The common theme this week seems to be confirmation that we have hit the bottom of the house price falls and low mortgage approvals and we are flattening.

The two main indicators are as follows:

1.         The number of mortgages approved for house purchases in June rose to 47,584 - up from 44,169 the previous month, and the highest number since April 2008.

It was the fifth month in a row that approvals have risen.

2.         House prices in England and Wales have risen month-on-month for the first time since January 2008, this time according to the official Land Registry.

The 0.1% rise in June compared with May brought the value of the average home to £153,046, the survey found.  It said that the figures revealed a "flattening" of prices, although the value of the average home was down 14% on the same month a year earlier.

I think we may bump along at the bottom for quite a few months now, although it’s interesting to see some estate agents in London are already up to their old tricks – we’ve had two deals fall through this month due to gazumping!

Tip of the week 1 – Get a trade valuation first and literally save hundreds.

Unsure about the value of a property but don’t want to pay a full valuation fee?

Have a number of properties in mind but not sure which one to commit to, and you don’t want to pay full valuations on all of them?

Take this example:

You have three potential properties you’re considering buying – valued about £200,000 each – valuation costs with BM Solutions would equal £1290.

You arrange 3 trade valuations with us for a total cost of £690.

So, let’s look 2 possible outcomes:

1.         All three down-value and you walk away: saving £600

2.         Two down value and one deal goes ahead: saving £170

Call me direct and I’ll talk you through it. This should be almost mandatory if you are considering buying at auction.

Tip of the week 2 – Referral Scheme

Here at Resident Broker we don’t use expensive advertising so customer referrals are very important to us. Luckily we get a lot of them – in fact last year 75% of our business came from existing clients coming back to us and from personal referrals.

As the credit crunch continues, we thought it would be good to offer you something back for those referrals.

So -  if you know of anyone who is looking for the following advice:

• Mortgages – residential and buy to let
• Mortgage protection – life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection.

And they go ahead then we’ll give you £25 worth of M&S vouchers.

All you need to do is ask them to call 01424 205 373 let them know who referred them and we’ll do the rest.

Call one of our advisors today for more information 01424 205 373