House Prices have risen in Camberley, but hold on

House prices rose 1.2% in May on April, offering evidence of activity in the UK housing market, according to figures from the Nationwide building society.

The annual rate of house price falls eased from 15% in April to 11.3%, with a typical home now costing £154,016.

Over the past three months, house prices fell by 0.5% compared with the previous three-month period, the lowest quarterly drop since January last year.

But lets not get too carried away here.

These kind of headlines may sell newspapers and the information for the Nationwide is in the public domain. But I hope that people generally wont jump the bandwagon.

This could well be a false dawn and sellers might just be tempted to put up their prices too early, led by estate agents who promise to sell at a higher price than the market allows.

Although I am optimistic about the future of property in the local area and feel that prices will go up over time, the way this headline is being presented in the media, is that the green shoots of recovery have started.

I hope they have and certainly we are the busiest we have been for months, but we are still not out of the BIG R, officially anyway.

But there is no doubt that there is more confidence in the market. I know of one family who were gazumped last week when another buyer upped the price on a property being sold for £295k by £8k and we haven’t had that for a while.

But there is a definite shortage of property for sale as people have decided to stay in their existing home and get the builders in to extend. Plus of course it is so expensive to sell your property…..but don’t get me started on that.

Estate agent friends of mine report there 3 or 4 people going after 1 property and in this kind of scenario, the buyer has every right to put their price up because it is in demand.

So I say good luck to anyone who is in that situation, but I hope we don’t all get carried away and forget that a house is an investment for the future and one of the best investment you can make.

Plus one set of figures doesn’t give you the whole picture.

If I can be of help please contact me or one of my staff.

Michael

First Time Buyers Are In The Market

There is no doubt in my mind that the housing market is feeling a little stimulated at the moment.

The local newspaper contacted me recently for comments, this is what I told them and they published the article last week.

Local mortgage expert Michael Usher has noticed a huge increase in the number of first time buyers visiting his offices in Frimley High Street.

“We have seen record numbers of first time buyers seeking our advice over the last month. They are doing the groundwork now in readiness for when the market changes.

We speak to a great number of estate agents on a daily basis and they are reinforcing what we are seeing, that the market is moving and that many more first time buyers are visiting properties and then trying to get their mortgage in place, in case they find the ideal property.

The market is changing and for the better, but the banks and building societies need to kick start the process and get more mortgage products on the market, especially for first time buyers.

Although there are some lenders’s headline rates being advertised at 3% or 4%, these are only available for buyers with larger deposits.  Typically first time buyers have deposits of around 10% and for that kind of deposit you can get a mortgage with an interest rate of  6% and with a 15% deposit you can get a mortgage with a rate of 5.5%.

A lot of lenders will advertise these 3% low rates just to “hook you in”, to coin a term used in a TV advertisement, but these low rates do come with other financial costs, such as lenders fee or a high redemption fee.

When first time buyers come to us, we offer straight-forward advice, we tell them to continue viewing the market, to get a proper feel, to see what is available out there in their price range and to learn to negotiate, because the more they are out there the more they will learn. Then come back to us and we can give them proper advice and offer a choice of mortgages dependent on the deposit available”

Michael Usher is an independent mortgage adviser based in Frimley Surrey.

Getting a Mortgage in Camberley

If you are thinking of buying a house in Camberley, Frimley, Farnborough or anywhere locally, we can help you. In fact we would love to help you.

But a reality check is required.

TO GET THE BEST RATE AVAILABLE YOU WILL NEED A DEPOSIT OF 25% … YIKES….

If you are buying a property locally valued at £150k you will need £37,500 just as a deposit. Now how many first time buyers can find that sort of money.

Yes with a 25% deposit you can get one of those low rates advertised 3.45% or 3.6%.

But if you only have 10% deposit, you are going to get offered a mortgage with a rate nearer to 6%.

It makes life very difficult for first time buyers, those who are desperate to move (for various reason,s change of job, divorce etc.) and a lot of people are suffering.

All that money pumped into the financial industry by our government with the aim of helping the banks, but the banks and building industry are not playing fair.

How can you ask a young couple or single person to find 25% for a deposit on a property in this area.

Nearly all of the industry experts are saying the house prices have bottomed out, meaning that property prices have probably reached their lowest price and many estate agents and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors are saying the same.

Banks and buiding societies that have recieved all those Billions from us, yes us, should be now lowering their criteria for lending and those who have deposits of 10-15% should get those special “Headline Rates” that are advertised.

Once we get people buying houses, whether they be first time buyers or movers, we will also see those people buying furniture and other household goods, which will help the national and local economies.

Please note that mortgage products (deals) come out on a daily basis, we keep our finger firmly on the pulse and so if you are thinking of buying a property, or re-mortgaging your property, let us know by giving us a call and we’ll do our best to give you the benefit of our experience and contacts.

We try hard to be the best in the area.

Michael
http://www.mumsltd.co.uk

Camberley House Prices are up..then down?

The value of property in Camberley went up last week and then it went down…What.. Talk about confusing.

First of all Nationwide Building Society put out a press release saying that property prices were up 0.9%. Wow we all thought as we listened to the news, things are bottoming out, meaning house prices have got to their lowest value since the recession began and now they are starting to rise.

Now where’s that copy of the Star newspaper, I’ve got to buy me some houses…

But then the following day, The Halifax came out with an opposing story saying that prices had fallen 1.9% in March..Who do you believe?

The Facts of Life

The sad fact is and I have said it before, the public relations machines of these large institutions have to justify their existence by putting out the odd story that gets the attention of the media.

Of course I haven’t read up on where Nationwide get their information from, they do have a lot of statistics to go on, as they give out quite a number of mortgages each year. But statistics can be interpreted many different ways and The Nationwide Pr/Media department, took one “headline” statistic and that became their story.

Over the last few years, during the lead up to the recession, Nationwide were always coming out with sensationalist stories, (they must have a very imaginative head of media who came from the School of Media Sensationalism).

Of course, we all want the value of property to rise and Nationwide wants to put out positive stories, but they have been premature.

The Halifax Building society came out the day after Nationwide’s sensational 0.9% story saying that property prices are down 1.9%, so who do you believe.

What local estate Agents are saying

Well I can tell you the there is definitley movement in the market, more people are looking at property locally. My friends who are estate agents tell me that there has been an increase in the number of people registering for property alerts in Camberley, Frimley Farnborough and Aldershot.

Also people are becoming more realistic about their selling prices.

I have been in the property related business for 20 years starting off as an estate agent, before moving into the financial sector 12 years ago.

In my opinion, people are waiting for the the value of property to “Bottom Out”, before they get involved in the buying and selling of property again and my estate agent friends are saying that this is happening, that prices are not falling like they were two or three months ago and that now is a good time to buy…But they would say that wouldn’t they.

Conclusion

When the headlines say the value of property is up 0.9% or down 1.9%, they are talking about the national picture, which does not relate to surrey and hampshire.

My advice is talk to a good estate agent who knows his stuff, yes there are plenty of good ones out there and not one who waffles the same old sales lines, that they are famous for.
I can recommend a number of local ones if you wish, just drop me an email.

In the meantime take care and don’t believe everything you hear in the news.

Michael Usher
01276 670777

Camberley’s Best Mortgage Adviser?

What does it take to be the best mortgage adviser in Camberley?

• You’ve got to be on the ball…We are

• You’ve got to know where the best deals are…We know

• You’ve got to have a team that works well together…We have

• You’ve got to have a team with real world experience…We have

• You’ve got to give straight talking advice…We try our best

• You’ve got to get the deal that matches the clients wishes..We try exceptionally hard

And also, you got to try that little bit harder to look after you customer.

Here’s an email from one of our girls to me:

Michael I thought you might like this little story……….

An example of how great our service is – Called client to get an email address from her and was advised that she doesn’t have one because she had accidentally spilt liquid on her laptop so it now doesn’t work!!! Also her dishwasher has broken down……upon checking her details, noticed that she arranged her Buildings & Contents insurance through us.

I asked her if she knew that she could claim against her contents insurance – She was elated as she had not even thought that she could do this – I was able to confirm to her that she had the correct cover, gave her the claim number and her policy number. Armed with all the relevant information she can call her insurer without having to dig through all her paperwork.

Another happy MUMS client.

What can I say..All of us here at Michael Usher Mortgage Services, do try to go the extra mile. So how can we help you. Call me 01276 670777

Michael