Three Step Guide on How to Haggle in the Current Property Market

The current market is back in the doldrums and when the property market is falling, past experience tells us it's a great time to bag a bargain and buy a house at a discount that you are unlikely to get in the coming years. Here's a step by step guide on how to buy a property by haggling down the price.

1. Get your finances sorted!

The key success to securing a bargain property is to be able to buy quickly. This means you need to have either cash or as good as cash with a hefty deposit and a lender that is capable of making funds available in a few weeks, rather than the normal six weeks they take.

2. Find a legal company which can exchange quickly

The legals for buying and selling a home can take months. Much of this is down to poor conveyancing companies. So if you want to bag a bargain, it's vital to ensure you work with a legal company that can work to tight deadlines and isn't reliant on one person to do the work, in case they go sick or on holiday.

3. Understand where to get property bargains

Property bargains are secured when people are desperate to sell. There are lots of reasons why someone might sell a property at a bargain price which include:-

(a) The three 'D's -Death, Divorce and Debt

Sadly things happen in life to homeowners that force them to have to sell their property at less than it's worth. If someone dies, a partner might need to sell up as they can't afford the property anymore or they need to move nearer to friends and family. If a couple aren't getting on and divorce is the only option, not everyone can afford to stay in their family home, particularly with so many families having two working parents. Debt is a rough thing, particularly in these difficult times, so when it really bites, selling up and releasing the equity is sometimes the only option.

(b) Repossession

For a property to be repossessed, the procedure takes sometime - it can be six months or more. If the owner has been to court they will often be given/be advised to try to sell the property themselves to get the best price they can rather than have the property taken off them and sold on incurring increased fees for doing so by the lender. This can be a great source of bargains, but can be like finding a needle in a haystack, unless you are happy to hang around the courts. They are either sold through agents, to 'quick sale' companies or via local auctions.

(c) Chain falls through

If someone has sold their property and made an offer on another one, then their buyer pulls out, this can cause a chain to breakdown unless another buyer can be found at short notice, so a great time to be able to offer less than the property originally sold for - as long as you can move within a matter of weeks to replace the previous buyer.

(d) New Build Properties

Developers run businesses and businesses have targets to achieve. So at the end of the year, or even the half year, the sale of one property might mean bonuses all round for the developer's staff. This is when dropping a property's price is worthwhile. As is selling off the 'last two' properties to free up expensive site sales offices and staff.

(e) Half and Half Homes

At the moment, buyers are making offers on properties which are either pristine and ready to move into or a wreck which needs a lot of work (new kitchen and bathroom, re-decorating). Half and half homes which are partly pristine and partly a wreck therefore just aren't selling, so after a long time waiting for a buyer, vendor's are more likely to drop their price. These properties can take a while to secure at a bargain though, as it often takes vendors more than six months to realise they aren't going to get the price they had hoped.

(f) Properties needing substantial work

Many people want to do a up a property, but that doesn't really mean they want to get their hands dirty. Most 'do-er uppers' are really looking for somewhere they can move into then upgrade the decoration and put in a new kitchen and bathroom. The real bargains come when a property needs gutting - or already has been, if it's been fire damaged, wrecked by previous owners. So less buyers trying to compete to buy these properties means you are more likely to 'bag a bargain'.

(g) Properties with 'undesirable' neighbours

Most properties are sold when they sit next to another property or overlook lots of beautiful countryside. Those though that have a pylon in the back garden, front onto a busy road (although less so in city centres), next to schools, or a dilapidated property, tend to sell for a lot less than those in a better location. In a falling market these are the toughest properties to shift, so you can make pretty low offers and if the vendors can still move on, your offer may well get accepted.

So if you want to haggle to bag a bargain in the property market, it's essential to sort out your finances, sign up a proactive legal company and find properties where vendors are likely to be 'motivated sellers' and let you have the property for less than they would when the property market is buoyant.

What Do I Do If My Tenant Stops Paying the Rent?

Unfortunately, during a recession more and more tenants will struggle to pay their rent, especially because of the rise in unemployment. As a result, a previously perfectly good tenant may end up being a poor paying one within a matter of months.

Here are our top ten tips of what to do if your tenant stops paying rent:-

1.    Check the tenancy agreement and identify the key steps you can/need to take when a tenant stops paying the rent.

2.    If you have a letting agent acting on your behalf, ideally visit them (or via phone) and agree a strategy of what you/they are going to do and when. 

3.    Check your Landlord Insurance Policy to see if you are covered for a tenant defaulting on payment.

4.    Immediately contact the tenant via phone or visit (ensuring you give notice as per your agreement if visiting).

5.    Find out why the tenant hasn't paid and set a deadline for the tenant to pay the monies.

6.    If there is a guarantor, advise in writing and by phone that the tenant has defaulted.

7.    Identify whether the tenant isn't paying because of a short term problem or whether they won't be able to pay on-going.

8.    If you need to evict the tenant, speak to them to see if they will leave the property so you can re-let the property to a paying tenant (but ensure you abide by the rules laid out in the rental agreement).

9.    If required, start eviction procedures according to the tenancy agreement which includes a Section 8 Notice that advises the tenant they have 14 days to pay the rent.

10.    If the tenant doesn't make good on their payments within the 14 days, issue a Section 21 Notice which gives two months' notice to the tenant that you are ending the agreement.

Although the legal process can be frustrating and take from two to three months, it's important to make sure you follow the procedure to evict a tenant laid out in your tenancy agreement. Only a court can conclude that the tenant must leave your property and only bailiffs, sometimes supported by the police can ensure that the tenant leaves.

If you try to evict the tenant in any way and do so against the legal proceedings set out in the tenancy agreement, you could actually forfeit your right to be able to evict the tenant, so it's not worth the risk!

Struggling to Pay the Rent?

A report issued by MoneySupermarket this month revealed that one in four people are using over 40 percent of their income to pay off their debts which is quite a worrying figure.

High rent costs added to a lack of disposable income has lead to many people requiring debt help and advice on how to manage their finances.

Debt levels are increasing as more people are struggling to keep their heads above water, often borrowing from one credit card to pay another or taking out a debt consolidation loan and finding that instead of reducing their debt, they've added to it - and at a higher interest rate!

One useful tool available is the debt calculator which can give you an idea of what income you receive, what is paid to your priority outgoings and what disposable income you have left - otherwise known as a budget. A budget is key to ensuring that your finances stay on track.

If you find you don't have enough money left to pay your rent because of making payments to your debts, you need to consider some of the debt solutions available.

1) Debt Consolidation - a likely option which could help if you have several debts and you would like to consolidate it into one payment. However, be mindful of the interest rates and the term of the loan. It is likely you will increase your debt (instead of paying it down) and higher loan amounts are usually only available to homeowners via a secured loan which means that your house is at risk should you fail to keep up the repayments.

2) Debt Management - helpful if you are struggling with unsecured debt and cannot afford to make your payments. There are many debt help solutions available and debt management is a flexible one. It allows you to consolidate your debts and make one affordable monthly payment into a debt management plan; those payments will then be made to your creditors.

3) IVA - appropriate for people with higher debt levels which exceed £15,000. It is a legally binding arrangement between you and your creditors which usually lasts for a five year term. If you are a homeowner and have equity in your property, you may be asked to introduce a sum of money into the IVA in lieu of equity (usually done by remortgaging).

4) Bankruptcy - often done as a last resort for those struggling with debt and is usually for people who have no disposable income and no assets.

Above are just a brief overview of the debt help and debt advice/solutions available. The list is not comprehensive and there are benefits and downfalls of each solution which would need to be carefully explained to you by a qualified debt advisor.

Your priority bills must come first before you look at your outgoings for your debts. Priority bills mean items such as:

- rent/mortgage
- gas/electric/water
- council tax
- insurances
- car insurance
- food/toiletries

In other words, your priority bills are the items which keep the roof over your head and allow you to have a certain standard of living.

Once you have a budget in place by using the debt calculator, you'll know exactly how much you should set aside for your household items and how much you have left to pay down your debt.

If I Go Bankrupt But Have Equity in My Property Can I Keep My House?

If you are a homeowner and thinking about bankruptcy you need to understand whether or not your house is at risk. We investigate how you can keep you house if you declare bankruptcy.

As a home owner, declaring yourself bankrupt does not necessarily mean that you will lose your house. However, you need to understand what will happen to your property after you are bankrupt. Some new rules were introduced at the beginning of 2011 which make the situation much clearer.

Negative equity

If your property is in negative equity at the time you go bankrupt the risk that you will lose your property is generally very low. The argument is that no value can be raised from your property to help repay your creditors.

Unless the official receiver has reason to believe that the value of your property is likely to rise significantly in the near future, then you will be allowed to simply buy back your interest in the property from the receiver for a nominal sum.

The nominal sum required will normally be one pound plus costs so could come to around £150. You should make the offer to buy back your interest immediately after you have been declared bankrupt so that you do not forget to do so.

Minimal positive equity

If there is positive equity in your property, but this is minimal. Again the risk that you will lose your home is low.

If the equity is minimal such that it would not be worth trying to sell the property to release the equity, you can buy back your your property. However, the amount you pay must be the same amount as the value of the equity. If the value of the equity is £1500, you will need to raise £1500 possibly from a friend or family member to buy your property back.

If you cannot afford to do this the official receiver is allowed to keep ownership of your property for up to 2 years and 3 months.

During this time you can make an offer to buy back your title. However, if you have not done so, after two years and three months the property must be revalued.

What if house prices change?

If after two years and three months, the equity in your property has remained the same or fallen and is less than £1000, the property is simply returned to you.

If the equity is more than £1000, then you have the option of buying it back by paying a sum equal to the value of the equity. If you cannot afford to do this and the amount of equity in the property is not significant, the official receiver will give it back to you but put a charge against it for the value of the equity.

In today's housing market the possibility of the value of your home rising significantly is generally low. However, it is important to understand that if the value of your house does rise and the equity increases considerably, the official receiver has the option to force the sale of the house to release the equity rather than putting a charge on it and returning it to you.

Significant positive equity

The highest risk that you will lose your property if you are declared bankrupt is if there is significant equity in it.

To understand "significant equity" you need to consider whether after the cost of selling your home, there would still be a sensible amount of equity left over which the official receiver could use to repay your creditors.

If the answer to this is yes, then unless a friend or family member can buy out your equity on your behalf, the risk is high that the official receiver will try to force the sale of your house.

You may well be given some time to find alternative reasonable accommodation. However, even if you are supporting a family who live with you, the OR can still force the sale of the property.

Joint ownership

When calculating the equity in your home, you need to take account of anyone who has joint ownership of the property.

If there is a joint owner, then generally speaking any equity in the property is split fifty fifty.

If you are declared bankrupt, 50 percent of the equity in the property is the joint owner's. Only your half of the equity is considered by the official receiver when deciding how the property should be dealt with.

Know where you stand

If you are considering bankruptcy but you are a home owner, it is very important to know where you stand concerning your property.

Unless you are sure that your home is in negative equity, it is normally sensible to get your property valued before going down the bankruptcy route. You can then plan how you will deal with any equity and there will be no nasty surprises. The valuation will also come in extremely useful when speaking to the official receiver and making an offer to buy back any equity that you have.

Related bankruptcy articles

If you are interested in reading more news and expert articles about bankruptcy, please click on the following link: http://www.beatmydebt.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=51

What to do next? If you are struggling with debt, visit beatmydebt.com. Our experts are available to speak to you about your debt problem and offer advice and solutions. Our vibrant online debt forum gives free access to experienced industry experts and others who have suffered with debt problems.

Useful guides, calculators and information are also available designed to help you understand how to manage and resolve debt problems.

Top Reasons to Work with Cash Buyers in Wolverhampton

The worsening economic crises the world over are casting their adverse effect on property transactions and United Kingdom is no exception to it. The sellers find it extremely difficult to find suitable buyers to their property and the buyers too are sailing in the same boat.

The sellers find it extremely hard to wriggle out of the financial tangles at moments with limited scope of selling their homes or properties. There are situations when the sellers are keen to sell their homes or properties to meet their very urgent financial needs like:

- Avoiding repossession of their homes on account of non payment of their liabilities and credits of their mortgage banks and are sometimes faced with possible eviction notices from the banks. Selling their homes or properties is the only available alternative to them. The dearth of suitable buyers to their properties is a huge problem.

- Meeting other liabilities like settlement of divorce claims, meeting illness expense of family members, migrating or relocating issues are some of the situations which people often face. The inability to find suitable buyers is a nightmare.

In such a scenario when sellers are hard pressed to find a suitable buyer and on the other hand the buyers find it difficult to locate a good property or a prospective seller. Cash buyers offer solutions which could be of great for the seller. They offer expert services in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom like any other place in United Kingdom.

In a property deal the sellers are always on the lookout for good buyers which include cash buyers and the buyers are always keen to get good houses or properties at a fair deal. Both are correct and fair from their respective viewpoints.

Cash buyers and buyers in general

Cash buyers are those buyers who have enough surplus cash. They are capable of closing a deal fast with no hassles and minimum fuss. They are most preferred class of buyers and are the favoured ones among the sellers despite the fact that they pay less for the deal.

Other class of buyers are the ones who maybe paying more for the deal but have limited financial resources. They depend largely on mortgage loans from banks. The liquidity crunch is their shortcoming. They take considerable time in closing the deal and the seller remains in a state of uncertainty all the time.

The liability of the seller keeps on increasing and he is required to continue making expenses for maintenance and upkeep of his property.

It is simply for these reasons that the seller prefers cash buyers.

So to expedite property sales in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom popular cash buyers offer solutions to strike a deal fast. Do not hesitate to approach them when you need their help.