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Hips operation bungled, again

Who’d have thought it? With just over a week to go before their grand introduction, the government has decided to delay the birth of Home Information Packs (Hips).

How much longer can the housing boom go on for?

House prices are rising at their fastest rate for two years, according to figures out today from Hometrack, a property website. Some may cheer at the news, but others, namely those who can only dream of owning their own home, will probably groan. I don't know about you, but I'm getting a bit worried about where it's all going to end.

What's happening to the housing market?

I was overwhelmed last weekend when I helped a friend go flat hunting in my rather grotty London neighbourhood.

To buy, or not to buy

So you've found your dream house but then you get the survey back and it throws up some nasty surprises. What do you do? Is it worth proceeding with the sale or should you just cut your losses and start the house hunting again from scratch?

Estate agent disappoints

Isnt' it annoying to have to pay for a service when you do not think the the person or people concerned have done anything to justify their fee? That is exactly how I feel about the money I am going to have to hand over to my estate agents in a couple of week's time.

Moving pains

They say that along with divorce and bereavement moving house is one of the most stressful things to go through, and up until last week I didn't agree - my house move was going swimmingly. But oh, how it has started to unravel and as I am writing this I fear that the house my fiancee and I are hoping to buy is about to fall through.

Do your homework before you sell

If you are looking to sell your home, make sure you do your research. The BBC documentary about estate agents last week exposed worrying tactics that some agents use. While I don't condone any of the dodgy practices that were revealed, I think to some extent consumers were aware of a lot of them.

We know that agents are prone to valuing properties above the true value - after all, that's what sellers want to hear and the agent wants the business. But if you have ever tried to sell a property and made the mistake of putting it on the market at too high a price, you probably won't make the same mistake again.

A bad day for estate agents…

A BBC documentary last night exposed the sharp and sometimes illegal practices of a number of estate agents in London. But it wasn't just small independent operators that came under the spotlight, even Foxtons, the capital's largest estate agent, was shown to be systematically dishonest with branch managers and staff brazenly decieving buyers, sellers and landlords.

Job done, flat sold, and £6,000 saved

Over the last five months, I have been blogging about my experience of selling my flat without an estate agent. In the last week, the sale completed

In your face, estate agents!

Forgive me if I sound smug. Less than a month after I put my flat up for sale without using an estate agent, I have found a buyer. And not only that, the agreed price is £5,000 more than one local estate agent recommended as an asking price

The (painful) art of negotiation

Estate agents claim that their expertise is vital when it comes to the negotiating process. But why?

Viewings are like buses

Forgive me for trotting out this tired analogy but it would appear that home viewings are like buses – you wait for (what seems like) ages and then many come along at once.

The first viewing

The agonising wait for the first viewing ended last night, after a young couple came round to look at my flat

Early nerves

It’s been a week since the advert for my flat went live online and so far it’s been silence in cyber space.

Let the viewings begin…

After proudly unveiling my online advert to friends and family I learnt the first lesson of selling your own home…too much honesty can be a bad thing.

Getting the description right

Rather like Policemen, who for some reason always refer to a car as "a vehicle", estate agents have their own special language.

The first steps to selling your own home

Estate agents believe they alone have the knowledge and experience to value a property. Quite why they think this when it us such an obsessive pastime for half of the country is difficult to gauge.

Doing away with estate agents

To compare estate agents to mosquitoes is to do an injustice to the malaria-spreading parasites. But encounters with both do tend to be painful and annoying.