House Price Spy Blog

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.

Remember when every mortgage advert mentioned Mortgage Repayment Holidays? While you wont get them as add-ons to your new mortgage many people are checking the small print on their loan and taking the option to have a year or even a few months out of payments at crucial times.

Mortgage lenders probably wish they had not offered these and in the current climate we have to take any opportunities we get!

Apart from Mortgage Repayment Holidays we also recommend shopping around for your mortgage and getting advice from a finance professional to give you the best advice. While it may cost you a bit it could save you thousands over the term of your mortgage.

Many people are taking longer mortgages on a fixed rate, but remember that the current problems will not last for ever and then you might regret signing up for 10 years!

So check the small your small print on your mortgage whether you could be take the pressure off with Mortgage Repayment Holidays!

The Scottish Executive are handing all first time buyers a helping hand up onto the property ladder by lending between 40% and 20% of the property value through a registered Social Landlord.

This will give much needed assistance to first time buyers who are short of a deposit or struggling to get a larger enough mortgage or are on low wages. The equity will be shared by the buyer and the Housing Association.

Whether owners will want to have part ownership of a property will remain to be seen…

The popularity of this scheme North of the border will determine whether it is expanded to the rest of the UK.

Find out more about the Scottish Supply Shared Equity Agreement Scheme

How many repossessions are the credit crunch going to cause? Of course we dont really believe all the hype the media has been trying to propagate, but with a drop in house prices comes negative equity which is where repossession comes in. While the recent developments in finance, and mortgages in particular, have tried to deal with overpriced and overvalued property paid for by over mortgaging property there are still plenty of people who face having their homes repossessed.

It goes without saying you should think twice about overmortgaging your property, not taking out remortgages without good reason, paying more than a property is worth and over stretching your finances in other areas. If you do get into trouble then the first stop should be to rationalise your finances and obviously get in touch with your lender stating what your position is. Even after repossession proceedings start you can claim the property back during negotiations between lenders and borrowers. While lenders can make money back from repossession these are bad for business so they try to keep these to a minimum. The recent developments in the US finance industry have been as a result of stricter regulation of borrowing and have led to the end of 100% mortgages and many special deals that were offered.

Buy to let borrowers can even be hit with top up payments to keep their borrowing at a certain percentage of the total value and this is pricing many out of that market