"Government spending cuts and fears of job losses are hitting the housing market, experts have warned"
Reading a headline like that would worry most people - and probably put some people off buying or selling a house.
"The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Ulster Bank housing market survey suggested the traditional winter dip in the market was being deepened by fears over the economy.
Expectations for prices over November, December and January were at their lowest levels since March 2009, with expectations for transactions at their lowest levels since the survey began in May 2006."
The above again sounds very worrying - until you read it again " traditional winter dip in the market" and " fears over the economy" - its normal at this time of the year for the housing market to go quieter, not that many people want to move just before Christmas and if people are looking to move they want to be in their new property before Christmas.
Thankfully it continues with "But RICS Northern Ireland housing spokesman, Tom McClelland, said the findings were not surprising. The winter months are traditionally the quietest time of year for the housing market, so it isn't surprising that expectations are lower, he said "This inevitably feeds through into the housing market, and will be a challenge for some time to come. That said however, we are confident that deals will continue to be done if the price is right"
So if you carry on reading rather than just skimming the headlines this piece explains that it is 1. normal at this time of year, 2. its fears over job safety etc that are affecting it, and 3. if the price is right your property will still sell. Confidence in the housing market is now needed.
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
What can we learn from other countries?
I have been reading some of my favourite blogs this morning and looking for new information about what other countries are doing to reduce the energy usage of their privately owned properties. Whilst I was looking I found this: -http://www.energy-performance-certificates.org/blog/think-domestic-energy-assessors-have-it-bad. Its from Mike C's blog and is dated back in March of this year, Mike has tirelessly provided good, up to date information for DEAs and the general public with regards to the energy assessors industry within this country and is one of the people I admire.
"Australia’s Housing Sustainability Assessment Scheme (HSAS) launched in July 2009 to provide 360,000 homes with free energy assessments, allowing homeowners to qualify for an interest-free loan of up to AU$10,000 to pay for energy-efficiency improvements under its Green Loans Program, repayable over four years. " Mike goes on to explain that it was thought that this scheme would take over 4 years to complete and provide work for the assessors in Australia.
Fortunately the Australians did alot of things right such as:
1. Setting a fee (no undercutting or rogue traders over there)
2. Giving lots of promotion.
3. Only one accreditaton scheme.
4. Interest free loan to make the improvements (great idea and a good way to get people to carry out the improvements in my opinion)
Although there were also the problems with the fact that the accreditation scheme suspended new assessor registration and late payments by the government to the assessors. And once again those nasty training providers were at it again, the Australian government did not cap the amount of assessors needed leaving the assessors in much the same position as the ones here in the UK with too many assessors and not enough work - the only people to benefit from that have been (once again) the training providers.
What was nice to see though was this quote from the ASBA - "While it was not our role under the Federal Government protocol to limit the number of registrations, we became sufficiently concerned with the increased number of assessors seeking accreditation. Therefore we took the decision to limit the number of registrations pending while at the same time putting our concerns directly to DEWHA. "
Apparently though the assessors in Australia have a champion, who believe in speaking her mind clearly - Christine Milne, who is a Green Party MP. Its nice to see that they have some one fighting their corner.
In 2011 Australia is legislating for homes sold to have a certificate of environmental performance - I can only hope that they look at what has happened already with their assessors and limit the number accredited and continue to keep the fees fixed so that the assessors do not suffer the same fate as the DEAs in the UK.
There are many things that both countries can learn from one another and this is what I feel would help in both countries:
1. Set the fee
2. Watch the training providers
3. One overall governing body
4. Incentives to encourage energy saving
5. Promotion to encourage greater understanding of the certificate
6. An EPC should only be valid for 12 months - not 3 years for selling and 10 years for rental. It causes confusion.
7. Cap the amount of assessors.
"Australia’s Housing Sustainability Assessment Scheme (HSAS) launched in July 2009 to provide 360,000 homes with free energy assessments, allowing homeowners to qualify for an interest-free loan of up to AU$10,000 to pay for energy-efficiency improvements under its Green Loans Program, repayable over four years. " Mike goes on to explain that it was thought that this scheme would take over 4 years to complete and provide work for the assessors in Australia.
Fortunately the Australians did alot of things right such as:
1. Setting a fee (no undercutting or rogue traders over there)
2. Giving lots of promotion.
3. Only one accreditaton scheme.
4. Interest free loan to make the improvements (great idea and a good way to get people to carry out the improvements in my opinion)
Although there were also the problems with the fact that the accreditation scheme suspended new assessor registration and late payments by the government to the assessors. And once again those nasty training providers were at it again, the Australian government did not cap the amount of assessors needed leaving the assessors in much the same position as the ones here in the UK with too many assessors and not enough work - the only people to benefit from that have been (once again) the training providers.
What was nice to see though was this quote from the ASBA - "While it was not our role under the Federal Government protocol to limit the number of registrations, we became sufficiently concerned with the increased number of assessors seeking accreditation. Therefore we took the decision to limit the number of registrations pending while at the same time putting our concerns directly to DEWHA. "
Apparently though the assessors in Australia have a champion, who believe in speaking her mind clearly - Christine Milne, who is a Green Party MP. Its nice to see that they have some one fighting their corner.
In 2011 Australia is legislating for homes sold to have a certificate of environmental performance - I can only hope that they look at what has happened already with their assessors and limit the number accredited and continue to keep the fees fixed so that the assessors do not suffer the same fate as the DEAs in the UK.
There are many things that both countries can learn from one another and this is what I feel would help in both countries:
1. Set the fee
2. Watch the training providers
3. One overall governing body
4. Incentives to encourage energy saving
5. Promotion to encourage greater understanding of the certificate
6. An EPC should only be valid for 12 months - not 3 years for selling and 10 years for rental. It causes confusion.
7. Cap the amount of assessors.
Monday, 8 November 2010
Normal jitters
I have woken up this morning and am having my monthly worry about work loads - its quiet, too quiet - can I afford to continue with the job that I adore????
Since becoming self employed in January of 2008 I regularly panic about my workload, after all I have 3 children, 4 dogs and bills to pay, I need to make sure that my money is coming in. But this is a job I truly believe in, I love doing and it gives me time to spend with my children so what do you do? I make sure that my turnaround is within 24hours whenever possible and do my best to give good customer service and make sure that I am professional at all times so that I retain my existing clients which I consider essential.
The only part of my job I am not so keen on is chasing invoices - I hate it to be honest. I have only not been paid once and given the fact that I have been in business for nearly 3 years and only have one unpaid invoice thats not bad going! But when is too early to chase invoices and what is the polite way to do it? But as I said I am very lucky with my clients, they all pay on time (if not early) and are brilliant in that regard.
But what does get me at the moment is these facts:
1. Training providers are still advertising training courses for DEAs, "earn between 25,000 -30,000 a year" - thats simply not possible in the current climate. There are alot of DEAs that sunk retirement/redundancy/loans etc into training with training providers that promised them the moon, stars and sun and they have had to return back to previous methods of employment because the work simply isn't there and yet the training providers are still out there taking money off people.
2. Where is the unity with DEAs? There are several groups/organisations that are trying very hard to band DEAs together (I was involved with one of them) so that the self employed DEA can work together for better prices and better promotion but there isn't enough DEAs joining the groups.
3. Middlemen - there are too many firms out there offering cut price/ reverse auction EPCs to the general public but who pay the DEA a pittance. It isn't good for the industry, isn't professional and doesn't do any good for the pockets of the DEA.
There we go rant over for the morning, better go and do the school run x
Since becoming self employed in January of 2008 I regularly panic about my workload, after all I have 3 children, 4 dogs and bills to pay, I need to make sure that my money is coming in. But this is a job I truly believe in, I love doing and it gives me time to spend with my children so what do you do? I make sure that my turnaround is within 24hours whenever possible and do my best to give good customer service and make sure that I am professional at all times so that I retain my existing clients which I consider essential.
The only part of my job I am not so keen on is chasing invoices - I hate it to be honest. I have only not been paid once and given the fact that I have been in business for nearly 3 years and only have one unpaid invoice thats not bad going! But when is too early to chase invoices and what is the polite way to do it? But as I said I am very lucky with my clients, they all pay on time (if not early) and are brilliant in that regard.
But what does get me at the moment is these facts:
1. Training providers are still advertising training courses for DEAs, "earn between 25,000 -30,000 a year" - thats simply not possible in the current climate. There are alot of DEAs that sunk retirement/redundancy/loans etc into training with training providers that promised them the moon, stars and sun and they have had to return back to previous methods of employment because the work simply isn't there and yet the training providers are still out there taking money off people.
2. Where is the unity with DEAs? There are several groups/organisations that are trying very hard to band DEAs together (I was involved with one of them) so that the self employed DEA can work together for better prices and better promotion but there isn't enough DEAs joining the groups.
3. Middlemen - there are too many firms out there offering cut price/ reverse auction EPCs to the general public but who pay the DEA a pittance. It isn't good for the industry, isn't professional and doesn't do any good for the pockets of the DEA.
There we go rant over for the morning, better go and do the school run x
Green Deal and assessors.
"The enormity of the challenge soon became apparent and the first meeting was barely able to scratch the surface of the task. The Green Deal is proposing that all households should be eligible for an energy assessment that will provide them with guidance on the investment choices that they can make and also give them behaviour change advice.
This will be the first point of contact that households will have with the Green Deal and the assessments will need to have integrity, independence, consistency and be of a high quality. Working out the funding model to achieve this, finding people with the skills able to deliver the assessments and ensuring there is a good level of quality control is a major task for policy-makers.
As we go through the process similar changes will appear at all other stages of the delivery model. What is highly encouraging is the level of Ministerial ambition behind the programme and the openness of DECC officials to external ideas and advice"
I have pinched the above from: http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/comment/2272705/developing-green-deal as I thought it was very thought provoking and made some very valid points.
As a Domestic Energy Assessor the bit that grabs me is the first point of contact that householders will have - who will it be? It goes on to say that there it needs to find people with the skills able to deliver the assessments and ensure that there is good quality control - to my mind it is obvious, the assessors should ONLY be DEAs - they are already over 50% trained, are CRB checked and are used to being professional within clients houses, it makes complete sense to use DEAs for this role!
As a home owner I am obviously worried about potential financial implications but it has been stated that the Green Deal will provide grants/links with energy companies to fund the work to make the UK more energy efficent.
Only time will tell!
Admiration
Who do you admire? Margaret Thatcher, Cheryl Cole, Wayne Rooney, Barack Obama?
Although I do think alot of famous people are good the people I tend to admire are alot closer to home - my friends and family. It would take me less than 5 seconds to think of 10 people who I admire because of the amount of work they have put in to achieve a dream against all the odds, less than 5 seconds to think of 5 people who have overcome illness and personal tragedy to triumph and the list goes on. I am exceptionally lucky to have people in my life that I can look up to and who give me the push to carry on regardless and to try harder if and when (I am only human) I fail.
So I suppose the question is do we admire the human race and earth with all its life forms enough to protect it? To do "our bit" and save some energy? Or are we going to rely on other people, constantly hoping that someone else will do enough to counteract the fact that we have done nothing?
I firmly believe in the old saying of practise what you preach - thats why my computer/tv etc get switched off - not left on standby, that my loft is insulated to over 300mm, I have a good combi condensing boiler and that I walk when ever possible rather than using the car. There are lots of little tiny things that we can ALL do to save some energy (and money) that won't take long, won't cost much but will really make a difference in the long run.
Although I do think alot of famous people are good the people I tend to admire are alot closer to home - my friends and family. It would take me less than 5 seconds to think of 10 people who I admire because of the amount of work they have put in to achieve a dream against all the odds, less than 5 seconds to think of 5 people who have overcome illness and personal tragedy to triumph and the list goes on. I am exceptionally lucky to have people in my life that I can look up to and who give me the push to carry on regardless and to try harder if and when (I am only human) I fail.
So I suppose the question is do we admire the human race and earth with all its life forms enough to protect it? To do "our bit" and save some energy? Or are we going to rely on other people, constantly hoping that someone else will do enough to counteract the fact that we have done nothing?
I firmly believe in the old saying of practise what you preach - thats why my computer/tv etc get switched off - not left on standby, that my loft is insulated to over 300mm, I have a good combi condensing boiler and that I walk when ever possible rather than using the car. There are lots of little tiny things that we can ALL do to save some energy (and money) that won't take long, won't cost much but will really make a difference in the long run.
Its never too early
I have a fairly busy life, no busier than any other working mothers life but with 3 kids and work and then all the other little bits that come into it - housework, taking care of the dogs, washing, school/playschool run, organising childcare etc it can get pretty hectic. Thats why I am devoted to my diary - everything that needs to be done gets put down and ticked off once its done (allows me to feel smug when I've done everything).
Today I have managed to get all the christmas presents either ordered online or bought. I have my list of who is getting what and its a nice feeling especially as I hate the shops in December. But is it too soon?
I don't think it is, it pays to be organised nowadays and it will free up time that I would have spent battling my way through other panicing shoppers in December, queuing up for the till, getting rammed by pushchairs and stretching my arms dragging bags and annoyed kids round the shops.
There are other things that can never be done too early - teaching your children about how to save energy, just little simple things like turning off the tv completely instead of leaving it on standby, switching off the lights when you leave a room and insulating your house to a good standard - the people who got the grants and got cavity wall/loft insulation in spring and summer 2010 will now be starting to feel the benefit they won't get such large bills over the next quarter and will be able to save energy and money.
So in the spirit of starting early - I wish everyone a very merry christmas and a happy new year :),
Today I have managed to get all the christmas presents either ordered online or bought. I have my list of who is getting what and its a nice feeling especially as I hate the shops in December. But is it too soon?
I don't think it is, it pays to be organised nowadays and it will free up time that I would have spent battling my way through other panicing shoppers in December, queuing up for the till, getting rammed by pushchairs and stretching my arms dragging bags and annoyed kids round the shops.
There are other things that can never be done too early - teaching your children about how to save energy, just little simple things like turning off the tv completely instead of leaving it on standby, switching off the lights when you leave a room and insulating your house to a good standard - the people who got the grants and got cavity wall/loft insulation in spring and summer 2010 will now be starting to feel the benefit they won't get such large bills over the next quarter and will be able to save energy and money.
So in the spirit of starting early - I wish everyone a very merry christmas and a happy new year :),
Friday, 5 November 2010
Channel 4 last night.
I watched the programme on channel 4 last night - where the Green Party have gone wrong. I didn't think that I would like it but I admit I was fascinated by it.
How the movement started off and how the first real protest/rally sparked off all the large groups - Green Peace etc.
But they were all saying something very interesting and to my mind very simple - you can't be afraid to change your mind if new facts come to light.
There is global warming - you just have to talk to anyone over the age of 60 and ask what it was like when they were growing up, the normal reply is ooh we had proper seasons we did, and the snow was up past your knees (its what my grandma always says to me). Its not like that now - at the minute the seasons are all over the place so we know something has changed.
On a simple EPC if the recommendations were followed the house would put out 10 tonnes of CO2 less than it does now - imagine if all of the properties in the world had an EPC - how much CO2 could we save by doing that?
How the movement started off and how the first real protest/rally sparked off all the large groups - Green Peace etc.
But they were all saying something very interesting and to my mind very simple - you can't be afraid to change your mind if new facts come to light.
There is global warming - you just have to talk to anyone over the age of 60 and ask what it was like when they were growing up, the normal reply is ooh we had proper seasons we did, and the snow was up past your knees (its what my grandma always says to me). Its not like that now - at the minute the seasons are all over the place so we know something has changed.
On a simple EPC if the recommendations were followed the house would put out 10 tonnes of CO2 less than it does now - imagine if all of the properties in the world had an EPC - how much CO2 could we save by doing that?
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