“The market has 10% further to fall”-The Telegraph (09/02/09). “House prices have already hit the bottom” -Daily Mail (21/02/09). “Average sale prices rose 2%”-The Times (05/02/09). These are all statements taken from recent news articles.

As a casual observer, it can be close to impossible to know where the truth lies, who’s right, who’s wrong and who’s just looking for a good story.

My take on the market is very simple.

Demand has fallen dramatically due to the economic downturn and the structural lack of available credit from the main banking institutions. At the same time, affordability has increased even more as the Bank of England has slashed base rates to an historic low of just 0.5%. This means that for those who can get credit, monthly mortgage payments are likely to have more than halved in the past year.

In addition, we are now finally seeing the banks begin to slowly boost their lending of cash for homes with an increasing number of competitive mortgages on the market, some of which only require 10% deposits.

What does this mean?

It means that, despite a general lack of confidence from buyers in the housing market, the increasing availability of credit ensures that for the next few months at least, the pent-up demand from buyers unable to get mortgages over the last year can be serviced and we will see a mini-bounce that should last into the summer.

My view is that once this demand has been met, the movements of the market will be decided by general macro-economic factors such as the depth and length of the recession and the number of workers without jobs.

In essence, it would seem that now is as risk-free a time as any to sell while there is a quantum of stability in an otherwise volatile market. In the same way few predicted the scale of the housing crash in 2008, it would take a brave soul to second-guess the market any time past the next few months.

My Advice

If you need to ‘sell my house fast’, then now is the least risky time to do so. There are more buyers about, greater access to finance and less panic in the financial world so take advantage.

If you’d like further advice on cash for homes or if you’re worrying about ‘how can I sell my house fast?’ Contact SecureASale today for impartial advice on 020 7117 6001.

Desperately thinking, “How can I sell my home quickly?” The fast cash sale experts are here to help:

10. Know your competition and price competitively. What else is for sale at the moment? What prices have been achieved recently?

9. De-clutter, De-clutter, De-clutter. Buyers want to envisage THEIR lives at the property, not YOURS!

8. Have your Solicitor armed and ready with all you legal paperwork ready to go before a buyer is found so no time is wasted.

7. Have a for sale board outside your property and use all the available marketing at yours and your agent’s disposal – You’ll need it!

6. Let the agent run all viewings and make yourself as scarce as possible.

5. Consider instructing an agent in a better area than where you live.

4. Choose a proactive agency that will advertise your property on all websites.

3. Keep your property on the market and fully available until exchange of contracts.

2. Offer individual negotiators bonuses in order to keep them interested in your property sale.

1. If it’s not selling after all of the above, it’s the price! Keep lowering it by 10% increments until you achieve an offer. Remember you are in control and don’t have to accept it.

For more useful help, tip and advice on buying and selling, stay tuned to the SecureASale blog and keep an eye out for our Property Weekly webcasts.

It seems that every day there’s more bad news about the state of Britain’s economy, and with the fun and excitement of Christmas out of the way, everyone has come back down to reality with quite a bump.

It’s easy in times like these to get disheartened if your house sale is going nowhere fast. Worries like “How long will it be before I actually sell my house?” can take over your life. Perhaps it’s time for a fresh approach to house sales and that’s where SecureASale comes in. We’re still London’s largest cash homebuyer, even during a market crisis.

SecureASale’s fast cash homebuyer services offer sellers the freedom to sell up and move on for a fair price, even during a housing slump, allowing you to ditch that ‘For Sale’ sign for good. So stop thinking, “How can I sell my house?” and actually get selling!

If you want to sell your house in London and you think you might be interested in SecureASale as a cash homebuyer for you, contact us today. We can organise a personal valuation with one of our company directors fast.

Many companies also offer you the option to rent-back your home from them. While this would appear to be the most stress-free option and is hugely advantageous for the new owner (as they often take all the rent upfront and have a guaranteed tenant in the property), it is very rarely in the interest of the seller unless it is only for a very short period of time.

Why is this?

Well, if you can’t afford to pay the mortgage on your home, then you probably won’t be able to afford the rent either as the new owner has to ensure that the costs on their own finance are more than covered.

Most homeowners who are in an equity release situation like this are far better off downsizing and either purchasing or renting a cheaper property elsewhere. This will help to get you back on a stable financial footing. While it is always a hassle to move, making that change sooner rather than later can liberate you from the burden on financial stress and enable you to stop repossession, rebuild and make a fresh start.

If you absolutely have to rent-back your property from the new owner, please ensure that they are a well-capitalised, cash-funded business and research them thoroughly before you take the plunge. This is important as many so-called quick sale, cash for homes experts fail to keep up payments on mortgages they secure on homes they have bought and the property ends up being repossessed by the bank. This leads to the tenant being forced out, often having paid a substantial ‘rent’ upfront to the new owner.

For more advice, please call 020 7117 6001 and ask to speak to one of our directors.

Company Director, Tim Jackson says, “We are definitely in a crash, but not necessarily one that a price correction alone can solve.

“Despite the fall in prices, sales volumes in London are down around 70% year on year. This means that in effect, most houses won’t sell at any price, due mainly to the scarcity of ‘normal’ mortgage products on offer.”

Obtaining a mortgage has become increasingly difficult, particularly in the capital, over the past six months. This has left many would-be first-time buyers trapped in the unrewarding cycle of rented accommodation.

Jackson adds, “To get Nationwide’s widely publicised best tracker rate today, a purchaser has to put down a 40% deposit, a figure unthinkable only nine months ago and impossible for the vast majority of willing purchasers.”

He continues, “The truth is the housing crash is not a demand-led downturn like in the 1980s, but merely a side-effect of the credit crisis. The banks have turned off the tap of money and until they can find a way to get funds flowing again, the housing market will remain at the mercy of the institutions. In the meantime, property prices are in freefall and it’s either a fantastic buying opportunity or a fool’s playground. Time will tell.”

In fact, Allsop’s forthcoming auction catalogue is focused purely on repossessions and will no doubt be a great success – for the rich investors who are snapping up bargains!

The truth is quality family homes are not getting a look in at auction at the moment, as purchasers are only prepared to make very low bids that would send the average homeowner into negative equity.

SecureASale offers a completely discreet and personalised service and we guarantee to make an offer on every property we see. Unlike auctions, we don’t charge a fee and your neighbours needn’t know you’re selling. Very often, our offer works out higher than what you would achieve through auction.

It’s no surprise that repossessions have grown by over 40% in the last two months, as mortgage payment increases and further job cuts are announced.

As the financial situation becomes altogether desperate for many families across the UK, homebuying services are helping struggling homeowners to release equity, stop repossession and ease debt worries away with fast cash offers. Or are they?

Tim Jackson, Director of SecureASale, tells a very different story about how the majority of so-called ‘homebuyers’ actually make their money:

“With very, very few exceptions, every homebuying website out there is just a data-mining operation set-up to profit from selling ‘qualified leads’ on to investors. These leads are then placed on property websites, and the supplier normally takes a fee of £100 per lead upfront and about 1% if the deal goes through.”

Classically, these companies will present themselves, usually via a smart website, as a real cash buyer, but in fact the company operates only as a data collector, finding leads and then selling them on.

Many of the companies that operate in this manner claim that as long as there’s a cash sale at a fair price for the client, there’s no problem.

Jackson rebuts, “The problem with this approach is that it leaves the client with no guarantee of whom they’re dealing with, no comeback should things go wrong and frankly, I believe it’s unethical.”

Research has uncovered that many of these data mining sites offer potential clients as little as 28% below the market value of their property without a proper valuation conducted by an expert.

Jackson adds, “We are one of the very few companies who actually have cash to spend on property and a proper bank facility we can draw upon. Anyone thinking of using a homebuyer should always try to go straight to the source- look for a company that has the assets to buy your property themselves and is prepared to come and look at it before making an offer.”