Buying your first home can take a lot of time, effort and investment. It can be incredibly daunting to try and search for a home and it’ll feel overwhelming at first. However, it’s important to stay on top of things because buying a home isn’t something to take lightly. You’ll likely be tied to paying off your mortgage for most of the rest of your life. As such, it’s best to spend time searching for a great offer to help keep the costs lower and manageable. To help you out, we’re going to talk about some of the most common mistakes people make when searching for their first home. Neglecting to check how much you can borrow before looking for a home It can be a lot of fun to actually look for property to move into, but it’s important to remember that you need to have a budget first. If you’re unsure how much you can borrow first, then you’re not going to know how much you can realistically spend. Before you start looking at the best property website to find your dream home, make sure you do a bit of research by finding out how much you can borrow. Serious buyers should know that the amount they can borrow could likely be lower than they expect. Since there are many factors that are taken into consideration when borrowing money, you’ll need to speak directly to a lender such as your bank. If you want a bit more information, you could use a mortgage calculator to find out how much you would expect to pay each month for your dream home. You can also adjust this by the rates so you can see how much you might need to pay depending on how good your current credit history is. Do keep in mind that calculators don’t take your personal financial circumstances into consideration so they should only be used as a rough estimation. Forgetting to shop around for a better deal on your mortgage or home It’s important that you don’t just go with the first decent offer you get. Until you get a feel for the market by looking at multiple property websites and speaking to multiple banks, you won’t know what to consider as a good deal. That’s why we highly recommend that you shop around for a good deal in multiple areas before you settle on something. You should start by comparing mortgage rates to find out who can offer you the lowest upfront costs and rates. While these comparisons should be taken with a grain of salt, it should give you a rough idea of how much you can expect to pay with each company. It’s a good idea to understand the different types of loans available. You should realize that some companies will offer lower upfront costs while others will have bonuses for veterans. Depending on your personal circumstances, you may be able to secure a fantastic deal. For homes, you should always look at multiple property websites and search for a property that is at your chosen specification or above. For example, if you’re looking for a two-bedroom home, you should also consider three-bedroom homes to see if you can get an even better deal. If you’re unable to find a home with your exact specification, then you should consider looking at another city to see if you could get a great deal. Always shop around and expand your specific criteria to see what’s available out there. Failing to see the potential in different properties One of the biggest mistakes people make when searching for a first home is having a lack of vision. Some properties could have a massive potential to become a dream home with a bit of renovating. For instance, the curb appeal of a home could be drastically improved with the help of a contractor, or you could add a new home with an extension project to add an affordable extra bedroom to a cheaper property. It’s important to look at a property not just for what it has, but for what it could become as well. When looking at homes, it’s good to consider what the costs of renovating it are in addition to paying for what it already has. For example, if a home doesn’t have a loft extension, then you should consider getting a quote from a local contractor to see how much it would cost. Add this quote to the cost of the home in its current state and you’ll get a combined cost. If this is cheaper than a property with a similar specification, then you could be getting a great deal just by including some renovations. You should also realize that if you don’t like the look of something in a home, you can easily change it with a bit of renovating. If you notice a flaw in a home that you don’t like, such as a horrible wallpaper or a boring garden, these are things that you can change with the help of a contractor. In short, don’t neglect that you can fix up a property and create something completely different from its current state. There are many property owners that will fix up a home and add features before selling it for a much higher price. In comparison, if you do the work yourself or hire a contractor, it’s often cheaper than paying for a house with the work already done. Some final words We know that searching for a home can be daunting. You often need to take a lot of different things into consideration and it can quickly overwhelm you. Luckily, it becomes much easier to manage once you start planning ahead with your finances and realizing the potential in the properties that you’re looking at. With these tips, you’ll be able to secure a great deal on your first home. This could save you a lot of money, effort and hassle for the future.

Buying commercial real estate has the potential to be a great investment. Unlike purchasing a residential home, there is a lot more that goes into a commercial real estate purchase that you might not think about. Using a good brokerage can help take the worry about of your purchase. Unlike buying a residential home, there is a lot less emotion that goes into a commercial real estate purchase and a lot more concentration on the money-making potential. Below are five rules for buying commercial real estate. Know What You Are Looking For When you go to purchase your commercial real estate property, it is important to know exactly what kind of real estate you are looking to purchase. Commercial real estate varies across a few different sectors, so if you are looking to have retail space, you want to make sure you are looking at retail-zoned properties that offer an attractive storefront. Additionally, if you are looking at office buildings, you can look at a more interior style entrance that traditionally gives you more space to offer each business in a lease. Of course, there is always the possibility of purchasing commercial residential properties as well, like a condo building or row of townhomes. This is probably the most straight-forward purchase of all the commercial real estate transactions. 2. Put the Most Emphasis on Location Location is going to be key when purchasing your property. While you can change a lot of things about your property, you can’t physically pick up and move a building, so you want to make sure you have the perfect location when you buy. If you are a retail shop, you want to make sure you are in an area with a lot of foot traffic, so your business survives. Even if you think you found the perfect property in every other aspect, if you aren’t in the right location, your business could fail. If the property is not for your personal business, but instead to rent out, you want to make sure the property is in a desirable area that businesses will want to be in and offers amenities like off-street parking. 3. Secure Financing First Before you begin your journey into buying commercial property it is advantageous to secure your financing. Knowing your credit score can help get you started. This also gives you time to dispute anything you feel is incorrect and can raise your score. Once you know that, checking the interest rates and knowing what kind of loan you want to take out is the next step. Of course, you want to make sure you are getting the very best lending deal possible, so you are paying the least amount in interest and fees. Something that is more common in a commercial real estate transaction is seller financing, where the seller acts as the bank instead of having a traditional mortgage lender. If this is the route you want to go, make sure you have an attorney to double check all of the paperwork and make sure the terms and conditions are favorable. 4. Work with the Right Team Just like a residential real estate agent, partnering with the right team to secure your commercial real estate property is essential. This is the team that is going to scour properties to show you that fit what you are looking for and also are in your budget. They are going to be your second set of eyes when viewing properties and someone you can bounce your questions off of at any time. Commercial real estate can be different than residential in that it doesn’t all hit the market and is available for everyone to view. These brokerages often have large networks that they rely on for off-market information and are privy to seeing properties before they even go up for sale, giving you first dibs at potential property. Additionally, some transactions already come with leases in place. The right brokerage can help you navigate these leases and make sure you are compliant legally and continue to help provide leases after the purchasing transaction is over. 5. Try Not to Be Emotional When you are purchasing a residential property, it is usually the emotional connection that seals the deal. The home feels like something you can see yourself in, and you fall in love. When purchasing commercial real estate, it is best if you can keep emotion out of it. Remember why you are purchasing the property to begin with. If it is for your business, you are naturally going to be a little more emotional about it, but if you are purchasing to rent out to tenants, keeping the emotion out can help you close your deal faster. Remember, this is a business transaction. Purchasing a commercial property can be an exciting time for any investor. Getting through the process quickly and efficiently means you are renting and earning money that much faster.

Have you ever wondered whether your land may be of value to developers? And if so, how to make some money out of it? Whether you own farmland or a large garden, bought a plot of land as an investment or have come into an inheritance, you will be pleased to hear that housing development land has never been in greater demand. We all know why – there’s a national housing crisis on! This means that local councils are actively looking for more land for residential development, putting you in a great position to take advantage of the commercial opportunities of selling your land. Here are four things you need to know about selling land for housing development. Before you get carried away with the prospect of significant financial gain, the first question to get clarity on is whether you have the ‘right’ sort of land that developers might be interested in. Let’s just say that if you own a field in the middle of one of Britain’s 15 National Parks, the site is less likely to be suitable than if your asset is a disused urban plot. That said, cases are very rarely clear cut, so always double-check your assumptions by speaking to an industry expert. A planning consultancy or land development agency should be your first port of call. Some may offer free initial advice, others may charge you for a detailed planning appraisal. The latter can be a useful tool on a site where the suitability for development may not be that obvious and may first need to be established. 2. What are the first steps to sell your land? Whether you are selling your home or a plot of land, professional advice and guidance is a must. According to this property expert, there are 11 steps to getting your land sold, from the initial assessment of your land’s potential through to close cooperation with your land agent to close the deal. Put bluntly, when it comes to land sales, the layman simply doesn’t have the necessary commercial experience or technical knowledge to be a match for professional teams negotiating on behalf of seasoned housebuilders.  In order to get the best deal for your land, you should find yourself a knowledgeable land agent that you can trust to represent your interests and who will guide you through the complex sales process with integrity and plenty of industry experience. Ask other landowners for references and recommendations and choose an agent who will work with you to create a marketing strategy that best suits your financial goals and the particular character of your land. 3. How much can you get for your land? This is where it gets interesting. While a surveyor can give you an informed valuation of your land as is, its real value clearly lies in its development potential. Basically, the site is worth as much as a developer is prepared to pay for it, meaning the value of your land is proportionate to the financial return the buyer can achieve.  In practical terms, the value of a field with planning permission for residential development is calculated as the profit that can be made from selling the individual houses once they’re built. The trick to maximising the value of your land to you, the seller, therefore lies in working with highly experienced land professionals to identify the best land use and development that will be most lucrative for the developer and, by extension, for you. 4. How do you get planning permission for your land? For the seller, the biggest financial gains are made by transforming a piece of land without planning permission into one with planning permission. Getting consent for the right scheme is crucial to maximise the land’s value. Often, developers will want to control the planning process themselves so it can be tailored to the exact product specifications, but it is possible (though risky) to get your own. Below are the most commonly used mechanisms of sale for land transactions: The most straightforward way to dispose of your land and the quickest way to liquidise the asset is by way of an unconditional sale. That way, the land is sold without any conditions other than vacant possession on completion. However, selling the land without planning permission for the buyer to develop the site is unlikely to achieve the maximum value of the land for you. If you are confident that the buyer can make a profit, you may be able to negotiate an additional ‘hope value’, defined by the RICS as ‘an element of market value in excess of the existing use value, reflecting the prospect of some more valuable future use’. A conditional sale subject to planning permission involves a contract whereby the buyer is obliged to pay an agreed price but only when he has succeeded in obtaining planning consent for the land (at his own cost). The land price achieved is likely to be higher than with an unconditional deal since there is much less risk to the developer. Conditional contracts can be useful because they bind both parties to the deal early on. However, deals like this can literally take years to complete, and sometimes never are. If an uncertain wait is not a satisfactory solution for you, you should seek to structure the deal in a different way. Exploring financing options with a reliable private money lender in Singapore can provide alternative solutions to help you navigate through such property transactions with greater flexibility. Option agreements are the most common form of land transaction. It is a way for landowners to realise an increase in land value but without having to get involved in obtaining planning permission. That risk is taken by the developer who has the option to buy the site at any point during an agreed period, either for a pre-arranged price or at reduced market value. Typically, the sale will be triggered by planning permission being received. Negotiating an option agreement will include agreeing

The UK is getting back into business. Gradually, sector by sector, we are beginning to embrace the ‘new normal’, and businesses are once again raring to go. After the most recent loosening of lockdown measures, many pubs, bars, and restaurants have opened their doors to the public again. The likelihood is that it won’t be too long before most offices will begin to reopen as well, and the 8.4 million people who were furloughed and the many working from home will return to their workplace, ready to make up for lost time.   However, it won’t be quite as simple as wandering back to your old desk, greeting your colleagues, and getting back to normal as if nothing has changed. Workplaces are set to undergo a complete transformation, adjusting to the legal requirements of social distancing and the ethical requirements of supplying employees with the necessary PPE to feel safe in the workplace. The new workplace will involve many essential measures, but from squirts of sanitiser to mandatory face masks, how much is this all going to cost? Let’s take a closer look at the breakdown of PPE costs and find out how much the UK is going to have to fork out for the safety and wellbeing of its workers in the following months.  2 pumps of hand sanitiser per hour for every worker — £3,058,560 Since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, hand sanitiser has become an essential item, and many wouldn’t leave their home, let alone re-enter the workplace, without one in their bag. Health and Safety England have set out guidelines for the use of hand sanitiser including tips on how to identify a suitable product for your workplace, but how much is this product really going to set us back? For every single full-time employee to get two pumps of hand sanitiser for every hour they are at work, the overall cost for one day back in the office will amount to £3,058,560! And it looks like this measure will certainly be needed for the foreseeable future. 2 face masks for each worker — £72,000,000 Next up, we have face masks. Face masks are absolutely essential for frontline workers and they are now also a legal requirement for anyone travelling on public transport in most parts of the UK. It will be at each business’s own discretion whether or not facemasks are essential in the workplace. But for service industry workers in particular, face masks are of great importance and could play a vital role in protecting staff. In total, the UK would have to fork out £36,000,000 to ensure that each and every full-time worker has access to a face mask. For two masks each, which would be more appropriate, the cost would amount to a staggering £72,000,000. Floor markings in all commercial spaces — £1,234,309,789 Social distancing is set to remain in place as we return to our places of work, with two metres being the original rule, and one metre distancing coming into play when necessary (‘1m-plus’). However, when there is a large number of employees or customers in one space, temporary floor stickers are necessary to uphold the social distancing regulations. In the UK today, there are 678,192,192.00 square metres of commercial space. So, to have social distance markings at every two metres, it will collectively cost £1,234,309,789 for businesses in the UK. A deep clean of all commercial spaces in the UK — £2,373,672,672 As well as getting all the PPE in place as employees gradually re-enter the workplace across the country, businesses are going to have to dramatically step up their hygiene efforts. Naturally, this will call for regular deep cleans so that every surface is left sparkling. For every business to conduct one thorough deep clean, therefore covering every inch of commercial square foot in the country, the overall cost will come to £2,373,672,672. Training — Free! Finally, we have the cost of training staff in essential health and safety procedures. Thankfully, the World Health Organization is offering online training courses completely free of charge. These courses include subjects such as Infection and Prevention Control, health and safety briefings for respiratory diseases, Operational Planning Guidelines, and more.   Overall total — £3,683,041,021 So, for day one back in the office, the collective cost for the UK will be a staggering, £3,683,041,021. The costs may seem steep, but for the businesses that are beginning to reopen, health and safety must be the priority above all else. In relation to a safe return of the workforce, Gary Peeling, Chief Executive Officer at Where The Trade Buys, said: “With shared office spaces gradually reopening, businesses will require numerous health and safety products to ensure the safeguarding of their staff. Ahead of office doors reopening, careful planning will be needed in order to put the necessary protective equipment in place and enhance health and safety measures before employees return to the workplace.” Gary Peeling, CEO at UK commercial print company: Where The Trade Buys, currently producing PPE for UK workplaces, hospitality venues, retail stores, education spaces, charity shops, the NHS and more. The company has also been involved in manufacturing face visors for NHS essential workers in the fight against Covid-19. Sources: Data Sources: Number of employees NOS: Full time workers: Pumps on hand sanitizer: Average cost of hand sanitizer: https://sanitizersupply.co.uk/hand-sanitiser (500ml bottle bulk buy) Average cost of face mask: Commercial square feet: Average cost of a floor sticker when you buy in bulk (100):

The proportion of UK small businesses predicting growth has almost doubled in just three months – from 14% to 27% – giving one of the first tangible indications that the Government’s easing of lockdown is having a positive impact on a key area of the UK economy. The quarterly tracking study by Hitachi Capital Business Finance goes beyond sentiment and confidence – it examines the percentage of small businesses that actually predict growth in the next three months. Following last quarter’s report, which saw the percentage of small business owners predicting growth plummeting from 39% to just 14%, the new findings show the highest quarter-on-quarter rise in five years. With 27% predicting growth overall, there were significant rises in the percentage of small businesses predicting moderate expansion the next three months (up from 10% to 23%) or no change (26% to 43%). This meant there has been a huge reduction in the percentage of businesses that fear contraction (down from 31% to 19%) or collapse in the next three months (down by almost two thirds from 29% to 11%). By sector, the IT/telecoms sector had the highest proportion of small businesses that predicted growth for the three months to 30th September (44%). The biggest rises in confidence since lockdown were evidenced in and transport and distribution (up from 8% to 34%) and manufacturing (9% to 30%), where the resurgence of growth forecasts was striking. There were also significant rises in sectors hardest hit by lockdown: In retail, the percentage of small businesses predicting growth rose from 21% to 27% – and in hospitality growth forecasts rose from 11% to 16% in the three months since April.   The research also suggests that smaller, more agile enterprises will be the fastest to adapt to the UK’s re-emergence from lockdown: Small businesses that had been trading for less than five years (35%) and those that employed 10-49 employees (37%) were most likely to predict business growth for the next three months (to 30th September). Gavin Wraith-Carter, Managing Director at Hitachi Capital Business Finance commented: “The latest Hitachi Capital research findings are remarkable for both the scale and the speed of the revival in small business confidence. We knew last quarter that small business confidence would fall as lockdown started and the scale of the fall was a concern, particularly the steep rise in the number of business owners fearing for their survival. Our new research – just in – shows what an immediate and positive impact the easing of lockdown has had on the small business community. Whilst bigger businesses are having to adjust and adapt at a slower pace, small business confidence across the UK has bounced back and as the engine room of the British economy, today’s figures can give us confidence that small businesses will lead the nation’s effort to rebuild the economy and secure growth.”