House Price Spy Blog

As the ‘credit crunch’ media hype goes into overdrive the papers were reporting that almost 2 million people in the UK were stuggling to pay their mortgages. In the early 90’s a record breaking number (hundred of thousands!) of home owners lost their homes due to the devaluation of the pound and rising unemployment.

With few people taking the option of mortgage insurance or employment insurance there are more people than ever at risk of losing their home…

This is not taking into account the fact that there are more people in the UK than ever with the population rising by almost 10 million in the last 10 years and the fact that mortgage lenders untill recently were handing outcrazy mortgages to anyone who applied.

I’m probably not alone in thinking that the media played a part in the so called ‘credit crunch’ hyping the thing untill it turned into what they wanted. If the news has negative news about house prices every night people are less likely to move home meaning sales will be down. It’s probably not what Gordon Brown needed but he is a victim of the reletaive success of the last 10 years inflating property values beytond sustainable levels.

Members of House Price Spy have exclusive benefits and features they can access that casual users wont get access to, so it pays to join up for free and get the ability to watch streets and get notification of all properties sold on that street, email alerts, newsletters with great offers and info on the property market, plus millions of individual free house prices from the last 8 years!!!!!!!

Members benefits are only for people who have completed the short sign up, just give a few details and join House price Spy for free. We wont give your details to any 3rd party and are bound by all transparency legislation.

If you have not joined up yet then you can claim your free membership of House Price Spy now!!

As mentioned in our last blog post House Price Spy has had a complete facelift and revamp. The main thing you should know while the site is now easier to use and search through you still get free house prices for all non-commercial properties in England, Wales and Scotland! The data is provided from government sources free with stats and info for every street with advice and recommended links for quality property related websites.

the new version of House Price Spy should be up ans live in the next few weeks and will help users to make the most of what we offer!

House price Spy is free to join and free to use, you can only access all members benefits with membership. To join you will have to give your postcode (to give you local data) and email address (so we can confirm you are a genuine person)!!!

Have you ever wondered where the the noisiest and quietest areas in the UK are? The Department For Environment Food and Rural Affairs have a new site where you can see what an area is like before you buy there. We have the Freedom Of Information Act to thank for letting us into these secrets that are gathered by government departments and retained on records.

Enter the type of noise you want to know about ie train, airplane, car etc and you can search regions in England getting results with usefull info on noise polution and known noise problems.

See for your self what they are saying about areas near you! Get the info!!!

See the BBC report on Noise Mapping in the UK

We have been busy re-designing House Price Spy site, a new face lift and new functions and member only stuff that will improve the way the site works. We are all excited with the new design and the hopefully we will see plenty of positive feedback in the months to come!

With the blog, emails to members and the forthcoming revolutionary new site design it’s all going on at House price Spy HQ!!!

Free house prices and great members benefits are just two of the reasons why hundreds of thousands of people have joined up with us at House Price Spy!

More on the new design as we have it, should be up early next month…

Childrens Rooms have great furniture and novelties so they can personalise their personal space a feel safe and help create individuality. Bedding, clocks, blankets, beds, rugs, wallpaper etc from kids favourite characters such as premiership football teams, Fireman Sam, Scooby Doo, The Simpsons, Power Rangers, Hannah Montana and Dora The Explorer amongst others!

Get great colourful bedding and soft furnishings from only £20 for a set.

There are loads of characters and teams to choose from from kids TV, football, cartoons to Homer Simpson!

Brighten up your kids bedrooms and playrooms with Childrens Rooms

The bank of England has left the mortgage rate unchanged for May 2008 at 5% as expected in many quarters. This is the second hold in 3 months with the trend reduction - hold -reduction - hold.

Many people expect a drop next month to combat a slow in growth in the UK economy, with 3 cuts in the rate in recent months it is fair to expect another one in June. With the US facing a full-on recession the UK legislation makers will want do everything they can to avoid joining them….

Get the announcement for June 2008 direct from the source on 5th June 2008 from the Bank Of England

More and more people are adding a home office space to their home, whether you work from home or just want a general work space for homework and paper work you need to bear in mind a few things before you spend time and money. A few golden tips are:

Think about who will use the area, you will want a different layout for the kids that you want for you and your partner.

Make the most of the space, use existing shelving and storage space to your advantage.

Dont spend you cash on office furniture for the sake of it, apart from a fold out table an a chair do you really need all that clutter? Chairs and tables should be ergonomic ( ie not put stress or strain on your bones and muscles) and fold away when you are not using them.

Lighting is all important, use a desklamp to target your desktop rather than economy overhead lighting. Natural light is great but can lead to glare on your screen position your screen correctly to avoid this, fitting blinds on home office windows if needed.

With the next Bank Of England interest rate announcement early next week the pressure will be rising for drop in rates to stave off a potential recession in the UK. During the last 5 years house prices have risen by over 50% which is almost 7x average salery! Mortgage approvals have dropped to their lowest ever level and recent drops in the lending rate have not been passed onto clients leaving the market fragile.

The constant media attention and Northern Rock have taken their toll on consumer confidence and left it low, The Bank of England have now compounded matters by saying that prices may fall by up to 30% and stay at those levels.

Now is not the time to buy property in anything less than a surefire area, buy to let is out the door and property abroad forget about it! or so they would have you think…if you have enough credit or equity it may be a great time to move in the months to come and get a bargain! Forget the Credit Crunch!!

Get details on the next mortgage rate change direct from the Bank of England.