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Born Letting Specialist



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Under the skin of the letting market

Here we share news and views on both the local letting market in & around Oxfordshire and all planned and recent legislation.


“My mate finds out soon if he can keep his legs”

Yesterday a team of us helped AirAmbulance raise money at the newly re-opened Sainsburys at Heyford Hill (the big one on the roundabout at the start of the Henley Road).

Here are some thoughts on the day:
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Georgian Elegance meets 21st Century styling in Abingdon – Be the first to reserve

One of the finest Georgian houses in the oldest part of Abingdon’s historic town centre, Twickenham House, is in the final stages of being restored into eight individual apartments carefully blending high-spec modern amenities with the character and elegance of the original building.


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Congratulations to our marathon running landlord!

We are pleased to confirm that our landlord has now completed her challenge for this year, which culminated in her running the Chester Marathon last weekend.

“I DID it - I actually completed the whole 26.2 miles of the Chester Marathon! I haven’t yet got an official time but it was about 6hrs 23mins and I did NOT come last but the 2011 Challenges are complete: I have run over 120k on behalf of the Finders Keepers Charity of the Year and lived! 
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Housing Market September 2011

Given the state of the economy you may not be surprised to learn that the UK housing supply is falling back.

The latest RICS housing market survey, just published, highlights three key trends.

  • House prices on balance, continue to decline.
  • Activity remains subdued.
  • The headline balance masks regional divergence, with London continuing to be the only region recording rising prices.

On the demand side, new buyer enquiries edged up in September. Meanwhile, new vendor instructions declined on the month.

The outlook? Price expectations remain strongly negative, whilst sales expectations remain positive although by a smaller margin than last month.

The question? Will the announcement of a further raft of quantitative easing from the Bank of England help to at least keep mortgage rates down. If nothing else, it should ease the pressure on existing homeowners and limit the risk of a material pick-up in repossessions. Time will tell.

Finders Keepers app

We are happy to announce the arrival of our new app! You can now download The FK App from iTunes for use on your iPhone.
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Mixed messages as the summer peak passes

On one level this report has been like a stuck record for the last 12 quarters, saying “While the world / Greece / Europe / the City implodes… the Oxfordshire rental market is holding up  (surprisingly) well.” The same record is playing in Quarter 3 yet with different behaviour on the dance floor: there are better signs from investors and worse signs at the top-end. Here are trends felt across our eight pure letting and management offices:
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October in Oxfordshire

After a hot start to October, we’re now feeling ‘autumn-ey’ again. Let’s take a look forward to what we can do this month in Oxfordshire…

  • This year is the International Year of Chemistry and so the University of Oxford’s Botanic Garden are celebrating the importance of chemistry in the world around us, in this case in the context of plants. From now until the end of the year, there will be a display of posters, special trails to follow and some interactive sessions.
  • Next weekend (14th-16th October) is the Thame Arts and Literature Festival where there will be talks, debates and workshops as well as visits from established, local and new authors. There will also be a programme of music, performance and poetry on offer.
  • Running from 15th October until 13th November there will be an exhibition of Mary Foulkes’ work at Oxford Castle. There will be a presentation of her pin-hole photography highlighting Oxford Castle’s unexplored corners.
  • Obviously the end of the month is Hallowe’en and so there are a couple of family-friendly things to do. The Museum of Oxford have some activities and trails throughout the museum from 18th-29th October, Blenheim Palace have a spooky ‘Monster Mash’ trail throughout the Pleasure Gardens and Marlborough Maze amongst other activities from 22nd-30th October, and Oxford Castle have pumpkin trails, Halloween arts and crafts and other family fun activities for half term.
  • On 25th October the Oxfordshire Theatre Company present ‘Some Like it Hotter’ at the village hall in Goring-on-Thames. For those who loved the film, this is a must-see.
  • For those more interested in films than theatre, the 26th and 27th October is the Witney Film Festival at various venues throughout Witney. It showcases works from local, student, established and international film-makers.

As usual, this is just a small sample of things to fill your diary with in October. For more details on the above, and to see the full calendar from Oxford Inspires, visit their website.

Finders Keepers – proud to sponsor Oxford Inspires