Deerhound

Did anyone suggest you did say that? However you did say that a man long dead wrested power, violently in Russia. Zombie Karl perhaps. "Peasant" and now "fool", you do realise that name calling is no substitute for a coherent argument.

Wow you're funny! I'll quote your words again as you have clearly forgotten them, "Marx, Lenin and Trotsky were all well known Jews who had wrested power violently in Russia." If you can convincingly twist that sentence into saying that you meant Marx was involved through his writings I'll be impressed. Oh, and "peasant"?

Ah, all becomes clear and don't I feel the stupid.

Excellent display of knowing nowt there. Please could you direct me to your sources which tell you that Marx (born 5 May 1818 – died 14 March 1883) was involved in violently seizing power in Russia in 1917 (that's 34 years after he died if the maths is too taxing for you)

I know one person personally who is now the legal owner of a ex-squat similar to your description. The house in question is a smallish 2-3 bed cottage with a bit of land in , very, rural mid-Wales. The building was in very poor condition when first squatted. IIRC the squat had to be continually occupied (unchallenged by previous owner) for a minimum of seven years. Interestingly it did not have to have been occupied by the same person for all that time, the person I know was the last of a long line of squatters there.

I've built a few of these in the past, the one in your picture looks like it was built using what are known as four sided logs, where the log is milled square. In my opinion you should look at full-scribed cabins (sometimes called Swedish cope) which use whole logs of about 12 inches diameter hand crafted to fit together precisely. These give much better thermal and stuctural properties. Probably the most best and most experienced builder in the UK is Dan Franklin who is based in Devon, check out his website http://www.woodenways.com/site/html/home.html for more info. BTW done well they are are warm, solid and no higher maintenance than any other house. ATB DH

Thanks for replies, It could well be that it is part of a chain and, considering how slow the market is, they are waiting for someone else to sell. It may just be my suspicious mind, but, I did wonder if it is a deliberate ploy to make it look as though things are selling. Without PropertyBee you wouldn't be able to see the date of it going sstc. I may e-mail the EA to ask what's happening, if it was 10-15 miles further this way I'd definitely be tempted to put in a cash offer and see what happened Regards DH

Not hugely important in the great scheme of things, but this has been intriguing me. I noticed this cottage recently on Rightmove, http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sa...ncludeSSTC%3Don It's the sort of thing we are interested in (especially at that sort of price) although not really in the right area. The odd thing is that, according to PropertyBee, it was sold STC in December last year, so can anyone think of any reason why is it still being advertised. Surely it shouldn't take that long to complete on a sale. I suppose it could be a sloppy EA not removing the listing from their website, but I've noticed a few similar cases recently where the house is labelled SSTC but is still showing up many months later.

It's a bit misleading to be completely honest, when we took the place on it was a hole, the previous tenents had trashed it, so our rent reflects the amount of work we've done to make habitable again. The only worry is that the landlords are "past the first flush of youth" as it were, so our tenure is not all that secure. We've probably got around £100,000 cash if we need it, but, at the moment there's nothing comparable to where we are for that sort of money so we'll probably being staying put as long as circumstances don't change. Edit - Going rate hereabouts, mid-Wales, would probably be closer to £7,500 pa, peak "value" of the house £300,000 plus.

I so wish that that was a hard and fast rule with no exceptions. It would mean that I could buy the four bedroom farmhouse (plus barns and about 18 acres) I live in for £24,000. Somehow I can't see the landlord accepting that offer.

Agree in principle, but having built straw bale and scribed-log (Alaskan style 12inch diameter plus logs) places in the past, the difficulty is getting planners etc. to give fair consideration to these sorts of buildings for residential use. My dream would be to self build a 3-4 bedroom log house + woodyard and workshop. I reckon the shell and basic fitting out could be done for well under £50,000. Straw bale would be even cheaper and as you say is less skilled work. The trick is finding an affordable site and persuading the powers that be.

As another member with a recent joining date, although I'd "lurked" for some time previously, I would say that the self-proclaimed Bulls are invaluable as far as this site is concerned. The obvious self-interest and weak logic demonstrated in their arguments supporting the current over-valuation of housing is far more convincing of the necessity for a period of correction in the market than if it were only a "circle-jerk" of disgruntled Bears patting each other on the back and saying "we're right, everyone else is wrong". I find their increasing anger, straw-clutching and desperation truly reassuring. Keep it up my bullish chums Love and fulfillment DH

If nothing else, the Labour goverment did ensure that the words "the Prime Minister, Michael Howard" were never uttered in earnest.

That pretty much sums up the situation in mid-Wales as a whole. I'm looking in the Llanidloes area of Montgomeryshire and the market appears to be frozen. Average time on market is around 270 days and rising but asking prices are barely moving, (actual selling prices are down twenty odd percent). Denial is still the name of the game up here. Biggest change in the last six months or so is that the rental sector has been flooded with new houses to let, the local rag used to have maybe six pages of sale ads and half a page, at most, of rentals. It's now approaching 50/50, sign of increasing desperation perhaps. DH

Hi Obligatory first post from another fairly long term lurker. I am in mid-Wales watching an unbelievably stagnant market. Potential cash buyer waiting for that mythical "right place at the right price" Regards DH