6 February 6, 2022The Sunday TimesHome
relationship with estate agents
based on liking them and
being nice to them. But
anyone can do that.How will the
increasing lack of
affordability affect the
market, particularly
for first-time buyers?
Phil: I feel desperately for
first-time buyers. Their age
is creeping up and up. At the
same time you’ve got a decreasing
number of rental properties, because the
government has made buy-to-let less
attractive for landlords so rents are going
up. That makes it hard to save for a
deposit. I worry at some point young
people will say, “Sod it, I’m not even goingto try to buy.” That will result in
a distinct change in our
society. It means fewer
people will put down
roots and stay for the
long term.Kirstie: I’m up in
Nottingham right now
and there’s a nice three-
bedroom home with a long
garden on for £320,000. I
get enraged when people say
they can’t afford to buy. They can.
But they have to move, which is hard if
you don’t have roots there. I know there
are many who can’t afford to buy, but
others are not willing to make the
sacrifices. I bought my first property
when I was 21. Yes, I had help. But whenHUGH
GRAHAM
@HughGrahamSTB
uying a house has never
seemed so daunting. With
record shortages of housing
stock and soaring demand,
finding the right house is a
pipe dream for most. Add to that rising
prices, interest rates and cost of
living, and it’s enough to
make buyers and sellers
retire to the sidelines. In
troubled times, who
better to turn to than
the familiar faces of Phil
(Spencer) and Kirstie
(Allsopp), hosts of the
long-running property
search TV show Location,
Location, Location? Here
are their thoughts and tips
on navigating the minefield that
is the 2022 property market.With so little stock
on the market, what
should buyers do
to find a house?
Phil: You have to work
hard. It takes dedicated
time and effort. Make
friends with as many estate
agents as possible. People
remember people. It’s probably
too much to call them three times
a week but twice a week is good;
once a week definitely. Email
is less effective than phone,
but better than relying on
alerts from the portals.
Do leaflet drops —
sellers may not want
25 people traipsing
through their house
on a Saturday or to
pay the agent 2 per cent
commission. Put a message
on social media, put a notice
at the school gates.
If you’ve got time pressure on your
move — you’re getting married, having a
baby, changing job — then you will have to
make difficult choices in this market. Do
you make more compromises — fewer
bedrooms, smaller garden, longer
commute — to get the deal done now? You
don’t want to make a long-term decision
based on a short-term problem.Kirstie: Make yourself into the perfect
buyer. When you call the agent, say I’ll
send you an email with my lawyer’s
details, my mortgage provider, this is my
deposit. I am ready to roll. And make sure
your own property is absolutely ready for
sale. Sort out all your paperwork. If you
have to pay a lawyer to get all your ducks
in a row, do it.
There’s a daft thing right now, with
agents saying if you haven’t sold, we’reThe TV presenters on reforming stamp
duty for downsizers, talking tough to first-
timers and why we have hit peak country
PHIL AND KIRST
When you
call the
agent, say I’ll
send you an
email with
my lawyer’s
details, my
mortgage
provider, this
is my deposit.
I am ready
to roll”“Fuel
poverty is a
nightmare.
People never
forget being
cold and
hungry.
Buyers will
start to look
twice at
houses that
are too
expensive
to heat”“I get
enraged
when people
say they can’t
afford to buy.
They can.
But they
have to
move. It’s not
impossible”not going to show you anything. One way
to overcome that is to go to the agent of
the property you want to buy and ask
them to sell your house.How will the cost of living crisis affect
the property market?
Phil: It will have an effect, 100 per cent.
We don’t know what the effects of the
pandemic on the economy will be. We are
starting to feel the pinch now and are
already a bit scared. But people will still
need somewhere to live. They will still
die, get married and divorced
and have babies. They just
won’t have as much cash to
renovate bathrooms.Kirstie: Fuel poverty is
a nightmare. People
never forget being cold
and hungry. But for
those who aren’t in fuel
poverty, if rising energy
bills persuade them to turn
their thermostat down to
17C, that would be great. I keep
my house at 17C. There is a reason
Insulate Britain were lying on
roads: we allow a lot of heat to
escape from our houses.
Buyers will start to look
twice at houses that are too
expensive to heat.Should buyers sell
first and go into rental,
or is there a risk of
getting stuck?
Phil: That’s the question on
everyone’s minds. Too many
people are holding off selling
because there’s nothing to
buy and little to rent. It’s a
chicken and egg
situation. You’re better
off getting your house
on the market, get it
under offer, then agents
will put you at the front
of the queue as a buyer. It
simplifies the complexity
of the chain. You won’t end
up homeless because you don’t
exchange contracts and agree a
completion date until you’ve found
somewhere to move to.What is your view of buying
off-market, and perhaps using a
buying agent?
Phil: Off-market has its pros and cons.
The pleasure is you are not in competition
with 25 others for the same house. But
you can’t buy off-market and get a
bargain. Right now you will pay a
premium. If you’re OK with paying 2 per
cent more to keep anyone else from
seeing it, it’s probably a good thing to do.Kirstie: Use a buying agent if you haven’t
got time to view properties. They work
well in a fast market because they get in
there first. When I was a buying agent I
secured the property because I had aKIRSTIE
Phil Spencer
tips cities such
as Liverpool, far
right, as we have
reached ‘peak
countryside’,
rightFIONA MURRAY/CHANNEL 4; CRAIG HASTINGS/GEORGE CLERK/COATESY/SILVAN BACHMANN/GETTY IMAGES; MATTHEW ASHMORE/ALAMY