In late September a couple of properties appeared on the market and produced a flurry of buyers and offers above the guide came in quickly. These properties are not huge but they both provide a brilliant combination of great location, character house, land, and outbuildings not converted. This situation endorses the fact that purchasers are buying properties and that desirable properties remain in short supply, so buyers must not be complacent. Increasingly I am invited to view properties that are on the market very quietly due to vendor’s uncertainty but there is a market in which deals are being made despite nervous buyers and sellers.

I have always encouraged clients not to focus too much on a property as a commodity, it must also have a value as a home to fulfil their needs and wishes, and this is even more important during current market conditions where buyers are expecting a bargain. The property must be as close to your idea of perfection as possible, and often the value of the property to the purchaser in terms of enhanced lifestyle and access to what is important, will take the shine off the quest for a bargain. Having said that, at the moment there is more chance of securing the perfect property being sold by a vendor under pressure, resulting in your idyll at a bargain price.