Reynolds Properties

If you need to free up some cash quickly and you own your own property, you have several options available to you. The first and most popular option is to remortgage your home – this is essentially taking out a loan against part of the value of your home which you pay back over a number of years while retaining ownership of your property.

Another option if you are looking to sell or require a larger amount, is to find a company that buys houses fast for cash. These companies won’t offer you the highest amount for your property but they will potentially offer you the fastest way to get your hands on a large amount of money. This is a great option if you are moving house and your buyer pulls out and you want to stay in a chain, or if you need finances for unexpected fees such as funding a care home or large medical bills.

Equity release is another option, this allows you to cash in a part of the value of your house while still being able to legally live there. There are many reasons that people choose to do this, some of which will be covered in this article. There are also a few different ways you can go about releasing the equity on your home – we will also go through these and make sure that you are fully understanding of what this means and what rights you will have.

Knowing all of the facts before you make any final decision will stop you from being scammed or losing out on money that you could otherwise have.

As a quick introduction, equity is the difference between the current market value of the property, and the amount the owner still owes on the mortgage. The part of the house which is mortgaged is technically owned by the bank, until the owner has paid back the mortgage. Equity release involves making this difference available to the owner (either all or part of the equity) so they can make use of the cash. However, this money will be added on to the amount that they then owe to the bank – essentially becoming a new part of the mortgage.

Many people choose to release their equity for a number of reasons. One of the most common reasons is that people often need some money to do home repairs. Many people find that if damage is caused to the house that their insurance won’t cover then they can use their equity to help pay to repair this damage. Another common reason to release equity is when two home owners are splitting up the property due to divorce or separation. By releasing the equity, then the two home owners may have enough money for a deposit on another property, and they can then split up the remains onto separate mortgages.…

When you come to sell a home, of course a lot is riding on the quality of the photos you include with the listing. This is true whether the property will be listed exclusively online, in a brochure or even in the window of your estate agent’s offices.

Surprisingly, many people still fail to understand the basics of taking great pictures of a property you’re intending to sell. Here are a few tips to bear in mind when you get to the stage of taking photos of your property.

1) Remember this could make or break a deal

The number one rule here has to be to not forget how important these pictures are. So many sellers treat them as an afterthought, perhaps because they known their own property well and fail to put themselves in the shoes of a potential buyer. Viewers do not know what your home looks like and they’re relying on these pictures to tell them where to invest tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds.

2) Be comprehensive

If you only include photos of two or three rooms when you’re trying to sell a large house, it’s going to come across as lazy at best, and very suspicious at worst. It may appear that you have something to hide by not showing off every room in the house. Try to include as many rooms as possible.

3) Tidy up beforehand

Is this point too obvious? Take a look at some of the listings in your local area, and we can guarantee you’ll spot some examples where the seller would have made more of an effort to spruce the place up before taking their promotional photos. Clutter makes it hard for your viewers to imagine themselves moving in, and generally looks unattractive.

4) Get the light right

Another common problem with property photos is that they come out way too dark. The flash on your camera will often produce overly harsh light, so this isn’t an ideal solution. Unless your property benefits from great natural lighting, turning on as many lights as possible is usually an easy solution.

5) Use a real camera

Smartphones are getting better and better cameras all the time, but most will still struggle to take professional-standard photos indoors with limited lighting. A professional DSLR camera will typically produce much better results, as long as the photographer knows how to handle it.…

Unfortunately for buyers, the power in the current UK property market still remains with sellers. Due to high demand, they have free reign to pull out of your agreement at the last minute if something better comes along, which can be very frustrating and often seems unfair. Here we outline a few areas that you might be feeling anxious about, and provide some advice on getting the best possible outcome.

Firstly, gazumping is a major issue in the UK and has been for some time, although the situation has improved a little on the whole. It basically refers to being outbid on a property by a rival buyer, even though you have already agreed and confirmed a deal with the seller. In England and Wales, this breach of an agreement does not actually constitute a violation of the law, although in Scotland that’s not the case and you can actually file a lawsuit against the seller.

Whilst this practice seems immoral and can be exhausting, bear in mind the following tips to help you avoid getting into the same situation:

• If you move fast, there’s less chance of being outbid, so get your mortgage arrangements done ASAP.
• Make sure your offer is actually fair to minimise the chance of the seller actively looking for better offers.
• Ensure the property is taken off the market as soon as possible once your sale has been agreed formally.
• Agents do not want this to happen, because it will negatively affect their reputation. You can work with them to try and make sure you don’t get gazumped.

Sellers may also change their mind about selling because they decide they want to keep the property for themselves. Sometimes if the market starts to pick up and there’s a good chance of the home’s value increasing within the coming months, sellers will decide to keep their investment and wait for the price to become inflated.

Upcoming changes in legislation could also influence a seller’s decision to put their sale on hold, if they stand to gain something financially from waiting. Another possibility is that the seller’s property chain collapses due to a problem further along the line, and unfortunately this tends to have a knock-on effect.

The bad news is that in any of these situations there is very little you can do. Once you have agreed a sale you are committed to buying it and you will probably incur some costs in the process of preparing to move, but if the seller does abandon the transaction you are not offered any legal protection. That is unless you have evidence that the reason for the cancelled sale was actually based on some form of discrimination against you, and in this situation you should consult with professionals for legal advice.…