House buying, selling, viewing and the housing market.
It seems more and more people have daleks at home
This house has one in the garden
1 bedroom detached house for sale at Wheatleys Eyot, The Creek, Lower Sunbury
It also has a spiderman on the roof!
Another dalek here – this one inside though
6 bedroom country house for sale0 at East Farleigh, Maidstone, ME15
Amazing statistics on how many London properties are sold to people from abroad! It’s more than New York, Paris and Frankfurt according to this report
Non-U.K. Owners Hold Most of London’s City
I am suprised no politician has declared a tax on non-uk property ownership!
If you love a bargain then you should visit this page at amazon as it’s where they keep their DIY & Tools Special Offers
DIY special offers
They have offers across their entire DIY and tool range and the offers vary all the time. This section is perfect if you are planning any DIY to improve your home and you’ll find a massive choice of power tool brands. It’s a great place to shop as not only do you have a great choice of products but also great prices and delivery offers. With tons of useful DIY tools you’ll find it a wonderful place to look for drills as gift ideas for the DIYer in your life.
Look out for their Lightning Deals in DIY & Tools too as these are very short term offers that you have to take advantage of on the spot!
Bathrooms & Plumbing – make the smallest room in the house the nicest!
Building Materials for all sorts of DIY jobs
Doors & Windows – handles and hinges – door furniture
Electrical switches and sockets
Fire Alarms & Home Security to help keep your family safe
Flooring to bring new life to your house – new flooring can transform a room and they sell underfloor heating to make life warmer!
Garden Tools & Equipment to allow you to have a well kept garden
Hardware is fixings to hold things together so all the screws and bolts you could ever want
Power & Hand Tools – the fun bit of DIY is the power tool section!
Workwear & Safety – to ensure you stay safe!
Don’t forget to keep your family safe they have nearly 8000 items in their Fire Alarms & Home Security
It’s something I recommend you should add to your check list when you move house – as well as changing the locks, you should install smoke and CO detectors and that way you start your new life safely in your new home.
Did you know you can buy Crown paint at amazon? I didn’t until just now! And there’s 20% off their range of matt and silk emulsions from Crown as an introductory offer!
You can browse the paint range here Crown Paint
Cost? 2.5L of Emulsion is £13.59
Crown has been making paint for many years. All their Crown Matt and Silk Emulsions are Breatheasy 99% solvent free–virutally odour free, allowing you to paint your rooms and start using them sooner!
To help you get the most from decorating with Crown paint they’ve made some videos too. These are useful if you haven’t painted before or just want to improve your skills to get a really fantastic finish.
Crown Paints: Top Tips
Choosing the Right Paint for the Job
Introduction to Preparation
Painting a Radiator
Using Stainblock Primer to Cover Tough Marks
Using MDF Primer on a Radiator Cover
Using Metal Primer Undercoat
Refreshing a Sideboard
Painting a Door
Painting Kitchen Cupboards
Why use paint?
Paint is cheap and effective at changing how your room looks.
It’s easy to paint! You just need brushes, a roller makes it quicker, and a ladder so you can reach the top of the walls.
It’s sensible to start doing round the edges with a brush and then fill in the colour. Read the instructions on the paint tin before opening it. Some paints need stiring and some don’t!
Amazon also sell Disposable Shoe Covers which can help you from walking paint on carpet in other rooms! They also have a massive range of brushes and rollers to make the job of painting easier.
Don’t forget if you’re in rented accomodation to get permission in writing from your landlord before repainting!
The latest announcements from the Housing Minister Mr Shapps is to help house builders.
FTB will be able to buy new builds with a 5% deposit, meaning they can buy a house with just £10,000.
As with every scheme that deals with only new builds then this only helps builders. It won’t help anyone in a chain that needs a FTB coming in at the bottom.
There have been mutterings about building affordable homes but until they are actually built and I see the costs then I will assume they will actually be unaffordable!
So don’t believe the rhetoric – it’s helping builders not buyers
About 25 minutes in on Newsnight – housing minister
Affordable homes shortage: Government to reveal plans
The initiative, for England only, will begin in July and aims to build 16,000 new homes and create up to 32,000 jobs.
It is hoped that about 450,000 mainly affordable homes will be built by 2015, many of them on publicly-owned brownfield sites.
If this ends up building genuinely affordable housing (ie: people can afford to buy 100% of it with no borrowing deposits off family members etc) then it’ll be a good thing.
If it ends up building more unaffordable housing then it will almost be a waste.
There’s a great article in the Telegraph: Falling house prices, not rising Government intervention, are first time buyers’ best hope
This Gas Detector is an amazing gadget. It detects gas! Sounds simple – and it is! It’ll alert you to any escaping gas from unlit rings on your gas cooker! The detector is easy to install and has the advantage of being powered by 230V mains electric rather than bring battery operated.
Who is it suitable for? Anyone who worries they’ve left a gas ring on! If you’ve got a gas cooker then one of these seems an obvious gadget to get too! It’s only cheap under a tenner so not expensive. It could help with anyone who worries about leaving the gas on!
The Gas Detector
is available at Amazon for fast delivery. Could make a great gadget gift to anyone who is moving into their own home. Not to be confused with a carbon monoxide detector
The big green week Bristol will host an eight-day festival promoting green
issues in June 2012.
Guest speakers set to appear include TV’s Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud!
If your house is for sale you need an energy performance certificate.
If your house isn’t for sale you can get a free assessment here at the Energy Saving Trust Free Home Energy Check page
It’ll ask you questions about your house and it’s heating system and then by email (or post) send you a cope of the report. It says my house is a C but could be a band B if I installed solar panels!
I’n not sure why I’m suprised to say it either, but we’ve had no snow yet! After initial fears of a very early snowy winter, it hasn’t yet materialised! The weather has been really mild! I have noticed supermarkets selling tiny bags of grit though!
If you want to be prepared then buy a big bag and don’t be afraid to use it on your paths. A Bulldog Snow Shovel
should probably be in your shed too for when the snow does come!
So how can snow help you house hunt or sell your house?
If you’re selling then a few inches of snow can be helpful hiding the neighbour’s garden if it’s a mess, or disguising how much your lawn needs cutting.
It can also make your house look really pretty and pictureque. A snowy picture can date when your house was first on the market but if you can persuade the estate agent to use a lovely shot and label it such that people will see it’s from previous years then it might help clinch a sale! Some houses look beautiful in the snow!
If you’re buying you can use snow to show you how much insulation is in the loft! If the snow stays on the roof but the house is warm inside then it has plenty of insulation! Same goes for frosty days – a row of houses all facing the same way allows you to see which has got roof insulation and which hasn’t.
Bear in mind that snow can make gardens look much tidier than others – so if it is snowy perhaps wait until the snow has cleared before making an offer and have a second viewing.
I’ve read that some people like to see what an area is like in Autumn when the leaves have fallen. This can reveal buildings that will be hidden in summer when the leaves are all green, but bare trees reveal all!
So if you’re selling your house in winter what can you do to make it sell?
If you have a real fire then get it lit! There is something magical about logs burning that is wonderful and will set the scene beautifully. Get the chimney swept though so there’s no problems with it!
Light the rooms well. Winter is alway darker and more gloomy so use side lights to bring a room to life, rather than just central ceiling lights. The right sort of lamps can make a room feel warm and very welcoming.
Get the heating on so the house is cosy.
The old tricks of the trade like brewing coffee can be adapated perhaps. Warming up mince pies in the oven will create a fantastic smell. Don’t burn them though!
Ensuring things like wellington boots, wet coats and cold weather gear is all store away out of sight is important. If there’s no room for it to be hidden then it’ll make thouse feel smaller and more cluttered.
There’s a whole lot of thoughts on whether you should put Christmas decorations up when you’re trying to sell your house. I think the perfect thing would be to have something in style with your house, small and tasteful but showing your house is big enough for a nice tree. Don’t go overboard on the outdoor decorations as they can really put people off. If your neighbours go OTT then perhaps you’d be best not having viewings whilst they’re up. Maybe you are though – you never know if someone would like them or not!
A stylish wreath on the door isn’t going to put anyone off though and if you’ve got kids then you’d be mean to deprive them of a tree and decoations!
