We're in the process. We had a viewing last week - nice couple - house too small. Engineering type with a checklist..house was "too small" for them and their hobbies.
In the meantime we've viewed 1/2 a dozen properties and found one that fits the bill. So hopefully there will be no others (fingers crossed). Another viewing here tomorrow.
All in all very odd experiences - almost almost as if one is being inspected by Senior Officers on the one hand. Roll on
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Yes it's an odd process. We put our house on. The market at the beginning of the year. You get all sorts. Had about twenty viewings in a fortnight and had a good offer for the full asking price by a couple who I had dismissed as not interested as their viewing took only ten minutes.
Unfortunately our problem was finding somewhere we liked. Gave up after eight weeks of searching and took the house off the market. Will probably try looking again in a month or two
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Just accepted an offer on ours, and had our first offer on a place near Melksham accepted yesterday, somewhat to our surprise (and worry - what's wrong with it?). Mrs F did all the viewings, apart from the one with the people who made the (serious) offer, which was a bit awkward...
Anyway, we're actually trying to slow things down now - got a holiday abroad in June that's going to become a bit complicated if we're in the middle of moving.
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Lots of stuff to factor in.
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When I was moving from rented I was gazzumped 16 years ago. Best thing that could have happened to me. I knew I was going to buy the current LL Towers before setting a foot inside. Great location, stunning views, 20 minute walk to all amenities. I offered the full asking price there & then, and because I was in rented and could leave at a months notice I was the perfect buyer. Other potential purchasers later offered more, but had their own places to sell. I was a bit upset that other people were still looking round after I had begun the conveyancing process and offered asking price, but it all worked out splendidly.
Hope yours does too....
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I think people who subsequently withdraw from an agreed house sale or purchase should be severely penalised. It's just downright dishonest and should be illegal.
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Must be a Scotsman.
I had to do it once after a job-shaped rug was suddenly pulled from under me. Our would-be purchaser was more miffed than the amiable widower we were buying from, who wrote me a remarkably sympathetic note in reply to my letter explaining the situation. Didn't feel good about doing it, but there was plenty else not to feel good about at that time.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 10:37
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I mentioned in another thread about a younger colleague's unlucky house searching (he's still looking - since then two more have fallen through).
One thing that he has said is that at least for him/round here/whatever there is no concept of going to see the house with the owner in it. You make an appointment with the agent to go on the "open day" and however many dozens go along then, shown round by the agent in groups.
I said this was all new to me, explained we always did our own showings, and he said he's never heard of it working any other way.
Times change.
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>> Times change.
No they dont, still works that way, Sold my mums place 18 months ago with her still mumbling in the armchair during viewings. It was ok when i said she wasn't part of the fixtures and fittings
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>> I think people who subsequently withdraw from an agreed house sale or purchase should be
>> severely penalised. It's just downright dishonest and should be illegal.
>>
How can it be dishonest? I agreed to sell my house on the understanding that I was looking for another. I failed to find another and withdrew form the sale.
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It's the niggly little things that annoy me, like the seller of out first house when we were getting married who called the day before moving day to say the kitchen curtains, which matched the wallpaper, would be £10 extra, or the people who vacated my parents new flat in 1966 who took every single light bulb with them.
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>> would be £10 extra,
When I bought this house the sellers rang up the day before completion and said the grotty carpets would be £100 extra, and they wanted £50 for the concrete coalbunker. I told them to keep them, so they left them anyway.
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...ditto carpets and greenhouse (I had a moment of mild amusement at the thought of the removal men dismantling the latter).
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>> or the people who vacated
>> my parents new flat in 1966 who took every single light bulb with them.
>>
That happened to a colleague of mine years ago. Isn't it illegal?
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I've only ever been a cash buyer - once 30 years ago, and again last year for our daughter at university. It still seems to take an age - I naively imagined that peeling off the notes would have people jumping around eagerly, but solicitors don't jump.
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It is the height of rudeness and utterly dishonest. Should be totally illegal.
If I agree to sell you my car, a rare model you had been searching for for a long time and you then sold yours and just before you were due to pay me for mine I said "nah changed my mind mate, tough" how would you feel about that?
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"If I agree to sell you my car, a rare model you had been searching for for a long time and you then sold yours and just before you were due to pay me for mine I said "nah changed my mind mate, tough" how would you feel about that?"
Pretty poor analogy.
1) my house is not a rare model. It a modern 1990s estate house.
2) the offer was accepted with the specific advice that it was dependant on me finding a suitable house.
3) The prospective purchaser like myself has no obligation to proceed and indeed and could have withdrawn at any time.
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Which is just wrong and should be illegal.
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>> the offer was accepted with the specific advice that it was dependant on me finding a suitable house.
>>Which is just wrong and should be illegal.
I can't see why that arrangement should be illegal.
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I absolutely can. You make a deal, you stick to it. What you have to do behind the scenes is nothing ( or should be nothing ) to do with it. It's just downright bad business to back out of a done deal.
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>> I absolutely can.
I think you missed this part of CGN's post:
" the offer was accepted with the specific advice that it was dependant on me finding a suitable house."
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I didn't miss anything, it should be illegal to make any offer to buy with caveats that you might not. Either you're serious or you're not. Its a risible law that allows and actively encourages procrastination and lack of honour.
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That's just silly, Humph. Companies take out options to buy all the time - the aviation world is full of it. The IT contracts I work on often have early break clauses, or options for additional years that the customer is free not to exercise. Nothing dishonest or dishonourable on either side.
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>> I didn't miss anything, it should be illegal to make any offer to buy with caveats
CGN was not a buyer, he was a potential seller.
I believe he was merely offering his house to potential buyers on the firm understanding that the sale would not go ahead if he could not find a suitable property himself.
Nothing wrong with that, surely.
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Deeply and utterly wrong that it's even considered permissible in my opinion. Transactions should be honoured by both sides. Oh and to whoever was "offended" I am much more offended by lies, breaking of promises and a law which encourages duplicity.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 14:19
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>> Deeply and utterly wrong that it's even considered permissible in my opinion.
Your opinion has me well and truly baffled, I'm afraid. But never mind.
I'm not the "offended" one, btw.
:-)
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>> Deeply and utterly wrong that it's even considered permissible in my opinion. Transactions should be
>> honoured by both sides.
I agree.
When I sold my London house I anticipated there could be a delay in us finding the right house at the other end (bearing in mind the plan is to live in it for yonks)... so I rented one in the middle.
I cannot see the point of sort of selling something, only to then not sell it. It's rude if nothing else.
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>>It's rude if nothing else.
>>
No it isn't. As long as potential buyers are fully aware of the situation before they even visit the property, as they appear to have been in CGN's case.
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>> No it isn't. As long as potential buyers are fully aware of the situation before
>> they even visit the property, as they appear to have been in CGN's case.
>>
Surely you are missing the point.
If as a buyer you see a house advertised 'for sale' and wish to buy it... then the expectation is that if you like it, you might well end up buying it.
If the seller puts a proviso on it that they have yet to find somewhere, then you allow for a potentially longer time for them to find somewhere.
Ultimately, they could move to a rental or move in with friends/relatives, whatever it takes to make it happen.
What you don't expect is someone sodding about, who wasn't really interested in selling anyway... buying/selling houses is stressful enough anyway.
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What you don't expect is someone sodding about, who wasn't really interested in selling anyway...
>> buying/selling houses is stressful enough anyway.
>>
As long as it's clear at the beginning its much easier i would imagine. i don't think people are sodding about if they wish to move straight into a bought house rather than via rental. They just draw the line somewhere different.
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"Deeply and utterly wrong that it's even considered permissible in my opinion. Transactions should be honoured by both sides. Oh and to whoever was "offended" I am much more offended by lies, breaking of promises and a law which encourages duplicity."
There was not "transaction".. In effect I made an agreement to sell my house on the condition that I could find somewhere to buy within a reasonable time. I did originally advise the prospective buyer that I was unable to accept their offer as I was still searching for a property but they were keen that I should take the property off the market which I did."
After three months of searching for a property involving were reluctantly came to the conclusion that we were not likely to find anywhere that matched our requirements anytime soon and decided that we could not proceed with the sale
The prospective purchaser was always fully aware that this might be the eventual outcome. I had stressed this both to my agent and the prospective purchaser personally. I have no doubt that throughout the three months they continued to seek an alternative property.
I am also full aware that at any time the the deal could have fallen through for a multiplicity reasons and that would have been looking for a new buyer. I would have no recourse over that state of affairs and that is implicit in every house sale.
As far as I am concerned I acted with complete integrity throughout the process and I must say to be accused of lying and duplicity is rather irritating, especially coming from someone who up to now I have always considered one of the more moderate and saner voices on the forum
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 18:15
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Isn't all this irritation and bad faith taken care of by having a deposit system?
You see something for sale, you really want it, you don't have the money to hand in your pocket but you can get it, you need to sell something else first, etc, so you pay a deposit.
It demonstrates to the seller your seriousness, and if all does go wrong he keeps the deposit so doesn't feel so badly about being let down.
The deposit can be any amount that the participants agree would make their respective elements of risk acceptable.
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>> Isn't all this irritation and bad faith taken care of by having a deposit system?
I can remember paying the estate agent £100 deposit when we bought our first house in the 70s. However, that was a refundable deposit.
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>> I absolutely can. You make a deal, you stick to it. What you have to
>> do behind the scenes is nothing ( or should be nothing ) to do with
>> it. It's just downright bad business to back out of a done deal.
The law is clear with "real" property in England and Wales, and differs from general contract law.
Neither party is bound by the verbal offer and acceptance. If you want a binding agreement, sign a contract, bearing in mind that you won't be able to back out without penalty either
People seem to think that they can't do this unless a "chain" is contracted contemporaneously and even agents go along with this (usually for their own ends I suspect).
Back in 1983 I agreed to buy a house only to find that the selling agents, without even contacting me, had remarketed it. Apparently they had called MY solicitor to check on progress, and had been told (truthfully) that my buyer had pulled out.
I was very angry with the agent and the solicitor. The agent said he had no duty to me as he was being paid by the vendor; I pointed out that he had potentially lost a sale for his client as he hadn't even called me to ask if I would contract or not. My solicitor IMO had no business giving the agent any information without my permission. As it happened I had another buyer within 24 hours.
In 1999 I agreed with someone I knew well to buy his house. My sale dragged on into early 2000, and he said he was concerned about the time it was taking and asked if he should market it with an agent. After a discussion, and after lining up a mortgage, I offered to sign a "on or before" contract in return for a modest price reduction. I ended up with two houses, but that's how it goes.
Last edited by: Manatee on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 16:09
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Any reason CG why having got a buyer, you didn't move into short term rental which would have put you in a strong buying position when you did find another property?
I can understand the extra hassle of a short term move, and maybe property prices were increasing a lot month by month so you didn't want to miss out by renting.
I'm not criticising but my move into rental for 18 months gave me time to look around and get a better feel for certain areas when I was relocating, which was anywhere within a 75 minute commute of work.
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When we viewed my current dwelling, one of the selling features was the original 1930s stripped and sealed pine floors, no rugs or carpets anywhere except the new extension, which had a very good and expensive real wood pine laminate flooring, with a large rug in the centre.
Upon moving in, the large rug was gone to reveal a very large area of cheap chipboard with a strip of expensive laminate flooring round it.
I have heard of several cases where large sofas and the alike had been revealing areas devoid of wallpaper
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 11:15
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We had the opposite Zero - when we moved in to our current house we set about taking up all the nasty mismatching carpets on the ground floor, to reveal the living room, dining room, study and hallway were all fitted with superb quality parquet flooring, which only needed minor attention after years protected by carpeting. Bonus. No new carpets needed.
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Ours has the same, Vić, although the nasty carpet is still there. I want to take out the carpet, refinish the parquet and get a big rug for the centre of the room. Can't convince Mrs Beest, though, so it's stalemate and the carpet remains.
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Fortunately for me Mrs A is Balkan/Mediterranean and so instantly disapproves of carpet. I had to talk her down from laminating the top floor though, always best to have carpets in bedrooms in this climate, I think - also the noise you get from hard floors upstairs isn't great.
You should have seen her face when she first visited my flat about 20 years ago, which had a carpeted bathroom. Another funny one, which I happen to agree with her on now, is her confusion at why we Brits have washing machines and dryers in the kitchen instead of the bathroom, and why we have water tanks in the loft instead of just mains cold to the taps.
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> You should have seen her face when she first visited my flat about 20 years ago, which had a carpeted bathroom. Another funny one, which I happen to agree with her on now, is her confusion at why we Brits have washing machines and dryers in the kitchen instead of the bathroom, and why we have water tanks in the loft instead of just mains cold to the taps.
>>
Space i suppose for the first one. Our house has a tiny bathroom and couldn't fit any white goods. Although many people have them in annexes, conservatories etc. Although I don't think I've ever seen a washing machine in a bathroom.
Dunno about the cold water tanks , must be some reason they are in a lot of homes.
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Building regs too. Simply not allowed, is it?
A Swedish architect friend of ours is bewildered that UK homes are designed for a cold, wet climate but have nowhere to hang wet coats or dry washing indoors.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 12:02
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Aye that would be it. Shaver sockets are the only one i can think of allowed.
Some sort of drying room would be good. I've used them in the past(although not in a house) all the hot water pipes go through one room. Very good at drying clothing. Our houses are too small for that i would think.
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we had one in a Glasgow flat in the 60s
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>> Aye that would be it. Shaver sockets are the only one i can think of
>> allowed.
>>
>> Some sort of drying room would be good. I've used them in the past(although not
>> in a house) all the hot water pipes go through one room. Very good at
>> drying clothing. Our houses are too small for that i would think.
>>
I wonder if an un-switched spur is acceptable in a bathroom? I assume so since that's all an electric heated towel rail is. Then an isolator outside the bathroom for the spur?
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...the regulations keep on changing, but, subject to appropriate zoning (roughly translating as the position relative to a water outlet), I don't think that a fused spur (for an item the manufacturer defines as suitable for bathroom use) even needs to be unswitched.
I've just looked very quickly at the regs, and I wouldn't like to be quoted, but I think you can use spurred outputs at a distance greater than 1.8m from the water outlet, and open sockets 4.2m therefrom (big bathroom).
Edited to add: but all the circuits must be RCD protected (a modern consumer unit should provide that).
Last edited by: tyrednemotional on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 21:03
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I guess the challenge is finding a manufacturer that defines their machines as suitable for bathroom use then? Though I'd imagine in some bathrooms being 1.8m (what's the point in going metric if all we do is convert 6'!!) might be tricky too!
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>> is her confusion at why we Brits have washing machines and dryers
>> in the kitchen instead of the bathroom
>>
Are there not fairly strict regs in UK on electric sockets & switches in bathroom, hence our shower and any oher one I have seen in a house, is switched on/off at the switch outside the bathroom door.
Never seen a house with a socket in the bathroom
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>> Are there not fairly strict regs in UK on electric sockets & switches in bathroom,
>> hence our shower and any oher one I have seen in a house, is switched
>> on/off at the switch outside the bathroom door.
I suppose one could do the same for a washer or dryer.
The logic seems sound to me - why do you want to drag dirty laundry downstairs and in to a food prep area? Washing of things should be done in a bathroom.
My brother-in-law has a small flat in Belgrade with a very small bathroom - they have installed a half length bath and fitted the washing machine in to the space in which the other half of a normal bath would have fitted. Shower over that. Normal practice there, our flat has the washer/dryer in the bathroom too. Oddly, our bathroom here in the UK is too small to take one unless we did the half-bath thing. I would consider doing it if it was big enough though.
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I suppose one could do the same for a washer or dryer.
>>
>> The logic seems sound to me - why do you want to drag dirty laundry> downstairs and in to a food prep area? Washing of things should be done in> a bathroom.
You could i suppose.
maybe baths are more popular in the uk so people don't want to lose them?
Try not dragging them down there that might keep some dirt off them. ;)
Seriously, i suppose so but I don't think clothes are so dirty you could cross contaminate food? Do people really get ill from that?
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>> Seriously, I suppose so but I don't think clothes are so dirty you could cross
>> contaminate food? Do people really get ill from that?
Evidently you don't have an 11 year old son who plays football in a local park where dogs get exercised...........
Maybe I should just turn the pressure washer on him at the door instead. Any tips, Runfer?
;-)
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AIUI, the latest regulations allow for socket outlets in a "room with a bath or shower", but the zonal and spacing requirements would mean you would need a fairly large room to comply.
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"Are there not fairly strict regs in UK on electric sockets & switches in bathroom, hence our shower and any oher one I have seen in a house, is switched on/off at the switch outside the bathroom door."
Yes, our switches (1998 build) are on the outside, though I think that pull-cord types are allowed. A couple of years ago, the electrician came and fitted a new super-duper consumer unit and ISTR he said that the new units were so sensitive that regulations re bathrooms had been made less stringent when such units were used.
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...its the (mandatory) incorporation of an RCD that makes the difference....
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>> and why we have water tanks in the
>> loft instead of just mains cold to the taps.
Which leads me on to.... My Main storage tank started dripping from the overflow last week. This morning I crawled into the loft space and had the float valve changed in a jiffy. 21 minutes from main stopcock off to mains stopcock on.
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>> I have heard of several cases where large sofas and the alike had been revealing
>> areas devoid of wallpaper
>>
My brother-in-law once painted around his sofa where it was against a wall. Completely different colour, too. He's a bit lazy. And thick!
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Perhaps the paint was running out and he didn't want to buy any more...
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Did consider that and indeed that was our original plan as intended t buy a new property which would not have been ready until the end of the year. That fell through and since I am moving by choice rather than necessity want to minimise the inconvenience as far as possible
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>> I'm not criticising but my move into rental for 18 months gave me time to
>> look around and get a better feel for certain areas when I was relocating
I think anyone out or the UK housing market for 18 months nowadays would have great difficulty getting back in.
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I always ask them to take the property orf the market when making an offer on an owse.
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And so they should if they have a shred of decency. If I make a deal with someone I stick to my word. That is important to me and so it should be to anyone honest.
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Plenty don't though, i know someone trying to move, they put an offer in and it wasn't removed from sale . Can't remember why.
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The law as it stands just encourages dishonesty and time wasters.
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Runfer, I think this is the first time I've ever seen you getting near to angry about something.
Well done man.
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The absence of his usual smiley has been duly noted.
;-)
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Not angry AV, but deadly serious for once. Honour and integrity mean a lot to me. A promise is a promise, a deal is a deal.
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>> Not angry AV, but deadly serious for once. Honour and integrity mean a lot to
>> me. A promise is a promise, a deal is a deal.
Not sure what you are getting serious about. Most offers to buy are conditional on survey and mortgage etc etc. Its never a firm promise, until it gets deposit and exchange of contract.
Sellers packs were a great idea, no idea why everyone got so upiity about them and put the kibosh on them.
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Maybe the Scottish system is better? .. Whenever I've received an offer on a property I'm selling, I know full well it isn't worth the paper it is written on - until contracts are exchanged.
Not an ideal situation of course, but that's the way it is.
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Funnily enough, just got a call from Mrs F, who as mentioned before is running our house move project. She said one of our earlier viewers who decided at the time he preferred another place to ours has had his plans scuppered, and has come back to our estate agent with an offer £7k higher than the one we've accepted.
But Mrs F told the agent to reject it - we met our buyers last night, a nice couple with a 12 year old daughter who is quite excited at the prospect of upgrading to a much larger bedroom than the one she's currently in. "That's very good of you" I said to my dear wife, through gritted teeth :)
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Look at it this way, Fl. 7k is only roughly the cost of a year's rail season ticket from Wiltshire to London.
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>> Look at it this way, Fl. 7k is only roughly the cost of a year's
>> rail season ticket from Wiltshire to London.
:)
Quarterly worldwide company update meeting next week including online Q&A session with the boss. One of the top 5 questions is about company's policy of shutting 'small' offices. Moving closer to Bath might not be quite such a good idea as we'd thought...
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It's hard to beat central/east Berkshire as a place to live when it comes to jobs................
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Yeah, although Bristol/Bath is a reasonably warm spot as well. We're not too worried, as if the Bath office does close, chances are we'd be shifted to the much larger Swindon office, and there's a couple of trains that run there direct from the single track Melksham station in the mornings. It's a 1.5 mile walk there rather than 0.1 to the Bath bus stop, and it's a bit dearer, but not the end of the world. And Swindon's just as nice as Bath, isn't it?
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>> And Swindon's just as nice as Bath, isn't it?
>>
Oh yeah, you're safe there. Nae botha.
;-)
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>>And Swindon's just as nice as Bath, isn't it?
You are presumably joking?
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>> >>And Swindon's just as nice as Bath, isn't it?
>>
>> You are presumably joking?
Indeed. Although to be honest I've only been to the former once, briefly, when we popped into the shopping centre on the way back from up north. Wasn't impressed, but probably not fair to judge the whole town on that.
But I do know that whenever Swindon is mentioned in our office, it's not in glowing terms. Plus people based in the Swindon building do keep booking our meeting rooms for some reason, and I don't think it's because there aren't any free at their own location...
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Had something similar when we sold our last house, Blurry. We got an offer at our asking price the first weekend it was up. We liked the family, felt content that we could safely inflict them on our soon-to-be-ex-neighbours, and had no worries about accepting it.
There were inevitably a few hiccups in the buyers' sale (they were trading down to release funds into their business) that held us up for a couple of weeks, in which time the agent kept calling, even though we'd asked him not to entertain any more enquiries. One woman was very direct and wanted to know what would persuade us to put the house back on the market but we stuck to our deal, as you have.
It all went through smoothly enough in the end. Yes, perhaps our original price was too low (although I thought it was ambitious at the time!) but I can imagine someone who resorts to tactics like our Mrs Whoever might not be the easiest to live next to either, so I hope the neighbours appreciate it. We were there for 12 years and they were good to us.
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>> Yes it's an odd process. We put our house on. ..
>>
Who is this nameless contributor on this thread?
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>> Who is this nameless contributor on this thread?
Was it CGN?
EDIT: yes- "last edited by: CGNorwich" on one of them
EDIT2: now I understand Z's reference to a 'dot flounce' IIRC
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 14 Apr 16 at 19:14
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"All in all very odd experiences"
A couple of days ago, I read on these threads or in a paper, that the disgruntled left were blaming the stagnancy in the housing market on older folks who were staying in their larger homes in order to preserve their growing value for their offspring.
My experiences would suggest that is not true - the reluctance to move is almost entirely due to the inability to summon up the energy needed for a house-move i.e. to completely de-clutter and to down-size. Years ago, it was mooted that a house-move was amongst the most stressful experiences that folk go through - and I've no reason to suppose that has changed.
A good friend spent several years working with 'Age Concern' now, I believe, 'Age UK'. In the course of her work, she conducted a number surveys and she reported that a very common conclusion among the elderly was "We left our/my last move too late".
Last edited by: Haywain on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 13:24
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Anyone hereabouts been involved with sealed bids? Several properties near our own have sold this way in recent weeks.
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Everything HW says here is true, on both sides of the argument. Whatever the motive for staying put in the empty nest, far more oldies are doing so now than a generation ago - and only partly because baby-boom pensions mean they can afford to. My road has 100 or so four- and five-bedroom houses and ours and three others that I know of have children in of school age or below. The 'most stressful' thing is a myth, by the way, but it's widely believed.
My own mother is another. After my dad died (when she was 67 and still pretty active) we began to encourage her to consider a smaller house that she could manage without it becoming overwhelming. She resisted - for the reasons HW mentions, and because the house held memories - and within ten years her health and mobility had deteriorated to the point where the house was overwhelming and unsuitable even for adapting to someone of limited mobility. She's still there, now with live-in help and no independence or quality of life at all.
Trouble is, nobody wants to be the youngest, fittest person in the sheltered village when you can see what you have to look forward to. It must be the opposite of starting at school, when you look up in awe to the god-like beings who've already been there for a few years. So people hang on to what they have, beyond the point where it's any good to them, and where the only next step can be residential care - and, having visited a few homes lately, I can quite understand why anyone would resist the idea of moving into one.
So yes, it's complicated, and it's not just about money. And no one measure is likely to fix it. Doesn't mean we should leave things as they are, though.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 13:47
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>> The 'most stressful' thing is a myth, by the way, but it's widely believed.
>>
Can only speak for my own family, my moves, parents moves and kids "moves" (first purchases)
The stress thing is not a myth. Some people cope better with it than others but it is stressful.
In my mother's case, she moved at 72 years old, just over two years after my father died into a Mccarthy & Stone development (your own flat, designed for the elderly caretaker on site, emergency cords in all rooms, minimum age for ownership 55) money was not an issue, the choice was hers. She still found the whole experience stressful and would have had serious stress problems without direct support from my sister and I and our families, not because of anything major but because of all the small details, the uncertainties of the process and not forgetting the disruption of her home during packing, moving, clearing etc.
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>>Mccarthy & Stone development (your own flat, designed for the elderly caretaker on site, >>emergency cords in all rooms,
M&S flats near me are £250K+, large annual service charge and terribly small for the money - I think I will stay put and occupy a small wooden box rather than buy the M&S rabbit hutch.
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>> M&S flats near me are £250K+, large annual service charge and terribly small for the
>> money - I think I will stay put and occupy a small wooden box rather
>> than buy the M&S rabbit hutch.
>>
This one was in Paisley, bought 2002 76000 sold 2011 86000 net, provided her with the ideal environment for her last 9 years, no regrets whatever.
The flat was compact but quite pleasant, not in any way a rabbit hutch
But she and my father had always lived in a flat and were used to that.
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Never buy a McCarthy & Stone retirement place new or off plan. You never sell the things for anything like they were bought for. Always get them second hand, they are a complete bargain.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 21:37
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>> Never buy a McCarthy & Stone retirement place new or off plan. You never sell
>> the things for anything like they were bought for. Always get them second hand, they
>> are a complete bargain.
>>
I would probably agree with that Z, I also think the older ones are often on the better sites, closer to local facilities, with a bit more space, both in the flats and in the communal areas and gardens.
I also think that for many people the whole living in a flat thing might be too much to adapt to, as I say my parents never lived in anything else so it wasn't an issue
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>> Never buy a McCarthy & Stone retirement place new or off plan. You never sell
>> the things for anything like they were bought for. Always get them second hand, they
>> are a complete bargain.
>>
All new builds have a premium, not just M&S.
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When my parents bought the house my mum still lives in, in about 1972, they made an offer which was verbally accepted. The next day the vendor rang to say they'd been offered more, but as he and my dad had "shaken hands like gentlemen" they turned it down and sold to us.
As my mum still tells that story, it clearly made an impression, so either that was unusual even then, or she's pointing out that "standards" have changed. It's a bit hard to tell.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 14:37
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>> When my parents bought the house my mum still lives in, in about 1972, they
>> made an offer which was verbally accepted. The next day the vendor rang to say
>> they'd been offered more, but as he and my dad had "shaken hands like gentlemen"
>> they turned it down and sold to us.
Similar for me when I bought my first property, a 2 bed flat in North Finchley.... 1986 or 1987 ish, properties were rising in value by roughly £1,000 per month, so I needed to get a move on.
Seller accepted my offer and whilst I was there on a second look, told me that was it, it would be mine. Agent told me I was lucky because a couple of higher offers came in, but the seller declined them....older lady with a disabled husband.
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>> When my parents bought the house my mum still lives in, in about 1972, they
>> made an offer which was verbally accepted. The next day the vendor rang to say
>> they'd been offered more, but as he and my dad had "shaken hands like gentlemen"
>> they turned it down and sold to us.
>>
>> As my mum still tells that story, it clearly made an impression, so either that
>> was unusual even then, or she's pointing out that "standards" have changed. It's a bit
>> hard to tell.
>>
>>
>>
The people we bought our current house from did accept a higher offer a couple of weeks after accepting ours. I think they thought we'd just increase our offer. But I wasn't going to, on principle. We liked the house a lot, but didn't actually have to move.
It was therefore most satisfying when I got a call from the estate agent some 8 weeks later saying the house was back on the market, and were we still interested... Fortunately the agent saw the ridiculousness of the situation and had suggested that they compromise slightly on price
ce - in % terms a fairly insignificant amount but enough for a very nice holiday. It was tempting to counter offer by a much larger amount, but why sink to their level? We've been here 6 years now...
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" The 'most stressful' thing is a myth, by the way, but it's widely believed. "
Yes - I've seen other BBC debunking articles where, by looking at something in a different way, you can sort-of debunk it.
Having gone through the stress of having an infant with a congenital sub-arachnoid cyst, I would certainly say that I have had some more stressful experiences than moving house. However, and I think the BBC report does admit it, there are difficulties in carrying out such a survey based on recollections. A house-move is stressful but, once it's over, you can more or less breathe a sigh of relief and let it all drift into the past; if however, the stressful event concerns, say a family event/crisis, then the pain of that event will fade much more slowly if ever.
I fear that when it comes to a later-in-life house-move, then the memories of earlier experiences can prove rather daunting.
I've a couple of friends, now around 75, who last year had the courage to downsize and move into a high-quality small place in town [with the echoes of the other friend's Age UK experience ringing in their ears]. They gave loads of stuff away on Free-cycle and are now as happy as Larry. They made the move while they were still fit and healthy, and can now walk into town for concerts etc.
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My ex ex is house manager at the M & S in Skipton ( Mallory Court). A lovely old converted mill, adjacent to the Leeds Liverpool canal, a Majestic wine, minutes from the centre of town & railway station. I have met several of the residents and seen inside their rooms. They are definitely not pokey, many have balconies, some residents have dogs and I could easily see myself living in such a place a few years down the line. The best feature is a fantastic roof top terrace with a 360 degree vista over the surrounding hills...perfect for chilling on a sun lounger with a drink on a summers day. For those residents with only a one bed apartment, their visitors can stay in a large well appointed guest suite for only £25 a night for the room.
Downsides are no garage or garden, but I'm pretty sure that the few which have come to market recently had increased in price and sold very quickly.
Another nice M & S development at Kirkby Lonsdale.
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The local rag ran a piece yesterday about house pprice increases over the Queen's lifetime. I imagine it's a bit simplistic, but here are the (marginally) interesting two paragraphs.
Experts at estate agents Jackson-Stops have worked out (house prices have) gone up by 47,000 per cent during the Queen's lifetime. When she was born in Mayfair in 1926, the average house in Britain cost just £619, while today that figure is just above £290,000. In comparison, a pint of milk cost the equivalent of 1.3p in 1926 and is only 42p today. If it had risen in line with property prices it would cost £612.57.
Tongue firmly in cheek, the property firm calculated that if prices rise at the current rate, the average cost of a home will be £1.3 million by the time Prince Charles has his 90th birthday in 2038, £11.3 million by the time the Duke of Cambridge reaches 90, in 2072 – and £86 million by the time Prince George becomes a nonagenarian.
If anyone cares about the rest of the article, mostly maundering on about how a car was fourpence and how many pies were thought necessary to cater for a football match, it's here.
www.cambridge-news.co.uk/House-prices-Cambridge-bedroom-semi-detached-cost/story-29089053-detail/story.html
Last edited by: Crankcase on Wed 13 Apr 16 at 11:27
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That milk calculation is out by a factor of 100 but I'm sure all the other numbers are just fine.
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Is there nothing the press can't shoe-horn the 'royals' in to these days? It's like flippin' North Korea. We can understand the numbers without the pretty (debatable) pictures.
(Yes, I have learnt my 5 times table now, WDB.)
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>> Is there nothing the press can't shoe-horn the 'royals' in to these days? It's like
>> flippin' North Korea. We can understand the numbers without the pretty (debatable) pictures.
>>
I doubt it is done just to annoy you Al :-)
I guess the same is true now as has long been the case, royal stories sell papers and royal pictures sell even more papers. I forget the numbers now but during Diana's time the Fleet Street view was that pictures of Diana made significant extra sales compared to normal daily numbers.
Totally accept your right to your view but you know you are in a minority. Anything that can be connected to the Queen's 90th birthday will be at the moment.
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"I are :-("
Join me this evening at Ram Meadow as we take on the league champions, and you will see what :-( really means!
;-)
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Have you forgotten that I follow Fulham? :-( is a near permanent condition.
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>> Have you forgotten that I follow Fulham? :-( is a near permanent condition.
could be worse, you could be a QPR fan.
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>> could be worse, you could be a QPR fan.
>>
That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.
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>> >>
>> I doubt it is done just to annoy you Al :-)
>>
It's been done for centuries. Until comparatively recently acts of parliament were dated according to the year of the reign, and wills and other legal documents did so too.
It's standard convention to refer to periods of history in terms of the monarch - the Tudors, the Stuarts, Jacobean furniture, Regency architecture, Victorian values, Edwardian oppulence, etc.
Other countries do it too - Wilhemine, Empire style, Gustavian for example.
There has been a slight tendency to reference a particularly notable Prime Minister - eg the Macmillan, Blairite, Baldwin era.
It's just human nature I think. And the new Elizabethan age does happen to coincide with a change of social outlook, welfare state, interventionist government, etc, so it makes a handy reference period within living or received memory.
You could reference changes to great leaders of the opposition if you preferred - Milliband, Foot, Howard, Corbyn :)
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That's all very well CP and I disagree with non of it, but I just find the example which started this sub-thread slightly egregious and smacks of propaganda. Keeping the good old royals in the frame, gawd bless 'em. Aren't they fun. Must be, they're on the front page of the Daily Telegrovel every day. That sort of caper. Bah. Brainless mush.
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>> they're
>> on the front page of the Daily Telegrovel every day.
Not all of them. The Daily Middletone caters for a particular specialised interest. There's a new pull out n'keep supplement all about their clothes, for gawd's sake. :)
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>> I doubt it is done just to annoy you Al :-)
I would love to think it is. Can you imagine how satisfying your day must be to sit at breakfast, with the flunkies around you, and think, "Now how can we upset Al today"
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>> Experts at estate agents Jackson-Stops have worked out (house prices have) gone up by 47,000 per cent during the Queen's lifetime.
I wonder how much the prices would have risen under a Republic?
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They would have gone up £50.
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Houses - the viewed and the viewers - CGNorwich
