Mrs Bear

By contrast here's one I mentioned before, reduced to 'offers over £240K' - would have been at least £265K not so long ago. I looked at one of these last year - building is pretty hideous and the entrance area is old-fashioned, but they're really good-sized flats. http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.a...p;agentid=00720

Even at last summer's peak we thought they were terribly overpriced for such minute space. But a lot of them seemed to sell - no doubt to BTL-ers - I couldn't see anyone with half a brain buying for themselves, but you never know. That 'stylish' look seems to seduce a lot of dopes who can't see that there's absolutely nowhere to put anything.

John Lewis sent me an email me the other day, headed, 'Was it something we said?' It went on to ask why I hadn't bought anything online recently. Er, because there's nothing I need just now. (Quaint old-fashioned excuse, I know )

Has anyone seen these? £210K for 35.8 sq m!! And the 'bedroom' doesn't even have a proper window. http://www.findanewhome.com/south-east-eng...54-7c5b44e2e7fd

I think they are obliged to state it on particulars if any staff member has a personal interest in a particular sale. Have seen this once or twice. And to be fair, not in teeny weeny print, either.

Shall be glad to see an end to all the glossy freebie 'Real Estate' and 'lifestyle'* mags that regularly plop on to my mat. All full of £2m+ houses, plastic surgery and You Too Can Have Sparkly Hollywood Teeth. Recycling bin is quite full enough without them. Edit: *how I hate that word...

If you're going to teach English, it might be a good idea to learn where to put an apostrophe.

Maybe you'd prefer the kind of free-for-all that exists in so many countries? Where you can do what you like as long as you bribe the right person enough? I'd guess you're not and have never been a home owner. I'm very glad we have strict laws, even if they can be a pain at times. Neighbour of mine had his own next door neighbour build an extension to within about 3 inches of his detached house wall, so he could no longer access his own exterior brickwork. NDN (foreign) ignored utterly all my neighbour's protests that it just wasn't on. Long and fraught legal battle ensued, while the NDN carried on assuming he could do what the hell he liked as long as he paid a lawyer enough to fiddle it. Two solicitors told him he'd never win - he ignored them, employed another who was happy to take money from an idiot. He lost his case, was forced to take the extension down, rebuild as it was, and repay all my neighbour's costs. By the end of it he could almost have bought another house. (House now on the market )

I must go and have a good old nose. To be fair they are pretty big houses, but at that sort of price I would think most would want a detached. But do agree about the sales blurb. 'Purple prose' is the term that springs to mind.

Anyone got Property Bee? I could swear that not long ago these were up for £2.2M.

As the OP said, there are not many rental properties in his area - that was one of his points. And he needs to be in that area for schools. Particularly for families, renting is not necessarily nearly such an easy or straightforward option as many like to make out. Incidentally it's not always such a doddle for young singles, either. A colleague's daughter took a first teaching job last year in an area where suitable rentals turned out to be both scarce and very expensive.

The Beeb's really not that bad. Some of you lot should try living in a country where the evening TV news consists of endless items like: 'Today His Majesty met His Supreme Excellency X bin Y of Z, and talks were held on brotherly relations.' We'd have gone mad without the BBC World Service. To which I still listen in the wee small hours. And don't any of you ever watch old Paxman laying into them? Or listen to ditto on Radio 4's Today? BTW, I for one am interested in what's happening in poor old Zimbabwe. And in many other places beyond these shores.

You have to do what feels right for you and your family. Renting is all very well for the free/childless but not always practical for families with schools to consider, and you would seem to have got a reasonable, affordable deal on a house you like. If you do go ahead, don't torment yourself with thoughts of what you might have saved - life's too short. Good luck!

It's a 58% share, that's what.

Has Private Eye had anything to say about him?

Oh, GOD, how I agree on this! Edit: and with all the rest of your post BTW.

Can't help wondering whether either of them is reading this thread...

Couldn't believe that Joel (?) - he of the £10K boys' toys - saying in injured tones that he wished someone had come along to give them a reality check! Diddums den.

Many thanks for your reply. I've no idea what area - they very likely don't know themselves - have probably just been listening to someone else pretending to know all about it. Will pass on your info, thanks again.

Yes - you'd think the Trades Descr. Act should stop anyone calling them 'balconies' when they're just long windows with safety railings. Juliet windows, perhaps?

More wishful thinking, or 'fantasy wish projection' as psycho-babble calls it. Sign of desperation - I suppose they think that if they keep saying it enough...

I don't think that's true - people just aren't given the option often enough. Given the choice of a flat with or without, most would surely choose one with. And I have a Swedish friend (now living in Devon) who's wondered why on earth they built so many UK flats without balconies, when equiv. 60s/70s blocks in Sweden always have them. So it's certainly not the weather, and in many parts of the UK you can sit out for much of the year. A lot of 60s/70s *private blocks here are ghastly boxes, obviously built as cheaply as possible. OTOH there's a huge LA estate of flats not far from me, 1950s, and they ALL have balconies. (Probably considered essential then for hanging out the washing.) Incidentally they're all a lot more spacious than new-build slave-boxes, with STORAGE! If I had to live in a flat, I'd never even think of one without a balcony. Mind you I do tend to get claustrophobic As for Juliet 'balconies' (whoever it was who mentioned them) - they're not balconies at all, just railings to stop you falling out of full- height opening windows. Edit to add: *ditto a lot of 80s/90s/00s blocks of course, but rather more built with balconies now.

I used to feel sorry for that poor little mobile in the TV ad, wandering the bleak streets all miserable and unloved after his owner threw him over for a new one. (No wonder I've still got same years-old mob., despite Mr Bear dying to get me latest bells+whistles version.)

Elderly aunt's 4-bed in Welwyn went on market in December for £425K. She's had to go into a home, sale being handled by relatives. Subsequently reduced via £399K to £365K - still no bites that I've heard of. It's a 70s house, very nice area, needs mod. and only one bathroom (though 2 basins, bath and sep. shower), but v. good space for a family, downstairs loo, big kitchen, garage, etc. Even in current market I'd have thought a family overflowing from a smaller house might have bitten, but guess people can't sell their own. Also avocado bathroom might be putting them off. As is well known, you can catch plague from avocado bathrooms. Edit: sorry, this is Welwyn, not WGC. Only just realised you meant WGC.

I've just repeated my 2 standard flat searches on findaproperty. (KT2 only) Sales, £200K-£350K, min 2 beds, = 104 Rentals, £850-£1400pcm, min 2 beds, = 143. While no. of rentals has stayed around the same, no. of sales has gone up considerably. (Static at 88-ish until recently.) Would perhaps indicate that while most BTL-ers are staying put, since precious little hope of selling at the moment, properties already on the market and needing to be sold are reducing into this bracket.