yawnIHateSundays

Sorry, again not looking here for a while... yes it did go through.

Sorry, haven't been looking here for a while. I ended up accepting an offer for full asking price and am nearly ready to exchange - hopefully next week. There does seem to be a shortage of properties round here in the 200-400K range, and those that are competitively priced seem to go pretty quick. I'm a couple of miles east of Reading, not actually in it btw.

Put my house on the market last Wednesday. Had a viewing on Friday, and an offer in this morning at £10K less than the asking price (365K), have told the EA I will meet them half way. Think it represents the shortage of supply in this area - within 1/4 mile according to Rightmove there are only 7 properties for sale.

More a miserable moaner more than a Gen-Xer. Theft? You do make me laugh.

That's irrelevant. He's getting paid a lot more for the same amount of work.

How many other businesses charge 3x what they did 10 years ago?

Yes, but their fees have effectively tripled in the last 10 years.

What are typical EA fees? In discussion with a local independent firm recently, the guy said 1.5% but could do 1.25%. In the days of sub 100K average house prices this seemed OK, but charging 4K for a bit of glossy paperwork and some phone calls seems unrealistic, or is this the norm?

Well yes, but that happens in any activity. I'm more concerned about professions that become a closed shop with restrictive entry practises that prevent real competition. For example anything legal, and now ones like electricians (Part P legislation) and other trades where a VI body has successfully lobbied for legislation to prevent just anyome to compete.

Some might be, but having worked in the high tech industry and used some PR agencies in the past, I can say there is a world of difference between the good and the bad. A good one will really help you sell your product, they know the editors of the trade press, they know how to manage publicity, they know how to avoid having the techie folks say something stupid, they manage the produict launches, in short they save you a load of hassle so you can concentrate on what you're good at. For those that believe 'a good product will sell itself', well so did I many years ago, but it simply isn't true.

Errm even very basic knowledge of chenistry would tell you that generating hydrogen from water is an endothermic reaction. Or in plain speech, you have to put energy in to do it, so the idea is a non-starter.

This has absolutely nothing to do with MEWing at all. It has everything to do with PE funds loading debt onto companies who then are unable to operate as a sound business, and cut and cut until disaster happens.

I used to work in Bracknell. Always used to say Bracknell was best viewed in your rear view mirror.

On the face of it round here everything looks normal, still plenty of flash cars in the gym car park, but dig a little deeper and the signs of trouble are there. Friend of mine in sales was made redundant in January, still can't find work. Another who runs his own company says orders dropped off a cliff last October, he is hoping to get a big contract which will see him sorted if he gets it, if not he is done for.

Yup, and can we have your avatar serving the drinks?

Ah, that'd be me then. 10-6-8 and all that stuff.

I don't have a problem reading emails at 7am or 9pm, neither do I have a problem sleeping on the sunlounger at 3pm... working from home does have its benefits.

Proof that Brown is full of sh1t.

Good advice. I take it that bloo loo was in the police.

I'd agree that electronics in Europe is challenging, the powers that be don't understand the issues and have let the far east take over first manufacturing, and more recently design, due to the erroneous thinking that manufacturing is not important. Well it is, as where manufacturing goes, so goes design - not immediately, but it most definitely does go and this is what we're seeing now after the last 20 years of attrition in manufacturing. That police job sounds safer, you can't outsource that.

Some types of engineering maybe. Most of the big employers in electronics in Europe have gone, they were the ones who would take on graduates and train them, now whats left is mostly smaller companies that want experienced people. The likes of GEC, Plessey, Ferranti, Marconi etc. were sustained by defence spending and when that lucrative tap was turned off they could not adapt.

Hugely better and more efficient at extracting cash from their potential users. In all other respects, I've noticed no difference, so I don't use them these days unless I have to.

He thinks he has YOUR money.

Exactly. And, err, is Jaguar a British owned company?

Good post, and this highlights the problem we have nowadays - the slavery of the masses means less empathy for those that really do have disabilities.