graceandrose

First impressions are not only important when selling your home, they are absolutely critical. When people come to view a property for the first time, they are unlikely to be scrutinising the unseen. They are simply trying to get a feel for the property. They will be bombarded with mostly visual impressions, many of which you can [...]

My previous article focused on issues to think about when buying a property requiring refurbishment. However, sellers should also be mindful when considering the sale of a property in need of renovation. Firstly, unmodernised is unmodernised! It is usually a waste of money to make significant improvements to a property on which people will want to do [...]

There are so many property-related programmes on TV every week tracking the progress of a run-down house to a finished home.  It would be easy to forget just how challenging these kind of projects can actually be. Despite the end rewards. Over the past few years, we have seen a steady increase in the number of enquiries [...]

Many Estate Agents see their role solely as finding the right buyer for a property and negotiate attractive terms for the seller. But estate agency has moved on. Indeed, finding a buyer is arguably one of the most straightforward aspects of selling a property. Wise sellers now seek other attributes in their Estate Agent. We all know [...]

In a competitive market, we know that as long as your property is priced attractively, it will sell. However, many people spend a fortune on improving their home expecting at least the cost of the improvements to be returned to them via an increased sale price. This can be a mistake, as almost all of a property’s [...]

The national housing market currently paints a rather dull picture.  Combining the prospect of “a few interest rate rises over the next few years” according to the Bank of England and the political and economic uncertainty of the ongoing Brexit negotiations and we’re left with a subdued and challenging housing market in need of some direction. What impact is this [...]

Photographs form a crucially important part of the marketing mix, designed to promote your property at its best.  Every image counts, as people will decide whether to inquire further or dismiss a property based solely on the first impression given by the photographs. So why allow your Estate Agent, an amateur photographer, to take the photos?  Whilst [...]

In a largely unregulated industry, it is so important that you choose an agency that puts a high value on training and regulation. At Grace & Rose we are trained, regulated and are members of The National Association of Estate Agents, The Property Ombudsman, The Association of Residential Letting Agents and SafeAgent. Well-trained staff gain an in-depth [...]

For homeowners wishing to sell their property and buy another, it’s the classic dilemma – what do you do first? Sell first or Buy first?...the Chicken or the Egg? Typically, people will start investigating the market to find out what they can buy for their money and inevitably, it’s during this initial research that they will fall in love [...]

For a few years now, following the Government’s overhaul of the mortgage market, known as the Mortgage Market Review (or MMR), much tighter mortgage application regulations have been in force.  In addition, this year’s further tightening from the Bank of England focused on enforcing stringent new stress tests for banks when assessing a person’s mortgage affordability. There [...]