Building the BestAgent community for agents who want to raise the bar on fees, service levels and outcomes. Father, pilot, pioneer. Join https://nitter.cf/t.co/pZdT17Q6ik
United Kingdom
Joined January 2017
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Ten grand! That's a new one to me - buyers of homes need to watch out for outstanding balances owing to the council for planning permission changes.
We're the only site publicly listing Local Land Charges directly from the Land Registry like this. Because the more buyers know up front, the less chance of deals falling through at the last minute.
First-time buyers are paying for London's affordable housing.
A new Centre for Policy Studies report finds the affordable housing obligation adds £195,000 to every private flat in an inner-London scheme. That's a quarter of the price.
That doesn't argue for scrapping social housing. It shows we've outsourced it to private developers and loaded the cost onto first-time buyers.
Photo: AfroRomanzo / Pexels
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Read more 👉 bestagent.co.uk/first-time-b…
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Government policy is the root cause of unaffordable housing - who knew?!
Government imposed policy costs make up 57% of the clearing price of a new flat in London and 42% of a new home in the Home Counties.
Despite a big housing shortage and positive planning reforms, new home starts in England are declining from 182,000 in 2022 to under 125,000 last year.
While the macroeconomic context has worsened with build cost inflation and high interest rates, the Government is imposing more burdens on new homes, not fewer.
Taxes, levies, planning, and mandates add over £440,000 to the cost of delivering a home in London and nearly £225,000 nearby, with several of these imposed recently like the Second Staircase, Future Homes Standard, Building Safety Levy, Biodiversity Net Gain and Residential Property Developer Tax.
Individually these may be justified, but together they are making new homes unviable.
As a result, large developers are buying less land and small builders are going out of business; nearly 4,000 construction firms went bust just last year.
If we want to build more homes, we should be easing the burdens on them, not adding more.
Making housebuilding viable again is the most important issue in housing policy and my co-author, Edward Donovan, has completed excellent modelling showing how big the challenge is.
Read the full report: cps.org.uk/wp-content/upload…
And simulate what changing the policies does with Edward's modelling here: easing-the-burdens.cps.org.u…
I hope Johann gets as much “doom monger” stick as I did for saying the same. Even though he’s late to the party.
(Especially while cranking up agent subs 15%)!
Which agent will actually sell your home? Right now there's no honest way to tell. Valuations, fees and glossy brochures say very little about whether an agent gets homes sold, and how fast.
So we're building one: the BestAgent Benchmark. A simple, transparent standard for every estate agent, based on what matters most to movers: consistently getting clients' homes reliably sold within the required time frame. It won't be a league table, and it will cost agents nothing to apply.
Lovely for the photo. Less so for putting the kettle on.
"The chairs and table in the middle of the kitchen floor... sigh... might look nice on the photo but in the real world..."
The kind of honest view agents' photos leave out, but buyers can add to listings on BestAgent in the public comments for other buyers to see. (link below)
Transparency breeds transactions.
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BestAgent Update.
bestagent.co.uk/bestagent-be…
"The neighbour's possessions spill out onto the communal entrance, stairs, bannisters & windowsills" but "There is an allocated parking space which was not mentioned in the listing and is a bonus."
"The communal areas and access stairs are not good", but "The flat is great, with huge windows." The kind of balanced info agents leave out, but buyers can add to the description of listings on BestAgent in the public comments for other buyers to see. (link below) Transparency breeds transactions.
"The photos were taken a long time ago" but "The garden is LOVELY, completely different with patio and lawn."
"A lovely flat that it so much better than the photos" and "The parking in this road does not require a permit", but "it would be hard to park here." The kind of balanced info agents leave out, but buyers can add to the description of listings on BestAgent in the public comments for other buyers to see. (link below) Transparency breeds transactions.
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"Decking is bridging the damp course" but "A flat with period charm and potential."
"The composite decking needs to be removed ASAP and the building allowed to dry out" and "there are rotten floorboards in the room they are calling the living room", but "A flat with period charm and potential." The kind of balanced info agents leave out, but buyers can add to the description of listings on BestAgent in the public comments for other buyers to see. (link below) Transparency breeds transactions.
