On Tuesday, the news we have all been waitingfor finally came: Britain is officially out of recession.

And while thingsaren't going to improve overnight, I can't help but feel optimistic aboutthe year ahead.

Experts predicted the property market would slump in January, following a rushof home buyers in November and December trying to take advantage of the stampduty holiday before it ended. 

So, with things movingin the right direction, what better time is there to list your properties on directly on www.ukhousing.com and contact potential buyers directly.  

Together we can stop bad estate agents overheating the market and Sell or Rent your property direct.  

Home information packs (HIPs) can cause a lot of heartache. For first time buyers this might also prove to be another potential barrier for them to get on the housing ladder. Also known as a HIP, the home information pack is a set of information documents that provide each homebuyer with all the details on the house to by purchased. The idea is that the buyer can obtain all the information on a property before buying, cutting down on potential risks and unforeseen costs after the purchase date. No-one wants to have problems in the future that will put people more out of pocket and likewise, sellers can have the confidence that they know everything about this own home. Key components in the HIP are:

• Property Informaiton Index
• Sale statement
• evidence of title
• energy performance certificate
• sustainability information

 The above list is an example of the compulsory documents in a freehold property and be advised that you need to include a copy of the lease for Leasehold properties. 

From 2006, it has become compulsory for a seller of a property to provide a HIP on the property and this has to be added to the costs of selling your home. It can be quite costly to put together as you can hire the help of an Estate Agent, solicitor or HIP agent to compile all of the documents for you. However, this does not mean you cannot compile the HIP yourself and cut down on some of your marketing budget. For those who wish to sell their own property, the marketing budget can be kept to a mimimum by preparing all the documents yourself. As the seller, you are required to bear the costs of the HIP but compiling it yourself can cut out the administration fees of an agent. Vital to this process is obtaining the appropriate documents from the corect sources. If you want to take the time to compile the pack yourself, the Direct Gov website can be a good place to start (www.Direct.Gov.uk).

If you wish to use an agent to do it for you, make sure to shop around as fees can vary considerably along with the necessity of making sure they are acredited. A good place to start would be a list of acredited HIP providers, and a good website to begin your search can be found here.

Lastly, HIPs can be quite a task to interpret and sometimes agents will be able to do this for you. However, if you are marketing your own property then you are under no obligation to help the propective purchasers interpret the documents. This is where the help of the solicitor can make the difference to the buyer.

If you are interested in creating your own Home Information Pack and sell your house privately, www.UkHousing.com provides all the advice, help and information you need to get the ball rolling. We have a FAQ page dedicated to answering all your most important questionson on HIPs along with free resources to market your property online for free.

We have all seen TV programmes like House Doctor, Property Ladder or House Auction, that give us all the tips and advice we need to know in order to sell our property. From watching programmes like House Doctor, I've picked up an amazing amount of ideas about selling a house and reaching the maximum asking price. The same can be said of Property Ladder, which focused on developing a house to its maximum potential for selling. However, after watching all of these programmes I can't help but think they are missing out on something fundamental to selling a house. From my point of view there are two different factors which decide a house sale. Firstly its the overall house appearance, garden, decoration, furnishings etc - making the house look attractive and appealing to buy. This are all catered for by the aforementioned TV programmes. Secondly, the house needs to be sold. This is the stage where having the right estate agent and selling price plays a huge influence and, unless you've done your homework, it almost all out of your control. Choosing the right Estate Agent is vital, as they should have done all the hard work for you and be the best ones for the type of property that you have.

Estate agents are seen by most as the only way to sell a house. Without trying to slate Estate Agents (as this is not my intention for this blog post), there can be false expectations associated with selling your house. The main one being the overall asking price. If you don't do your research into the housing market in your area, you could be left with a false sense of optimism about the value of your house. If an Estate Agent is putting the house on the market for a figure they hope to get this could lead you feeling frustrated if your house does not sell. By having such false ideals about the value of your house, a drop in the asking price might seem totally out of the question, affecting your and the Estate Agent's profits. Having both a realistic and carefully researched asking price will mean that you should see the property sell at a much more agreeable price. 

So apart from using an Estate Agent, what are the other ways of selling your home? Now that the hard work has been done on the appearance of your house, how can you go about putting it on the market? One of the more popular choices for a sale is to put it up for auction. Whilst you are then in control of the sale process and are saving on the time to sell the house, there are still the commission fees for auctioneer's and if the house is suitable for auction in the first place. Another option is to sell your house privately. Not as difficult as it may seem. Let me explain.

There is no question that the internet is rapidly expanding into new areas of business and our lives. Technology is changing the way we search for information and also acquire what we need. With everything you could possibly want being sold on eBay is it any wonder that items for sale are increasing in both size and price tag. If more people are searching for property on the web, then it seems only natural to progress to selling your home privately on the internet. So there are a number of websites where you can quite easily sell your home, eBay has been known to sell small properties in the US and even the founder of www.gumtree.com put up his £1 million bachelor pad for sale on the Gumtree website a few years ago. This can be just as successful for selling as using an Estate Agent all possible at a fraction of the advertising costs. 

Combine this cost cutting with the current economic conditions and this does look like a recipe for success. By selling your house privately, you can not only take control of the selling price but also how it is marketed. By advertising on the internet you can capture people who are directly looking for housing for sale and worldwide. There are a few highly specialised websites that are dedicated to selling your house that will be able to handle all the procedures for where your home will be advertised. With this part taken care of, all you need to do is research your asking price, make your home look appealing and then take care of the HIPs and Solicitor's fees. Your house can then be sold with you in control and get the asking price you want. People looking for saving money from commission fees and getting the price they want should consider a more high-tech way of selling your house.

If you are interested in how to sell your house online, why not visit www.UKHousing.com and find out how to sell you house privately for free and without an estate agent.  

It was more doom and gloom from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors this week with news that house prices had continued to fall. The number of surveyors reports a decrease in prices was 76%, up from 74% in the previous month. However, the same surveyors also noted that the numbers of buyers had increase by 16%. I first read this story with a feeling of trepidation as this inevitably means more bad news for the property market, but it later made me think that if things were that bad no-one would be buying at all! 

January in particular has been reported to be a very positive month for property, especially in London of all places. This increased buying could actually stimulate the market and generate a recovery. I read an article here that supported this and even showed that First Time Buyers actually increased in the beginning of 2009. If the property was actually in such a state, then the first time buyers would definitely be the ones who would not be in the mood to buy property. However, seen as this cannot get any lower and we have maybe reached the bottom of this recession, the road to recovery is definitely on the horizon and this might be encouraging people to take advantage of the current market. 

This isn't the sign that we are definitely on the road to recovery as we need to make finance easier to obtain. This does mean that some things could be made easier for some people and the thought of selling your house doesn't have to be locked to current state of the market. If you're looking for a houses for sale uk, buy now and contribute towards the recovery.

In an attempt to solve the long term recession forecast, the Bank of England has cut official interest rates by half a percent to 1.5 percent...the lowest level in its 315-year history. So what will come of this?

Its hard to ignore the effects of the global credit crisis at the moment, house prices are falling, consumer spending has decreased and major retaillers have collapsed under the pressure. It seems that no-one is immune from this, as we saw the demise of Woolworths recently after nearly 100 of trading. The future might appear bleak but as with the previous recession of the early 1990s, we might see a light at the end of the tunnel. 

There is no doubt that the bank of England is under pressure as this latest cut moved them closer to the limits of monetary policy with a 0% interest rate. Now there is increasing pressure to avoid deflation and solve the effects of a weakening sterling whilst at the same time do everything it can to slow the impact of the recession. A big effect of this has been concentrated on house prices in the UK. Property no longer is the stable market that it was as the Housing makret has suffered its worst year on record falling by up to 16%. A similar pattern has been seen in the Service Sector, which makes up 75% of the UKs economy, where the fall was at a record pace in 2008 according to a survey by the Bank of England (BOE). 

On a more uplifting not, the BOE have given a warning about lending to houses and business is set to fall at the beginning of this year and consequently leading to more businesses going under and another fall in house prices. Whilst we are trying to protect our ecnonmy and increase people's confidence in the economy and securing jobs, can we really see when this will stabalise?

Yet we must look to the positive effects of the interest rate cuts and how this can jump start the depressed economy. With the co-operation of banks and other lenders to pass on the cuts we could see a positive effect. This will take a bit of time but the effects can be just what we need. The more support that is on offer from Banks and the Government alike, we must see any proposed changes as a step in the right direction. At least the Government and Bank of England are actually being proactive and creating solutions...however debatable they are!

Are you suffering from the effects of the failing property market? If you are looking for help and advice on selling your home then UKHousing.com can provide you with an answer. UKHousing.com provides people with the means to sell their house privately and without estate fee. We have a extensive portfolio of houses for sale UK all by the owner. Visit www.UKHousing.com and see how you can save money on your House Sale. 

Did you know that you need a Home Information Pack for all homes put on the market on or after 14 December 2007? The responsibility of ensuring a property has a valid hip lay with the party marketing it. In most cases, this will either be the seller or their estate agent. Therefore, if you are using www.UKHousing.com private seller’s service, the responsibility is with the private seller.

Exceptions:

Homes meeting these descriptions and put on the market before these dates will not need a pack:

1 August 2007 – homes with four or more bedrooms

10 September 2007 – homes with three bedrooms

14 December 2007 – homes with two bedrooms or fewer

You do not need a Home Information Pack for:

• Properties where there is no marketing (e.g sale to member of your family)
• Non-residential properties
• Seasonal and holiday accommodation
• Mixed sales (e.g. shop with flat)
• Right to buy and similar sales
• Sales of portfolios of properties
• Properties not being sold with completely vacant possession
• Unsafe properties and properties to be demolished

More information can be found here