Anyone who’s ever house-hunted, read a property’s particulars or viewed a house or flat escorted by an estate agent will know about the amusing yet infuriating phenomenon of estate agent speak.  But for the uninitiated, let me explain: estate agent speak is the ancient art of exaggerating a house’s features or stretching the truth to fool us into thinking that a dilapidated, run-down old house is actually a fantastic property that we should snap up right away.  Of course, we understand that anyone who’s ever sold anything will talk up their item to increase the chances of a sale, but estate agent speak can sometimes be verging on the ridiculous!  Take a look at some of our favourite terms used by estate agents, and the handy adflyer translation provided…

• ‘In need of some modernisation’ = the décor wouldn’t look out of place in a period drama!
• ‘Period property’ = at least ten years old.
• ‘Bijou’ = minuscule.
• ‘Studio’ = glorified broom cupboard.
• ‘Would suit a DIY enthusiast’ = have the scaffolding at the ready!
• ‘Deceptively spacious’ = looks bigger if you squint a bit.
• ‘Fully enclosed private garden’ = square of grass with fence around it.
• ‘Internal inspection recommended’ = keep your eyes closed until you get inside.
• ‘Ideal for busy professionals’ = the less time you spend here the better!

Well, we hope that’s helped to decode the mysterious language that is estate agent speak!  But, if you’re fed up of having to translate every single sentence of a property listing, then the adflyer property section can help.  You’ll find an incredibly wide range of property for sale including houses, flats, overseas property and land with simple listings that are easy to understand.  Plus, our handy ‘contact the seller’ button means that you can find out exactly what you want to know without the headache-inducing jargon!

If you have any tales of ridiculous estate agent speak, leave us a comment and let us know!

At the moment everyone from news readers to T.V. presenters and even celebrity bloggers seem incapable of talking about anything other than the upcoming general election and this can get a bit much at times.  But, the issues being raised on the campaign trail are very important to us all and all this political malarkey can have a serious impact on every aspect of our lives, including the properties we buy and sell.  The most recent example of this is the news from some of the country’s top property know-it-alls that there has been a surge in the number of properties for sale across the UK thanks to the imminent general election.

But why would the election affect the number of properties on the market?  Well, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) reckon that the current climate of political uncertainty is prompting would-be property vendors to take the leap and put their houses up for sale before any possible radical changes to the property market happen.  In fact, Rics have reported that estate agents saw an average 6% increase in the number of properties on their books in the last month, which is apparently a level of activity not seen since early 2007.

If you’ve been thinking about looking for a new house recently but haven’t known when to take the leap, now could well be a great time to act.  There are many more houses now on the market, but the demand for properties has not yet caught up with this, so experts are predicting that prices will fall in some areas.  So, adflyer’s property section could be a great place to get ahead of the trend and find the perfect deal before everyone else gets in on the act!  We have new listings for houses and flats for sale as well as premises and overseas property added every day by our trusted sellers, so get searching now to take advantage of the current property situation.

With the government scrapping stamp duty on all properties worth up to £250,000 for first-time buyers for the next two years, now seems like a great time to take that all-important first step onto the property ladder. However, whether you’re looking for your first or your fiftieth property, the news that mortgage rates are falling across the board means that things could be looking up for everyone looking for a new house or flat for sale.

Thanks to conditions in the mortgage and property markets improving slowly and steadily, many mortgage providers have been getting in on the act and cutting their mortgage rates since the start of the year. The Post Office, for instance, have recently cut the rates for their fixed-rate mortgages for the fourth time this year, whilst Woolwich and Nationwide are also following suit with reduced rates for a lot of their mortgage products.

How do these cuts affect mortgage rates overall? Well, the average rate for a two year fixed-rate mortgage has decreased from 4.88% in January to 4.72% in April, whilst the average cost for a two-year tracker mortgage has gone down from 3.77% to 3.58%. This might not seem like an awful lot in real monetary terms, but there has been a significant increase in the number of mortgages on offer: the number of mortgage products available for those borrowing up to 90% of their new home’s value has risen by 21%, whilst those looking to borrow up to 80% will find an impressive 63% more mortgage products than were around at the start of the year.. This means that if you use your noggin and do a bit of shopping around, there are great mortgage deals to be found to help you get your dream house or flat.

So, once you’ve decided to take advantage of the current decrease in mortgage rates and look for that dream house or flat for sale, start the search with adflyer. Our property section has a great range of houses, flats, land, premises and overseas property for sale, with our trusted sellers uploading fantastic new listings to the site every day.