Harrogate house prices buoyant, says property expert Kempston Parkes

This story is sponsored by Kempston Parkes.

House prices may plummet elsewhere, but in Harrogate they’ll remain buoyant, the town’s foremost chartered surveyor has said. 

Andrew Kempston-Parkes was speaking as one of the biggest national lenders, Nationwide, revealed that UK house prices fell for the fifth consecutive month in January. He said: 

“I’ve seen four booms and crashes in my career, and what I know about Harrogate is that when that happens, we’re affected the least.

“Harrogate gets back to its highest values quicker than anywhere outside London. We’re very resilient. 

“There might be a contraction across England and Wales over the next 12 months, but it will be relatively shallow, at just 2 to 3%, and here there’ll be no contraction at all.” 

Nationwide also warned that “strong economic headwinds” made it unlikely that sales figures would improve soon, meaning it would be “hard for the market to regain much momentum in the near term”. 

Mr Kempston-Parkes, who has more than 25 years’ experience in the property industry, said other market indicators told a different story:

“If they were concerned, they wouldn’t be offering 95% loan-to-value mortgages.” 

January’s Rightmove data, for example, showed a slight increase in house prices nationally, and lending institutions have done little to tighten availability of loans. 

Several factors weigh in Harrogate’s favour according to Mr Kempston-Parkes, including its proximity to Leeds and York, its high levels of employment, the clean environment, good schools, and even custom from the American base at Menwith Hill. He said:  

“Harrogate and its environs are still a destination place – people come to live in a spa town in a rural area. Communications are excellent – there are six trains a day to King’s Cross. 

“I had a client just yesterday from London who is moving up here to work from home three times a week and stay a couple of nights in London. There are still a lot of people wanting to live here. Half our clients are from outside the town. 

“My experience tells me that if there’s any correction here it’ll be mild and we’ll recover more quickly and better than anywhere else. The property market will remain strong.” 

Mr Kempston-Parkes earned his professional qualifications form the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in 1997, and founded Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors in 2011. It now employs 14 people from its offices in central Harrogate. 

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Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors provide surveys and valuations for all purposes, including purchase, inheritance tax, capital gains tax, matrimonial assessments, boundary disputes and Land Registry plans. 


For more information, go to www.kempston-parkes.co.uk, or for a confidential conversation about your requirements, call 01423 789111.

 

Property Gold: What are you really paying an agent for?

Property Gold is a monthly column written by independent bespoke property consultant, Alex Goldstein. With more than 17 years’ experience, Alex helps his clients to buy and sell residential property in some of the most desirable locations in Yorkshire and beyond. This month, Alex explains what an estate agent is really paid for.

 

 

The sceptics out there will say this sounds like an oxymoron; however it has never been more important to have a rock solid agent that is correctly remunerated to keep their motivation.

Let’s be clear about something – getting your property on to the market with high quality photographs, floorplans, brochure and web entries is easy. You do not need to be the best agent to do this.

Matters then step up a gear when it comes to viewings and the general administration of your sale. Again, you do not need to be a great agent for this.

So where then does your estate agent commission go and what are you actually paying for? The answer lies with once you have found a buyer, or you think you have found a buyer.

Current property law means that a buyer or seller can withdraw from a transaction at any point up until the point of exchange, without any financial penalties or otherwise. It is therefore vital to keep the time between Under Offer and Exchange as tight as possible, whilst ensuring you are agreeing terms with a reliable party.

Importantly, do remember that getting the best offer from a buyer doesn’t necessarily mean running with the person who puts forward the most amount of money. One has to weigh this up with the reliability and security of the buyer – in other words, will we transact with this buyer or not?

An experienced agent will instinctively know the tell-tale signs if a buyer is serious, get the most money from them without pushing too far and losing them, ensure the foundations of their offer are robust, plus know where the monies are coming from and the situation behind the façade.

Whilst the Yorkshire market continues to charge along for the time being, getting from Under Offer to Exchange of Contracts remains incredibly demanding – arguably the most difficult I have known it in 19 years.

One of the main reasons for this is the length of time everything takes. Keeping the attention of buyers and sellers during this time, whilst pushing conveyancing solicitors and the several other associated professionals in the right direction, plus keeping timeframes to an absolute minimum in order to reach Exchange is a tall order.

If the sale falls through, then it is the buyer and seller who pick up the pieces. The extra often notional amount of money on agents’ fees, will mean that your transaction gets over the line first time and on time.

Your agent needs to have the time, experience, detective skills, relentless persistence and clout in order to see transactions through. After all, going Under Offer is only step one.

If you have any comments or questions for Alex, please feel free to contact him on alex@alexgoldstein.co.uk.

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Property Gold: Playing the agency game

Property Gold is a monthly column written by independent bespoke property consultant, Alex Goldstein. With more than 17 years’ experience, Alex helps his clients to buy and sell residential property in some of the most desirable locations in Yorkshire and beyond. 

This month, Alex discusses the pros and cons of instructing more than one estate agent. 

 

Two heads are better than one, but in estate agency terms this isn’t necessarily the case when it comes to instructing agents.

Some vendors feel that by instructing two (indeed sometimes more), they think that they will have greater exposure in the market and more likely to sell for a premium. However, unless this is done under the right circumstances, in the right way and with great care, having two or more agents working for you can be counterproductive. Not only could you run the risk of appearing desperate to sell, but agents behind the scenes could be arguing about who found the buyer and not necessarily working in your best interests.

So under what circumstances should one instruct another agent(s) and how do you play the game?

Sole agency is as it sounds. One agent working on your behalf and for straightforward sales, usually the best route.

The polar opposite is multiple agency, where two or more agents are instructed, but only the winner gets the fee. This route is not worthwhile and actually dilutes your sale efforts, as agents will see the risks versus reward as too high and won’t bother selling your home!

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The middle option can be used if your sale is losing that original sparkle. To beef up your marketing, create a ‘marketing spike’ or just to get the original sole agent re-energised, instructing a joint agent could be worthwhile… but proceed with care.

Critically the new agent must be very different from the original agent, so that they fill in any gaps that may have been missed. The downside with two agents is that there is a higher commission rate, yet this needs to be balanced with what you could gain on sale proceeds.

Now here’s the tricky bit – how does one split the commission between joint agents? Yes 50/50 can work and both agents then collaborate and work together for you, the client. However in some circumstances it is worth weighting this towards the winning agent.

An extreme example of this I did recently, where a vendor asked me to get their original agent back on track, but they didn’t wish to disinstruct them given the work they had put in thus far. I brought in a joint agent, but specifically chose them as I knew both agents had a major personality clash and there was fierce rivalry.

I then weighted the fee 80/20 to significantly up the ante. The new agent aggressively went about their new instruction to prove a point and the original agent had a serious wake-up call. Needless to say we got a great result and the new agent won.

Instructing a joint agent can be useful to rejuvenate your sale, however it must be used with caution and done in the right way, otherwise you could be up in a worse position than when you started!

If you have any comments or questions for Alex, please feel free to contact him on alex@alexgoldstein.co.uk

 

Property Gold: The hidden time options when selling your home

Property Gold is a monthly column written by independent bespoke property consultant, Alex Goldstein. With over 17 years’ experience, Alex helps his clients to buy and sell residential property in some of the most desirable locations in Yorkshire and beyond. 

This week Alex looks at how you can control the sale of your property if you haven’t yet found your new home. 

 

Time. It is one of the most important factors when trying to buy or sell your home. More often than not, matters do not move at the pace you want. Don’t even get me started on local authority searches and mortgage lenders!

One of the most regular obstacles I come across is when vendors are unsure about selling their home, as they haven’t found a property they wish to move to. Their default thinking tends to be that they will be kicked out on to the streets by their buyer, before they are ready. This is not the case.

Putting transactions together on the right basis is key and there are some lesser known options that sellers (and indeed buyers) need to have up their sleeves when negotiating. Just how do you build in extra time into a transaction and still be in control of it, whilst keeping both sides happy?

Yes going into rented is the ‘go to’ option, however try looking at AirBnB. Many landlords have lost income during the restrictions and therefore if you wish to secure their property for a period of time, have the freedom to pick your own dates and at more favourable market rates, this could be an answer.

The other known strategy is to exchange and then delay completion by a several months, however, suggest completion ‘if not earlier by prior mutual agreement’. This means that both buyer and seller can make completion earlier, should they require, however neither side can go beyond the backstop date.

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The lesser known angles and which are also win-win scenarios for both sides are:

Licence back agreements. This is where the property exchanges and completes, however the ‘former owner’ then rents the property back from the incoming buyer at more favourable rates. This means the vendor can stay in-situ in their home, has more time to find their next home and most importantly are in a top buying position. In contrast, the new owner has secured the property and has a reliable tenant already there.

An alternative angle is that once a seller has found a buyer, is to issue the memorandum of sale to all parties. However you then ask the solicitors to stop working on their respective files. This gives the buyer reassurance that you are taking their offer seriously and means that the vendor is instantly put into a proceedable position, as they can prove their property is now Under Offer.

Yes these options can prove to be useful to break impasses, however they can only be deployed when you know what the buyer and seller are trying to achieve. Indeed I have done transactions where I have used a number of these options all together. The key is to find that key middle ground and think laterally.

Property Gold: why I’d never buy a PLC New Home

Property Gold is a monthly column written by independent bespoke property consultant, Alex Goldstein. With over 17 years’ experience, Alex helps his clients to buy and sell residential property in some of the most desirable locations in Yorkshire and beyond. 

This week Alex highlights some of the problems with New Homes sold by Private Listed Companies – and why he would never buy one. 

 

Apples – sometimes you bite into one and what lies beneath the pristine surface, is nothing but a floury, rotten core. You could say this is like buying a new build home from a PLC developer (i.e. one who is listed on the stock exchange), where their sprawling mass-volume schemes continue to plague Yorkshire. But what exactly is my issue with them and why would I never buy one?

Let’s start with one of my biggest issues – build quality. There are consistent reports in the media about sub-standard practices and corners being cut – all with the sole aim of maximising profit margins. PLC developers are not charities and are there to support their shareholders and to maintain stock position. PLC developers usually want 25-30% profit margin on each unit they sell, but they still need to install the glamorous kitchens and bathrooms as buyers can see and touch these. Therefore areas can be overlooked on items one can’t see behind the scenes such as cavity wall insulation, fire barriers, plumbing, wiring, roofing etc to get the profit. It’s not exactly ethical.

Many buyers then say, don’t worry we have all the guarantees and warranties, so we’re covered if something goes wrong. Well I would turn this around and ask – have you actually tried to make a claim on said warranty? Good luck!

It’s all about secondary and tertiary locations – after all, the only land available for the size of schemes that PLC developers want, lie on the outer fringes of already existing conurbations. So where is the upside when property is all about location? Lack of supporting infrastructure, traffic problems, shortage of school places and GP surgeries – the list goes on.

In these uninspiring, soulless Stepford streets, one can rarely add value as the developer has already maxed out the angles so their profit is amplified. In addition, buyers seem to sleepwalk into paying an excessively high price from the outset due to the glossy marketing and commission hungry sales staff. Therefore new owners are solely relying on the market to increase their home’s value during their time in ownership. So what happens if the market doesn’t go up and/or you fall into negative equity?

With the continued decline of the High Street, isn’t it about time we reinvigorated these areas. I firmly believe there is no need to build on open green space. Instead the Government needs to incentivise PLC developers to refurbish what we have and to help bring communities back together.

In conclusion, I did a quick straw poll of 20 estate agents and solicitors that I work alongside. Not a single one owned a PLC new home. And that’s all you need to know.

If you have any comments or questions for Alex, please feel free to contact him on alex@alexgoldstein.co.uk. 

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