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Archive for July, 2011

Holiday period not the time to dispense with insurance

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

With the holiday season well and true upon us many people will be relaxing for the first time in many months and looking forward to a fortnight by the sea in some foreign clime. They won’t be thinking too much about affordable home insurance quotes, personal possessions insurance or even travel insurance, but they should.

Most people feeling the pinch

It is without doubt that many homeowners and holiday makers have had a troubled financial year. The austerity measures brought in by the incumbent Government have affected almost everyone. Even those lucky enough to have held on to their livelihoods have still encountered hugely inflated energy bills, unbelievably expensive fuel charges and motor and home insurance quotations that frankly shock!

Wrong Decision?

It is against this backdrop that many families have squirrelled money away to pay for their holidays, and there is no doubt that some will have decided to forego insurance protection to ensure the family gets a holiday. It is a decision that some will sympathise with but it could be oh so costly.

EHIC not a solution

UK residents travelling to European countries such as Spain, France and Germany may well believe they are covered by the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) scheme, and to a certain extent they are. They will get cheap basic health care in any of the mainstream European countries; however, it is not travel insurance. It will not pay out if you miss your ferry, lose your luggage or break down in your car. It is handy but it is most certainly not travel insurance.

Personal possession a must

The same applies to personal possession insurance. For around £25 extra on a household insurance policy you can insure your valuables whilst you are away from home. Your laptop is another thing not covered by the EHIC, it may not even be covered by your travel insurance, but it will be covered by personal possession insurance, and so will be gold watches, mobile phones and anything else of value you take away with you.

Not worth the risk

A holiday is great tonic for hard working families; it is a time when they can relax and have fun together, unfortunately it is also a time when accidents happen. When we relax we are off our guard, this applies not only to our possessions but to our own personal safety it would be a shame to spoil a well earned break for the comparative cheapness of a good insurance policy.

Tags: Holidays, Homeowners, household insurance, Travel Insurance
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House price report raises a few eyebrows

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

The news this week from Zoopla that house prices are once more on the rise will come as a shock to many homeowners who have had their homes on sale for many months and despair of attracting offers anywhere near the asking price.

Out of kilter

Thousands of households across the UK are getting cheap home insurance quotations on a property they thought they would have moved out of months ago, simply because they cannot sell their home at a price that will enable them to finance their planned move. The news from Zoopla seems highly surprising when comparing it to recent reports from institutes such as the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) who noted that home loans are at record low levels and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) who reported that sales and house prices have been stalled all year and forecast more of the same for the rest of the year.

Top end of the market driving price rise

According to the report house prices on average have risen over £200 a week throughout 2011 with houses at the luxury end of the market being the main driving force. Apparently families looking to purchase new household insurance on four and five bedroom homes are prepared to pay premium prices in most regions of the UK. The reasons behind the resurgence are put down to a number of factors with low interest rates, the weakness of the UK currency attracting overseas investors, plus the inevitable effects of supply and demand being seen as the major contributors.

Big difference between asking price and sale price

The report has been greeted enthusiastically by some in the industry but not all will be immediately seduced by the promise of a new dawn. It is difficult to pinpoint whether the report is based on sale prices or asking prices and as everyone in the industry knows there is a massive difference. The London housing market is without doubt buoyant at the moment but elsewhere there is a different story to tell. Vendors new to the market have read reports of falling house prices for months on end and a conversation with anyone who has had their home up for sale at any time over the last 12 months will have confirmed their worst fears. There are not many buyers around and those that do make a bid put in an offer well below the asking price.

Phoney market

It is not all impossible that we are seeing a market where buyers are bidding low, and to compensate vendors and estate agents are inflating valuations. So we get to a point whereby house valuations are going up by the day and bid prices are going down. It creates a phoney market and impedes the selling of property. Unfortunately it is possible that the UK market has now come to this point, the next few months will probably show us what is really happening.

Tags: cheap home insurance, Council for Mortgage Lenders, Homeowners, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, Zoopla
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Green light given to massive building programme

Thursday, July 21st, 2011

As the need for good affordable housing becomes ever more pressing, the announcement by housing minister Grant Shapps that the government has released £1.8 billion to facilitate the building of new homes will be welcomed by many, especially those interested in building their own home.

20,000 homes for sale in the west

Prospective homeowners are finding mortgages difficult to come by at the moment and the announcement that the West and South West will get almost £250,000 million of the budget will delight many families in one of England’s most rural areas. Although approximately 75% of the planned 80,000 homes will be for rent and will be built by housing associations, that will still leave 20,000 homes at affordable prices for people to buy.

Agency will oversee planning

The planning will be under the auspices of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and will be ongoing for over a decade. For many young couples who thought they would never get to own a home of their own, the start of the scheme cannot come quick enough.

Self builders to be included

A portion of the money will also be set aside for people to partake in self build schemes. Minister Grant Shapps has long expressed an interest in self builds and of course for many it is the only way they will ever afford a place of their own. The Ashley Vale self build project in Bristol demonstrates what can be done by a collective of people determined to complete a project and the green, ecological standards introduced at Ashley Vale will certainly find favour with the HCA.

Ashley Vale a good example

The community at Ashley Vale is now over two years old and has come under the scrutiny of many project leaders and politicians keen to learn from the experiences and drawbacks the self builders encountered while developing their project. The main problem for the project managers was that the site was covered with a huge block of concrete that could not be disturbed. This meant all the buildings and all the utility services had to build on top of the concrete. It caused many problems and the homeowners had to arrange special homeowners insurance to take account of this. However, the buildings, many of them wooden eventually took shape and the individualism of the self builders has made the project something special.

Tags: Ashley Vale self build project, Build Your Own Home, Building New Homes, First Time Buyers, new homes
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Contrasting figures but all agree crime rate is too high

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

The continued necessity to have good home insurance was once again highlighted this week with the release of the latest batch of crime figures by the British Crime Survey (BCS).

Massive increase questioned

According to the report, based on interviews with members of the public, house burglaries in the UK went up by a massive 14% and violent crime by a disturbing 6%. Incredibly, on the same day as the figures were released by BCS, a report released by the Government based on figures collated by the various constabularies around the country showed crime had fallen in the UK by 8%. The disparity in the two reports had politicians and police chiefs arguing which set of figures were the most reliable.

Are criminals winning the battle?

It seems the disparity may be that the Home Office report accounted for crimes reported to the Police whereas the BCS report asked householders if they had suffered from criminal activity. Whatever the truth both parties accepted that the level of crime was too high and that after a decade of falling levels across the board there is a danger that criminals are once more gaining the upper hand. The BCS report suggested an increase in the overall level by about 100,000.

Hard to compensate for loss

The BCS report did show a disturbing increase in the activities of sneak thieves. The incidence of thieves nipping in to an open door or window and stealing purses, watches, mobile phones and jewellery increased by 10%. It is this type of crime that often proves to be the most distressing for householders. It is often the case that the merchandise stolen in this way is indeed covered by a home contents insurance policy, but the sentimental value of a wedding ring or a photo of loved ones in a purse or wallet just cannot be replaced.

Wait and see

With the prospect of job cuts across the constabularies of England and Wales in the coming months, homeowners across the country will be worried by the increase in house crime at a time when community “bobbies” may become a rarer site. Chief Constables accept they may have to lose up to as many as 20% of their staff, although Home Secretary Theresa May has said there is no reason why “front line policing” should suffer. It may well be we have to wait for 2012 BCS survey to be released before we know who is exactly right in this debate.

Tags: crime, Home Insurance
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Council starts work on new housing development

Monday, July 18th, 2011

Merton Council has overseen the start of an important green housing development involving the erection of timber frames homes in Mitcham, South West London. When finished, the development will transform the former school site into a landscaped park for the public along with over two-hundred new homes.

The site will be a big step in the regeneration of the area bringing 131 family homes and 86 flats which can all be protected with household insurance. Each finished home will comfortably meet the high quality design specifications and will have solar panels on the roofs to help occupants reduce utility bills. The people who move into the properties will have a new community and medical centre within walking distance and residents will also benefit from state of the art insulation methods that will keep the homes warm in winter and cool in the summer.

Merton Council’s Andrew Judge said: “We challenged Crest Nicholson Homes to come up with an exemplary housing development with a construction cost of just £60,000 per house. These efficiencies have enabled investment in renewable energy, high spec design and the provision of the new park. Our new housing development will retain a locally listed building and provide new green space and wildlife habitat. This scheme will demonstrate that affordability goes hand-in-hand with quality and excellent contemporary design. I am sure this site will serve as an example of financially and environmentally sustainable construction which other local authorities and the construction industry will want to emulate.”

The wider community will also benefit from the green development as they will be able to use the new medical centre as well as the park. Like every other council throughout the United Kingdom, Merton Council has to face the challenge of a future with less funding but higher ecological demands, this green development promises to be the first of many that is built in the borough.

Tags: Crest Nicholson Homes, household insurance, housing development, new homes
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London bucking the national trend

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

Homeowners looking to take out new home insurance on a property in London may find themselves in a gazumping war while in the rest of the country prospective purchasers can almost name their own price.

Bad news for most of the country

The contrast in the London property market compared to the rest of the country is at its widest for at least ten years and probably more. At a time when the latest Royal Institute of Chartered Accountants survey predicts that the average price of a property is dropping and will continue to drop for the foreseeable future, and accountants Price Waterhouse Cooper suggest that house prices will not get back to their 2007 level until 2020, house prices in South West London are rocketing ahead.

Foreign influence a factor

A report by Housing Experts Savills reveals that in the last 12 months the average price of a house in South West London has risen by almost 9%. The contrast is amazing and can in part be attributed to foreign investors putting their money into sound property investment to get away from the financial catastrophes happening over the sea in the Euro zone. It is indeed a strange phenomenon because in the past, residents in the Capital who have always been accustomed to high prices and big profits in the housing market have looked to invest their bonuses and spare capital on bargains in the countryside. This is not yet happening.

Double value for London property owners

One reason could be the opportunities in London are too good to miss. Tenant demand is high everywhere in the country but once again London is at the top of the table for rental achievements. It seems as though property investors are getting cheap home insurance on their properties and charging huge rents while at the same time seeing the value of their investments soar.

Bargain prices will eventually kick in

Some estate agents are predicting that areas around London will eventually start to pick up as Londoners see retirement packages beckoning. According to the Savills report, homes in the outer reaches of the commuter belt are now half a million pounds cheaper than equivalent homes inside the M25 and it is only a matter of time before the outstanding value attracts buyers back into the market.

Tags: cheap home insurance, London property market, Property owners, Savills, tenant demand
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Accountants crystal ball not promising a rosy future for homeowners

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

New research by highly respected accountancy experts Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) suggests that prospective purchasers of new home insurance should be prepared to wait a long time before the property they buy, appreciates in value.

Cloudy Weather?

According to a long range forecast by the economists at PwC they expect the housing market to stagnate over the next decade and only in 2020 will homeowners see the value of their property be equivalent to its 2007 price. For the aforementioned first time buyers, they will probably see their home drop in value over the first three years and only then start to slowly gain value. Of course long range forecasts are not always accurate!

Industry pointers concur

PwC though are fairly sure they will be right. Certainly their forecast about the next few years will find agreement with many in the industry. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) are still releasing figures that show lending to be at a depressingly low level, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) report lacklustre action on house purchases and in fact reckon that prices have still some way to fall because there are so few buyers around.

Hard decisions to be made

Although the housing market has proved notoriously fickle over the years the current situation does leave first time buyers especially, with a conundrum.

Do they throw themselves wholeheartedly into saving for a deposit on a home that once they buy will actually drop in value? At the moment deposit requirements by lenders mean any conventional couple saving for their first home together will have to make many sacrifices to raise the cash for that important down payment. They must ask themselves the question is it worth it?

Alternatively they can take out buildings and contents insurance on a rented property that will leave them with money in their pockets to spend on furnishings, décor and nights out. Of course the frustration with this course of action is that tenants can very rarely set up home exactly as they choose. Most landlords will have some restrictions on just how the property is decorated, used and who exactly lives in it.

How many will own a home in 2020?

The PwC forecast did not put a figure on the percentage of the population who would own their own home in 2020. Perhaps they did not want to push their luck too far when it comes to predicting the future.

Tags: buildings and contents insurance, deposits, housing market, Pricewaterhouse Coopers
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Homeowners look for bargains as inflation continues to rise

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

The dismal news for homeowners continued apace this week as the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium showed that food prices are still racing ahead as the headline rate of inflation hit its highest level for 30 months.

Largest increase for years

The monthly increase is the largest since 2008 and it seems as though anything that can adversely affect the price of food is happening right here and right now. The four horsemen of a modern day apocalypse seem to have been given full rein. Droughts in Russia and China have affected the grain harvests so much that China is becoming a net importer. In Australia cyclones and storms have destroyed crops, the horn of Africa is suffering yet again from drought and the worldwide increase in fuel prices is just metaphorically pouring oil on a burning fire.

Buy one get one free tops the shopping list

Back in the UK the BRC have noted that consumers are managing to keep spending under control by looking for bargains. Household costs such as home insurance and utility bills are being sourced from price comparison websites, while supermarket shopping by the savvy consumer means promotional offers are targeted for the bulk of the weekly shopping list. The BRC reckon about 40% of food purchases are now made from products on “offer”.

Down to the bare bones

Even basics such as milk, bread and sugar have risen sharply in price leaving the most vulnerable members of society with few cheap options for their shopping basket. It is at times like these that homeowners begin to cut down on products that they deemed as normal living costs but can no longer afford. Trips to the cinema, dining out and holiday bookings have all been put to one side by many families and some are still looking for other expenses they can cut away from their domestic budget.

Cancelling insurance can be a costly saving

There is no mistaking that household insurance providers are worried that households will begin to question if they can afford their current policies and will look elsewhere to see if they can procure a bargain, some are even considering not renewing their policies at all. It is a massive risk for any household to be uninsured and the news this week that many house fires have been caused by faulty fridges illustrates the point well.

Tags: Home Insurance, household insurance, Inflation
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Cool that bedroom down

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

The advent of summer is now well and truly underway. Wimbledon has passed but long hot summer nights are still something to enjoy or endure for the next couple of months.

It would be wonderful to bring the sunlight and breeze into your bedroom not only through open windows but by the use of colour. In general colours should be switched from dark to light. Sheets, bed covers and spreads should be changed to light coloured ones so that they reflect sunlight. Use of sheer curtains will soften the direct sunlight and heat and insulate the room White, light blue or light yellow walls will be refreshing, but as long as you use a light shade any colours should make the room look bright and ready for summer. Bed frames, chairs and other furniture can be repainted similarly. If you need some accent then deep yellow, orange, blue and red can be used for cushions and skirting boards. It is the type of home upgrade that can be completed without the help of a professional, if you are careful and covered by a good home insurance policy.

Get rid of the heavyweights

Materials should also be switched from heavy to light. Anything woolly, velvety or fluffy should be replaced with light and thin materials. Cotton is the ideal summer material as it soaks sweat and gives you a cool feeling. Nylon is light and water resistant and is a cheaper alternative. Linen has an exceptional coolness and freshness but is costly.

No need to lose sleep

The interior design should be kept simple with minimum furniture and decoration to create an airy, relaxed feel. Images of flowers, plants; sea, blue skies, birds and boats/yachts would be good for decoration themes. Rattan effect bed frames, chests and chairs would look pleasant and summery. You can use accessories such as baskets, glass bottles and fresh flowers, and hang pictures of your past summer holidays on the walls. There is no need to splash out on expensive items so you shouldn’t lose sleep over high home insurance costs. To ensure a good nights’ sleep on hot, humid summer nights no matter what may be worrying you, sprinkle citrus, tangy summer scents around the bed and it will be soon settle you down.

Tags: bedrooms, Home Insurance, interior decor, summer
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