You simply create your own profile page, update it as you wish, and then use the website to self-manage your searches and your property.  Whether it’s short or long term rentals, now or in the future, Shortcuthome will help you through every step of the process.

Shortcuthome also offers a comprehensive menu of match-making searches, not just for whole properties and individual rooms but also for group bookings – ideal for   university students.  The option for dedicated feedback is also available.

Accreditation for landlords, contracts, legal advice and competitive insurance quotes are available for access and storage on line.

For further information, please contact:

Mouseprice.com has released the following instructional video:

More information can be found here

The latest unemployment data from the ONS (published on 12 August 2009) does not make for happy reading:

“The unemployment rate was 7.8 per cent for the three months to June 2009, up 0.7 over the previous quarter and up 2.4 over the year. The number of unemployed people increased by 220,000 over the quarter and by 750,000 over the year, to reach 2.43 million.”

Let us hope that unemployment is truly the lagging indicator (i.e. the last indicator to start improving as we come out of recession) and that it will turn the corner in the not too distant future.  If this doesn’t happen the impact on house price recovery will be obvious.

The spread-betting firms allows you to bet on the rise or fall of prices in either the UK as a whole or on 11 individual regions. The firm offers a range on something happening, such as the range of change of average property prices. This range of change is referred to as the “spread”.

As a betting customer, you can bet higher or lower depending on which direction you believe the market will head over the next four quarters. If you guess the correct direction, you win! And what you win depends on how far the result of the property market change deviates from the spread times how much you bet.

Example:

1. If the average property price is currently £145,000, the betting firm may offer a spread of say (£140-£150k)
2. If you believe the market will fall you need to ask yourself, “by how much will it fall?”
3. Say you think the market will fall to the average property price being roughly £135,000
4. So you bet £1000 on each point decrease :
5. If the market does fall, you will win your bet times how many points below the bottom of the spread the final average price has become. For example, if the average price for a property is now £136,000, which is 4 points below the bottom of the spread, you would win 4 X £1000= £4000

All of the profits are tax free and all costs to you are included in the spread. Finally something with no hidden charges!

A house price index provides the basis for the spreads offered by IG Index.  The index breaks down its property price information nationwide and regionally which is what allows you to bet two different ways.

As of right now, IG Index has suspended the acceptance of bets and have briefly closed the books on the property market betting. Because of the overall consensus that the UK property market is headed towards a creash, the only bets being placed have been for a decline in the price indices. Until the next quarter, you will not be able to place your bet with IG Index.

But once those doors are open again, make sure you’ve informed yourself on the price indices and property prices and search for regional and nationwide property sales prices. That is of course unless the fear of a market crash has already forced you to sell as the sole way to prevent a loss.