue sky behind and sunshine filtering through. Some cheeky offers this month, some owners have been willing to accept these and just made sure that they make a cheeky offer on the one they want to buy.

MARKET UPDATE - MAY 2009

2009-08-22T15:03:00.004+01:00

May has been much better, more of everything... instructions, viewings, offers and sales. We are still a long way behind May 2007, but it is encouraging that first time buyers are registering with us to look for property. Even investors are fed up of their money making no return in the bank and being too risky in stocks and shares, so they are slowly returning to bricks and mortar. Good news for us!

MARKET UPDATE - APRIL 2009

2009-08-22T14:58:00.004+01:00

Herefordshire Council have released figures saying that accordingly to the figures from Land Registry, there has been a 15.3% decrease in property values in the county of Herefordshire since the peak in Summer /Autumn 2007.

MARKET UPDATE - MARCH 2009

2009-08-22T14:33:00.003+01:00

Spring is here and hopefully with it there will be a renewed interest in the property market. Thankfully the media are talking more about the banks and less about housing and this will help to stop destroying buyer's confidence.

MARKET UPDATE JANUARY 2009

2009-03-26T14:37:00.005Z

January has been much busier (by previous January figures it is still very low) but at least there has been a significant increase in all areas – valuations, instructions, mailing list applicants registering, viewings and dare I write it…. Offers and some sales too. Mostly these are on properties where sellers have adjusted their asking prices and been open to offers. We haven’t experienced any mortgage application refusals, I think the bigger problem has always been people not even applying as they are too cautious in case they try and get refused. Still no interest in HIPs, the searches are usually out of date and have to be re-applied for, which seems a real waste of time and money. Vendors really don’t like paying for something perceived by them as useless. They are however being completed promptly –usually in under a week for freehold, so I don’t think there will be too long a delay in April for marketing new properties, although it will test our patience I am sure!

MARKET UPDATE FEBRUARY 2009

2009-03-26T14:37:00.004Z

The market here has improved significantly over the past month and we have seen some first time buyers and investors looking for a bargain now prices have fallen 10-15% in this area. Viewings, offers and sales are all creeping up, but taking time to arrange and are a bit sticky going through. A definite improvement on the past year!

MARKET UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2008

2009-03-26T14:36:00.002Z

There are still sales being agreed, but new listings and price reductions are drying up, as you drive around the county there are still a lot of boards up for sale. There is still no interest in HIP’s. People are still exercising caution when it comes to making offers and some sales are falling through due to peoples fear for the economic future. In contract lettings is very busy and buoyant.

MARKET UPDATE JULY 2008

2009-03-26T14:35:00.004Z

The market has quietened down as usual now the Summer holidays have started. Sales are still possible with hard work, realistic prices, committed vendors and quality promotion. HIPs are still a waste of time – none are ever looked at. Agents seem to have cut back on lots of their usual costs – advertising in the local press, staff and websites. Regular client contact is essential to keep vendors happy although almost all seem to understand things are moving more slowly. Several of our most recent sales were to cash buyers and to one first time buyer – so they must still be out there – just a bit cautious.

MARKET UPDATE AUGUST 2008

2009-03-26T14:35:00.003Z

Herefordshire is still seeing plenty of property available for sale, few chain free buyers, ample people currently on the market looking to buy but haven’t yet sold theirs so not able to proceed and generally not viewing either. This means that almost all leads are genuine and may lead to some business but the leads themselves are less in number than we would like. HIPS are still not being helpful – the searches are out of date but the time a sale is agreed so buyer’s solicitors have to re do them at an additional cost. There are a few more FTB’s around and the mortgage market doesn’t seem to be as difficult as it was. We are hopeful that now the summer holiday’s are almost over and with the media starting to talk about the credit crunch and housing market as item 2 or 3 rather than 1 on the running list of stories that the buying public may start to regain a bit of confidence.

MARKET UPDATE JUNE 2008

2009-03-26T14:34:00.002Z

Properties continue to come onto the market at the usual rate. HIP’s still aren’t being looked at and solicitors acting for buyers often have to update or get new searches as personal searches can’t be utilized or they are out of date. Chain free buyers are like gold dust. Some sales being agreed when you work really hard to put a whole deal together in a chain, buyers and bargaining hard. Vendors are starting to drop their asking prices which has encouraged more interest. We are extraordinarily busy with enquiries and take ons.

MARKET UPDATE MAY 2008

2009-03-26T14:23:00.001Z

MAY 2008
Herefordshire has been up and down this month, we had one of our best week’s EVER for sales but mostly buyers are still cautious, asking prices are more realistic, viewings are lower and owners mostly being fairly realistic as long as they can buy at a lower price also. We had our first ever HIP enquiry the other day; this was for a property for tender though, so it made sense. Owners are angry at having to pay for the HIP and those who are getting their solicitors’ to provide it are the ones that are taking longest, the HIP providers we have used are all working well.

The 2009 Property Market is getting active again

2009-03-26T13:37:00.003Z

The 2009 Property Market is getting active again, with the return of first time buyers and investors, rejuvenating some sales of one and two bedroom properties, kick-starting some chains. Mortgages seem easier to obtain, confidence is returning, although prices in Hereford have fallen approximately 15% since Summer 2007.

Best Estate and Letting Agents in the UK are announced

2009-03-26T13:34:00.001Z

BEST ESTATE AND LETTING AGENTS IN THE UK ANNOUNCED

I am delighted that Cobb Property have again been shortlisted as one of the best estate and letting agents in the West Midlands Region at the Estate & Letting Agent Awards

The results of the competition are determined by research carried out amongst customers who are asked a series of questions about the service they have received from their agent. Over 30,000 questionnaires were sent out to customers during the competition.

2008 Market Overview

2008-12-12T16:18:00.002Z

Over the past twelve months we have seen a 10-15% reduction in property prices across the whole county of Herefordshire, the national figures are 15-20% with London being worst affected at losses of up to 25% of 2007 values. Most of this loss has been experienced in the last six months.

There are still ample people wanting to move, they are just prevented from doing so until they have sold their own property. Our mailing list is full of registered buyers who have a house to sell, that are on the market and waiting for a proceedable sale (to a first time buyer / investor / people in rented accommodation / cash purchasers).

Proceedable buyers are “watching” the market, they are mostly not registered with agents, they are keeping their eye on the relevant property websites, in the paper and sporadically walking around the agent’s offices to see what is happening. If they see a property they are interested in, they will drive by first generally and if suitable arrange a viewing and possibly offer. Sales are therefore still being agreed, but are quite challenging to negotiate and then keep together once agreed.

Property Market Sept 18th 2008

2008-09-17T13:24:00.000+01:00

The property market in Hereford has been better this week than it had over the summer holidays - we have received three offers on properties this morning which my team are working hard on now. It's great to see people starting to buy again.

It's not so hard after all

2008-09-17T13:23:00.002+01:00

Setting up and writing a blog is not as hard as I thought it would be!

Cobb Blog

2008-09-17T12:59:00.000+01:00

This is the first time I have ever used a blog, but I thought it would be a great way of passing on my experience as an Estate Agent and Letting Agent in Hereford, UK.