Woolwich announces their cost of moving home survey 2006

For those on the lower rungs of the property ladder, the cost of moving from an average terraced home priced at ?149,906 to a semi-detached of ?174,744 is ?5,304 in England and Wales. In 2000 home movers paid ?3,333 to move from the same type of home*, that's an increase of 59 percent compared to house price growth of 95 percent on these types of homes.

However, the costs are up dramatically the further up the ladder home movers go. Moving from an average semi valued at ?174,744 to a detached home worth ?293,248 costs a massive ?12,535 today compared to ?4,535 in 2000** (an average detached property cost ?161,086 in 2000). That's an increase in fees of 176 percent compared to house price growth of 70 percent. This can be largely attributed to detached properties having gone through the government's three percent stamp duty threshold set at ?250,000.

Andy Gray, head of mortgages for the Woolwich said: "Contrary to popular opinion the increase in moving fees since the start of the decade for people on the lower rungs of the property ladder has not kept pace with house price inflation, and therefore should not be putting them off getting on the property ladder or taking the next step up. Competition amongst solicitors and estate agents has increased as the less buoyant market has meant less business to chase.

"However, it's at the top end of the market that people are getting unsettled by headline numbers like ?25,000 to move up from a semi to a detached. At these levels people are thinking seriously about extending or converting a basement or loft which can be more cost effective than moving."
Regional highlights
Since the beginning of the millennium, London fees for moving from an average priced terraced to a semi have increased by more than one and half times the rate of house price growth, as these homes now fall into the three percent stamp duty bracket, whereas in 2000 homes only made it into the one percent threshold. Londoners now pay ?16,659 to move from a terraced property to a semi, that's around ?9,500 more than 2000 and can be compared to a mover in the North who pays out just ?3,427.

In five out of 10 regions the buying and selling fees have outstripped house price growth when moving from an average priced semi to a detached. The South East is the worst affected area outside of London, as fees have outstripped house price growth by nearly four times and would cost a home mover ?15,580. This compares to ?5,101 in Wales which is one of the regions where moving costs have risen more slowly than house prices.

How first time buyers fare:
Fees for first time buyers to buy a home have risen pretty much in line with house price growth 94 percent and 99 percent respectively since the start of the decade. First time buyers now need to save on average ?9,113 to purchase their first home this compares to ?4,698 since the start of this decade. Regionally, it's first time buyers in the South who need to save the most with an average ?10,825 compared to ?4,615 in the North.

Looking back over the past year:
Stripping out house price changes, in the past year the average buying and selling costs (between ?60k and ?1m) in England and Wales have remained much the same with a small decrease of 0.4 per cent. Overall solicitors' charges have reduced by one percent and estate agents increased by one per cent.

Regionally, the fees for buying and selling varies widely with a key divide between the North and South, home buyers in the North pay on average 11 percent less than those in the South. The difference in costs is due to estate agents fees, which simply reflect the cost of properties in the South. Sellers in the South pay on average 33 percent more than their counterparts in the North. Solicitors' fees are also 30 percent higher in the South.

* house prices in 2000 terraced ?78,629 / semi-detached ?91,341 - source land registry
** house prices in 2000 semi-detached ?91,341 /detached ?161,086 - source land registry
*** first time buyers costs include 5% deposit, solicitors, land registry, search and stamp duty fees.
Average first time buyer house price from Halifax.

About The Woolwich
The Woolwich is the mortgage arm of Barclays.
Barclays acquired the Woolwich in October 2000. The acquisition has given the group the opportunity to provide extensive services to our customers, for example Openplan which was pioneered by the Woolwich has now been rolled out across the Barclays Group. This has provided numerous benefits to our customers such as paying off mortgages early through our market leading Offset product.

The 3 Vital Ingredients For a Successful Paid Survey

Many people are making a good income online by simply filling out paid surveys. It has become one of the biggest growth industries in the home business sector and people are earning great part-time and sometimes even full-time incomes just by completing paid surveys online and offline. Anyone can do surveys and people in all walks of life from students to stay at home moms are doing paid surveys to boost their earnings.

However, in order to get the best paying survey jobs at the highest rates, there are several insider tips and tricks that you need to know. Surveys work by asking the public what they think about a particular subject, so common sense tells you that if you are a 70 year old grandmother you will not be considered as a serious candidate to give your opinion on young men's fashion.

Here are the three most important factors in the world of paid surveys.

1. Sex. Surveys are all about one thing and one thing only, finding out what the public wants to buy so that the company can sell it to them. Always bear that simple fact in mind when completing a paid survey. The most important factor governing whether you will buy a product or not is the sex of the buyer. Males and females buy different things and if a product is aimed at females, the company selling it wants the opinion of women ONLY.

2. Age. As with sex, people of different ages buy different things. Young people have different tastes and needs from the older generation in almost every aspect of life and vendors want to seek the opinion of the age group that they are targeting their product towards.

3. Income. People with different levels of income obviously buy different kinds of product as well as different brands of them. Your current income will affect which surveys you are eligible to take, very high earners for example wouldn't be considered as good survey candidates for most types of paid survey.

These are just a few of the things you need to know about paid surveys, there is a lot more to learn in order to maximize the potential and make good money. Diving in head first on your own is not a good strategy, you will face a steep learning curve that can even result in you not making money at all, so it is best to seek out expert advice from those that have tested all the surveys and know which methods will bring you the best income.

To learn more about making a great income from paid surveys and to get started right away, go to http://www.worldofebooks.com/surveys

Avoiding Online Paid Surveys Scams

The bottom line is, if the hype for online paid surveys sounds too good to be true, it likely is. That's the safest way to screen out "offers" that hype big rewards for small investments of time or money. Don't be fooled by:

Testimonials - Ropers and shills typically write these for scams, not satisfied customers.

Documented Proof - Some questionable paid survey sites provide checks and other documental replications as "proof." But just because someone made money at least once, doesn't mean that you will. Besides, with today's computer technology, anybody can counterfeit just about any document and make it look authentic.

Guarantees - Don't believe guarantees that promise the Moon. paid survey sites can't possibly guarantee you much of anything, except that they'll refund your fees if you're not satisfied. But good luck collecting your refund if it's a paid surveys scam.

Reliable- and Trusted-Site Logos - Some questionable paid survey sites display these logos to indicate that they are self-regulating in compliance with the standards represented by the logos. But even legit logos can be stolen, such as those trademarked by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), with a simple right-click of the computer mouse. Click the logos to see where they lead. If they don't lead to valid reports at reputable sites (such as the BBB's official, national reliability site, the URL for which begins with https://www.bbbonline.org/) or the reports are unfavorable, be wary.

The "fine print" at questionable paid survey sites often contradicts much of what their hype implies. (That's how they try to cover themselves legally.) Don't let the hype alone sell you. Read all of the fine print too and ask questions if it's vague or you don't understand it. Think twice about submitting your personal information to any paid surveys site that does not provide a clear privacy policy or arouses your suspicion in any other way. Also read disclaimers, terms, conditions and any other fine print. Avoid sites that don't answer your questions in a satisfactory and timely manner. Be wary of conducting business with sites that list only email or PO box addresses for questions and other matters, as they might be fly-by-night, paid survey scams.

Perform "whois" lookups to reveal if paid survey sites were registered by proxy. If so, be wary of doing business with them too. Site owners might be hiding their contact information behind proxy services, because they're running paid survey scams. Whois lookups will also tell you if different sites were launched by the same owners (unless they were registered by proxy). If so, be wary about that too. Owners might have launched multiple sites so to make their "industry" appear to be more legit, dupe you into buying the same list of paid surveys more than once, or both.

Check with the BBB for complaints against specific online paid survey sites and their owners. But, be aware that, just because there are no complaints, it doesn't mean that all who have conducted business with the sites are 100-percent satisfied. It just means that no one has yet complained to the BBB about those specific sites. More about that is below.

Browse scam forums, such as Scam.com and RipOffReport.com, for messages from consumers who think they've been duped by online paid survey scams. But, proceed with caution. Some messages are posted by ropers and shills pretending to "rescue" those who've been duped by paid survey scams or who are looking to avoid it. For example, the "rescuers" might say that all online paid surveys are scams, except for the "wonderful opportunities" they've found. But, what they don't tell you, is they profit from recommending the "wonderful opportunities". (The same goes for many sites that claim to screen out paid survey scams.) Scam-forum moderators typically remove such messages. But, natch, they'll remain posted until the moderators screen them.

For more information about avoiding scams, see the consumer advice from the FTC and BBB. But, although both have issued general warnings about easy-money schemes (such as work-at-home and Internet business-opportunity scams), at this writing neither has specifically warned about online paid surveys. To issue specific warnings, both agencies typically require many complaints in short order. But many victims don't file complaints, because they're embarrassed that they were duped. Additionally, online paid surveys are a fairly new easy-money scheme at this writing. So, the agencies might not have collected enough complaints to issue specific warnings. But this writer is willing to bet that it won't be long before they do.

If you've been ripped-off by online paid survey scams, as indicated you may file complaints with the FTC and BBB. You may also file complaints with the U.S. government's Internet Fraud Complaint Center.

One of the questions I get most often is how to tell whether a work from home job posting is a scam or a legitimate job. There are some warning flags. In addition, there are sites that can help you determine what's a real work at home job and what isn't.

David Clemen has over a decade of experience in the online marketing world. Previous clients include Cingular and JD Powers. Currently he is a contributor to http://jpcservicesinc.com/page5.html , an online work at home opportunities screening and referral service. JPC's mission is to provide legitimate work at home opportunities to consumers ABSOLUTELY FREE.