Nick Marr
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Latest property news
First time buyers counting on parents’ death to get on property ladder
Young first time buyers can seem like a desperate lot sometimes as they scrimp and save for a deposit, or beg deposits off their parents. But now a new kind of desperation has set in – those waiting for their parents to die. Research by online agency TheHouseShop.com to find out which options offer younger people the best chance of getting on the property ladder discovered that only 10% are taking the traditional route of saving up. Completed by YouGov, the research found that instead many first time buyers are instead hoping to take a rather morbid short cut. Just over a fifth hoped to become home owners when their parents passed away and left them the family home, while 17% were relying on using the money left to them by their parents. Property ladder Also, another fifth were expecting to borrow money off their parents before they die, meaning that nearly 60% of first time buyers are relying on their family or parents in one shape or another to get them on the property ladder. One surprising figure from the research is that the government’s Shared Ownership Scheme is obviously seen as a strategy of last resort – just…
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Agencies & People
Estate agents ‘failing to cater for disabled’
Many disabled people are being prevented from moving home and living independently because estate agents fail to understand their situation or provide important information about accessible property, it has been claimed. Property website TheHouseShop.com, which was previously known as the Little House Company, but rebranded after switching from a private property-only sales portal to one that now also incorporates estate agency listings, has accused agents of being unmindful of the practical issues around disabled living, leaving many people, such as those who are wheelchair-users, ‘struggling to find suitable property.’ Nick Marr (left) of The House Shop believes that estate agents are losing business to the private sales market because they typically lack the specialist or niche marketing capability to properly advertise accessible homes. He said, “Disabled homeowners are increasingly turning to direct sales or peer-to-peer selling to market their homes after failing to find suitable buyers through estate agents. Over the years we have had a number of disabled homeowners approach us after being advised by their agent to rip out or downplay accessible improvements so that their property appeals to the broadest possible market. For homeowners who have spent, in some cases, tens of thousands of pounds improving and…
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