Little Professor

Look at the house price crash on the chart from 2007 to 2013. That was it. The government won't let house prices normalise. They've made that clear over and over again. From directly subsidising housebuilders with HTB, to fake inflation stats and artificially low interest rates, they will do whatever it takes to keep prices high, even if it means damaging the country in the longer term. It's a battle we won't win. I stopped waiting and bought in 2017. Already magically have "gained" 85k through house price inflation in the last two years alone ?

BBC News - Orchardton Castle owner's £5 raffle 'unfair' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-47953542 A woman has been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority for offering a Scottish castle as a raffle prize - but giving the winner a cash prize instead. Susan DeVere set up the contest after she failed to sell Orchardton Castle, near Auchencairn. Built in the 1880s, the 17-bedroom property had been valued at between £1.5m and £2.5m. Tickets costing £5 were offered via Facebook and winacastle.co.uk. However, cash giveaways of £65,000, £7000 and £5000 were offered when ticket sales were too low. Mrs DeVere told the ASA that all property competitions were run in the same way and the castle could not be awarded if there were not enough entries received to clear the mortgage. The ASA ruled "any cash alternative that was less than the value of the property, were not reasonable equivalents to the prize as advertised. Because neither the advertised prize nor a reasonable alternative had been awarded, we concluded that the promotion had not been administered fairly and was in breach of the code." Might be the death knell for these competitions

And the Guardian here: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jan/11/couple-accused-of-misleading-entrants-in-raffle-for-3m-house Surprised this has gotten so much mainstream attention and outrage. Usually these house raffle scammers are able to slip into the night with their 75% cut of the takings without anybody paying attention - the media only cover the initial ramping of the competition. Hopefully this greedy boomer couple get the cuffs slapped on. Very dodgy behaviour

Mothercare Interserve Debenhams Capita

For the Whitby House, the Gambling Commission have clarified that they shut down the raffle as the question - " “What year did the North Yorkshire Railway open? " was too easy as it was easily Googleable, and therefore the entry was not a game of skill. By that mark most other raffles will fail too.

They aren't allowed to insist you send them a stamped address envelope. I'd report it

MEWing was a big thing before the financial crisis - treating your house as a piggy bank. Since then it's not been a common occurence - people have focussed on paying down existing mortgages

https://www.windancershillhouse.com/update/ Update 13th December 2018 Hello, Melanie Walsh here, the owner of Dancers Hill House. Six months has passed and I am excited to share a brief update on the progress of the house competition With your help and trust, I have had an incredible response to ticket sales, however I am still not quite there yet. I have therefore extended the competition for a further 6 months to ensure all entries are sold. I will be giving monthly updates in the New Year. I am not a magician but I do know that the more entries you buy, the better chance of winning you may have. Will you be the lucky person to collect the keys? Click here if you want to play again and better your chances. Wishing you good luck in the New Year. Best, Melanie Walsh

Sold for £525k in the end. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=46711023&sale=6053743&country=england

An update today: https://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/landlady-in-hot-water-as-judge-forces-her-to-reveal-wealth-in-boiler-row-193219/ Judith lost the court case and then defied a court order to fix the boiler of her disabled tenant. Now she has to hand over details of her financial assets and income (including any joint accounts) so that the court can impose a suitable punitive fine. Should make interesting reading if her financial situation is made public. Once again Fatty threatens to sell up in retaliation: The ruling will “accelerate the rate” tenants are evicted as the couple look to sell up their housing empire, Mr Wilson said. “Let’s see what happens with the fine, but it means we will be selling more properties," he said. "We were selling up anyway because of our age - I could drop dead tomorrow. “We won’t put all the homes on the market at once because that would mean house prices will drop.”

If you actually read beyond the headlines, this guy knows what he is doing, he's just making a point to show up the ridiculousness of people being able to self-identity as a particular gender etc

Some portal-juggling going on here. WIthdrawn and then relisted with the same agent, same price and photos http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70811699.html

Sold for 290k in the end. Didn't need to reduce much https://houseprices.io/?q=36+trenance+gardens%2C+HX4+8NN

Looks like the "£3.2million" house eventually sold for £1.3million in 2016 http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/B49/Alcester-Heath.html

Oh, what a surprise, the leicester house raffle got cancelled