If there’s one thing the British love talking about, other than the weather of course, it’s house prices.
By God it’s boring, but by God it’s a useful bit of backup small talk to have in your armoury. Up-and-coming areas, the movement of the market, the Brexit effect, “have you seen what that house went for on that street”, location potential and so-boring-on. And of course, as you drone on, in the back of your mind is a small voice that reminds you that, barring a lottery-shaped or bank of mum and dad miracle, there’s every chance you’ll never actually be able to own your own anyway.
But, if you are one of the lucky ones who’s able to do so, you may as well use every trick in the book to maximise its worth, which is where this fascinating tip comes in.
The Telegraph reports that by spending just £40 to change the name of your house, you can add huge amounts of value to the property.
A survey commissioned by Mayfair estate agent Wetherell proved that addresses can matter as much as the house itself, as they discovered that the best addresses can add as much as 40% to the price – so there’s no doubt it’s important.
However, there are two telling findings in particular.
- The first comes from a survey by OnTheMarket.com, which found that up to £30,000 could be added to the price of homes with regal titles (things like Clarence, Balmoral, Sandringham and so on).
- The second comes from a HomeTrack report, which shows that homes with ‘lane’ in their address sell for a whopping £100,000 more than homes with ‘street’ in their address.
An example given was that of London estate agent Tim Day, who renamed his Suffolk home from Esher Cottage to Crown Cottage, while also spotting, using a historic map, that his house could be described as being on ‘Castle Lane’ – which previously had been thought to run short of his property – rather than ‘Munday’s Lane’.
Forty quid and 24 hours later and he had changed the address of his property, potentially adding tens of thousands on to its value.
Homes with ‘cottage’, ‘hall’, or ‘house’ in their titles, and a lack of a number (and even within numbers, avoid ‘13’; they’re £8,974 cheaper than the average UK property according to Zoopla) can add to desirability – although sadly, once a property has a number attached to it, it will always be part of the address.
But if you’re lucky enough to own a ‘named’ property, you can rename it (subject to pesky local authority rules) and boost its value, earning you a few quid in the process.
Cashback.
[Image: iStock]