You might notice a recurring theme on this site – I love looking at Grand Houses and this one is very grand! It looks like a castle! Howsham Hall, York, North Yorkshire, has seven bedrooms and is for sale at £5,000,000.
Built by Sir William Bamburgh in c.1610, whose coat of arms are above the main entrance, Howsham Hall is largely late Jacobean with early classical renaissance influences. The interior was subsequently remodelled in c.1775, thought to be attributed to John Carr, known for his work at Chatsworth, Harewood House and Castle Howard to name a few.
Month: February 2011
Price on application
Isn’t it annoying when you see a house you like but it’s not got a price listed. POA is one of the most annoying abreviations available on proeprty websites.
So how can you work out what price range it’s in?
Sometimes they don’t have the price on rightmove showing but you might see it using property bee.
Sometimes it might be shown on the agent’s own website but not on rightmove.
Sometimes you have to play detective and use the tools available to you to narrow it down.
Find the location – the postcode makes it easier. Search out, ever expanding the area until you find a property above it and below it. You will probably need to start restricting prices to narrow down the number of results though. It’ll take some tweaking until you discover the property POA between two prices that give you a good idea of price.
You could always contact the estate agent and ask – but like items in expensive shops, if you have to ask the price it might be too dear for you.
PrimeLocation Review
Using Prime Location to search for properties isn’t as much fun as using other sites.
The main page is crowded but with UK buy option at the top left it’s easy to see where to start your search. On the main page there are links to articles and information about property for sale, as well as sale prices.
The search screen gives you the option to type in a location by town, postcode or country. You can set the price ranges, property types and minimum number of bedrooms. Plus there’s a keyword section.
The search location bar will autofill or make suggestions when you start typing. This can be very helpful.
The keyword section can be used to include a word you want on the property description or avoid properties with a certain word in. So if you want a mews house, type mews in, and if you hate mews houses then type –mews.
The area radius is set at various levels from ¼, mile, up to 30 miles.
You can browse by map too.
The keyword function also allows you to add additional keywords, just separate them by a comma. So you could type “pool, tennis, garage”, If you wanted to search for a house with a pool, tennis court and garage.
You can opt to exclude the under offer properties and sort by price high to low (that’s the default) or low to high, as well as newest to oldest, and oldest to newest. That’s a useful way of seeing what’s come on to the market recently.
They show the properties on a map on the results page. This is useful to see where the properties are more clearly.
The property details are easy to get to. Just click on the short details. You’ll see all the photos in thumbnails and can just run the mouse over to see them all full size.
You see contact details for estate agent and can make contact via email, request information or a viewing. You can also add personal notes.
There are also the written details available on that page too. Being able to request a viewing via the form is easy!
Not all the same estate agents use Prime Location as other major property websites so it’s worth having a check on this one too. There’s also the options to have emails sent when there are new properties that match your criteria.
Overall the site seems more cluttered that rightmove, but works about the same – allowing you to find property in the area you’re interested in.
PrimeLocation.com is worth adding to your property website search list.
Two Pools!
This lovely house has two swimming pools! One indoors and one out!
It’s a lovely idea for those who like to swim outdoor as well as inside! And means you can swim all year round!
This house is at Lock, Partridge Green, Horsham, West Sussex and has 10 bedrooms and is for sale at £7,000,000.
There can’t be many houses that have two pools, can there?
If you know another house for sale that has two please let me know!
West Allington house
This one has just appeared on one of my searches and it’s beautiful! It’s the sort of house I’d be very happy living in!
West Allington, Bridport
• 5 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms
• 3 Reception Rooms, Kitchen With Aga, Utility
• 2 Bedroom Cottage. Double Garage; In All 1/2 Acre
Such a nice looking house. Lots of nice features like the wood panelling in the stairway and hall, the stone placque above the front door, the high ceilings and fireplaces. The aga is a lovely touch too!
It’s close to Bridport too.
A note from the particulars – Historical Note
The house was built for William Saunders Edwards. He was the principal of William Edwards & Son who specialised in sports nets. This company makes the nets for Wimbledon!
I love this sort of extra bit of information that estate agents sometimes include!
Interest rates stayed the same…
I thought the news was so dull about interest rates staying the same that I couldn’t muster the energy to blog about it now.
However I’ve read that a 10 year fixed rate mortgage offer has been withdrawn from the market, and rates are starting to rise on other mortgages available.
So it’s going to be harder and more expensive to get a mortgage, which will do what for house prices? I suspect it means they’ll have to drop further.
Are the days of easy mortgages gone forever?
Relocation, Relocation
Relocation, Relocation is another show I still enjoy watching.
Season 9 Episode 5 of 7 – Channel 4 8:00pm-9:00pm (1 hour ) Thu 10 Feb
Phil Spencer revisits a man who was looking for a London property to share with his girlfriend, as well as a home on the Kent coast for his parents, who were planning to move to England from South Africa. Two years on, the property expert finds out whether they actually managed to relocate to Britain.
I do like the update programs. I like watching the repeats over on More4 too.
Shiny Shiny New Builds
First time buyers often get sucked in by the marketing of new builds. There’s something appealling about the neutral, bland utterly decluttered show homes that really gets to some people and make them drool.
Any house can look shiny and new if it’s had a lick of paint. Seeing beyond the current “dressing” of the house is vital if you’re looking at older properties and new builds. How will a shiny half empty house feel when it’s got your clutter in it? Crowded? Smaller?
They often use emotive language too to suck you in. They’ll say things like “the plot for this new build is up for release this week” … making it sound exclusive and elusive … When really they’re got a 15 acres site they’re going to be packing them in on.
New builds are dear. You pay a premium to the developer. You should check out the sold prices of lots of houses in the area and compare. Sometimes buyer from an older new build development is the way to go – and you’ll have all the snagging issues sorted out rather than if you buy the new build you’ll have to sort them out.
Look out for show houses too. There are some companies who use smaller furniture in them to make them look bigger. Always take a tape measure and measure the size of the bed…It might be a double, but it might well be a smaller double than you have at home.
Read the brochure carefully too. Measurements might be subject to some variance, layouts can be altered. I would never recommend anyone buy a new build off plan (Before it’s built!). It strkes me as madness to pay top whack for a house you’ve never seen inside.
I’ve also seen some awful stories about people who have bought new builds off plan and then discovered structural changes have meant the open plan layout was ruined by a massive pillar in the middle of the room. Fighting to get compensation is hard work and the people who you want to see your house to next will see the pillar as a problem too!
Avoid new builds is my best advice. Don’t ever use the solicitor they recommend. Get one who works fully for you. If they don’t like it, then don’t buy one! Go and look round other properties.
If smooth flat walls are your thing, then get the walls in an old house reskimmed. It’ll not cost anywhere near as much as it would cost to buy a new build!
Geograph – great photos
An amazing site packed with photos of the UK and Ireland is Geograph. It’s useful for getting an idea of the area and what’s there.
Visit Geograph now – type in a postcode, or place name.
What is the site? The Geograph Britain and Ireland project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of Great Britain and Ireland
You can even upload your own photos to the site to make it even better for other visitors!
Poxwell Manor
Poxwell Manor is at Poxwell, Dorchester, Dorset. It’s a really beautiful house.
A great deal of history is wrapped up in this amazing building. In the middle ages Poxwell (Derives from Puck’s well), or Pokeswell, was a possession of Cerne Abbey. Following the abbey’s dissolution it was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Thomas Howard of Lulworth and Bindon. He sold it to John Henning, a merchant from Poole, who built the house. His son became Sheriff of Dorset in 1609. The property belonged to the Hennings until 1695 when it passed by marriage to the Trenchards of Lytchett Matravers and Wolverton. It remained in the possession of the Trenchard family and their descendants until its sale in 1977. It is understood that King George III visited the house on a number of occasions. Thomas Hardy used the Manor as Oxwell Hall in – The Trumpet Major – .
* 9 bedrooms
* 6 reception rooms
* 7 bathrooms
* Heli pad, hangar
* About 10 acres