Snows days!

Usually we have a little flurry but not much to panic about, but this year saw a good 20cms of snow and a full week of disruptions with roads blocked, trains cancelled and schools closed.

My daughter had 3 snow days (never heard of such a thing until this year) last week and spent most of the time out and about either sledging down a hill or wanting to be dragged back up it rather than walk to go again. The usual little toe rags were out at Marine Parade throwing snowballs at passes by and cars driving past and there were quite a few kamikaze people on sledges that didn’t quite manage to stop before they got to the bottom of the hill and the road!

I don’t mean to get on my high horse again but there were some crazy drivers who seemed to be blissfully unaware of the weather conditions. They were either showing off in 4x4’s and driving at break neck speeds or in normal 2 wheel drive cars sliding and slipping around. We had yet another accident in Hadleigh Road due to the conditions and someone driving too fast!

What all this snow has really meant is that work has completely ground to a halt for a week. What with people cancelling appointments for viewings or valuations and staff either getting in late, leaving early and spending all the time in-between talking about the weather not much has got done.  Hopefully now we can get back to some form of normality. What is now horrible sludgy brown or grey snow will hopefully all go over the next few days and I can get back to work.  Apart, that is of course, from the management department obviously who have been nothing but heroic. Whilst the rest of us have been kicking back they have been inundated with cold weather related issues including frozen pipes and boiler problems. All have been dealt with in a swift and sympathetic way but I know that their department more than any other is looking forward to the big thaw.

There are still plenty of people looking to buy or rent and it seems like lots and lots of people are thinking of moving judging by the number of houses that we have been called out to so far this year to give them an idea of prices. As ever, anything and everything is selling in the town, although as I have said before, there is a bit of choice around now for buyers with quite a few properties on the market. It all boils down to managing sellers expectations and making sure that properties are priced correctly. The days of trying your luck and asking 5% or 10% more than your agent has suggested just to see if you get it have long gone.

Take the advice your agent is giving you, put the property on the market for a fair price and it will sell. If youre asking price is too high, the property will just sit there and get very little interest. It is not unusual to see properties on rightmove having been marketed for 6 months or even longer!

More than ever before potential purchasers are fully informed. They can find out what you may have paid for a property, what your next door neighbour or surrounding properties may have sold for and what average prices are doing in the area. In my opinion this is a very good thing. We have far fewer properties falling through after a mortgage valuation has taken place and if a property has had value added to it by decoration or extension the purchasers can see where that value has been added and take that in to consideration.

So on reflection, the snow was very pretty for about an hour and I enjoyed sledging with my daughter until I fell off and got a wet bum, but please can we all get back to work and sell some houses!