richard james

When you rent, it can seem like you have very limited options for what you can do to make your space your own. But there are in fact many ways you can make your home beautiful, personal, and stylish – and importantly, not break the bank! See our top tips on transforming your rental space. Get a statement rug If you have dull carpet or flooring that is bringing down your space, a statement rug...

In recent months, it’s been almost impossible to escape AI, the buzziest new tech advancement. AI has been around for a while -- in our cars with our automated navigations, in our phone’s personal assistant, and even in our homes in our appliances like robot vacuums -- but with rapid further advancements and the surge in popularity in using AI to perform jobs we rely on, it has become a far more...

With mortgage rates tripling over the last 12 months, one could be forgiven for thinking buying a Swindon home as a first-time buyer would out of the question.Yet, what if I told you, it is £622 a year cheaper to buy a Swindon home as a first-time buyer than renting, would you be surprised? The average 2-bed home in Swindon is worth £202,879. The monthly homeownership cost of such a Swindon home...

Insights from the 2021 Census The property market is one of the most important economic indicators, as it can significantly impact the prosperity of both the local and national economy.Recently, new data from the Census 2021 has become available that sheds light on seldom discussed areas of property, such as the types of properties Swindon has, together with how we live in and use our homes.This data...

Traditionally, the first four months of the year are usually an estate agents’ busiest time for house sales. However, if the last three years have taught us anything, nothing is 'normal' and 'usual' anymore.The Swindon property market is finding that with the friction of higher mortgage rates and the effects of inflation on household budgets; things are slightly different in 2023 compared to recent...

As the British and Swindon property market navigates the ongoing economic turmoil, many Swindon homeowners and landlords may feel uncertain about the future.However, up-to-date data suggests that the 2023 property crash predicted by the many newspapers and the usual clickbait doom-mongers in the lead-up to Christmas on social media, may not be as bad as initially thought, and there are reasons to be...

Swindon Homeowners - Do you know how big your Swindon home is? What is the square footage of your Swindon home? Don’t worry, most of us don't - yet it could be fundamental as Swindon home buyers search for new homes. Us Brits are obsessed with our homes, yet most Swindon homeowners need to learn the square footage (those born after the mid-1970s) or square metre(age) of their homes. As an agent, I find...

The share of Brits moving each year has been declining since the late 1980s (when at one stage, people moved every eight years), yet since the pandemic's beginning, something has appeared to upset that trend.Newspaper stories and social media posts painted a picture of homeowners moving from the city centres to its suburbs, from the suburbs to the towns and countryside around the UK. Areas like the...

Over the last five years, life has become a little trickier for Swindon landlords, with changes to their taxation status, mortgage interest relief and an additional 3% stamp duty for a buy-to-let property, and has made lots of Swindon landlords ask themselves: ‘Is buy-to-let in Swindon still worth the risk?’ Regarding taxation, in 2016, the Government added a 3% supplement in stamp duty on...

• With the Bank of England raising interest rates and inflation high, what is happening in the Swindon property market? • Are properties selling in Swindon? And if so, what is selling? • What will happen to the value of your Swindon home? • Read the article to find out what is happening to the Swindon property market. As we enter February, the Swindon (and British) property market is full of...