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A Cowes property on the market, in the Isle of Wight |
25 February 2009 12:28 |
Good start to the day, a house sale has just been agreed. We have got several splendid properties booked in to take onto our books next week & I have just uploaded this really nice 4 bedroom house in Cowes with a long 175 foot rear garden!
Simon |
If you wish to see the slide show
If you wish to see the house details
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Google not working! |
24 February 2009 11:08 |
If you use “Google Mail” you will be interested to know that it has been temporarily suspended!
If you are looking for property on the Isle of Wight we will not be able to e-mail Google mail “clients” until they become live again, otherwise we will just get a huge list of rejected e-mails.
Just thought I would let you know.
Simon |
Now Google Mail back on 13.17 Hrs
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New property to the market on the Isle of Wight |
17 February 2009 12:42 |
This three bedroom semi-detached house at the top of Wootton High Street (further up the hill from the traffic lights) has just been uploaded onto this site. |
For further full details
To purely look at the slideshow
Have a good afternoon,
Simon
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Isle of Wight property via twitter |
17 February 2009 11:49 |
Always good to have a major company mention you in their blog (see below)
Simon |
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Globrix loves twitter
Monday, 16 February 2009
Everyone seems to be talking about Twitter at the moment, I've been addicted to the darn thing for a good year or so now but it seems that Twitter is no longer reserved for those of us who spend too much time at their computers. You don't have to live and breathe social media to give two tweets about it, Twitter is finally entering 'the mainstream' in the UK.
This month, for the first time ever, Twitter became one of the 100 most visited websites in the UK. It placed above well loved websites like Gumtree and Expedia to reach 91st place. Part of this surge in traffic is certainly due to the British celebs who have fallen in love with the site and promote it at every chance they can, Jonathan Ross, Chris Moyles, Philip Schofield and (of course) Stephen Fry being just a few of the well known celeb Twits....no pun intended.
US real estate agents have been tweeting for a long time now, you would be shocked at how tech-savvy some of them are. Many of them have thousands of followers because they use Twitter effectively to promote themselves without being, in a word, annoying.
I was really pleased to see recently that some UK estate agents and property professionals are starting to use Twitter. Marsh and Parsons, Greene & Co, Isle of Wight Homesand The Homebuyers Consultancy being a few of those who add tweeting to their lists of 'things to do today'. Of course, Globrix is on Twitter too.
Last week, Globrix proudly sponsored London Twestival, a global Twitter charity event that took place in over 200 cities on one night. The aim? To raise as much money as possible for charity:water. The total amount raised hasn't been announced yet, but the event shows that online interactions on a site such as Twitter can lead to genuine offline change in the wider world.
And whilst we're banging on about the joys of Twitter, it seems only right to announce that last Friday we added a button to all the property listings on Globrix to allow you to easily tweet your favourite properties.
Globrix.com
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An investment broker is tipping the purchase of shares in Rightmove. |
16 February 2009 09:26 |
The article below is from estate Agency Today - Not me!
Have a good day
Simon |
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Monday 16th February 2009
An investment broker is tipping the purchase of shares in Rightmove.
Despite speculating on whether there will be a 32%, 50% or 70% drop in estate agency clients between 2007 and the end of this year, Teathers says that Rightmove will still produce profits.
And it says that Rightmove is exposed to a strategic bidder “more than at any other time”.
The report speculates that both the Guardian – which has money to spare since selling AutoTrader – and the owners of The Times could be interested. Both groups already own property portals, and Teathers argues that there is room for all portals to grow, given the migration of advertising from print.
However, with its striking lead in estate agency numbers and consumer traffic, Rightmove looks by far the most attractive.
Teathers says that Rightmove has maintained its lead despite the “considerable resources” of its competition in the form of the Daily Mail, Guardian and News International groups. It also argues that a recessionary period should limit new entrants.
The report adds that Rightmove is not the most expensive of portals, estimating that existing users of Rightmove pay an average £326 a month and new entrants £495. It estimates that typical users of Primelocation pay £519, although their properties also appear on FindaProperty.
The report also bases its buy recommendation on an assumption that there will be evidence “of some form of housing recovery … before the end of the year”.
However, it admits that the main risk to Rightmove is the loss of subscribers.
It is expecting that when Rightmove reports its interim results on February 27, with the full results out on May 6, it will reveal an overall 10% fall in customers, down to 17,400, but a 20% fall in estate agents.
Teathers also expects a further 10% fall in overall customers this year, with a further 15% drop in estate agents.
However, the report also looks at the possibility of a 50% fall in estate agency and developer clients, and a 70% fall. It believes that 50% would be a more plausible worse case scenario than 70%.
Even with an unlikely 70% fall, Teathers says that Rightmove would still be capable of delivering profits.
It also points to the fact that two out of Rightmove’s top six clients are due to renew their long-term agreements this April, but that the rest run until 2010 or later. These top six account for 27% of Rightmove’s total branches.
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Isle of Wight Homes need more Isle of Wight Property to sell! |
14 February 2009 10:32 |
Although it is great to look around the whole range of properties we offer on this site Islandwide, we want to sell even more property, be it a house, bungalow or flat! |
If you know of anyone trying to sell on the Island please do recommend us as we do
have the best estate agency website on the Isle of Wight & do provide professional service at very favourable rates.
We can come & visit you before you consider putting your home on the market, to give free general advice so that your home will look special - please do telephone us on 01983 721831.
Although Isle of Wight Homes website is our main source of leads, we do also appear on www.Rightmove.com , www.thinkproperty.com , www.propertylive.co.uk , & the excellent property search engine www.globrix.com .
You probably don’t realize that agents who don’t have their own website & pay Rightmove to have their properties (& “website”) only appear on Rightmove & don’t appear elsewhere on the Internet. By having our own website we organically appear on all the general search engines
http://www.google.com , http://www.yahoo.com , http://www.ask.com , http://www.live.com/ , but also the
property search engines such as www.globrix.com & many other locations.
It’s a splendid sunny morning today on the Island,
I hope you have a good weekend
Simon
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Are first time buyers finally returning to the UK market? |
11 February 2009 15:28 |
Research by the National Association of Estate Agents shows that 22.5 per cent of buyers are FTBs, up from 10 per cent in December and 14.5 per cent in January 2008.
According to the NAEA this is "highly significant" because it shows an increase in consumer confidence because it views FTBs as the "bedrock of a healthy housing market".
"During the boom years we saw the number of FTBs as a proportion of buyers rise as high as 37 per cent, and I believe that an average of 25 per cent is indicative of a healthy and confident market," says Peter Bolton-King, CEO of the NAEA.
"While the figure of 22.5 per cent is definitely not a sign that the housing sector is out of the woods yet, it does suggest that those infamous green shoots of recovery may not be as far off as first thought."
A snippet of good news
Simon |
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Seaview, Isle of Wight - property reduction |
09 February 2009 11:51 |
This 6 bedroom Georgian Grade II listed house in Seaview has just been reduced from £1.25 m to £1.m. It has immediate beach access with superb uninterrupted Solent views. |
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Yarmouth, Isle of Wight - house price reduction |
09 February 2009 10:56 |
Yarmouth has always been a very expensive place to buy property. This house (that was built to look like a bungalow) has just been reduced to £200,000, although it does need some upgrading, it offers a really good base, at a very low cost, in a much “sought after” yachting village. It is a few minutes walk from the Yarmouth-Lymington ferry so would be very easy to nip over from the mainland. |
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Property on the Isle of Wight is still selling |
06 February 2009 12:27 |
We estate agents have a really splendid job! Just got back to the Office, after handing the keys over on a house sale, the buyers were really charming. What’s more the chap is a skilled Carpenter/Joiner also able to do small building jobs with 30 years experience. He is obviously running his mainland business down & has an empty book for the Island! If you need something fixed, feel free to e-mail us with your details so we can hand it on to him.
Simon |
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UK bonus ceiling soon? |
04 February 2009 14:44 |
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In the land of the brave and the home of the bonus, the new US president is about to impose a ceiling on the pay of executives in private sector companies that are rescued by the state.
That ceiling, according to overnight reports, will be $500,000 (around £350,000) - or $100,000 more than President Obama receives.
In the US, reports of the substantial bonuses paid to executives in banks propped up by taxpayers have been incendiary.
The impression has been created that top bankers are partying on their private jets while taxpayers foot the bill - and while millions of ordinary Americans lose their jobs and homes.
Not pretty.
The market for talent is - of course - global. Or at least that's what big UK companies say when gilding the remuneration packages of their senior execs.
So it will be pretty tricky for the British government to ignore the new US norm for running a semi-nationalised business.
At the moment, those running banks in receipt of massive financial support from taxpayers - Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Northern Rock - are earning multiples of £350,000 a year.
The justification is that they're cleaning up a mess created by others.
But if the ratchet on pay over the past few years was upwards only, well, gravity has reasserted itself.
Those running banks or car manufacturers or any business which would fall over in the absence of funding from taxpayers will probably have to take much of their reward in the form of the nice warm glow that they ought to feel for doing their public duty - and defer the bonuses for a year or five.
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We got some decent snow on the Isle of Wight - at last! |
03 February 2009 10:19 |
We got some decent snow on the Isle of Wight - at last!
I managed to take some local pictures – don’t try to go up to Carisbrooke Castle to have a look at the views as there is no tarmac underfoot, its solid ice – I was in a convoy reversing down the hill this morning.
Take care,
Simon at 10.17 am |
Whitecroft in a hail storm
Carisbrooke Castle taken from the South car park
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Property Exchange & Snow on the Isle of Wight |
02 February 2009 10:57 |
We had a property exchange contracts on Friday, & they only saw it 14 days ago!
Although the property marketplace is much smaller, there are some people who have to move & so sales will occur as long as you are with an agent who can offer something extra.
It started snowing yesterday – only a light dusting though, the Island always misses out on the worst of it because we are surrounded by water.
All the main roads on the Island are okay, they have all been “salted” – even our small village, which never gets “salted” has no ice at all.
But as I type, a really thick snowfall is taking place.
Have a good day
Simon |
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Tories re-affirm their pledge to abolish Home Information Packs (HIPs) |
02 February 2009 10:41 |
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The Tories have stepped up their campaign against HIPs with two heavyweight statements yesterday reaffirming their total opposition.
Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps said: “Conservatives always warned that HIPs were a bad idea that would damage the housing market.
“We have voted against them at every stage in Parliament and just last week voted against the latest piece of Government HIPs gold-plating which means that sellers will from April have to fill in additional paperwork before even being able to market their own home.
“Taking all of this into account, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that we remain completely committed to abolishing HIPs. In these difficult times for hard-pressed home owners, I look forward to quickly and efficiently tearing away this utterly pointless piece of red tape.”
Owen Inskip, the special adviser on housing to the Conservatives, also went to lengths to deny that he has ever expressed support for HIPs.
Speaking at a conference of conveyancing lawyers last year, Inskip made some remarks, which he says were mis-reported in a legal publication.
He said: “I have never said I liked HIPs. I don’t like them. Clearly, my remarks were misinterpreted.
“I did say that there is considerable advantage in learning the lessons and reviewing the HIPs debacle, but that is obviously very different from saying that I support HIPs.
He underlined that the Tories are fully committed to scrapping HIPs should they win the next election. “Grant Shapps, the shadow housing minister, has repeatedly said that he will get rid of HIPs,” said Inskip.
(EAT)
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