Home and Living

New Age Pensioners: giving more control to over-55s.

 

The long-awaited and hotly-debated pension reforms have finally come into force today (6 April). Now, anyone over 55 years old will be allowed to choose what to do with their pensions; withdraw the total sum in one go, take small fixed amounts when they wish to, or choose to invest the funds in an annuity…

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Alex Evans

Property for sale

Bringing your home to life.

 

Homebase announced plans to shut 80 of its 323 stores at the end of last year, with the chain’s parent, Home Retail Group; claiming that the rise of a generation with minimal interest in DIY projects was partly to blame. A major study made by IronmongeryDirect based on a survey of over 10,000 tradespeople, also…

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Alex Evans

Top Tips for a Cost-Effective Turnaround on an Investment Property.

 

Top Tips for a Cost-Effective Turnaround on an Investment Property Meta description: Closing your first purchase on an investment property is a very exciting moment, filled with anticipation and optimism. However, ensuring a cost effective turnaround is essential. Closing your first purchase on an investment property is an exciting moment, filled with anticipation and optimism….

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What is a written repair request?

 

The deregulation bill which plans to make revenge evictions illegal is back in the House of Lords this week for its final review before being passed onto the Queen for her Royal Assent. Apart from dominating the trade media for the past couple of weeks, it has raised a lot of questions about certain aspects…

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Alex Evans

How to take care of the home interior when you live in a rental.

 

Living in a rental is just as a responsible task as living in your own home. You need to maintain the place, pay the bills, provide repairs when necessary, etc. The fact that you don’t own the apartment may tempt you to do very little to preserve its possessions. It’s not advisable you do so,…

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Alex Evans

SELECTING THE RIGHT ESTATE AGENT FOR YOU.

 

When it comes to selecting the right estate agent for the sale of your property, it can be a daunting process, hopefully the following post may assist your decision. A good local reputation and strong knowledge of the area together with recommendations from existing clients who have already sold can all be very helpful. However…

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Alex Evans

House staging: the power of first impressions.

 

Last Saturday I decided to kill two birds with one stone (or combine ‘pleasant’ with ‘productive’ as they say in Polish), so I grabbed some leaflets advertising our home staging services and took our dog Eric for a walk in a Very Nice Neighbourhood. I thought to myself, if I need to walk him anyway,…

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Alex Evans

The Best Price for your Home

 

The hardest part of putting a home up for sale may just be determining the right price for it. A lot of people want to sell their properties for a price similar to what they paid for it, or maybe they want something that balances out their mortgage. However, the reality of the situation is…

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Alex Evans

How to ensure our noisy neighbours remain just that!

 

Estate Agency is no stranger to coming under the microscope from all quarters! The media fan the flames and the consumers jump on the bandwagon! I can’t say I entirely blame them! Estate Agency has been its own worst enemy for years, with its image of gelled hair, slick suited wide boy salesmen with a…

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Alex Evans

Creative Ideas for House Extensions to Add Value to Your Home

 

Providing a few changes in your home’s appearance can enhance your quality of life. But if you’re intending to sell your property, you want to find ways to add value to it. House extension is a great way to make your home look better and more attractive to potential buyers. It can be a costly…

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Alex Evans

How to stage a kitchen to sell.

 

In the world of real estate, it’s commonly believed that kitchens sell homes. Here are 5 tips from the Home Whisperers on how to add the WOW factor when presenting a kitchen. Kitchen staged to sell, plinth and under-cabinet lights on, shiny appliances, clean worktops1) Clear away EVERYTHING from worktops. You can leave a nice shiny kettle…

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Alex Evans

10 Benefits of a Smart Home. Can it help to improve asking prices?

 

Owning a smart home in today’s modern world could seem like a distant dream, and many people may consider that they don’t live the lifestyle to have a Smart Home. I often hear phrases such as “Maybe one day I could afford one”,  “I don’t actually need one, but I can see the benefits” and…

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Alex Evans

Buying real estate is the ultimate in consumerism

 

I’m a big believer in looking at macroeconomic trends. For example: there will be more mobile computers (smartphones) than PCs sold. Mobile phones are also more ‘convenient’ as they are always on our person and generally more simple to use. Another macroeconomic trend is the printing of funny money. Pioneered by the US, much of…

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Alex Evans

Will I ever be able to afford my own home?

 

The difficulty of buying a home for first time buyers has been all over the news lately, most recently this article by Ros Renshaw, and this article over on theguardian.com. I must admit, I’d resigned myself to the fact at quite a young age that I probably wouldn’t be able to buy my own house…

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Alex Evans