Selling Your Property in 2015?

Spoilt for choice. When searching for a route to sale you will come across various “private-sale” sites who will charge a small fee to promote your property on their website, and any other partnered websites or property portals. Their entry-level services will be limited with a simple photograph of the property stock; some headline text, and not much more. Any partnered sites that are included will offer a small amount of extra buyer-attention individually, but when combined can command notable traffic volumes. A growing number of estate agents have taken to the digital marketplace and there are quite a few offering to market your property at a much lower fee than the traditional high street agent. They can afford to pass on this saving because they enjoy the low overheads of a digital shop front. These digital agents are likely to charge you around £400-£500 for the privilege of their expertise.  You could also consider advertising direct to property portals whom, for a fee will upload your property to their site; however the top portals will depend on agents as their core customer base and refuse individual property owners without an agent’s involvement. It may seem that agents are ‘getting in the way’ of you directly advertising your property to potential buyers but don’t forget the reason they are in business in the first place; the benefit of using an estate agent is that you get access to their knowledge of the market. They already understand the types of properties selling, at what price, and why.   Presentation, presentation, presentation. To sell your property independently you will need to do some homework. Get to studying on sites like Mouseprice and obtain some working knowledge of your local property market. You’ll need to comb through sold prices in your local newspapers, Mouseprice and Landmark Analytics for similar Properties, which are close to where you live.  Property portals will give you an idea of where agents are positioning their property stock in the market, but keep in mind that these aren't the actual final sale prices achieved; which are commonly 5-10% lower. You will need to take bright and descriptive images of your property, inside and out. Cutting corners in this area could mean your property remains unsold for weeks or months, as it is all a potential buyer has to judge your properties worth and first impressions are key. Research simple composition in photography or advice from market leaders on how to photograph your home. Applying simple research tips to this initial presentation of your property will really pay off as the enquiries start to flow in thick and fast. Also, prepare a full description of your property for uploading onto websites and portals. Include every detail of each room, from the number of electrical sockets to the styling of the window sill; and measurements of each space.

Be Safe. Be Smart If you present your property well you will have people contacting you to see more, so be prepared. Be flexible with viewing arrangements to accommodate potential buyers who will be viewing multiple properties and are likely to lose interest in yours if it’s too much hassle for them. Remember buyers often need to cancel their viewing appointments so it’s best to arrange group viewings so that cancellations don’t pose much of a problem. Obtain full details of everyone wanting to view your property and don’t allow viewings when you’re on your own, this is vitally important to your safety as you’re inviting strangers into your home. During the viewing be aware of what the buyer is looking for, the kitchen and lounge are the key rooms for most buyers and will greatly influence a buyers decision; show these rooms first.  If you want to be really strategic you can ask for honest feedback about your property to understand how you can improve things and get a better chance of a sale. After a few successful  viewings, be prepared for the ensuing offers; preparation is  important as offers will come in via email and over the phone.  When receiving a telephone offer, preparation will prevent your knee-jerk reaction sounding like “In your dreams mate” to a particularly low sounding offer. Don’t accept or reject an offer immediately, instead give yourself time to make an informed decision. Put together a checklist of information that you will require, such as Personal Details, Offer Price, Mortgage details, solicitor details, and timescales for moving.  Around 30% of sales agreed never reach completion for various reasons, so keeping a keen eye on progress will help to make sure that you are not in that category. You should be contacting solicitors, estate agents and your seller at least weekly to ensure the sale is progressing. This is the time to get pushy and ensure none of the relevant parties slack off from securing your dream! The Home-Straight. Final Checklist Seller Instructs their Solicitor Seller mortgage application submitted Survey on your property completed Seller mortgage offer issued Exchange date agreed Completion date agreed The benefits of selling through an estate agent is that they only receive payment once the sale is complete, whereas selling independently online will demand your time, attention and upfront costs to be recouped. The choice is yours; happy selling!

How to make the best bids to HCA

Webinar: Better HCA Bids with Inside Housing & Landmark Analytics

Friday 11 April – 11am – 12 noon

www.insidehousing.co.uk/hcawebinar

Inside Housing magazine is hosting a webinar that invites social housing providers to look at how to make the best possible bids for HCA funding. During the webinar, which is being run in conjunction with Landmark Analytics, speakers will also discuss how better information regarding a providers’ existing property portfolio can help underpin this process.

The rules to win HCA development funding have changed - landlords must now show they offer value for money.  During the webinar, delegates can hear from a senior HCA director on tips for great bids.  The webinar also provides an opportunity for delegates to learn how they can gather more intelligence about their existing homes and how this can ultimately help them better demonstrate their organisation’s value for money.

Speakers include:

•         Fiona MacGregor - Head of Affordable Housing at Homes and Communities Agency
•         Carole Oliver - Group Business Development Manager at Landmark Information Group
•       Phil Stephens - Development and Commercial Director at Sovereign Housing

Chaired By:       
        Martin Hilditch Acting Editor, Inside Housing

For FREE access to the webinar go to: www.insidehousing.co.uk/hcawebinar

Landmark announces senior appointments to its Financial Risk division

We are delighted to announce two significant appointments to the management team of our Financial Risk division, both of whom join from internationally quoted blue-chip corporations, to direct the planned growth and future product development strategies of the group.

Peter Stimson joins Landmark as Managing Director of the Financial Risk division, having spent over 20 years in the mortgage and financial services industry at director and senior management level.   Peter has a wealth of experience in fraud detection, Automated Valuation Modelling (AVM) and risk strategy development, all of which greatly complement the Landmark Quest, Landmark Analytics and Metropix brands that sit within Landmark’s Financial Risk division.

Prior to joining Landmark, Peter’s previous roles included UK Managing Director of CoreLogic Solutions, Head of Product Management for Platform – the intermediary lender of the Co-Operative Bank, Commercial Director of Checkmate Mortgages and Senior Vice President at Lehman Bros.

Commenting on his new role, Peter Stimson said: “I have worked in the mortgage sector for over two decades, and more recently have concentrated on supporting lenders with their fraud detection, credit risk and AVM requirements.   I am excited to bring this experience to Landmark, where I will work closely with the team to implement the next phase of the Financial Risk division’s planned growth and development programme, in conjunction with our customers in the mortgage lending, surveying and wider property sectors.”

Working alongside Peter is Andrew Stevens, who has been appointed as the new Head of Development, Financial Risk.   Andrew joins from Sage where he was the Head of ERP Research and Development for the UK, Germany and Austria and responsible for turning product portfolio strategies into reality.  Andrew is a seasoned R&D specialist having worked in enterprise architecture development since 1993.

Commenting on the appointments, Mark Milner, CEO of Landmark Information Group said: “Our Financial Risk division is going from strength-to-strength with activity levels continuing to grow. With gross mortgage lending forecasted to rise to its highest levels since 2008, we have made two significant appointments to our Financial Risk division in order to ensure our business remains fully prepared for the further increase in demand that we will experience as a result.  Both Peter and Andrew join Landmark with considerable experience of managing business growth and product development within internationally-quoted corporations; we are delighted to have them both join Landmark at what is an exciting time and period of continued growth for our business.”

Landmark Information Group launches social housing heat maps

Landmark Analytics extends property market data to provide social housing density analysis for urban or property studies

Landmark Information Group, the UK’s leading supplier of digital mapping, property and environmental risk information, has today announced the unveiling of new social housing heat maps that highlight social housing density by postcode or region, at a glance. 

Via the Landmark Analytics division, the heat maps have been launched to provide an additional layer of data insight into the concentration of social housing property, as well as view average prices, crime information and ‘£ per sqm’ heat maps. 

Managing Director, Selwyn Lim of Landmark Analytics said: “Our aim has always been to find new and innovative ways to equip our users with key property data and so today’s announcement strengthens this.  The social housing heat maps will be of interest to a wide range of different users, from social housing organisations through to developers, local authorities or urban planners who are undertaking analysis of towns, boroughs or property density in general.”

Drawn from various data sources, the social housing heat maps will provide Landmark Analytics clients with access to data from across England and Wales. This freely available new addition to the Landmark Analytics product suite provides users with an overview of where social housing properties are clustered.  Users can type in the postcode of their area of interest, and navigate their way around, viewing the distinct differences in areas, and utilising the colour-coded key on to calculate percentage rates.

The accuracy and breadth of Landmark Analytics’ property database, which is used by HMRC, and in models approved by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s, supports housing officials with verifying and maintaining the overall quality of their internal records.  The Landmark Analytics database includes a wealth of data including 90 million property images, 20 million sold price records, 18 million historic estate agency listings, 3 million floor plans, plus bedroom numbers, estimated internal area and Council Tax banding information.

In addition, Landmark Information Group provides a wealth of consultancy, data and mapping services, including simple, online GI mapping solutions that enable housing providers to instantly identify areas of risk, visualise essential business intelligence and deliver significant efficiencies and improvements.

For further information visit www.landmarkanalytics.co.uk. 

Landmark Information Group provides asset management, geocoding mapping services to Affinity Sutton

Supports the creation of visualised representations of housing provider’s property assets for improved management and operational delivery.

We have been selected by one of the largest housing providers in the UK, Affinity Sutton, to deliver a range of address verification and geocoding services that supports the management, maintenance and improvement strategies for Affinity Sutton’s portfolio of 57,000 homes.

Via the Landmark Analytics division, the housing association has been able to apply ‘door level mapping’ to all property assets contained within its data warehouse and GIS platforms, providing a highly accurate picture of all properties. The organisation’s staff can now map repairs performance, long-term voids, tenant demographics or view issues as mapped clusters, enabling Affinity Sutton to develop enhanced improvement strategies.

Julian Pimm-Smith, Head of Business Intelligence of Affinity Sutton said: “Affinity Sutton is a location-based business and the GIS visualisation of our asset and tenant information is a critical component of our Business Intelligence suite.  The ability to visualise our information down to door-level accuracy gives our Asset and Housing staff a picture of their properties and patches that a spreadsheet could not convey.  Whether we are mapping repairs performance, long-term voids or other information, the visualised data gives us the ability to better understand clustered issues and begin to develop improvement strategies.”

Adds Julian Pimm-Smith: “Our Active Asset Management performance models are incredibly complex. They cover hundreds of detailed attributes over periods of 30 years on tens of thousands of properties. The mapping of that data therefore turns huge sprawling datasets into clear drillable graphics, from the entire country, down through regions and estates, or even down to a single property and its individual financial and qualitative performance. This level of detail is essential for our operation and provides our mobile officers with the ability to access the information they need, via hand held devices, revolutionising operational delivery.”

Carole Oliver, Business Development Manager, Landmark Information Group added: “Affinity Sutton is one of the largest housing providers in the UK and we are pleased to have been able to support the team in this large scale asset management and geocoding project.  By utilising Landmark Analytics’ address verification and geocoding services, the organisation now benefits from accurate, door-level mapping of all its property assets, creating significant management efficiencies.”

Landmark Information Group provides a wealth of consultancy, data and mapping services, including simple, online GI mapping solutions that enable providers to instantly identify areas of risk, visualise essential business intelligence and deliver significant efficiencies and improvements.

For further information visit www.landmarkanalytics.co.uk or www.affinitysutton.com/en/.

Landmark provides asset management, geocoding mapping services to Affinity Sutton

Supports the creation of visualised representations of housing provider’s property assets for improved management and operational delivery

Landmark has been selected by one of the largest housing providers in the UK, Affinity Sutton, to deliver a range of address verification and geocoding services that supports the management, maintenance and improvement strategies for Affinity Sutton’s portfolio of 57,000 homes.

Via our Landmark Analytics service, the housing association has been able to apply ‘door level mapping’ to all property assets contained within its data warehouse and GIS platforms, providing a highly accurate picture of all properties. The organisation’s staff can now map repairs performance, long-term voids, tenant demographics or view issues as mapped clusters, enabling Affinity Sutton to develop enhanced improvement strategies.

Julian Pimm-Smith, Head of Business Intelligence of Affinity Sutton said: “Affinity Sutton is a location-based business and the GIS visualisation of our asset and tenant information is a critical component of our Business Intelligence suite.  The ability to visualise our information down to door-level accuracy gives our Asset and Housing staff a picture of their properties and patches that a spreadsheet could not convey.  Whether we are mapping repairs performance, long-term voids or other information, the visualised data gives us the ability to better understand clustered issues and begin to develop improvement strategies.”

Adds Julian: “Our Active Asset Management performance models are incredibly complex. They cover hundreds of detailed attributes over periods of 30 years on tens of thousands of properties. The mapping of that data therefore turns huge sprawling datasets into clear drillable graphics, from the entire country, down through regions and estates, or even down to a single property and its individual financial and qualitative performance. This level of detail is essential for our operation and provides our mobile officers with the ability to access the information they need, via hand held devices, revolutionising operational delivery.”

Carole Oliver, Business Development Manager at Landmark commented: “Affinity Sutton is one of the largest housing providers in the UK and we are pleased to have been able to support the team in this large scale asset management and geocoding project.  By utilising Landmark Analytics’ address verification and geocoding services, the organisation now benefits from accurate, door-level mapping of all its property assets, creating significant management efficiencies.”