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There is no doubt that the Hertfordshire property market is moving again and with properties selling quickly and new stock slow to come onto the market it looks like prices are going to be a good bit higher by the end of the year than the start. The attached article chimes very much with our experience – which is that we have put 20 properties under offer in the last 8 weeks, something we haven’t done since the good times of 2006. The thing that is driving this is the London market that is booming. As an example we put a house on the market in Walthamsto of all places and we have to take it off Rightmove after 7 hours as we already had 16 viewings. We had a bidding wara and sold for 27k over asking price. All the bidders were first time buyers with finance agreed….

The Hertfordshire market has always been hugely influenced by the flow of buyers moving out of London to the relative peace, quiet and undoubted beauty of Hertfordshire. In fact I am a direct example of this trend as my parents moved our family from North London to Little Berkhamsted in 1973 and many of their friends did likewise. It is fair to say that the housing market in Hertfordshire has always been supported by the warm flow of people and their salaries heading up the excellent railway lines from London every evening. What this means for sellers is that you have to have your toes – indeed both feet – firmly dipped in this warm water. This is where the internet has really come into its own. Rightmove figures show the biggest surge in visits to their web site is from 8.30am when professionals log in to their office…

Someone recently set up a web site with a giant red button saying “Do not press?” Most people did. A bit like you reading this blog post. Your attention has been grabbed and so you read on, wanting to know what it is all about. The first rule of selling. You have to grab a buyer’s attention, only then might they listen to what you want to tell them. And whether you are selling a house, a car or a bar of chocolate there are always other houses, cars and chocolate bars vying for those buyers’ attention. Make no mistake, if you are selling your house, you are in a major competition for buyer’s affections and you will only win if you get noticed. Which is where we come in. As a former Director of a top London advertising agency I know how to make your home stand out…

Despite the cold weather the property market seems to be warming up as we move into April. All the indicators suggest that this year should be better than 2011 and 2012 in terms of the number of successful house sales that sellers will achieve. The Council of Mortgage lenders predict an easing of mortgage availability as we move through the year and the biggest property advertising website, Rightmove, are also seeing a gentle rise in prices as we move into the Spring market. That is not to suggest that we are moving back to the boom years of 2006/7, far from it, which is no bad thing. It still means that house sellers will have to make sure that they present their homes as well as possible before putting them on the market – our free House Doctor Consultation will help there – as well as getting the price…