Single-family house prices in the state dropped about 17.1 percent in February compared to the same month in 2008, making it the fifth consecutive month that median prices have dropped by double-digit margins, according to the Warren Group, publisher of the Commercial Record.
“We didn’t see such a period of price slumps during Connecticut’s last housing downturn in the early 1990s,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr. in a statement. Warren is the chief executive of the Warren Group. “Prices won’t level off until sales activity picks up substantially for several months straight.”
The local results are mixed and the most promising news could be in Meriden.

http://www.myrecordjournal.com/site/tab1.cfm?newsid=20289419&BRD=2755&PAG=461&dept_id=592709&rfi=6

A HOMEOWNER who is losing £12,000-a-month while trying to sell his £1million property hopes to beat the credit crunch by selling it in a RAFFLE. Brian Wilshaw, 64, is selling 46,000 tickets at £25 each for a chance to win his 11.5 acre Oldborough Retreat. The estate comes with a five-bedroom house, four two-bedroom holiday lodges, 9.5 acres of woodland and a two-acre fishing lake.

Situated in countryside near Morchard Bishop near Crediton, Devon, the estate is a former holiday complex but Brian is now retiring and wants to sell-up. Winner The dad-of-three decided to raffle the retreat because the housing market and credit crunch have seen the market stagnate. If you would like to buy a ticket please see link at the bottom.

Brian said: “This has been our dream home but now we are retiring we want to let ordinary people have the chance of a lifetime to live here. “Rising house and land prices have put property like this one way out of the reach of most people. “We put the house on the market last year but it was already becoming obvious that the market was slowing down. “We’ve had this idea for a number of years now. Everyone who came here on holiday used to say ‘If I had the money I’d buy this place’.

“I would absolutely love to see the face of the person that wins it when they walk in because it’s going to change their life.” The house has two ensuite bedrooms, one master bedroom, whirlpool bath, a double garage and a large lounge, small study, dining room and kitchen. Nearby are four holiday lodges each boasting two double bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and dining area, which can be rented out or sold off individually. All five properties are situated in woodland with a private drive, gates and a lake with carp, tench, perch, roach, rudd and eels. Heating engineer Brian and his wife Wendy, 49, bought the estate 14 years ago and ran it as a small holiday park until 2006.

Advertisement Brian said: “It’s well worth £25 a ticket. At 46,000-to-one our odds are a lot better than winning the Lottery.

For more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1349439.ece

Catherine Zawadski, 89, upped sticks because 52-room Balfour Castle on tiny isle Shapinsay, near Orkney, was “a bit too much to manage”.

The Polish Army captain’s widow was last night settling in to a drab, grey £280,000 four-bedroom house in Kirkwall, Orkney, after almost 50 years in her grand home.
Last night one stunned local said: “She can still see the castle from her new garden — but I am not sure if that is more of a curse than a blessing.”

Mrs Zawadski was unavailable for comment. But her son Richard has admitted: “We are selling because it’s a bit too much to manage.”

When you are considering how to ‘Dress your House to sell’ the key to remember is that you want to sell fast and for top money.

One of the most important aspects to consider is that purchasers are buying a home not just a house.

The purchasers of your property are ultimately trying to improve their lifestyle.
They are looking to buy a new home and will be spending a relatively large amount of money on this purchase.
If you present the property attractively it is more likely that your property will stick in their minds. If they find it more striking than other properties in the same price range, then even if they don’t offer straight away they will definitely be back for a second viewing.

When you apply either of these outcomes to selling your property, your potential buyer will either buy another house, or make you an offer lower than you want to accept.

There is a saying ‘Good First Impression’. This is vital to remember when selling a property during a recession. You want to ensure that the buyer falls in love with the property the very first time they see it.

NOTE: The first time your buyer will see your home is from the outside. This might be in a newspaper advertisement, online or from just driving past the property and seeing the for sale board.

The Front Of The Property
The exterior of the property is very important and surprisingly, commonly forgotten about.

Paint the front of the property, a fresh coat of paint will really brighten up the outside of any property.

If the budget and need is there then a new front door is a good idea, however if the old door will suffice, then a fresh coat of paint would be a good idea.

Make sure the front garden is immaculate with a nice path to the front door. Replace any cracked or broken paving slabs and ensure there are no unsightly weeds.

Windows
The first thing that your buyer will see as they walk up to your front door is the windows. Ensure that if they are wooden, the timber is sound and freshly painted. If the property is suited to uPVC double glazing and the budget allows I would highly recommend you install them.However if you do nothing else to the windows accept for ensuring the glass is clean and free of smears you will certainly be heading in the right direction.

Clean windows make the rooms look lighter and brighter.

http://www.propertysecrets.net/topic/post36036.html

About 12,000 houses in a five county viewing area have a “for sale” sign in their front garden.

If you are selling your home, how do you make your home stand out from the rest? One way is to put a virtual tour of your home online.

The virtual tour offers potential buyers a sense of being inside the home, you can almost feel the warmth from the fireplace.

We’ve all been hearing that now might not be the best time to sell your home, but realtor Doug Clifton says that’s not necessarily the case for eastern North Carolina. “We hear the gloom and doom of the housing market and our area of the world isn’t really like that; it’s true that we’re slower than we normally are, but houses are still selling.”

And some are turning to even more creative ways to sell those houses by using the internet.

“Any seller that’s out there, that has a property to sell, this is the way to go because the internet, world wide web, you’re going to get world wide,” said real estate investor MariAnn Harvey.

Harvey buys and sells homes for a living, so she thought, why not market her homes on YouTube. “We’re such a community of people who want everything fast and they want it at their fingertips and of course the computer is the fastest way to do it.”

With a little help from her son, she discovered how simple it is to make a virtual home tour.

Dara Dimitri posted a home tour on YouTube. “Most other houses online just have a few pictures to look at so you don’t get a flavor of what the whole house looks like.”

So Dara Dimitri decided to put a tour of her home online, and it seems to be paying off. “We have had several extra showings that I don’t think we would have gotten otherwise. I have the house listed on Craigslist with a link to the virtual tour so several showings have come as a result of that listing.”

http://www.wwaytv3.com/node/13962

More than 60,000 homeowners are forced to sell up each year to pay for a place in a care home, according to a leading charity.
The figure has been rising fast because of the growing numbers of elderly Britons and the fact that many of those entering old age bought homes during the property booms of the past four decades.
However, an ever-increasing share of the wealth they hoped to leave to their families is being seized by the state to pay for their care in later life.
Last year half of the cost of care for the elderly - £6billion - was taken from the pockets of the middle classes who own their own homes or who have savings.
The 60,000 figure was made public yesterday by the charity Counsel and Care. It is to put forward plans for easing the plight of those who fail the state means test and so have to pay the £500-a-week plus costs of a care home place for themselves.
Counsel and Care’s estimate follows figures put forward by the House of Commons library, which suggested at the weekend that 45,000 people a year sell their homes to pay care home bills, a rise of 5,000 since 2003.
The charity’s estimate is closest to the 70,000 a year level that is widely accepted among advice and pressure groups and local authorities

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1152423/60-000-elderly-year-forced-councils-sell-homes-pay-care.html

For every 500,000 people becoming unemployed there will be a further 20,000 repossessions, says a new report from CB Richard Ellis.

‘Loss of income through unemployment is the major contributory factor towards arrears and repossessions,’ says the report.

The Government support for mortgage interest payment kicks in 13 weeks after being made unemployed.

The report highlights the most groups most vulnerable to repossession being the sub-prime market and the buy-to-let borrowers. ‘High mortgage rates are a particular problem for borrowers coming to the end of their current mortgage deal. These homeowners are finding it difficult to obtain a mortgage on comparable terms and may not be able to afford the higher rates,’ it says.

‘There are a large tranche of vulnerable borrowers which could increase the severity of the problem,’ the report concludes.

This report was found at: www.countrylife.co.uk/news/property

It has been revealed in a recent report that a mortgage rescue scheme that aims to try and reduce the number of repossessions taking place is to be rolled out across England. The scheme involves social landlords, which are housing associations, buying up homes from homeowners that are struggling to meet the repayments and could otherwise face repossession, and then allowing the former homeowners to continue living in the property on a rented basis.

The scheme is costing the government around £200 million, and it is estimated that around six thousand repossessions could be halted through the scheme. There are similar initiatives in place or planned in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, according to industry officials. This latest scheme is one of a number of measures that have been put into place to try and reduce the number of repossessions across the country, with some industry groups predicting that repossession numbers could soar as high as 90,000 over the course of the year.

This latest scheme was put into place last year, with an agreement being drawn up by the agency that represents the housing associations in England, the National Housing Federation, and the Council of Mortgage Lenders. So far the scheme has been adopted by around eighty local authorities across the country, but will now be extended across the rest of England. In Scotland a similar scheme has been in place for around five years, and it is thought that so far around seven hundred homeowners have benefited from the program.

Housing associations in England will buy up qualifying homes based on an independently assessed market value, and the homeowners will then either be allowed to stay on at the property as a rent paying tenant or may qualify to receive a loan from the housing association so that they can stay on as owners. The homeowners can then repay the loan in part or in full as their financial circumstances improve.

The scheme will be mainly aimed at more vulnerable households, such as those with children, those with disabled family members living in the household, and pensioners.

For more about this subject: www.loans4.co.uk