The latest news from Wood & Pilcher

Welcome to our December newsletter.

Sell Your House, Step By Step

Are you looking to sell? Sometimes it’s hard knowing where exactly to start. Our step by step guide might look like a lot of information but it can really be a good reference point to help you during this process.

1. Work on your finances
With our mortgage valuation tool you can get an estimate of your property's worth.

2. Get an energy performance certificate
You will need one to provide to potential buyers.

3. Decide how much
Get to know your local market as this will help you decide on a price and what you can afford when looking for your next property.

4. Get a conveyancing solicitor
They handle the legal work.

Get an overview of how much conveyancing costs.

5. Fill out your paperwork
There is going to be a lot of it!

6. Accept an offer!
Congratulations, the estate agents legally must now pass all offers over to you.

Once you’re happy with the offer, formally accept.

7. Work on your draft contract
You and the buyer will have to negotiate-
• The length of time between exchange and completion.
• What fixtures and fittings will be including, and if they have a cost attached?
• Any survey discounts.

8. Contracts get exchanged
This is the process when you become legally committed to selling your property, and they become legally committed to buying from you.

When you sell the house, you are responsible for maintaining the property until the sale is fully complete.

9. Move out
It is less stressful to move out before the day of completion if possible.

Completion is when the property changes ownership. Once the keys have been handed over.

10. Pay of your mortgage

The mortgage company will have given you and the solicitor and outstanding amount for the day of completion.

Now the buyer has transferred the money that will essentially pay off the mortgage for you.

11. Settle with everyone
Once completion has been finalised, your conveyance solicitor will send you an overview covering all their costs, as well as outing the sale price.

If you’re buying and selling at the time, you can settle for both transactions at the same time.

There can sometimes be a small discrepancy and you may even get a little refund.

How To Minimise Deposit Disputes

When tenancies come to an end, there are sometimes disagreements between the tenant and the landlord regarding the deposit. If your deposit was paid after 6th April 2007 then it will be protected by the landlord in a secure scheme and won’t be able to be touched until the end of the agreement.

Deposit deductions are historically proven to cause friction. 20% of tenants who lost some of their deposit feel it was unreasonable. A huge 30% of tenancies end with some amount deducted from their deposit, out of which 13% lost the entire amount.

Some common reasons for deductions:

• Rent that hasn’t been paid
• Any bills that haven’t been settled
• Stolen or misplaced belongings
• Any direct damage to the property or its contents
• Lack of maintenance.

Of course, this is subjective to each individual contract, but honesty is the best policy. If you have broken something, it is always the better option to just be open about it. Inform your landlord and in most cases, they will understand and organise it to be taken care of.

Be thankful for your inventory report! Having your inventory report during the process of sorting out your deposit will make everyone’s life so much easier. You will have two inventory checks during your tenancy, one at the beginning and one before you move out. The report is a thoroughly detailed list that states the condition and contents of the property. Once the two checks have been completed, then it is very easy to see if there are any changes that need to be accounted for. This document will either cover your back or it will be used to prove you in fact did misplace or break something. Either way, necessary for both parties.

Welcome to Wood & Pilcher - Heathfield!

Welcome to Wood & Pilcher - Heathfield!

With over 60 years combined Estate Agency experience our Heathfield Branch are extremely well placed to provide a professional and comprehensive service to Clients and customers alike.

Our team is made up of the Business Partner -Ryan Eckhardt, Sales Manager – Mike Watkinson, Senior Negotiator – Josh Johnston, Negotiator – Melissa Marsh, Administrator Lisa Sharpington and weekender Paul Wiley.

All our staff either do, or have lived locally and have an excellent knowledge of the area.

Our Heathfield office work hand in hand with our other offices in Crowborough, Tunbridge Wells, Southborough and Tonbridge and are all fully linked using the latest Estate Agency Software and Technology.

Whether you are looking to sell your home, buy or rent an alternative property, we would be delighted to hear from you.

01435 862211 – Heathfield Office

Is Your Home as Good as it can be?

As part of the valuation process, agents should seek to provide details of properties similar to your own: either still available for viewing, or equally currently under offer. This approach will – broadly – show the many choices that your viewer has. It’s a logical progression that vendors should be always asking themselves will their house be offered at both the correct price and appropriate condition for it to stand out accordingly?

As Easter and a Spring market (thankfully!) approaches, all vendors will be well served to look at their properties afresh. Not as the owner of many years but instead as a buyer would consider the property.

People talk about kerb appeal and first impressions – does your home impress? Are the front gardens and driveway well maintained, grass under control and shrubs suitability pruned? Passing into the property, has a spring clean taken place? Is the property aired? Are the carpets cleaned (if necessary) and has there been an intelligent de-cluttering process going on to show new buyers that the house is perfectly big enough for them to live in?

Obviously, one can think of many improvements that can be made to one’s house and in this competitive world where people are seeking to sell quickly and for good prices, can you genuinely say your property is offered at its best and justify the appropriate asking figure? If you can’t do this then why would you expect a viewer to become a buyer?

On a personal level, we tried to sell a property some 5 years ago at a certain price with little interest. In truth, the colour scheme was terribly dated, and we needed to make changes. We spent a month visiting the property after work and painting the dramatically coloured walls a far more sober, simple, white. On re-marketing not only did the property go under offer very quickly but also at a figure some £20,000 higher that it had originally been on the market for.

For this month, our advice is to take a fresh look at your home. Is it as good as it can be? Are there affordable fixes that could be undertaken? If you go to the market once you have thought this through and seek to remedy any potential problems, experience tells us that you will not only sell quicker but also at a far more attractive price than you would have achieved without due consideration. Dust down those plantation shutters, open the windows,let some light in and take a cold, hard look at your home!.

Welcome to Heathfield!

Welcome to Wood & Pilcher - Heathfield!

With over 60 years combined Estate Agency experience our Heathfield Branch are extremely well placed to provide a professional and comprehensive service to Clients and customers alike.

All our staff either do, or have lived locally and have an excellent knowledge of the area.

Whether you are looking to sell your home, buy or rent an alternative property, we would be delighted to hear from you. 01435 862211 – Heathfield Office

The Comedy Club

The Comedy Club As Seen On TV is one of the most recognised and respected names in the comedy Industry and over 24 years has worked across the UK and Abroad with the best of the best.

Click here to read The Comedy Club.

Prosecco Cream Tea

Alongside your scone, jam and cream, you'll receive a mini bottle of chilled prosecco to enjoy and an additional lemon & orange shortbread. You'll also receive a voucher for a free hot drink.

Click here to read Prosecco Cream Tea.

After Hours Networking

Join us at the Discovery Park for our popular networking event. The informal atmosphere and relaxed environment is the ideal place to make connections.

Click here to read After Hours Networking.

Local Pressure-Washing Service

Thinking of moving, want to freshen up your property before photography is booked and viewings start?

Have a look at what we can do for you...

How To Keep Your Home Cool This Summer

Most of us spend the colder months of the year dreaming about the summer, but it can be easy to forget how inhospitable the heat can make your home.

Ensure you have all the fun in the sun with none of the discomfort with our guide to keeping your home cool this summer.

Use your windows and curtains
It’s a shame to shut all that natural light out of your house, but unfortunately it comes with a good deal of heat. Closing all your curtains or following the sun’s progression across your house will seriously lower the temperature.

However, as soon as the sun has gone down, we would recommend throwing open the curtains and windows so that you can let in as much of that cool evening air as possible.

Build a makeshift air con
Can’t afford the electric bill and initial cost of an air conditioning unit? You can create your own air con by placing ice/frozen ice packs in a washing up bowl. You can then place it at an angle in front of a regular fan, which will circulate cold air around the room.

Switch off the electrical appliances
Every single one of your appliances gives off heat whilst they are on. During the hottest hours of the day you should avoid using washing machines, dishwashers, hobs and ovens. Lighting should also be avoided when the sun goes down.

Drink plenty of water and eat cold
Staying hydrated and eating cold food like salad will help you to keep your body temperature down and avoids using any heat generating appliances.

Sleep on the lower floor
Have you ever headed upstairs when its sunny, only to find that the upper floors are far warmer than the lower floor? This is because heat always rises to the highest possible point. If you are struggling to sleep, ditch the sweltering upper floor and sleep downstairs – either on your couch or your airbed.

Insulate
You probably see a lot of advice articles recommending insulation for keeping your home warm in the summer, but did you know that it also keeps the heat out in the summer? If you don’t already have insulation in your home, it will practically pay for itself in the money saved on energy bills.

Our Top Tips For Designing A Home Office

People have been working from home for a while now. With businesses offering a greater level of autonomy and flexibility to their workers for the long run, many of us will have created office spaces in our homes. These spaces are vital to our productivity, and we have therefore put some of our favourite design ideas together in order to make your home office a hotbed of efficiency.

Nail the basics
When designing a home office, it can be easy to get caught up in the design aesthetic first and foremost, but the basics of a suitable desk and comfortable chair are not to be overlooked. These two pieces of equipment could make your working-from-home bleak or blissful, so take the time to choose wisely. When choosing your seat, ensure that the height and lumbar can be fully adjusted; your thighs should be at a right angle to the floor and your feet totally flat to provide the most ergonomic seating position.

Don’t neglect storage
The old adage of ‘tidy space, tidy mind’ is prevalent for a reason – we tend to work best when we’re in comfortable, organised spaces. It’s easy to forget that a home office will need to have masses of storage in order to store your working documents, as well as any accoutrements you need on a day-to-day basis. When planning your home office, incorporate space for storage which includes shelving, cupboards and filing cabinets.

Create an oasis
Your home office should be a space that you want to visit; therefore, creating a pleasant and attractive room should be high on your priorities to encourage you to use it. Studies have suggested that using greenery in our work spaces can make us happier and improve cognitive functions, so adding plants or herbs in your office space are an easy method to incorporate some natural elements. In line with the greenery, keep the general feel of your home office light and airy by keeping walls and décor neutral, perhaps with one simple accent wall in a colour such as navy blue, which is supposed to help with concentration.

Creating space
Not everybody will have an extra room to dedicate to a home office, but don’t let that stop you. If you have an alcove in any rooms in your house, you can turn it into a mini home office simply with a fold down desk. You could also double up the use of your dressing table or kitchen table. One of the benefits of not having a dedicated fixed office space is that you can move your home office around if you feel like you need a motivation refresh.

Our thoughts for the year ahead

As another year comes to a close, rather than look back on what a year 2020 was, we have chosen not to dwell on a year many wish to see struck from memory, but to take stock on how the year has set us up to work with our clients for a brighter 2021. We have asked each of our managers to pop a few lines down and tell us what they will be looking forward to in 2021 from a business perspective:

Amanda Staveley, Branch Manager - Tonbridge & Southborough

Well, 2020 is a year most people would rather forget isn’t it?! A lot of it has been painted as doom and gloom but here at Wood & Pilcher we try and look on the brighter side of life.

The market whilst being depressed during lockdown of course, has made a startling recovery in part aided by the Stamp Duty Holiday Scheme. However, an influx of buyers from London has assisted the real growth and demand we have seen in the last six months. More than ever they are looking for properties close to open green spaces, with good size gardens and additional room to create a study be that in the house or in the form of a garden building. Self improvements of this kind during lockdown favoured those now looking to sell and increase their impact on the marketplace. Access to train links are still close to the top of the list as people expect to return to the commute into London though not as often or regularly as before. Thus we in Southborough, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells remain a popular choice to the London buyer.

Wood & Pilcher have taken a long look at how we have been presenting properties and felt that we needed to enable people to view as much as they could remotely and therefore took steps to offer online video tours with clients consent, including Matterport options which are 3D walkthroughs and these have greatly increased the chances of a successful offer from proceedable applicants without the need for repeated viewings.

As market leaders, we took a tough stance on our Covid-19 policy and made the decision to only show properties to proceedable applicants. This has not affected our viewing rates at all, and if anything has resulted in offers being achieved much quicker than pre-lockdown aided by our online videos and matterport.

We are looking forward to a buoyant start to 2021 and with three more months to go until the end of the Stamp Duty Holiday we are still seeing good levels of market appraisal activity, full viewing diaries and offers coming in every day despite the proximity to Christmas! The activity shows no signs of abating and we hope the chancellor will take the view of extending or tapering the Holiday in order to help people meet the deadline of 31st March. We have been blessed with our return to “business as usual” and remain grateful that we are able to provide the security and stability not just to our clients, but to staff and suppliers a like.

Wishing all our customers past and present a Happy Christmas and a splendid New Year!

Mike Watkinson, Sales Manager - Heathfield

Having experienced record levels of sales in Heathfield throughout 2020 we are now looking forward to a continued buoyant housing market as we enter 2021! Wood and Pilcher continue to offer a first class service to our clients as is reflected in our Feefo reviews. We fully understand the importance of clear communication with our clients throughout the moving process.

The current year has highlighted the important of many of the marketing tools we have available to us are. These include Video Tours on all of our properties or the option of using Matterport Interactive Technology enabling prospective buyers to experience a greater reflection of your home prior to a physical viewing. This has lead to higher quality viewings with prospective buyers having a better understanding of our properties.

We expect to see a very active start to 2021 with continued demand from buyers choosing to move further out from the Hustle of Greater London to the more tranquil Villages and Market Towns such as Heathfield, many now realising they have the ability to work from home and have no necessity to live in the more highly priced area’s on the Outskirts of London.

Nick Davy, Manager - Residential Letting & Management

Despite the obvious challenges and disruption experienced by all, 2020 turned out to be a positive year for Lettings locally and provides plenty of optimism for 2021 which looks set to follow suit with many new Landlords entering the market locally, bringing with them some fantastic rental properties for the consistently high demand from Tenants. Embracing technology available to us further this year has seen video tours become a staple of our already extensive marketing with the ability to view a property remotely having become increasing popular for those unable to visit in person.

Mark Sparrow, Sales Manager - Tunbridge Wells

We are set to have a very high number of exchanges in the first quarter and possibly the second, depending on Government attitudes to a SDLT extension. The latter may be necessary - in my opinion - if the heavy workload on lawyers, surveyors, lenders and local authorities leads to paralysis and a number of transactions are looking to fail as a result. Beyond this, if the market is depending on a recovery of confidence of the back of disappearing Covid 19, there are good reasons to be optimistic just about now.

Was 2020 a year to forget? Not for us in TW.

Adam King, Partner - Land & New Homes

2021 is a year for optimism, we have seen demand for new build properties across all the areas in which we operate, echoing the sentiments of our sales and lettings colleagues, families are continuing to spread their reach away from the grasp of London, the necessity of commutable importance has been replaced with conversations on home offices, fewer trips to a physical office etc. This has led to renewed interest in fringe villages for our developer clients when searching for land opportunities and the ability to build family homes with green space rather than intensity and over-reliance on apartment buildings to maximise the value of a development. This is not to say apartment buildings are still not essential as the return of the professional landlord looking to make their money work for them has also played a part in the successes of 2020 and the feeling is this will continue through to 2021.

As a department, we are working closely with several media and design companies to be in a position to assist our clients and present their properties to the public in the best possible way, either virtually or in person.

We look forward to being at your service in 2021 and beyond.

Sussex Interiors & Exteriors

Superior Interiors & Exteriors Ltd provides exciting home improvement services across Kent and Sussex. From preparing your property for sale in order to maximise value, to putting your stamp on your wonderful new home. With over two decades of experience, we provide a comprehensive range of services including fine decorating, tiling, and property maintenance. We proudly fuse traditional craftsmanship and customer service with modern materials and techniques. For a no obligation quotation and to see examples of our work and customer feedback, please contact us at superiorinteriors.style (web, Facebook & Instagram)