To (mis)quote a well known advertisement featuring one of Wales's most recognisable TV 'stars' - no, not me on this occasion - the advice given to all potential vendors and purchasers should be just that. When enlisting the services of an estate agent to either sell their property or as conduit for purchasing a house, it is not essential for someone to sign up to their in-house package deal of...
January 2013
During my time serving with Special Forces (or was it the Boy Scouts?) I learnt as every military man knows, the value of the 6 P's: Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. This is equally applicable to a night time assault in the Congo (or Aberbargoed for that matter), as it is to protecting and maintaining your property whether selling or renting. With the onset of winter - which...
Human nature dictates that we all have a tendency to believe what we want to hear. This is especially true when it comes to estate agents. A report published last week by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors states that the housing market is, " over the very worst". Does this mean their worst, the worst in the worst part of the country, or the worst ever, anywhere? When delving further into...
Jam or preserve? Margarine or butter? Proper roast potatoes or those rubbish ones that are pre-packed and you heat up? Champagne or Carva? Just like in life, in estate agency you can have quality or cheap. One does not equate with the other. I never fail to be amazed by estate agent colleagues of mine who, when following up valuations and find that a fellow agent has been instructed, utter the...
Those of us who follow the trials and tribulations of the residents of Weatherfield will know that last week one of them came perilously close to a starring role in her own funeral (which I am sure would have been held in true, gloriously over-the-top soap style) when she suffered carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty boiler. As a result of her amorous liaison with the hapless Tyrone, Fizz now lies in...
Figures were released this week showing that across the UK house prices fell 'on average' by 1% during 2012. As anyone who understands the rationale behind any 'figures released' appreciates, this means that in SW1 and other much sought-after parts of the country house prices went up by 20% whilst in Bedwellty they went down by 19%. All is not as it seems at first glance; but the doom-laden headline...
