FOXTONS SELLING HOUSES FOR 0% COMMISSION IN SW LONDON

London Estate Agency Foxtons have announced that they will charge 0% commission on house sales for people using their new South London branches in Streatham and Willesden Green reported Negotiator Magazine today.

The offer is open to the first 200 sellers in each of the branches and the houses for sale in Streatham must be sold before 4th December 2010.

Earlier this year the Guardian reported that the Agency best known for its branded Minis experienced a profit slump of 70% with debts of nearly £350m due to the housing market.

So does this bold move opening two new offices signify a confidence in the South London Housing market?

So, can you spot any foxtons houses for sale in Streatham at The Big Property List?

Footnote: You have to hand it to the online marketing department at Foxtons – whilst researching this article I Googled ‘Streatham’ and their website features at second position in Google Spain and page 1 for google.co.uk – just behind wikipedia!  Good work boys!
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GOVERNMENT SHAKE UP OF HOUSE PRICE INDICES

The UK Government has just announced that it has asked the Office of National Statistics to investigate the coherence and comparability of house price indices..

Tax payers are currently funding two indices, produced by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Land Registry.

Add in the indices produced by the RICS, major estate agents, property portals and building societies and you can begin to see why the general public gets confused as to the state of the market.

I’m all for market clarity and a shake up in the way that property is marketed and analysed.

Nobody will ever be able to predict the future of house prices but we certainly should be able to say what they have done with some degree of accuracy and consistency.

If you have a view on the usefulness of any of the current indices please do let us know and we’ll be sure to pass it on to Messieurs Cameron and Clegg.

Author Biography

Graham Downie has 25 years international property experience including longs stints at both Savills & Chesterton.  In 2003 he moved to Cognac, SW France where he now practices as a private client buying agent. He also offers freelance marketing & writing services to companies servicing the property industry.

email: info@grahamdownie.com

twitter: @cognacproperty

blog: http://cognacproperty.blogspot.com/

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PEEK INSIDE LONDON?S MOST SUSTAINABLE HOMES

If you’re interested in Sutainable Housing, architecture or design then you’ll be very interested in Open House London this Autumn when 700 houses in London will be open to the public.

The event is organised by the architecture organisation Open City and takes place over the weekend of 18-19 September 2010.

‘The initiative is a simple but powerful concept: hundreds of great buildings of all types and periods open up their doors to all, completely for FREE.  It is a truly city-wide celebration of the buildings, places and neighbourhoods where we live, work and play, and is your opportunity to get out and get under the skin of London’s amazing architecture’ says the Open House website.

The ‘open houses’ range from small private home to major lndmarks such as the BT Tower and there will be lots of events such as cycle tours, architects talks and neighbourhood walks to interest and inspire you over the weekend.

Here at The Big Property List we’re particularly interested in the Sustainable Housing element and there should be plenty of eco-homes on show boasting sustainable designs such as The Coach House, 39 Parkholme Road, Retro-eco House and Zero Carbon Loft.

If you’re visiting any of these sustainable houses over the course of the weekend, why not email your pictures and notes to admin (at) thebigpropertylist.co.uk and we’ll publish them here on our blog?

For the full list of open houses you can visit the Open House website or order a guide to see what is available near you – some venues need to be booked in advance.
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GROSS MORTGAGE LENDING ROSE IN JULY 2010

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has today announced that Gross mortgage lending in the UK rose by 5% in July 2010 compared with June.  This is still down 3% year on year but is on par with the CML’s revised forecast for the year.

In today?s market commentary, CML economist Paul Samter commented:

?It is difficult to see anything other than a slow market for the rest of this year as underlying activity remains subdued. The rest of 2010 is likely to see rather lower lending and transaction numbers compared to the same period last year.

?But for most home owners, the situation is not that bleak. The vast majority of households continue to pay their mortgages in full every month, and many have benefited from the record low interest rates. This looks set to continue for some time yet. While there are a range of risks to the outlook, low rates will further help most stay on top of their finances.?

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HOW DO I UPLOAD MY PROPERTY ADVERTS TO THE BIG PROPERTY LIST?

Below are some Frequently Asked Questions that should answer this question, if it doesn?t or you have further questions then please get in touch.

How do I upload my properties to thebigpropertylist.co.uk?

The property adverts listed on The Big Property List come from Google Maps.

You may have heard that you can now see properties for sale and to rent on Google Maps ? well, we take a feed from Google so if your adverts are displayed on Google Maps (and you opt in to ‘re-syndication), they will be displayed on The Big Property List too!

Search for property listings on Google Maps

How much does it cost to list my properties on The Big Property List?

Nothing, it?s free.  Free to list and free to receive enquiries.  We do ask that you link to our website and display our logo on your website to show that your customers that you are marketing their properties on The Big Property List.  You can download our logo here.  We will shortly be sending out marketing packs with window stickers too ? so if you want one please send us your postal address.

Adding property adverts to Google Maps

This can be done manually or by setting up a regular ?feed? in the Google Merchant Centre ? the file types accepted are tab delimited (text or Excel spreadsheet), RSS and Atom files ? these feeds can work in a similar way to the Rightmove feed but are not the same.  Your Estate Agent software provider or other partner portals may already be sending your feed to Google Maps, but it?s worth checking the quality of the information they are sending.  It is free to submit property adverts to Google Maps.

I?m not very technical, how do I send a feed to Google Maps?

The simplest place to start is to talk to your existing IT support, software vendor or portal about sending your feed to Google Maps ? this may be just a click of a button for them.  If you do not have this support and would like us to help you set up and manage your feed then we can do this for a fee.  If you would like to know more about our feed set-up and optimisation services please get in touch.

Which property portals and software providers already send a feed to Google Maps?

These providers already send a feed to google Maps:

Software Vendors

• Web Dadi
• PropertyADD

Property Portals

• Zoopla
• Zoomf
• Property Pal
• Vebra
• SmartNewHomes
• Ezylet

?and others

Why do my property adverts show incorrect prices/ have missing information/ few photos or lack detail?

The property adverts at The Big Property List contain information exactly as provided in the ?feed? sent to Google Maps.  So if the feed lacks a price or contains only a one line description and no photos ? this is what will appear in the property advert at The Big Property List.

This is why we recommend a full review of your feed ? to get the most out of our free property portal and to maximise the number of enquiries you receive, include as much information in your feed as possible ? this means a full description and lots of photos and an uploaded floor plan as a minimum!

If your feed does not contain enough information please get in touch with your IT support/ software provider to discuss it with them.

When I click ?link to vendor? on my adverts I don?t get taken to my website ? why?

Whoever is submitting your feed to Google Maps (maybe an outside company such as your software provider or another portal) is not using your website address in the feed and may be using their own ? so any enquiries and customers may be directed through their website instead of directly to you.  You should get in touch with them and request that the links in the feed correspond to the relevant property advert page on your website and that your email address is used as the main contact.

If you have further questions please do not hesitate to ask ? we have been overwhelmed with enquiries since our recent launch and I hope you will understand that we will try to respond to everyone as promptly as we can.
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