31 Mar 2018 Author: Stephen Breen If you opened a Lifetime Individual Savings Accounts (LISA) last year, you may be aware that from 6 April 2018, your savings together with the Government bonus can be withdrawn to fund the purchase of your first home. With this date on the horizon, we look at some of […]
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Claim A Repayment Of Second Home Stamp Duty Land Tax
31 Mar 2018 Author: Stephen Breen If you’ve paid the higher Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) rates because you moved home without first selling your old home, you may be able to claim a repayment. Who can claim? You can reclaim the additional SDLT if you’re the main buyer of the property on which the […]
Priced To Sell
28 Mar 2018 Author: Stephen Breen You have made the decision, you are selling your home and moving on, now you must decide at what price you should list your property. Get this wrong and you risk your property languishing on the market for too long, get it right and you could be in your […]
Selling Your House: Tricks For A Tough Market
19 Mar 2018 Author: Stephen Breen With house prices falling and an average time of 169 days to find a buyer*, selling a property in 2018 is proving to be challenging for many. 28% of house sales will fall through according to the website Quick Move Now, leaving sellers to pick up the bill for […]
How To Keep Your Mortgage Deal If Moving Home
9 Mar 2018 Author: Stephen Breen It’s time to take the next step on the housing ladder and you’ve found your dream property. It makes perfect sense to shop around for the best mortgage deal – but have you considered keeping your current mortgage? With a host of cheap deals on the table, borrowers may […]
How Can I Release Equity From My Home?
8 Mar 2018 Author: Stephen Breen With house values soaring and 34% of households owning their homes without a mortgage (Source: English Housing Survey), it has never been more tempting to release some of that locked-up cash. Whilst properties are worth on average almost £70,000 more than they were a decade ago, homeowners in the […]
Could These Issue Affect Your Ability To Get A Mortgage?
2 Mar 2018 Author: Stephen Breen You’ve got a perfect credit history and you’ve met the lender’s earnings multiple for the property you want: so why can’t you get a mortgage? Unfortunately lenders look at far more than these basic criteria and other less obvious issues can substantially affect your ability to secure a loan. […]
New Ways Mum and Dad Can Help With Property Purchases
15 Feb 2018 Author: Stephen Breen A new wave of ‘joint borrower sole proprietor’ (JBSP) mortgage products have given parents more opportunity to help their children get a foot on the housing ladder. Parents who agree to be a joint applicant with their child can help the child to secure a larger sum, or simply […]
Pricing Your Home For A Fast Sale
14 Feb 2018 Author: Stephen Breen In today’s current climate where down-valuations are becoming commonplace, how do you price your home for a quick sale? More surveyors than ever before are offering lower valuations than expected, with some properties assessed at six or even seven figures below what a seller was hoping for. For those […]
Buying A Leasehold? Know The Law!
13 Feb 2018 Author: Stephen Breen First time buyers looking for affordable properties will often look at flats or maisonettes as a cheap way to get a foot on the housing ladder. But an understanding of the legal jargon is necessary in order to pick the genuinely good value properties from those that could be […]
New Mortgage Deals For First Time Buyers
28 Nov 2017 Author: Stephen Breen Stamp duty changes detailed in the Chancellor’s recent budget speech have led to a surge in interest from first time buyers – and lenders may be quick to see the opportunity. With banks experiencing slow sales and a renewed interest from first time buyers, brokers have suggested that this […]
Winter: The Perfect Time To Sell Your Home
27 Nov 2017 Author: Stephen Breen If you were asked in which of the seasons you should put your property on the market, winter might not be your first answer. But contrary to conventional wisdom, winter is a great time of year to sell. There is less competition, more committed buyers and it’s easy to […]
Impact Of Budget On Housing Market
24 Nov 2017 Author: Stephen Breen Housing was certainly at the centre of the latest budget announcement, with the Chancellor promising funding for house building, upping the council tax premium for empty properties and slashing stamp duty for first time buyers. House building A £44 billion housing package is proposed to increase the number of […]
Selling A Property After A Death In The Family
15 Nov 2017 Author: Stephen Breen Selling a home after a family death can be a stressful experience. Having lost a loved one, the last thing you want to do is deal with pushy estate agents, endless forms and complex jargon. To add to all that, you’ll need to clear the property ready for sale […]
Steer Clear Of This Cunning Online Payment Scam
15 Nov 2017 Author: Stephen Breen There’s always some online scam doing its rounds and most of us feel pretty confident that we’d never fall victim. However, a recent scam has caught out more than 19,000 unsuspecting people and netted fraudsters a total of £100 million in the first 6 months of the year. Many […]
What Happens If You Die Without Making A Will
14 Nov 2017 Author: Stephen Breen Just 46% of adults in Britain have a Will with more than half of the country leaving things to chance. So what happens to your assets if you don’t make this important legal document? We look at what happens if you die ‘intestate’ and the other compelling reasons why […]
Buying A New Build: What You Need To Know
6 Nov 2017 Author: Stephen Breen For many, new builds are the first rung of the housing ladder. They benefit from the Help to Buy scheme which gives you a 20% loan from the Government (40% in London), interest free for five years. For buyers who have saved the required 5% deposit, the Equity Loan […]
Protecting Your Estate From Inheritance Tax
23 Oct 2017 Author: Stephen Breen It’s likely you’ll have heard or read recently in the news that Hugh Grosvenor, the only son of the late Duke of Westminster Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, inherited the bulk of his father’s £8.6 billion estate free from inheritance tax – a feat achieved through the use of family trusts. […]
Have You Made A Living Will Yet?
12 Oct 2017 Author: Stephen Breen A Living Will – technically an ‘Advance Decision’, is a legally binding document that allows you to refuse certain life sustaining treatments should you lose mental capacity in the future. Life-sustaining treatment might include care, medicine, surgery or other help given by doctors in order to keep you alive. […]
Buying Together: Here Is What You Should Know
29 Aug 2017 Author: Stephen Breen With house prices soaring, it can be tempting to pool your savings with someone you know to get your foot on the housing ladder. Whether this is your partner, sibling, friend or spouse, we look at the implications of joint home ownership. Benefits of buying together The main benefits […]
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