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November newsletter




Holmewood Manor, Aislaby

HOLMEWOOD MANOR, AISLABY - Full details
 
An elegant, period, detached, freehold house, refurbished and remodelled to the highest of standards, incorporating generous bedroom suites, luxurious entertaining spaces and magnificent lower ground level leisure facilities with, gymnasium, sauna and home cinema. The layout of this superb farmhouse is architecturally stunning, with all rooms fitted to a very high specification. The principal reception rooms, kitchen and gym command magnificent, slightly elevated, views to the rear across the River Tees and beyond. The large lawned south-facing rear gardens border the river which provide fishing rights and the option to navigate, by boat, into nearby Yarm. The luxurious master suite comprises a 26'0" by 14’5" bedroom, two dressing rooms and an en-suite bathroom. A further five spacious and well-appointed bedrooms provide ample room for family and guests with additional en-suites and dressing rooms. Holmewood Manor, which stands on the southern edge of the village, is ideally placed for accessing the nearby cosmopolitan High Street in Yarm.
 



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Moving for schools?

 

Up to a quarter of home movers move home specifically to make sure their children are in with the best chance of securing a place in their chosen school.* This is one of the top reasons for families choosing to move house.

This behaviour has increased competition for houses in specific areas, particularly those within the catchment areas of good schools with outstanding Ofsted reports. So in order to get your child into your preferred school, you have to be ready to move quickly, when the right home for you becomes available. This is made much easier if you can plan as far in advance as possible, so start thinking about which school you would rather your child go to before the rush begins (the deadline date for primary school applications is 15th January and secondary school is 31st October).  

 

Be prepared to pay!

A good school can have a significant effect on house prices within its catchment area, adding up to a 20% premium onto the cost of a house. This could mean a lot less house for your money so you may need to carefully balance educational needs with the demands that growing children have on the space within a home. Some may argue that the benefits of a good education last a lifetime, and you could always move back to an area once the children have left school.

 

Finding out the catchment areas

There are plenty of tools that can help you determine where it is you might want to buy with regards to the local school’s catchment area. Sites such as Zoopla and Right Move both offer postcode lookups so you can start to research the areas you are interested in moving to.

 

Applying for the school

If you want your child to attend a specific school, you should apply at least 6 weeks before they are due to start. Each local authority is different, but the earlier you begin the process the better, particularly if there is a chance that you aren’t successful with your first choice.

You’ll need to have some sort of proof of your new address. Usually, a school will accept a solicitors letter as proof if you’ve not already moved in. If you know what school you want your child to attend, talk directly with the school and confirm that you will qualify to have your child attend if you were to move to the address. It is expensive to move somewhere in vain when you’ve done so specifically for a school.

 

Other Resources

To see more details on applying for schools, see the Gov.Uk site. Your local authority website will also have resources about local schools.



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Interest rates set to rise

British homeowners scramble to re-mortgage as interest rate rise looms

 

Rush for dwindling supply of fixed-rate deals as Bank of England is expected to increase base rate this week

 

Householders have been scrambling to grab fixed-rate mortgages before Thursday’s expected interested rate rise, which would lead to the first increase in monthly loan payments in a decade.

Staff at the big mortgage brokers have reported a “busy last few days”, and say they are expecting more calls this week as householders with base-rate-linked loans try to insulate themselves from the anticipated increase.

The banks and other loan providers have been quietly dropping the best fixed-rate deals before Thursday’s announcement by the Bank of England.

A 0.25 percentage point base rate increase to 0.5% would add &22 per month to a typical &175,000 mortgage. The small rise would be a milestone, marking an end to a decade in which payments have only fallen. One investment group has estimated that as many as 8 million Britons have not seen an interest rate rise in their adult lives.

Paul Welch, who runs largemortgageloans.com, which specialises in arranging loans above &500,000, said there had been a significant jump in remortgaging queries in the last 24 hours. One in 14 borrowers has a mortgage of more than &500,000.

“After a decade of low rates, remortgaging is becoming a hot topic again and clients are seeking our advice on whether to fix their mortgage rates now, before a prospective rate rise,” Welch said. “Although some mortgages have been pulled from the market, there are a number of options still available and money will be in the system at a lower interest rate for a few weeks to come. There’s still time to act but do it as soon as possible.”

Peter Gettins, product manager at Bath-based London & Country Mortgages, agreed things had picked up in recent months. “Remortgage applications this month are already more than 20% up on September’s total, and 60% up on last October. There’s certainly been a substantial increase in inquiry levels, on the back of rate speculation, combined with lenders withdrawing products. We’re probably seeing withdrawals of deals from three or four lenders a day at the moment,” he said.

 

Gettins said those looking for a five-year fixed-rate mortgages had been hit hardest. “A couple of weeks ago the Yorkshire building society, HSBC and Sainsbury’s were all offering five-year mortgages [at about] 1.50%. Now, there are a handful left under 1.75%. It feels like we’re starting to see a domino effect where each withdrawal pushes a new lender to the top. They quickly get oversubscribed and in turn withdraw their deal, and so it goes on,” he warned.

Ray Boulger, at rival broker John Charcol, played down talk of a last-minute rush, mostly because borrowers who actively manage their mortgage had spent the last few months locking into “rock bottom” rates.

Earlier this month, UK Finance, a trade association representing banks and other mortgage lenders, said gross mortgage lending in August was up &1.2bn on July’s figure. Home movers borrowed &8.4bn – 18% more than in July, while first-time buyers borrowed 16% more in August than the month before.

Speaking at the time, UK Finance’s head of mortgages policy, June Deasy, said that the last year had seen the highest number of people remortaging since 2009. “With mortgage rates close to historic lows and the likelihood of a rise in official rates moving closer, the popularity of remortgaging looks set to continue,” she said.

 

 

 

If you'd like to speak to a mortgage adviser to ensure you have the best deal, please don't hesitate to contact Carvers today on 01325 357807 for a free consultation



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