itsdave

Good advice, SwanseaPropertyAgents! The offer has been accepted - I think it's a good price in the current market. I also expect it may lose 15% or so of it's value over the next couple of years, but I want to buy a home so am prepared to take the hit if need be. Now just the hurdle of getting the mortgage!

Thanks, Pent Up! Unfortunately the EA wouldn't give very much away (got a mate to ring up!). I put an offer in 10% below current asking price (14% below original asking), which was rejected though with an indication that something around 7% under current asking may secure a deal (11% under original asking). I'm going back to the EA with a final offer at 7% under (not going to mess about with smaller increments) - that's my ceiling price so will see how it goes. Thanks for the advice!

You're absolutely right, blackgoose, their only interest is getting a sale and so I'm prepared to see through most of what comes out of her mouth and treat it purely as a sales pitch designed to get me to make the highest possible offer. Just wondered if there was any way to trip her up into mistakenly giving away any hints . The highest I'm prepared to go is about 7% below asking, so am thinking of starting at 12% below (though they've just dropped the price by about 4.5%, so might be reluctant to go much lower just now).

It might be worthwhile time-limiting your offer in order to focus the vendor's mind. Perhaps call back and say that your offer remains on the table for 2 weeks, but at that point it will be withdrawn as you need to move on and there are other properties that you're interested in. Even though your offer was rejected, they may be thinking of you as a 'back up' in case the other interested party fails to make an offer, or something falls through, so it might be worth making it clear - in the most polite and professional terms, of course - that you're not playing games and will not hang around in the background whilst the greedy vendor tries to get another few quid out of somebody else. Good luck!

I'm interested in putting in an offer for a house (second viewing later in the week). It's been on the market for several months, and I've found out that it's a probate sale, being dealt with by a Solicitor on behalf of the beneficiaries (i.e. the Solicitor is the Client of the Estate Agent). There have been two previous offers on the property, both of which were rejected. I've set my budget and won't go above it, but I'd love to know what the previous offers have been - even a ballpark figure. Is there any way of finding out, or tripping the Estate Agent up into letting slip / giving me a hint, what the previously rejected offers were?

I agree. I can't believe that anybody would seriously contemplate putting their (presumably retired, or near to retirement) parents' mortgate-free home at risk by asking them to secure debt on it, in order to enable their own home to be mortgage-free. I'm gobsmacked at the selfishness on display here. What happens if you lose your job, and you're unable to make the payments on your parents home? Grow up, be an adult, and stand on your own two feet, and don't put your parents' security, which they've worked for all their lives, at risk. If you want tax advice, speak to an accountant. If you want legal advice, speak to a solicitor.

Thanks guys - will find out how much the Council charge to remove the old one, and try £100 for the mattress. Plus the cost of cleaning up the rest of the bloody mess.

Hi folks, I became a reluctant landlord a couple of years ago due to work circumstances. I've now sold the flat (thank goodness). I gave the tenants the required 2 months notice, and they vacated the flat yesterday. They have left it in an absolutely filthy state (with strange blobs of an unidentified brown substance on various items of furniture!) My question is with regard to the state of the mattress (everything else should be able to be cleaned, I think). The spotlessly clean 12 month old mattress (as documented on the moving in inventory) is now quite heavily soiled (way beyond what could be considered wear and tear). It either needs to be cleaned by a specialist, or replaced. If it can't be cleaned, I'm trying to work out what a fair amount would be to suggest retaining from the deposit (it's in the deposit scheme). Are there any rules or guidelines about this? A like-for-like replacement would be about £300, and it is now three years old. I was thinking that somewhere around £150 would be fair. Any views would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Good question. The vendor is likely clueless, and forking out 1.5% or so of the purchase price to these unprofessional scam merchants. If I were the vendor and found this out, I'd be livid. Like others have said, if you want to put in an offer, it sounds like it's probably best do it in writing to the EA and copy in the vendor.

Likewise - it's a great little ad-on and absolutely invaluable to all keeping an eye on their local market. Here's hoping that those with the necessary technical skills, and a bit of free time, can help out. Best wishes to Beerhunter.

MacGuffin, you're dead right. I'm with Jeff Randall in his assessment of Ms Harman - how does one explain the monument to absurdity that is Harriet Harman? - and would normally be first in line to criticise her well intentioned but fundamentally flawed 'equality' agenda. But, much as it pains me to say it, she's right about this one.

If what seals a multi-million pound deal is some fat, sweaty, stinking, hairly bloke having a gawp at a possibly trafficked eastern european woman's tits, the yes. It really is adolescent behaviour, and the grubby middle-aged fellas who think it's a respectable way to do business do themselves (and their daughters) a grave disservice. Pathetic.

If somebody wanted to discuss potential future business in a titty bar, I'd view them as a cheap, inward looking and unprofessional. Not a company I'd consider doing business with.

Corporate life is all about networking, a large amount of which is conducted outside the office. If most women are effectively excluded from much of that corporate culture as it takes place in lapdancing clubs then their careers are disadvantaged. I can't imagine anyone finding naked blokes waving their cocks about an acceptable form of corporate entertainment. Lapdancing clubs should be left to an individual's private life. They have no place in corporate culture, and I bet most tax payers would find it offensive that gawping at tits is being passed off as a legitimate tax deductible business expense. It's not on.

Hello porca misèria . Thanks for the links to the alternative funds. I'll definitely take them into consideration before making a decision on where to park my £7,200. With regard to individual shares, it's something I'm interested in and will probably look into over the next few months, but to be honest, I'm such a novice at this investing lark (I've never managed to save enough to invest!) I thought I'd go with a couple of managed funds first of all and then diversify into other areas. I'm prepared to put about 15-20% of my money into relatively risky investments, with the rest going into fixed rate bonds /savings accounts (and premium bonds!), but as I'm only just starting, I'll probably stick the £7k somewhere in the next month or so, and then do nothing for a good six months. I will definitely check out VCTs - I've never heard of them, but any investment where you get tax breaks sounds worthwhile looking into. Many thanks for taking the time to reply - you've given me a lot to think about and more research to do. Thanks again .

I've bought and rented a few flats in my time, and it infuriates me when estate agents fail to put the square footage of the flat on the schedule/particulars. I'd say a 1 bed is normally between 500 and 650 sq ft and 2 bed 600 to 850 sq ft.

Hello folks :-) I'm considering bunging some cash into a reasonably high risk fund - Guinness Alternative Energy Fund - probably this year's £7,200 ISA allowance. I freely admit I have no idea what I'm doing, so apologies for the stupid question(s)! It seems I can either invest in the GBP Fund or USD Fund. Can anybody please advise the pros and cons of USD vs GBP with respect to investing? What would it actually mean if I invested in the USD one? Presumably I'd be also gambling on the exchange rate going in a particular direction? Or have I completely misunderstood everything? Please help!!! And apologies for the daft question. Thanks in advance. For info, the funds in question are below:- http://www.h-l.co.uk/funds/security_details/sedol/B2PGVK3 http://www.h-l.co.uk/funds/security_details/sedol/B3CCJ63

Is it just me who gets really pissed off with people who ask for advice, and then don't have the decency to reply with thanks to all those who have taken the time and effort to reply? Bloody cheek!

Thanks for the link, the flying pig. Also interesting to see that the same house sold for £123,000 in 2001. From £123K to £317K in the space of 6 years. I wonder how much salaries increased during the same period. No wonder we're in such a mess.

Agree 100%. I've always bought 5 year old cars for less than 2k. Last year I treated myself and bought a car for 18K, which is ridiculous I admit, but I saved for it and paid cash. I could afford it. The dipshit with the BMW had it on finance and admitted the sale value was less than the outstanding finance. He's probably been living beyond his means for years. oldmisery, why would I (or anybody else) envy him (or any of the others)?

You're dead right. Traditional "professions" are indicators of middle class-ness, as well as private educaction. And having those wooden salad bowels with salad tossers, buying overpriced organic food, and shopping at Waitrose. These were, in the main, working class people who had either worked themselves up 'through the ranks' to reasonably highly paid middle-management jobs, or had aspirations to do so. I thought the woman HR person (I usually despise HR people) did herself some credit, and the young graduate (without the chavvy fake diamond through his lobe) was ok. The others were tossers.

He just had an interview and:- a. went in stinking of smoke, having had a ciggie immediately prior to going in b. didn't even do the interviewer the courtesy of wearing a bloody tie What a complete bell end.

Dead right. What an arrogant tw*t that Marketing guy is. His sense of entitlement is staggering! And the fat Sales Manager who won't sell one of his BMWs is equally tw*t-like. The only "normal" one is the 38 year old HR woman, who seems to have done well for herself, but (so far) remains quite down to earth.

That's true, but there are still people willing to "invest" in property. I put my flat on the market the other week. Within 7 days I'd had 5 viewings and a mini-bidding war between a FTB and a BTL landlord. I accepted an offer at slightly above asking price (14% less than 2007 peak) to the FTB (I hope he can get the mortgage and that his mortgage valuation goes ok!). It's a lovely little flat, and I think I priced it realistically, but nevertheless I was shocked at the level of interest and very surprised that there were still "investment buyers" out there, because the BTL mortgage rates seem to be somewhere between 6% and 7%. The FTB is borrowing his £30k deposit from the Bank of Mum and Dad, who are re-mortgaging their own home to raise the cash. I can't explain it. The world has gone mad. I'm going to take my £60K equity out and wait a good while (couple of years) to see what happens. The flat's I'd like to buy are over £200k, and I'm just not prepared (in my late thirties) to get into the level of debt needed to buy one. Madness.