House Price Spy Blog

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

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 current property climate you still have choices…Avoiding the credit crunch can be as simple as considering a few options:

Consider an interest only mortgage, if you buy in the right area your property will gain value every year.

Move further afield, more and more people are commuting further to get on the property ladder.

Consider joint ownership with parents, friends or a partner etc

Get Government help, the LIFT scheme offers first time buyers assistance to get on the property ladder.

Invest your deposit and wait for better conditions. There are non-risk investments where you could appreciate your thousands better than property.

Take a longer mortgage, for 25 years plus. That does not mean you have to be locked in for longer or stay in one place for that duration.

The total number of approved mortgages have fallen by a third on the same time last year to just over 43,000. The drop in demand for the housing market coupled with stringent rules on how much and under what circumstances mortgages can be given has seen less people take the plunge compared with February 2007.

However the number of re-mortgages increased by 5.5% from last year with over 72,0000 customers re-mortgage for better deals on their mortgage.

The numbers come from the BBA The British Banking and Financial Services Association.

Joint Mortgages are becoming a more and more popular type of mortgage with many young couples not wanting to commit on their own and not wanting to get married formally. If you are living together but are not married then you will need to formalise any property agreement to prevent any acrimony later.

There are a few things you should be aware of regarding Joint Mortgages:

Have a Deed Of Sale drawn up that has a power of sale. This will prevent one side of the partnership blocking the sale.

Have Wills drawn up for each partner. This will indicate what happens to the other partners share should you die.

Decide What Percentage each partner gets. Is the property to be owned 50:50 or does one partner have a larger share. Are they going to make identical payments for identical durations?

Property Deeds ensure that both names are placed on the property deeds.

Garden Bliss are an outdoor living and lifestyle site with products such as our door eating products, out door lighting, outdoor heating and gardening products.

Garden Bliss is the best way to make the most of your garden and the upcoming summer months where you will want to eat, play and generally hang out in the great outdoors.

For barbeques, parties, gardening or entertaining Garden Bliss.

Get your garden sorted for the upcoming summer at Garden Bliss!!!!

Happy New Year to all readers of the House Price Spy Blog and members of the main site!!! It’s back to the real world and paying the mortgage after enjoying some well deserved(ish) time of from your work worries! The Bank of England will announce the new rate of interest on the 10th, more on that it comes (could we be in for another drop? or was the drop before Christmas just a ploy by the Government to get us to spend spend spend at Christmas?)

A cheap and popular way to brighten up your home is to get the kids involved and let them go made with colours and furnishings that they want themselves. Childrens Rooms sell bedding, lighting and soft funishings featuring characters, films, football clubs and TV characters that make them feel at home and can relate to.

Childrens Rooms stock products from the following: Premiership football teams, Disney, Lazytown, Spongbob, Postman Pat, Power Rangers, Thomas The Tank Engine, Bratz and Bob The Builder amongst others.

They have loads of products from bedside lamps, towels, bean bags, tents, curtains, rugs and blankets that will change your kids room without spending months decorating. Every product is durable and kiddy safe.

Brighten up your home and create a cool colourful home environment for your your ones with Childrens Rooms

More and more people are considering an Equity Release programme to release money locked up in the positive capital invested in their property. Living in a giant house can be less fun when you don’t have a comfortable cashflow situation. There are two basic plans you can get with pros and cons for each:

Lifetime Mortgages - A secured loan of not usually more than a third of the value of the property, interest adds up and is deducted from the value of the property when it is sold on death or when the owners move to a nursing home.

Home Reversion - A less popular option that allows the owners to get a large lump sum and the legal right to occupy a home untill death, at which time the property reverts to the lender.

Recent legislation changed the status of Home Reversion from property sale to lending and as such are now fall under more stringent regulation after claims of mis selling these plans.

Lifetime Mortgages are affected by interets rates and the rise in house prices, with a slow in the rise in house prices and lenders experiencing problems ( and subsequently passing high rates onto borrowers) these may be chosed with care. Home Reversion can result in the lender only paying 30% of the value of the property, so these need to be considered with care.

The offical regulatory and information body is Safe Home Income Plans (SHIP).

During the next year there are going to be new sister sites from House Price Spy that will be related to insurance, finance, DIY or anything else to do with the property in general.

Hopefully these will turn out to be as popular as the main House Price Spy site. They will have the same quality and functionality with quality free services and links to property related sites.

As usual I have been sworn to secrecy….however I can let you know that the first site will be an insurance related service that will be quite appealing to property owners and eveyone else!

2007 has seen House Price Spy change the way it looks and add a few new functions and bits and bobs to what we offer, hopefully 2008 will see the main site go from strength to strength. If you like House Price Spy then you are sure to love our new sites from House Price Spy!