Orlando Reid July Newsletter

Welcome to the July edition of the Orlando Reid newsletter. We begin by looking at the Green Homes Grant and how you can make the most of it in order to improve your home for less. During lock down everyone has been house crazy with refurbishing and DIY. Below are some ideas for keeping guests safe, making your very own home office and utilising any spare space for storage.

How To Host The Perfect BBQ

As we can now socialise with up to 6 family members and friends in outdoor spaces, including back gardens, a BBQ is a great way to have some fun with your favourite people whilst staying safe. However, there is now a bit more to think about with increased hygiene standards and social distancing crucial in preventing a second wave of the coronavirus. With the summer months well underway, we share how you can host a perfect BBQ.

1. Planning your space
Planning your garden space and how people will move around your garden will help everyone to maintain social distancing. For example, you could create a one way system so that people can collect their food and navigate back to their seats with ease. Setting out a seating plan will also help to minimise movement and touching around your garden.

2. Hygiene
Whilst this is already a must, ensuring that you wash your hands prior to preparing or handling food and utensils is crucial to reduce the risk of germs spreading. If you have hand sanitizer at home, have this available outdoors for your guests so that they can regularly keep their hands clean during their visit too. You could ask your guests to bring their own condiments and cutlery where possible too.

3. Food preparation
Stick to having one person in charge of food preparation and BBQ'ing. Although there is minimal risk of any transmission from food or food packaging, this will ensure that touching is kept to a minimum.
Making food preparations prior to guests arriving will allow you to prepare food calmly with no distractions. It will also ensure that you can spend as much of your valuable time catching up with your guests instead of in the kitchen.

4. Plating food
Often at BBQs you may be used to having food in the middle of the table where people can help themselves. To reduce physical contact it is better for people to plate all of the food they would like onto their individual plate once food is ready so that there is less touching of surfaces and utensils. You could create a queuing system where people can use their own utensils to serve themselves, or you could plate the food up for them. This is especially important for foods such as dips and nibbles where you would usually share the packet.

5. Watch the booze!
A couple of drinks at a BBQ is part of the fun for many. But after a few drinks people can tend to become lazy and forgetful; making social distancing more difficult to manage. Watch the drinks so that you can continue to be aware of the government guidelines.

6. Facilities
People are aloud to enter your home to use the toilet as long as they thoroughly wash their hands. You should keep some disposable paper towels in the bathroom instead of having everybody use one of your towels to dry their hands. Wipes should be used to wipe any surfaces as required.

Top Tips For Designing A Home Office

People have been working from home for a while now. With businesses offering a greater level of autonomy and flexibility to their workers for the long run, many of us will have created office spaces in our homes. These spaces are vital to our productivity, and we have therefore put some of our favourite design ideas together in order to make your home office a hotbed of efficiency.

Nail the basics
When designing a home office, it can be easy to get caught up in the design aesthetic first and foremost, but the basics of a suitable desk and comfortable chair are not to be overlooked. These two pieces of equipment could make your working-from-home bleak or blissful, so take the time to choose wisely. When choosing your seat, ensure that the height and lumbar can be fully adjusted; your thighs should be at a right angle to the floor and your feet totally flat to provide the most ergonomic seating position.

Don’t neglect storage
The old adage of ‘tidy space, tidy mind’ is prevalent for a reason – we tend to work best when we’re in comfortable, organised spaces. It’s easy to forget that a home office will need to have masses of storage in order to store your working documents, as well as any accoutrements you need on a day-to-day basis. When planning your home office, incorporate space for storage which includes shelving, cupboards and filing cabinets.

Create an oasis
Your home office should be a space that you want to visit; therefore, creating a pleasant and attractive room should be high on your priorities to encourage you to use it. Studies have suggested that using greenery in our work spaces can make us happier and improve cognitive functions, so adding plants or herbs in your office space are an easy method to incorporate some natural elements. In line with the greenery, keep the general feel of your home office light and airy by keeping walls and décor neutral, perhaps with one simple accent wall in a colour such as navy blue, which is supposed to help with concentration.

Creating space
Not everybody will have an extra room to dedicate to a home office, but don’t let that stop you. If you have an alcove in any rooms in your house, you can turn it into a mini home office simply with a fold down desk. You could also double up the use of your dressing table or kitchen table. One of the benefits of not having a dedicated fixed office space is that you can move your home office around if you feel like you need a motivation refresh.

Savvy Storage Solutions To Avoid Mess

Having a place to store your possessions is extremely important and can often get overlooked when property hunting. Being able to fit all of your possessions into your home whilst ensuring it stays neat and tidy can seem challenging at first. However, there is always a way to maximise your space no matter how small your living environment is. We’ve shared some of our super savvy storage hacks below to transform your home into a serene space whilst still being able to enjoy your prised possessions.

1. Fill the gaps
Whilst some of us don’t have as much space as we’d like there are always gaps in a room that can be used as a way to keep your things tidy. For example: on top of wardrobes or sliding draws underneath the bed. Add your items to a decorative box before storing away to prevent the gaps you’ve filled from looking cluttered.

2. Shelves
If you don’t have shelves in your house there are many no damage shelves that can easily be put onto a wall. That way if you’re in a rental property you don’t need to worry about any wall damage. A floating shelf can help you achieve a more spacious room by not having to place objects on the floor. Although they can’t hold items that are too heavy, you can show off your favourite items as decorative features.

If you already use all of your shelving space, you can maximise this further by getting some shelf risers. This allows you to fit an extra shelf in your cupboard so that you can fit double the amount of items in. These work particularly well in kitchen cupboards, or toiletry cupboards; also making it easier to find items.

3. Window sills
We all have window sills! This small bit of space can also be used like a shelf to house your books, houseplants, or toiletries. A clever creative way to maximise a part of the room that often gets overlooked.

4. Baskets!
Sometimes there are items that you may not want to have on display but can easily make your home look messy. The solution to this is baskets! There are so many decorative baskets available in most shops these days, in a range of colours and materials. A basket can be a statement in a room whilst secretly hiding your mess. You can even use small baskets in cupboards to keep them tidy too!

5. Hanging storage
Vertical storage is a clever versatile storage solution. There are hooks that you can buy for the back of your doors that can be home to your accessories or outwear. Hanging organisers like shoe racks can also be bought for the backs of doors and can be home to many items – not just shoes. You could use a hanging organiser for books, craft supplies and toys!

Asking Prices Are Up 1.9%

Rightmove’s latest house price index for June has found that asking prices have increased in England by 1.9% on average. This is compared to pre-lockdown levels indicating the market is ploughing forward despite the recent pause on activity due to the coronavirus outbreak. The number of new sales agreed has also shown a swift recovery now being only 3% lower than this time last year! This is a bounce back from 97% drop due to lockdown restrictions. The pent-up demand has certainly made its mark on the market getting the property market moving once more.

Those that were anticipating a price dip upon the release of the property market from lockdown have been proved wrong, with homes coming to the market at an additional average of £6,266. Buyers are paying 97.7% of asking prices on average; further showing that people are keen to make up for lost time and purchase their new home.

Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, commented: 'Following the initial shock of the early reopening of the housing market, England is getting moving again with a boom in traffic on Rightmove. There are no signs of panic selling or even a price dip. Some sellers who had agreed a sale before lockdown have been worrying that their buyer may try to renegotiate with a reduced offer.'

'On this evidence, buyers may now be trying to exchange quickly, as there are signs of high pent-up demand and upwards price pressure, rather than downwards. Lenders may also have been concerned about price instability affecting the risk profile of their low-deposit mortgages, so hopefully this will give them more confidence to increase their range of first-time-buyer products.'

The pause in the sector during Spring halted 175,000 people from bringing their home to market. They have not been deterred as record numbers of new sellers have requested valuations, and new listings are at a higher level than last year. The coronavirus pandemic has caused many to reconsider their lifestyles and push on with property decisions they had previously been hesitant about.

What Is The Green Homes Grant And How To Claim It

As part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s summer statement, green energy grants up to a possible £10,000 will be available from September in order to pay for green home improvements such as a new boiler, loft insulation or double glazing.

For the majority of homeowners, grants of up to £5,000 will be available but for those from low income households, this amount doubles in order for the cost of energy-efficient home improvements to be fully covered.

The Chancellor confirmed: "From September, homeowners and landlords will be able to apply for vouchers to make their homes more energy efficient and create local jobs.

"The grants will cover at least two thirds of the cost, up to £5,000 per household.

"And for low income households, we’ll go even further with vouchers covering the full cost - up to £10,000."

Measures such as loft, wall and floor insulation, double glazing, lighting, energy-efficient doors, boilers and heat pumps will all be included under the scheme, with Rishi Sunak predicting a saving a £300 per year for households who make the most of the grants.

The grant will be available from September via a Government website, yet to be launched, which will also detail an approved list of suppliers.