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Entries in May 2007
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[with apologies for camera phone quality]
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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While I love handbags and shoes, I think it's more important to have a place to call home.
More news and thought, on her blog.
Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate
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It's called The Collection - a residential conversion of Boundary Road, NW8's BritArt birthplace - and prices will be collectors only, ranging from £2.85m to £4.45m. They're saying that each of the homes will be named after YBA's launched by the Saatchi Gallery in the 1990s. The developers are Vanderbilt Properties and Oakmayne, the architects are PKS, interiors will be by Darling Associates and Knight Frank are the agents.
Technorati Tags: architecture, design, London, property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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On the same day that the Daily Mail uses its front page to call the bursting of the UK property bubble, Nationwide reports... 0.5% rise in May (down from 0.9% in April), leaving the annual house price inflation figure at 10.3%, the highest in five months. Certainly, the Land Registry figures (which lie behind the Mail piece) are more meaningful. Is this the top of the market? More here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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To the country, apparently. According to Tracey Kellett, of BDI Home Finders, there's a positive exodus at the moment. Families are taking advantage of the lopsided house price rises that have favoured London and are moving somewhere greener. She says her client list has doubled in the last year.
[This Is Money]
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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The England and Wales average house price inflation figure for the year to April stands at 9.1%, up from March's 8.3%, adding £15,003 to the price of the UK's "average house". Interestingly, the April 2006/7 figure is more than twice the April 2005/2006 figure. More here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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It's a ninth floor, three-bedroom apartment in Pimlico's Dolphin Square and, according to this, he already knows who his neighbours will be:
Members of the prince's police protection team will take residence in neighboring apartments.
Apparently, Dolphin Square residents were informed of the Prince's imminent arrival via an announcement in their residents' newsletter.
Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate
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Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane Fox have teamed up again and are soon to launch MyDeco.com - a "taste validation" site for people having interior design problems. The rumour is that Hoberman's raised £5m in seed capital, and the tone is one of a major launch, with a retail angle. Head over there now if you feel like signing up and winning £1,000 toward a room makeover.
[via the Times]
Technorati Tags: design, interiors, Web
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More in this Category - Linkage
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The Telegraph gets in a froth about "more than one million photographs of hundreds of thousands of homes taken by council tax inspectors". Apparently, the Valuations Office Agency are operating a kind of giant, private Flickr, and the Telegraph fears that it won't be long before the snaps are used to justify a wholesale hike in council tax.
Taxed for going green [January 30, 2007]
Monday afternoon linkage - a tax on every home improvement [January 8, 2007]
Pervy councillors to photograph your underwear drawer [November 15, 2005]
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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According to data from Abbey Home Insurance, clumsy neighbours cost us more than £90m every year. How? I know, I was scratching my head for a moment. Errant footballs, falling trees, bad parking are the most common causes, with the average claim at £172, but one in 20 topping £1,000. Londoners are the most likely (at 9/1, in bookmaking terms) to suffer at the hands of a neighbour.
[via Sky News]
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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Please email Ben for more information.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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Architectural crimes, gathered in a gallery over at the Amazing Things blog.
Technorati Tags: architecture, property, real estate
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Notorious Farmington, Connecticut mansion, once owned by Mike Tyson, now sold by 50 Cent [illustrated, link to particulars]
Stunning SoHo (NY) penthouse, sold, $7.95m to Mike Myers [link to particulars]
Rent Tommy Hilfiger's East Hampton oceanfront [link to particulars]
Denis Leary buys three-bedroom SoHo (NY) apartment: $3.95m [New York Observer]
Jamie Foxx buys HUGE villa in Thousand Oaks, $10.5m [LA Times]
Rumour - The Osbournes house (yeah, that one) back on the market [The Real Estalker]
The Rat and Mouse - ears to the ground
Technorati Tags: celebrity, property, real estate
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 YourPropertyClub - a property consultancy specialising in bulk discounts on new-builds - has conducted some research into people's attitudes to pension plans. Clearly YourPropertyClub has a vested interest here, being, as it is, in the business of selling investment property. The results are still interesting. Three-quarters of the 2,500 surveyed believe property a better investment than a pension scheme. More than half have concerns that a pension scheme will collapse, burying their money in the rubble. Twenty per cent have invested in property with a view to seeing themselves through their retirement, and 30% are planning to do so in the future.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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While Jon Hunt is busy reaching over the table, raking in the chips following his £390m sale of Foxtons, and calculating whether he can afford to make a bid for the Rat and Mouse, some of his peers and colleagues have been speaking with the Guardian's Rupert Jones and helping him build up a picture of one of the UK's richest men. It's a good piece... interestingly, Foxtons US appears to be having a few reputation problems; interesting too, Hunt was briefly an army gunner. More here.
Meanwhile - on the subject of Foxtons - here's an interesting blog post by a graphic designer, about why he thinks the Foxton's Mini is smarter than its four-wheeled rivals.
Technorati Tags: estate agents, Foxton's, Foxtons, real estate agents
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More in this Category - Linkage
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Exceptional Homes - it's a brand new internet agency charging a 1% commission, but limiting its list to homes valued at £1m and more (because, let's face it, 1% of more is... more). According to the press release, the company's financed by an ex-City broker who didn't feel he got a particularly good deal when he paid a high street agent £60,000 to sell his Kensington townhouse. So what will Exceptional Homes do for you? They'll get your property onto Primelocation, they'll provide a 3D walkthrough (hosted, a little disappointingly, on YouTube and then embedded in the EH page), they'll give you an online viewings calendar, do the usual agent viewings stuff and (this is more impressive) pay for a Google AdWords campaign. They clearly need time to do a bit of refining (their site could use a spelling and grammar swipe)... but - since their 1% assumes multi-agency representation - there's no good reason not to sign up.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate, real estate agents, Web
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Howard Archer, chief UK economist at Global Insight, said a rise to 5.75% in a fortnight is 'a very real possibility'. And Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said he believed that 6% rates were on the way, probably in August.
[via This Is Money]
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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Seventy-year-old Harry Hallowes was evicted from his Highgate council flat back in 1987 but, keen to remain in the area, he moved onto the heath, building a little shack and squatting there ever since. Recently he's been in a court battle with developers Dwyer, pitting his own squatter's rights (which kick in after 12 years) against their plans to build houses on the disputed plot of land. He won; which may mean (and this isn't yet confirmed by the Land Registry) that he also wins deeds to the piece land, with an estimated value of £2m. A happy ending? A prime plot of land saved from an evil developer by a nature-respecting freedom-lover without a thought for the lucre? Don't hold your breath:
[Hallowes] added: "I won't be having a bird sanctuary or anything like that. Maybe I'll build myself a house to live in – everybody else around here seems to love building houses!"
[via the Telegraph]
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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Ten years old this month, apparently.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate, Web
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It's a former scout hut near Kilburn High Road, and it (or rather the land it's on) has sold at auction for £400,000. Expect it to spark off a predictable debate on a Radio 2 phone-in, shortly.
[via Hot Property]
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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New York's essential property blog, Curbed, finds a catch in an otherwise attractive Craigslist flatshare ad:
"I host one to two male sex parties a week. One after work (usually 6:30pm-11pm) and one on the weekend (usually 8pm-2am). The parties are on the second floor (my room) as well as on the first floor EXCEPT your room. You room is off limits to my guests. The parties are not very noisy except for the guys talking in the kitchen. The parties are very social as we play movies and socialize in the kitchen. Also, I have a maid that cleans up immediately after the parties - so you don't have to worry about that. If you are cool with all this, let's talk!"
[via Curbed]
Technorati Tags: Curbed, New York, property, real estate
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 CityWire runs a nice four-page summary of the situation so far. It quotes CML figures that show only 17% of owner-occupied homes fall into the four-bedrooms-or-more bracket that will require a HIP from August 1. (I wonder how this 17% is represented in the actual market... whether these properties change hands as often as smaller ones... my hunch is that they don't.) CityWire also quotes Rightmove's Miles Shipside thus:
The delay will be galling for thousands of sellers who have now pointlessly rushed to beat the 1 June deadline, and doubly galling for those in the industry who have invested thousands in preparing to meet it.
And Miles Shipside should know. Presumably he's still smarting over the memory of watching Rightmove's share price tumble last July, after a similar HIPs u-turn cost the company dear. Anorak - under the headline Hip Hip Hooray (not to be confused with Hip Hip Hooray) - points to another layer of scam enabled by the announcement. If there was debate, previously, about the meaning of the word "marketed", make way for a whole new battle over "four" and "bedroom":
Wily estate agents and house sellers could try to escape the £300-£600 cost of a HIP by categorising their fourth bedroom as a study or a boxroom or maybe even a transcendental meditation space, thus adding more chaos to the situation.
A wily estate agent? Don't be stupid. The Guardian meanwhile dismisses yesterday's Polly Toynbee column with a scathing leader rubbishing HIps and Ruth Kelly. And why not?
Like a pupil with late homework, her explanations multiplied and got more complex as she went along. First there was a judicial review that had been lodged by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. Yet she admitted she had known about the judge's order since last Thursday. Why not come to the Commons sooner? No answer. Then Ms Kelly admitted there were not enough fully certified assessors to provide the energy performance certificates that are a core part of the packs. The shortage, in fact, amounts to just under 2,000 assessors. Ms Kelly would have known of this bottleneck long ago. Why wait until now? No answer.
Meanwhile the Daily Express reveals that Ruth Kelly is now involved in a fresh row with the RICS regarding its judicial review. She claims the RICS agreed to drop the legal action if Kelly humiliated herself in front of the Commons. Kelly kept her side of the bargain, but the RICS remembers the agreement differently. Here's RICS housing spokesman Jeremy Leaf:
“We only agreed to the stay of the Judicial Review on the following terms – that the Government provide a 12-week consultation period on EPCs, that the Government publish a Regulatory Impact Assess ment, including a full cost-benefit analysis, and that our legal costs are paid. We will be examining the new proposals in detail and will continue to work in the public interest on home-buying reform and climate change.”
The Times wonders whether the whole HIPs scheme - after ten years in development (don't you wish you were paid by the Government?) - will be flushed down the toilet as soon as Gordon Brown takes over. It also makes a potential celebrity of one Lydia Edwards... apparently the one inspector listed for London by the Department for Communities and Local Government website.
The stories and angles will continue to dribble in throughout the day. But the Rat and Mouse would like to take this opportunity to offer Kelly it's special chutzpah award for this:
Miss Kelly claimed her decision "gives clarity to everyone about the next steps" and "removes uncertainty".
Here's a Government that actually believes that simply saying something makes it true.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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It might look like a long history of pitiful mismanagement, but actually Ruth Kelly has been "phasing in" well thought-out policy changes. June 1 has been phased back to August 1. And HIPs will only be necessary , at first, for properties of four bedrooms or more. According to the funny little fellow, that's a "pragmatic way forward", not a very last-minute u-turn forced by a half-hatched new system that's the subject of a legal challenge and can't be implemented anyway due to a shortage of assessors. "Clarity to everyone", as Kelly said.
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Several sources are reporting that the Government will, this afternoon, announce a climb down on the HIPs June 1 implementation date. Expect the announcement to be made by Ruth Kelly, in the Commons. Remind you of anything? If this is true, it's a terrible, potentially very expensive, cock-up.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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Hips are consumer good sense, a way to make property sales easier. Most home-sellers are also home-buyers, so the transfer of costs for a legal search (and later, it's hoped, for a survey) makes no difference. The gainers are first-time buyers who find all these costs paid by the seller. It should make home-buying cheaper, with search costs transparent and not hidden in mysterious solicitors' bills.
Brave debunker of a national hysteria? Or naive voice backing the party line? We'll only know once EPC's have been given long enough to affect either house prices or emissions, once solicitors' fees re-stabalise and we can decide whether they've fallen or not, once lenders/buyers decide whether a Home Condition Report replaces or is an addition to a survey. In the meantime, head over to the comments section below Toynbee's piece... the people are speaking.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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According to a survey by UKTVGardens naff plants - including Laylandii, ivy and pampas grass could knock thousands off the price of your home. (Didn't the 6,000 interviewees know, pampas grass is 70s and cool? Where do they find these stiffs?) Garden gnomes took an inevitable kicking too, so to speak, as did pet cemeteries and water features, despite TV garden makeover shows' obsession with them. More here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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 According to this, from Australia, Williams is considering leaving LA to move in with his best friend and former housemate actor Jonathan Wilkes, plus Wilkes' wife and son. Apparently, Wilkes has been spotted house-hunting in Chiswick.
Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate
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More in this Category - Gallery
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More in this Category - Linkage
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Mortgage lending falls by 9% in April, and house prices, according to Rightmove, make their smallest monthly gain (0.4%) in May, since the start of 2007. The Times thinks so. It's some kind of market when a downturn means lending 18% higher than it was in April 2006, and house prices up 13.1% May-to-May.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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Here's Madaleine, sorted - thanks to a number of buy-to-lets which, she says, have released her from working 12 hour days and ended her retirement worries. She's remortgaged her own home, picked up a few other buy-to-let mortgages along the way, and speaks very highly of The Money Centre, who appear to have advised her to change deals pretty regularly. Hmm. In fact, The Money Centre get so much coverage, I was looking for the word "advertorial" along the top of the copy. I couldn't find it. No mention from Madaleine of how well-placed she is to cover her multiple mortgages if interest rates reach 6% or more.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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... to BC Partners - a private equity group - for £390m, leaving Jon Hunt, personally, something just over £350m. Not bad for 26 years work. More here.
Technorati Tags: estate agents, Foxton's, Foxtons, real estate agents
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According to a piece in Building Design, Koolhaas thought Foster's plans for a "zero-carbon, zero-waste" city in Abu Dhabi reminded him of something... oh yeah, his own plans for Rak Gateway in the United Emirates. His people spoke to Foster's people, asking them to explain the similarities in scale, shape and systems. Foster's people have denied the similarities. (Apart from the squareness.) Head over to Building Design to see the two layouts.
Technorati Tags: architecture, design
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More in this Category - Linkage
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Savills' Yolande Barnes, misspelt and willfully misunderstood in a headline here, takes an interesting line on house prices and interest rates. For Barnes, 6.5% is the "danger point", when house prices might start falling. Even then, it will take "a prolonged spell", she says. Her earlier growth forecast of 7% will withstand a period at 5.75%. Long term, Savills predict a 4%-5% rate.
Elsewhere, Nationwide predicts current house price inflation will cool (thanks, partly, to HIPs), ending the year 8% up.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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The 500lb World War 2 bomb is still there, but it's been made safe, and residents of Palmers Road, Bethnal Green can now return home.
[via BBC News]
Technorati Tags: London
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Remember her? She's back - in the Daily Mail - and, apparently she's cured. She no longer spends £350 on Jimmy Choos she wears just twice, no longer catches cabs from Liverpool to London...
Technorati Tags: London
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More in this Category - Linkage
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Today's Commons debate ended with a Government majority of 72 votes... and HIPs remain on course for a June 1 launch. Michael Gove MP described them as a "folly", and pointed out the "significant tax take" attached to their VAT status. Meanwhile HIPs have been featuring throughout the day on BBC News programmes. Segments have featured a group of trainee EPC inspectors huddled around a ceiling light. Their expert trainer points to it and tells them that the bulb could be replaced with an energy saving lightbulb. They listen closely and take notes. Holy shit. More monkeys with clipboards.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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The Rat and Mouse has been watching the arrival of Home Information Packs with considerable interest. Not least, we've been amused by the creative bent shown by the fast-growing HIPs service provider sector. We've seen The PartnersHIP (geddit?), Hipstar, Superhips and (our personal favourite) HipHipHooray. Just launched, and one to watch, is TheHipExchange, which bills itself as a kind of "Ebay for HIPs" - in which potential vendors can register, mark their property on an interactive map, and wait for HIPs providers to bid for the job.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate, Web, Web2, web2.0
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Research group Datamonitor has been trying to answer the question... how much of our personal wealth is tied up in residential property? And it's found an answer: £210,077. That's how much the average adult, living in the South East, has "saved" in property. Nationally, 55% of our personal wealth comes in bricks & mortar... and Datamonitor expect that figure to rise to 60% by 2009.
[via Reuters]
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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Here's an interesting segment on CBS's 60 Minutes about Internet estate agents Redfin and their battle with the conventional real estate agent lobby, which appears to be doing everything its power to shut them down. "Real estate is, for sure, the most screwed up industry in America," says Redfin's CEO. In the States, agents take a giant 6% commission. Redfin takes 3%, and gives two-thirds of that back to the buyer. But - later in the segment - we go on the road with one of those critical 6%ers... an agent from Remax. And, geez, does she work for her money... cleaning and preparing and staging the houses, personally leafletting the neighbourhood with individual ads for each new property she takes on. She's like Annette Bening in American Beauty. It's an interesting little film. Watch it here.
Technorati Tags: estate agents, property, real estate, real estate agents
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The RICS has launched a judicial review against the DCLG over its cack-handed HIPs implementation. More here. Expect things to hot up during the final countdown to HIPs, with debates scheduled in both the Commons and the Lords.
HIPs? What HIPs? Arses distinguishable from elbows in PropertyFinder survey... [May 1, 2007]
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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The way they're formulated is strange, but they point, nevertheless, to a rise in house prices in April. They go like this: 28.9% of members of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors reported a rise in prices, rather than a fall. In March, the figure was 26.9%. Ponder, then read more here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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News reaches the Rat and Mouse head office that Nestoria have successfully achieved the latest stage in their expansion plans and are now ready to serve up live property listings to the UK's favourite foreign language property destination... Scotland Spain. Congratulations to Nestoria. We've already had a chance to play with Nestoria Spain, and we're pleased to report you can expect the same refined and intelligent usability and impressive speed that make Nestoria UK so impressive. It's good; it's here.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate, Web2, web2.0
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The Rat and Mouse has referred before to Lane Fox, Chelsea's Lulu Egerton's problems buying a new home. On Saturday, she wrote in detail about her ordeal for the Daily Telegraph.
Trying to buy at the moment is like being in a washing machine on spin cycle. Or haggling down in the souk on market day. I feel deranged at not being able to buy myself a home. I last bought and sold five years ago and remember the experience as an elegant and fine chain of events over nine months with no rush, no anxiety and no stress. This time round, I've been outbid in a sealed bid, won a sealed bid (only to have the vendor decide not to sell), lost a sealed bid, suffered gazumping, been too late, too poor and, worst of all, ignored because a vendor was "insulted" (I kid you not) when I raised my bid in increments of £50,000. Believe me, madam, while you live in solitary, tax-exile splendour in Monaco, I live in the real world where £50,000 here or there really matters.
Read it here.
Technorati Tags: estate agents, London, property, real estate, real estate agents
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According to a press release, property consultancy Sanderson & Gold chose Tuesday's Asian Business Awards to launch the ultimate quarterly lifestyle magazine to end all quarterly lifestyle magazines. I can't do better than the release itself, so to get across to you the hideous lottery winner tack of this missive I'm going to quote:
Over 800 guests including millionaires, dignitaries, MPs and celebrities who attended the prestigious annual awards ceremony were witness to the exciting launch of xxxxxxx – the most sought after luxury product of its kind - and were invited to participate in the opulent celebrations of the glamorous After Party, sponsored by Sanderson & Gold. Reflecting the high calibre of clients established within the Sanderson & Gold portfolio and luxury market, xxxxxxx is a premium magazine to be published quarterly, and unlike any other of its kind. The exclusive publication is set to become one of the world’s most desirable limited edition prints available, featuring the likes of rich lists, the most desirable fine art, luxury brands, products and profiling.
Posh, innit? But why have I deleted the magazine's name. Because I'm saving the best for last. No shit... they're calling it La Dolce Billionaire. I still suspect this is some kind of a joke, but until somebody embarrasses me by proving I'm the victim of a wind-up... click here to see some illustrations.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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More in this Category - Linkage
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It's the house price index that counts, since it's based on completions, rather than asking price or voodoo. Prices were up in March by 1.1%, leaving the year-on-year figure at 10.9% nationally (down from 11.8%).
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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Let's start a new week with a new website. Rogue Agents is the result of a traumatic buying/selling experience in London... therapy, and an attempt to make a difference. There's no advertising nor, says the founder, will there ever be. It's effectively a public-service directory of "scams", split into "buying a home", "selling a home" and "improving a home" categories. Users upload scams (gazumping and gazundering are classed as scams, interestingly, even though they're products of the system rather than an example of illegality), and other users comment on them and offer positive suggestions for anybody looking to avoid falling prey. There's a forum, and some articles and news, too. Right now - content's sparse (the site's new, after all) - and I suspect some people may be fooled by the domain into thinking it's going to be a name-and-shame site (or, perhaps, a very "upfront" estate agency). But it's certainly one to watch.
New estate agents' feeback site... a register with teeth? [January 8, 2007]
Technorati Tags: estate agents, real estate agents, Web, Web2, web2.0
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Housing - the Blair years [Business Money News]
Rate rise "shock" in Kent. Where have they been? [Kent Online]
The Rat and Mouse - it's about your house
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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That's according to this, in the Herald Tribune on the English art of screwing a potential buyer. Meet the man who got gazumped not once but twice over the same Balham townhouse, and the couple who, after viewing 50 properties in 15 months and spending £3,000 in fees, can no longer afford to buy a place of their own. Oh yeah, and it was 1928, when the Express first printed the word "gazump".
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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The Ombudsman has released figures for 2006 and it seems complaints rose by a third to 8,000... an unprecedented numbers. I don't have the figures to hand - and I'm rushing to leave for some meetings - but it would be interesting to compare trades in 2005 with trades in 2006, and see how many new agents joined the Ombudsman scheme, too. News sources are painting this as the people speaking against the agents... I'm not so sure.
Technorati Tags: estate agents, real estate agents
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Apparently RIBA are debating whether to relocate their headquarters... to a boat on the Thames. If anybody has more information on this... we'd love to hear about it.
UPDATE
Thanks to Hana, who points me in the direction of an article explaining... "This extraordinary plan is being developed in an attempt to create a separate identity for the RIBA’s London branch." But don't expect to see a floating RIBA London any time soon. There are financial "priorities" to deal with first.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate agents
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... by a quarter of a per cent, to 5.5%. It was expected... and followed Halifax house price figures, this morning, showing an April rise of 1.1%.
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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It's Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko's place, of course, and it's still boarded up. As rumours mount that a full scale nuclear winter has broken out in his breakfast nook, Haringey Council has been engaging in an unseemly row with billionaire owner Boris Berezovsky about who should pay to extract the radioactive badness from the Osier Crescent house. Berezovsky refused, arguing that Litvinenko's killers should pay. Clearly, that would be the gentlemanly thing to do, but something tells me the rules of this particular game have already been proved pretty lax. Now, the council have announced a u-turn... at least partially. They've agreed to pay £15,000 for a survey. The Rat and Mouse considers this a waste of money. Surely Polonium-210 will show up on the HIP?
[via BBC]
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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Rosalind Russell, writing in the Telegraph, pays designer of theatrical fashion Gail Berry a visit in her theatrical Hanwell semi (which, as it happens, is for sale, with Hamptons, at £665,000... although you won't find it on their website right now). It's a story of chandeliers in every room, Gothic detail and small dogs.
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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According to SealedBidsOnline (er, vested interest, anybody?) every London property will receive at least 30 bids by the middle to end of 2007. Either that, or interest rates will climb dramatically and the arse will fall out the market. Hmm.. if I knew which...
Making sealed bids more secure [April 24, 2007]
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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 Just a note to remind readers... this year's Architect in the House scheme is now open. Register here to see if you can get matched up to a RIBA architect who will give you up to an hour of his/her time in return for a £40 donation to Shelter.
Technorati Tags: architecture
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More in this Category - Linkage
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Beeny talks to the Guardian about her oddball career history, why (despite training property developers on TV for all our amusement) she doesn't believe in property development and about the dating game.
Technorati Tags: property TV
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It's always a shame when an interesting comment comes in way at the back of the blog where it's unlikely to be seen. So you'll forgive me if I occasionally drag the more interesting little snippets of London residential life to the front? Recently, we had this interesting thread on the subject of the Ferrier Estate. Now - in contrast - life on what was - at least in 2005 - London's richest street.
I live in Earls Terrace, W8, and the place is like Fort Knox: I can not do a thing without CCTV cameras and the Gorillas (security people) watching everything. I will have to escape from this prison.
Posted by rebel child at May 8, 2007 10:56 PM
Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate
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... courtesy of buy-to-let mortgage brokers The Money Centre:
1. DO set aside money for the unexpected - such as a void period in rent or a boiler breaking down.
2. DO keep an open mind about what and where to buy. Talk to as many experienced landlords as you can and learn from their mistakes and successes.
3. DO think carefully before buying a property with maintenance issues. Money you save buying it may be lost by it being empty while you’re renovating or improving the property.
4. DON’T indulge your own taste in design and style of the interior or exterior of the property, as it’ll restrict its appeal. Keep it neutral and safe.
5. DO be cautious about buying properties off-plan. You need to stick to a specific timeframe in order to maximise your return and developers may not guarantee a finish date.
6. DO beware of companies offering cheap conveyancing. If a few pounds saved on conveyancing means a slow service you may lose the property.
7. DON’T skimp by finishing your buy-to-let property with second-hand furnishings, fixtures and fittings. If they don’t meet health and safety regulations you could find yourself in trouble.
8. DO be aware of the specialist insurance you need. Standard domestic insurance policies do not cover many of the eventualities that landlords face.
9. DO think carefully before leaving the management of your property to relatives or friends. Buy-to-let properties need experienced management to maintain tenant occupancy and maximise returns.
10. DON’T abuse the relationship you have with your tenants. Give plenty of notice before you visit and make sure maintenance problems are addressed quickly. Tenants are an essential part of your business plan and the relationship needs to be managed in a professional way.
Some links:
Avoid new-builds
Be aware of the green tape
Landlords bullish on returns
National overview
And that little matter of interest rates
Technorati Tags: property, real estate
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This time... www.DocklandHomes.co.uk... yours for £795 + VAT. If you want it... drop us a line and we'll pass your interest on to the vendor.
Domain name for sale [April 19, 2007]
Valuable domain name for sale [February 27, 2007]
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More in this Category - Linkage
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Looks like a new trend. Now, it's gone upscale, from a modest house in the north east of England, to Annie Lennox and film producer Uri Fruchtman's £2.75m London home. The common factors?
MySpace - both teenage parties were advertised on MySpace, leading to extreme gatecrashing.
Teenagers - lots of them.
Absent parents - two of them.
Alcohol - loads of it.
Graffiti - applied liberally to walls.
Urine - sprayed liberally over carpets and clothes.
According to this, the Lennox-Fruchtman home has been completely destroyed.
Technorati Tags: celebrity, London, property, real estate
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