Atkinson and Keene

Recent reports from the National Association of Estate Agents tell us that there are four potential buyers for every home on the market. This is based on registered buyers and of course includes all those people who like to keep an eye on the market! It remains an encouraging statistic but let's not get carried away.

These people are all registered because they see this as a great time to buy and most view this as the bottom of the market and money, if you can get hold of it, is cheap. However they share another common trait in that they are canny and will spend a long time researching prices. With information freely available on the internet they know not only what similar properties sold for but in some cases even what you paid for your home.

Many building societies have quoted house price increases over the last two months of up to 2%, however this applies to properties sold and does not apply to everyone. If for example your home is on the market for 10% above true market value, these price rises will have no effect on you except mean that you are now only 8% overpriced. (Every cloud…….).

This is a great time for people to consider moving. Prices have come down so contracting the market, which means if you are selling now at £200,000 and buying at £400,000, your net gain against 2007 prices could be as much as £50,000.

My advice is look at the whole deal, not just what you are selling for. If you do this, not only will you succeed, but I think that in a few years time you will look back and congratulate yourself that it was a great time to move and you will probably want to send me a bottle of wine for this advice. Sancerre is my favourite in case you need to know.

Before viewing a house internally most people will drive past the outside and decide from there whether it is worth a better look. You may have a home worthy of Country Life on the inside however if it looks more Exchange and Mart on the outside you may struggle to sell.

Stand across the road from your home and look at it with a viewer's eyes. Does your lawn need mowing, beds need weeding, drive need sweeping or windows need cleaning? With summer now here a trip to the garden centre for some bedding plants or a visit to the hardware store for some new house numbers could mean that with little expense and only some effort - the outside of your home could positively compliment the inside.

The last time we had a 5 year fixed rate mortgage was a long time ago, when we stretched ourselves to the max to buy our current home. The rate was 5.95% and the lender was Birmingham Midshires.

Back then, fixing for 5 years was almost unheard of, but to me, paying a little bit more and securing a payment for 5 years made all the sense in the world.

We completed our mortgage application as enthusiastically as an MP with an expense claim form. Of course, as soon as we moved… the rates came tumbling down.

Thankfully he was so preoccupied with dry rot that my husband stopped asking me "how much it would cost to get out of our stupid mortgage" after a few months.

Anyway, like anything in life, it all comes round again, and ½ way through year 2, up went the rates and we were celebrating again.

At first, I used to keep a track of how much we had lost and how much we had saved, but eventually I stopped, as it didn't seem to matter. A lot happened during those 5 years, we had 2 children, both changed jobs, the dry rot, a new roof, but even though our expenses changed, we were always able to budget as our mortgage payments didn't.

Nowadays most lenders offering 5 year fixed rates would eat 5.95% for breakfast! If we were buying the house today, we could have secured 4.64% with Alliance & Leicester. Other lenders 5 year fixed are starting to edge down as they try to attract longer term borrowers, which make more sense to lender's balance sheets than shorter terms.

So, now may just be the time to start thinking about the next 5 years, we will certainly have fewer lenders, probably a new government and who knows where the rates will be.

Royal Borough residents are reacting positively to our latest campaign. They see the benefits in these tougher times of some cash back on completion to help pay the solicitors bill, buy an essential new home item or perhaps enjoy a break away following the stresses of moving. Additionally many kind hearted residents see a real benefit particularly at the moment in helping local charities survive the recession. With award winning service, cash back and help for good causes - we think it makes the decision of which agent to use just that little bit easier.

Is it me or are our terminally depressed British media beginning to get a little positive about the property market. It has been reported that February's mortgage approvals were up to 37,900 - the highest monthly level since May 2008. Perhaps more significantly mortgage products on the market are on the up too: by the end of March there were more than 3,000 on the market - an increase of 13%. Then, most excitingly of all, came the Nationwide house price data, which showed that the average house price in March was up £3,000, or 0.9%, to £150,000. Now I for one do not believe that house prices are on the rise but I do think that we may have hit the bottom.

So is now the right time to buy? Judging by the increased interest some people seem to think so and I have to agree with them, after all if we wait till there is 100% positive proof that price's have stopped falling the likelihood is that they will be on the way back up which in turn will mean that the price you can agree today may not be achievable tomorrow.