Mighty House December Newsletter

Season's greetings from the Mighty Team! Wishing you a magical and blissful holiday! Have a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year!

This issue presents you with tips on how to move fast in selling your home during the festive season, our office hours during the festive period and much more!

Tips to sell your home this Christmas

Christmas are nearly here and if you are selling your home, or thinking of selling your home, you may be under the impression that it’s not the optimum time to bag a sale. Our top tips will show you that not only it is possible to sell your house on Christmas, but also that this is the crucial time for ensuring a quick sale.

Click here to read Tips to sell your home this Christmas.

Continued Demand for Rental Property

Properties for rent are in particularly high demand as we come to the end of 2019, with the shortfall in available housing triggering a continual increase in rental asking prices.

The Royal Institute for Charted Surveyors suspect that the growth in asking rents will continue into next year, with the south of England seeing a staggering 3.5% rise and steady national average increase of 1.3% backing up their claim.

Nationwide changes
With the rental market in such good health, Wales’ National Assembly has taken steps to support tenants in the process of securing a rental property by writing an information checklist that landlords and agents must abide by. The checklist, set to hit the market in mid-December is a list of information that must be supplied to the prospective tenant prior to them paying the holding deposit.

This isn’t the first law change in support of tenants this year; in the summer, English legislators introduced the Tenancy Fee Act 2019, which prevents landlords charging additional fees other than those outlined. Despite the increase in rent prices, tenants have seen the Government introduce lots of support for their rental rights this year that is set to continue through 2020.

Build to Rent
Created to incentivize landlords to purchase lettings properties and to satisfy demand from renters, the Build to Rent scheme is expected to take off over the next few years. There’s plenty to consider for both, with property investors placing heavy consideration on location and transport links, being conscious of convenience as a key factor when choosing a home to rent.

It’s a massive assistance to renters who have different priorities to buyers and like the flexibility that renting provides. For example, a massive 85% of tenants are happy renting with no immediate urge to get onto the property ladder, with other life milestones being prioritised before purchasing property. 560,000 households are expected to be in the private rental sector by 2023 increasing the proportion of rental property by 2%.

Keep your eyes open
Concerningly, a further indication of the demand for rental housing can be shown in the rise of subletting scams seen in the market this year. Increased media coverage has exposed the frequency of homes that are secretly subletting and overcrowded; as well as causing issues for the landlord, it presents grave safety risk breaching several health and safety regulations. Regular property visits and inventory checks can help prevent this issue. Further support for landlords is to be considered in the future to refresh the justice process in the current system.

Winter Wonderland in your Garden

Staging a perfect Christmas scene in your garden is simpler than you may think. We always have such a strong focus on decorating the interior of our homes that our exterior often gets neglected, so why not Upstage the current features in your garden with a Christmas twist to make a perfect Winer Wonderland?

Light up any trees or bushes
You can never have too many fairy lights at Christmas! Do something different this year and brighten up those frosty trees and bushes outside your home to create a warm welcome to your guests before they’ve even stepped inside your front door. There are a wide range of fairy lights available now that are both waterproof and specially made for the outdoors, as well as being battery powered too for ease of use.

Decorate your door
The front door is the entrance to your home, so why not make it extravagant this Christmas? Even those without front gardens can make use of this tip as there are so many styles of wreaths to choose from to suit any home and personality, from a classic woodland pinecone wreath to an artificial bright holly wreath.

If you like to get creative you can also add your own touch of sparkle to these by spraying glitter on them, or even making your own from scratch. Foam wreath rings are widely available so you can go out and collect your own holly to make your own individual wreath. Easy fun for all the family!

Bird feeder wreaths are becoming increasingly popular too and can be hung anywhere in the garden. As well as a decorative purpose, you’ve got the added bonus of supporting the wildlife through the colder months, which is sure to please Father Christmas, if nothing else.

Festive scene
A festive scene suggests a warm inviting home; it takes minimal effort and is a lovely touch to add to your garden. Use a wooden or wicker basket to fill with artificial present, plants, flowers, and holly, basically, all things festive! You can even get some artificial candles and festive ornaments to add around it. When selecting plants for the winter ensure to check their desired conditions for them to keep healthy and survive through the colder months. Clear any leaves that have fallen from the trees to keep your garden looking neat. You can even use them to your advantage to decorate your festive scene.

Santa, please stop here!
And finally, one for the children; your winter wonderland wouldn’t be complete without a Santa sign. This can bring excitement and joy to the whole family as the countdown to Christmas continues.

To take it one step further you can add some fake footprints leading off your driveway (if it hasn’t been snowing), or even take it indoors to show the children that Santa has been. Footprint stencils can be bought at low cost or you can even make your own stencil by drawing around a boot and cutting this out of a piece of paper. Using fake snow, you can create your very own path of Santa’s footprints to make your children’s dreams come true.

Decorating your Home this Christmas

Yes, it really is that time of year again. Decking the halls is practically obligatory for all of us during the Christmas period, and with so much pressure on presenting a perfectly preened pine tree and creating a winter wonderland so festive that reindeer land on your roof, here are a few tips to help you create a Christmas to remember.

The Tree

For many of us, the focal point of the Christmas decorations is the tree itself and that presents a few initial decisions – the first being the choice between real or artificial. In recent years, the difference between real and artificial trees has narrowed quite substantially, meaning that many of us are now opting for the longer-lasting artificial tree. However, if you like the traditional option of a fresh tree then consider delaying putting it up by a week or so to ensure that it is still looking its best on Christmas morning – one traditional suggestion would be to wait until 12 days before Christmas on December 13^th.

Chic or classic

The next decision for that all-important tree is around the decorations themselves; do you go for a chic colour scheme straight from the pages of Vogue or for the traditional charm? If you choose to go for a colour scheme, then keep it clean and simple – whites and silvers are understated and elegant, lending themselves to most homes. Also, to ensure that your tree has maximum impact then extend the theme in to its surroundings and decorate the rest of the room in the same colour palette as your tree. If you shy away from ‘fashionable’ trees and colour-matched accessories, then the traditional Christmas accoutrements of home-made baubles, paper snowflakes and vintage accessories are probably more in-line with your Christmas aesthetic. Dust off those tree decorations given to you by friends and family, made by your children or passed down through the generations and showcase them on your tree of choice; just make sure that they are evenly distributed so they get the admiration that they deserve.

Twinkle, Twinkle

When it comes to Christmas decorations, one thing that never goes out of style is a little bit of sparkle! Having lots of reflective decorations around the home really helps to set a festive atmosphere – think lots of candles of different sizes (it’s nice to play with heights of candles for a little more interest) and tealights in crystal glasses. All of the sparkling candles and crystal reflections will set a truly magical tone throughout your home and turn even the most Scrooge-like guests in to Christmas converts.

Stairway to Christmas Heaven

Don’t neglect surfaces such as mantlepieces and staircases, if you really want to have the maximum impact whilst decorating for Christmas. Using offcuts from real trees, lining the handrail of your staircase with branches decants an intoxicating smell of Christmas around your home. When it comes to surfaces such as mantlepieces, use fruit centrepieces to create a feeling of decadence, with very little expense.

Light it up

For many of us, decorating outside of the home seems like an awful lot of effort for such a short period, however when it comes to adding that touch of festive flavour to the outdoors it doesn’t have to be a lighting extravaganza. Thanks to the homemade delights of Kirstie Allsopp, the Christmas wreath is storming back in to fashion for 2018, with ever-more people opting to create their own wreaths. Simply pick out some choice items for your door wreath – such as pinecones, pine tree branches, fruit and ornaments - and adhere them to a wire frame in the shape of a circle and voilà – your outdoor decorations are complete.

Of course, that’s not to say that seeing a home adorned with many a Christmas light doesn’t still stir up that feeling of childhood Christmas excitement in all of us, so if that’s your plan for the exterior of your home, then we insist that you go ahead and light it up!