.... other than an inherent dislike of people who have it all; looks, flair, sartorial elegance, exquisite taste, Errol Flynn-like measurements... Anyway, enough about that lucky %^&£$) who we would all like to be. It is though an interesting question. Having popped across to advise the Cordoba football team on the benefits of a diamond formation and enjoying a post-training sangria, I met a...
2015
Whilst partaking this week in a brief sojourn in Spain, I found myself in the same hotel as the football team Cordoba FC. Having imparted my Harry Rednappesque pearls of wisdom, 'Don't tell the taxman anything ....' (That was a joke Harry, you can send your libel lawyer back to his golf club), I found myself comparing the realities of life with what our national newspapers were choosing to report. As...
It may be the middle of 'The Season' and the social butterflies are whizzing between the Summer Party at The Serpentine Gallery, watching the Ashes, attending the Hilton/Rothschild wedding (now that must be some pre-nup) and parking their well-clad posteriors in the Royal Box at Wimbledon (if one can squeeze past the omnipresent Middleton tribe), but for those of us who do not appear regularly in Hello,...
Firstly, why, having returned from my er, 'training camp' in Ibiza, my suits all seem to have shrunk... Whilst contemplating this conundrum-aided by a cup of tea and a piece of cake- I found myself facing a second puzzlement. Why are house prices continuing to reach stratospheric levels-if the media are to be believed-whilst the mortgage screw is being tightened? An article this week penned by Louise...
...estate agents are not interested in buyers, they are interested in vendors. Was that the water in the font that I heard bubbling? If an agent can get the instruction, then the buyers will come, no matter how uninspiring the performance. All the sales/tactics courses run by the large corporate organisations and training companies concentrate on sellers. Go on enough of these and agents become very...
In September 2014, it was made law that agencies letting properties in England, Scotland or Wales had to become a member of a redress scheme. As of 1 June 2015, agents had to show that they were a member of one of the approved schemes offered by a trade association or guild such as the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and display the appropriate symbol in their office window. Regular...
Knockers. The word is used in many forms generating much amusement dependent upon its context. Cue a very young Jim Dale examining a very undressed Barbara Windsor to much oohing, aahing and knowing winks from the gathered Carry On cast. We all love them. Oeuvres of the Carry On franchise that is...what did you think that I was talking about? The lexicon of the property world has gained a new...
This week seemingly got worse for Foxtons estate agents-or at least their positive publicity machine took a bit of battering. This followed the previous week's outraged reporting of how they had charged a landlord £616, "to change a light fitting", when the actual contractor had 'only' charged £412.50-a mark up of 49%. Personally I would be more outraged that a contractor could charge just short...
So decreed the ever chirpy Bob the Builder and his erstwhile sidekick, Muck The Dumper Truck. Suspending one's disbelief for a second-not at the thought of a vehicle that can talk, but at the frankly preposterous suggestion that builders are a equable bunch with a 'can-do' attitude...I wondered whether today, Bob would ever get out of the starting gate at a planning meeting for children's television. ...
A some what rhetorical question, but one that did rather flabber my gast this week. In recent weeks, I have commented on how I still find myself surprised/amused/bemused/entertained at being spun any number of porky pies as to why a home owner has chosen not to list their property with myself. Following up a valuation done earlier in the week, I was told that Cheshire and Co had received a definite 'nul...
