Michael Knight’s Blog

Following on from my post last week about large brokers pulling out of the market due to the declining market, John Charcol have closed their Birmingham office and are starting to reduce the back office operation as well. You know things are serious when senior posts such as Technical Manager are made redundant!

Watch this space, long live the small independant broker!!

With the reduction in availablity of credit, loan sharks are looking for prey as we read this article. Loan sharks surface when those on low incomes or with poor credit histories have an emergency which they cannot cope with. For example, the washing machine may have broken down and a small amount of money is needed to pay for repairs - someone offering to lend that money for a short period can be seen to be asaviour.

They may begin by offering a small sum of money but loan sharks are not licensed and usually use extortionate interest rates and possibly intimidation or other means of enforcing the debt. Getting victims, or their friends and relatives to come forward is a key part of tackling loan sharks.

Loan sharking tends to be an unreported crime because victims can be afraid of both the money lender and getting the police or officials involved. 

The good news now is that vctims of loan sharks have an organisation to approach for help. Northampton’s Trading Standards Unit has started a service to help residents deal with unlicensed money lenders charging high interest rates. If you have problems in this area or know someone who does, why not point them in the right direction, the telephone number is 01604 707900?

Following demand from many of my clients, I have established a link with a national solicitor to write wills. I will record your requirements and wishes and then forward them to the solicitor involved in drawing up the will. A huge benefit is that you have the full protection of the Law Society whereas if you write your own, if you make a mistake, your family suffers.

Legal terminology is very precise and it is very easy to make a mistake when writing your own will. If you are going to write a will - DO IT PROPERLY!

Unlike going to see a solicitor direct however, I will see you at home at a time to suit you which means you do not have to take off work. The price for a single will is £100 plus Vat and for a double will, only £125 plus Vat. Once executed, the will is stored securely by the solicitor at no cost to you.

What have you got to lose, call me on 0845 029 1962 or contact via the website at www.bartonmortgageservices.com

People in the UK are still looking to boost the value of their homes by carrying out improvements to their properties, a new survey has indicated.

According to research conducted by Halifax, falling house prices have encouraged 28 per cent of homeowners to plan some form of improvement project to take place during the next 12 months. The study indicated that 44 per cent are hopeful that such projects will raise the value of their home by £5,000.

In addition, 12 per cent are hoping that their improvement plans will a sum between £10,000 and £25,000 to their homes.

Halifax’s Russell Galley commented: “In the current market, homeowners can inject value into their homes by undertaking the right home improvements. Carrying out work on your home can be rewarding but costly to correct if not executed properly. Where appropriate, consult the professionals and seek necessary planning permission before getting started.”

Almost one in five people are planning to do improvements that will make their homes more eco-friendly, while 35 per cent are planning to carry out improvements in their gardens.

As you can see from the above research many people are looking improve rather than move at the moment. Why not call Michael Knight to find out your best options?

As the credit crunch continues and more secondary lenders (as opposed to primary lenders such as Lloyds TSB, Nat West etc.) withdraw from the market due to fewer borrowers, is the writing on the wall for large motgage brokerages as well? With large organisations, costs are high in terms of staff, premises and advertising and with less money to go around, is this business model feasible any longer?

All of which is great news for smaller, cost-effective brokers such as Barton Mortgage Services. Without the high overheads, it is still possible to offer great levels of personal service and the best of deals from the whole of the market. A business model based on client retention and recommendation is far better based to weather the financial storms.

Let me know what you think - all comments welcomed.

It is now a requirement in England that prior to putting your property up for sale you need to have a Home Information Pack (HIP) in place. The pack brings together valuable information at the start of the process - such as a sale statement, local searches and evidence of title - which could save you money, time and stress. The Pack also includes an Energy Performance Certificate that contains advice on how to cut CO2 emissions and fuel bills.

You can pay upfront for a pack or for an additional cost, defer payment to sale of the property. The costs vary from provider to provider and the variances can be hundreds of pounds - a not insignificant expense at this very expensive time. Do not just accept your estate agents offer to arrange this for you as they could be paid commission for doing so thus increasing your costs.

I only charge you what the provider charges me. To arrange your HIP through me, call now on 0845 029 1962 and I’d be happy to help.

Did you know?
• 1.67 million people are currently unemployed as at the end of September 2007.*
• 264,000 have been unemployed between 6 and 12 months.**
• In the UK someone has a heart attack every two minutes and almost 2.6 million people have heart and circulatory disease.***
With an average claim duration of 7 months, customers are off work significantly longer than they anticipate, and are unlikely to have the savings to maintain the average payment between £230 to £385 per month, equivalent to an additional £2,700 in expenditure.****

This certainly makes you think about whether this type of insurance had become more important with the ‘credit crunch’ impacting on businesses and staff retention.

Source: *Office for National Statistics, September 2007. ** Economic and Labour Market Review, November 2007. ***British Heart Foundation, 2005. ****Norwich Union Claims Statistics, 2006

Two new surveys have been released this morning giving some good news at last for the property market.
Rightmove’s latest house price survey – which of course is produced from estate agent data – shows the average asking price for property is up by 1.2%. Of course there are still pockets around the country where prices are down, with prices in the south tending to mask those of the rest of the country.
The latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) predicts prices falling by 5% in 2008. Whilst this may not sound like good news, it is a great deal better than the predictions of 30% drops that we’ve had from some quarters!
However it did say it believed that property sales may falll by 40% during 2008, which is bad news for anyone hoping to sell this year, as well as the wider economy.

With the impact of the credit crunch continuing to take effect in the UK, mortgage borrowers are increasingly using brokers as a source of advice.

That is according to research conducted recently by Alliance & Leicester, which indicated that the tightening of lending conditions has changed the way in which consumers view brokers.

It was discovered that among brokers, as many as 76 per cent feel that they are more frequently being sought by borrowers to provide advice and guidance.

Raj Uppal, Alliance & Leicester’s director of mortgages, commented: “Borrowers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of making the right mortgage choice and that they can take advantage of brokers’ wealth of knowledge to ensure this.

“Instead of simply using a broker to source products, borrowers are now making the most of their advisory services to learn about affordability and extend their product understanding.”

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’d be happy with a 1-0 victory - and that’s what we got!! Pompey are in europe next year, watch out everyone ;-D