At this time of the year many thoughts are focused towards your own house.

Essential maintenance and decoration works will be undertaken which may enhance the appearance and saleability of the property prior to marketing the same.

The acquisition of a property is one of the largest investments one will ever make.

While the purchase of a residential property will depend on personal preference and choice, the acquisition of a commercial property will involve the consideration of a host of other considerations specifically relating to a particular business.

The location of a property in relation to main road networks and public transport to accommodate a work force would be seen as major considerations.

When established, an owner or occupier should continually assess whether savings can be made to occupational costs for a building which will not necessarily mean the loss of any valuable team members within the work force and identify any latent value that may be released by prudent sales or acquisitions of land and buildings.

Major lending banks have continually stressed that they are 'open for business' and as such occupiers should take advantage of perhaps more advantageous financial terms on offer from their existing or other lenders.

The regular revaluation of their most important property asset ie their built property, should be undertaken on a regular basis to ensure that the true worth of the asset is reflected on the company balance sheet and provide owners with tangible evidence of security when discussing existing and future financial arrangements with their bank and other lenders.

Valuations are required for a number of reasons e.g. secured lending, valuations for sale and purchase, development purposes, company accounts, lease re gearing and possible compulsory acquisition or merely the fact that a company wishes to expand to alternative facilities and need to know how much value their existing property would generate is sold in the open market.

Due to the credit crunch and the recession the past five years have been especially hard with commercial properties reducing in value, generally throughout the country.

It comes as a shock therefore when asked to consider an updated assessment of the value of the property and the final figures may be considerably lower than one would expect.

It is essential to continually re consider existing property assets and consider alternatives to raise additional capital, such as sale and lease back arrangements which may be considered to provide an owner with all options available to run their business.

The use of a chartered surveyor who is well versed in the complexities of property valuations would undoubtedly benefit companies in the long term as strategies to identify and unlock possible latent value within a property asset could be identified to the benefit of the owner.