HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We've started the New Year with a special deal for home owners currently thinking of selling.
Save £££s when you list your home for sale with Village Properties under our standard sole agency terms before 1st February 2012.
We'll provide a FREE Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) - worth £120 & a FREE legal fee on your sale with our recommended conveyancer - worth £600!
Terms & Condtions apply, please call the office on 0118 9415607 for full details.

STAMP DUTY HOLIDAY ENDING SOON

Anyone thinking of deferring a property sale until the new year may be missing out on an end of year rush from First Time Buyers that is likely to have a knock-on effect through the property marketplace.
At the moment, First Time Buyers do not pay Stamp Duty Land Tax on property purchases up to £250,000 but this 'holiday' ends on 25th March 2012. Therefore to qualify for exemption, the First Time Buyer needs to LEGALLY COMPLETE the transaction before this date. With an average timescale of 8-10 weeks to complete a sale, First Time Buyers really need to agree a property purchase by the end of 2011 to ensure there is sufficient time for the legals to go through. The net result is that anyone thinking of selling a home (whether in the First Time Buyer marketplace or not) would be wise to consider the likely surplus of motivated buyers that will be around in November & December. If you are contemplating selling your home, give our sales office a call on 9415607 for up-to-the-minute advice.

NEW HOMES!

Village Properties are pleased to announce our appointment to sell 6 brand new homes right in the centre of Tilehurst village! Everyday amenities are right 'on the doorstep' making these homes ideal for young families to walk to school or those of retirement age to walk to local shops, frequent bus service, library, doctors & dental surgeries.
This exciting development is set well back from School Road in a private driveway & comprises 5 cottage-style terraced houses plus 1 detached house, each with 2 car parking spaces. Each house also has a useful downstairs WC, 1st floor home office/3rd bedroom, gas fired radiator central heating plus solar panels for hot water, latest contemporary fixtures & fittings, tiled flooring in kitchen & bathroom & turfed rear garden.
The new homes are built by a local developer to exacting standards with a 10 year NHBC warranty & are now available for viewing by prior appointment with us. Prices are from £247,950 & full details can be found in both our 'Homes to Buy' & 'Featured properties' sections of our website.

IS YOUR HOME BEING SEEN IN ALL THE BEST PLACES?

Statistics show that most property sales are currently being generated from internet enquiries! If most prospective buyers are now house hunting on-line, shouldn’t your estate agent be advertising your home for sale on more than just one website?
At Village Properties, all our homes are advertised for sale on the UK’s top websites ensuring we reach the widest audience of prospective buyers locally, regionally, nationally & internationally.
You can see all our listings on 'rightmove.co.uk', 'primelocation.com', 'findaproperty.com', 'globrix.com', 'vebra.com', the NAEA's website 'propertylive.co.uk', plus you can also see our weekly property advert on line at 'readingchronicle.co.uk'.

SUMMER-THE BEST SEASON TO BUY A NEW HOME?

Now may be a great time to do a deal for your next home! Although we've had a busier than expected Spring season, there are still a few home-owners out there anxious to move by the end of the summer who have reduced their asking prices to attract a quicker sale! Check our wesite listings first as changes show there a day before they filter to the national property websites like rightmove.
Activity still remains strong so register your requirements with us today so we can help find the right home for you. Quite often we can notify you in advance if something particularly suitable may be coming available for sale before the information hits the internet.
You can always call us for any additional information you require about any property you see listed on our website, particularly for things like owner's onward moving plans, school catchments, etc. We look forward to hearing from you!

SPRING HAS ARRIVED!

The clocks have moved forward to British Summer Time, so evenings are now lighter for house-hunting! Spring flowers are blooming, buds are on the trees & many people have done their first garden tidy-up of the year.
This usually signals a noticable increase in family-size homes coming into the marketplace for sale, with the expectation that the owners can move home during the summer months & therefore any children can be settled before the start of the new school year in September.
Village Properties are pleased to announce that we received more new home listings than any other estate agency in the Tilehurst area during March (source rightmove.co.uk)& aready have had some notable successes in selling homes within a week or two of receiving instructions - hopefully a good sign of things to come!
As ever, please call us for a valuation of your home if you are considering moving; prices being achieved are changing month by month so we will ensure you are up-to-date with the prevailing market.

BEAT THE SPRING RUSH!

More than half the registered prospective buyers with Village Properties are ready to buy now! These include cash buyers, investment buyers, first-time buyers, buyers leaving rented accommodation, job movers, divorced & separated buyers and a fair number of existing home-owners who have now sold (s.t.c.) their existing home.

The run-up to early Spring sees a marked increase in activity & whilst we're busy at Village Properties valuing many local homes in anticipation of the Spring rush, shrewd & canny sellers are taking advantage of the pre-Easter period where their home will stand out just that little bit better amongst the current competition. If you are condsidering selling a property soon & require a 'no chain' or 'closed chain' solution, Village Properties might just have the right buyer for you!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Well, here we are again! January is off to a busy start with a full diary of appointments. We've already seen a steady stream of recently registered applicants with a New Year's resolution to move home this Spring, so we're keen to list as many new properties 'for sale' to satisfy this demand!
If you are contemplating a home-move this year, feel confident entrusting your sale to the team of experts at Village Properties. After all, we are the most experienced local estate agents & we've a hard-earned repuation as a 'safe pair of hands'! Call us today to see what special New Year deal we can do for you &/or to register your requirements for your next home!

Still the no. 1 estate agency in Tilehurst!

As 2010 nears its end, we can reflect on the challenges & difficulties we have confronted with falling house prices and lack of first-time buyers. However sales figures have been resonably consistent and lettings have significantly increased throught the year. We are pleased to see that the latest data analysis from rightmove.co.uk indicates that Village Properties is still selling more homes in the Tilehurst area than any other estate agents' Tiehurst branch office!

A big thank-you to all our clients who have entrusted the sale of their home to us & from the Directors & staff at Village Properties, we'd like to take this opportunity to wish everone 'Seasons Greetings' and a happy & prosperous New Year!

NEW OFFICE SIGNS

On the back of the recent opening of our Rental Office next door, we have taken the opportunity to replace the office signage & window graphics to tie-in the 2 premises more closely together in a common framework. Even though we say so ourselves, we are rather pleased with the result! The refreshed shop front projects a cleaner, bolder & more modern image whilst highlighting to greater effect our distinctive 'four rooftop silhouette' logo. See what you think next time you are passing by?

NEW RENTAL OFFICE

For many years, Village Properties have had busy rental department working from our main premises, but now they have their own separate office exclusively for lettings, situated right next door to our village centre sales office! Headed by director & co-owner Ron Westbury, our aim is consolidate, grow & improve upon our dedicated full-management service to landlords in Tilehurst & the surrounding area. We offer a 'no let - no fee' tailored service to landlords with low set-up costs once a suitable tenant is found.
If you considering letting your own home, or already have a property suitable for letting, why not pop in for a chat to see what we can offer you?

NEW SIGN BOARDS!

Village Properties' sign boards have always been a familiar sight in Tilehurst & the surrounding areas for many years. We now have a fresh, bold, eye-catching new design to help make our homes for sale stand out even more! See if you can spot them when you're out & about!

On another note, we get numerous facts and figures pass through our office but two stood out this week, both from rightmove.co.uk; the UK's largest & most popular property website. According to their analytics, between 28th March & 24th April this year, Village Properties received more new property listings for sale than any other local estate agency branch; 20% more than our nearest competitor! In addition, for the same period, Village Properties also had more stock of homes for sale than any other local estate agency branch; a staggering 30% more than our nearest competitor! So for the best choice of homes in the area, keep checking back on this website & bookmark our homepage or add to your favourites!

SPRING IS HERE!

Well, we've had a fantastic start to 2010 with lots of new listings! At the time of writing, roughly 1 new property per day in February & March is being placed for sale with Village Properties. Our stock of homes is already leading more prospective buyers to register on our mailing list and we've seen a marked increase in the daily number of applicants actively out viewing; searching for their new home!

For anyone considering moving home in & around the Tilehurst area this Spring, we'd encourage you to speak to us to discuss your requirements & if you need to sell your own home, ask about our very favourable commission deals!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Snow, snow & more snow! When will it end?

Despite the weather, Village Properties is raring to go and equipped with three 4x4 vehicles on our fleet, we can still arrange for your home to valued without delay - even if you're off the beaten track!

WE'RE HAVING A JANUARY SALE!
Already we have received numerous enquiries in the last week or two from prospective purchasers anxious to secure a home in January or February so we're keen for more new listings to satisfy the demand. Give us a ring, drop us an email, or pop in an see us and ask about our favourable commission fees if you place you home with us by the end of January!

Seasons Greetings!

Well we've certainly had a year of it, haven't we? Despite media doom and gloom and the world still in deep recession, property values locally are still showing signs of small month-by-month increases. Even so, the property market can still be described as 'difficult' with Banks' and Building Societies' strict lending criteria not helping matters.

Even with the prevailing property market, statistics show that throughout 2009, Village Properties was still selling significantly more homes in the Tilehurst area than any other estate agency! (source: www.rightmove.co.uk, RG31 plus half mile radius)

At Village Properties, we’ve been around for nearly 30 years, so having been through the previous property boom of the eighties and subsequent recession of the early nineties, we’ve a good idea of what to expect. If you’re going to survive in estate agency right now, you have to be good and there’s no other estate agency locally with more experience than us. If you're thinking of selling in January or February 2010, here's a thought...why not give us a call in December so we can get everything prepared for you whilst we're quieter, rather than wait for the New Year rush.

We will be open over much of the Christmas period if need to contact us.

From the directors and staff of Village Properties, have a great Christmas break and here’s wishing for a happy and successful New Year!

PROPERTY VALUES , STAMP DUTY & VAT

At Village Properties, we have seen a small rise is property values since the summer, so we recommend that anyone thinking of placing their home for sale in the near future should have an up-to-date marketing appraisal or re-appraisal of their home to ensure their asking price is appropriate.

As ever, we are always in need of more homes to sell or let to replace our stock levels. A particularly busy last few months has left us with a list of prospective buyers anxious to find their next home by the end of the year. If you are thinking about selling your home soon, please give us a call or drop us a line by e-mail for a special deal!

Don't forget that Stamp Duty Land Tax will be applicable on all property purchases above £125,000 which complete after 31st December 2009. As many solicitors close their offices between Christmas and New Year, property buyers currently purchasing up to £175,000 need to hurry to complete their move by 3rd week of December!

Also, VAT goes up to 17.5% on 1st January 2010 too. (VAT will be charged on the solicitors fees, estate agency fee, HIP, etc.....)