PropertyBee is really fantastic – if you’ve not already gone and installed it then do!
Shows price reductions, detail changes and other useful snippets.
Get it now! You know it makes sense! It’s free and very useful!
Author: Diane
Added in last 24 hours on Rightmove
This is a useful feature to use if you’re looking at a wide search area. It’ll show you the properties added (or with details changed) over the last 24 hours. You can also opt for last 3 days, last 7 days, last 14 days. The default setting is anytime.
It’s worth keeping an eye on an area using this option if you’ve excluded all current properties on the market. With the addition of property bee you’ll also see the propertys that have had their price lowered!
If you don’t have property bee installed you’ll not know for sure if the property has been price altered or is really new on the market, that is unless you’ve been keeping an eye on the area and have a very good memory!
Oversley Castle inWarwickshire
Oversley Castle, Wixford, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 – yes ok perhaps I do have a thing about castles!
A former period castle believed to date to the 16th Century
It’s certainly got a sense of style with the stags head on the wall in the snooker room. The bathroom is something else though, lots of tiles, a huge shower too. Fantastic long drive, grounds (65 acres), a lake, outbuildings and barns. Fantastic package if you’ve got £3,750,000 available.
A castle
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.
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.