Zoopla Heatmaps

Zoopla Heatmaps.
Zoopla have introduced a new way of looking at house values. They’ve invetned a heatmap of UK property values.
You can zoom right in and see all the different roads at different colours.
Heatmap

It’ll show you road by road when you’re zoomed in. Use this maybe in conjuction with Police maps side by side and you’ll get an idea which areas are nice! Of course there’s no substitute for actually going and having a look and sometimes the houses being dearer just means they’re bigger!
When you’ve about 4 clicks out from maximum you see the house prices on the map too.

heatmap prices

Big House – restoration home – Pembrokeshire

Big House in PembrokeshireRestoration Home visit Big House in Pembrokeshire.
You can watch this on BBC iplayer for another 6 days

Big House in Pembrokeshire.

The description says:
Once a building of grandeur and influence, Big House is now a carcass. But digging deep into the archives, the property’s historical and architectural roots, gives an insight into the wealth and power of an empire built on one of the country’s most precious commodities – coal. And it provides an intriguing tale about the dirty tricks of political corruption.

Why did this house fall into rack and ruin? Can it ever be returned to its former glory and who can tell what it looked like in its heyday?

Owner, Alun, has lived in this part of the world all his life and dreamed of owning Big House ever since he was a small boy. Almost 10 years ago, he bought it. He’s got a big job on his hands. Progress has been painfully slow but his aim it to turn Big House into a home.

You can find out more about this and the other restorations in the series by buying the book – Restoration Home: The Essential Guide to Tracing the History of Your House

Help my house is falling down

Series 2 – Episode 10 – Help! My House Is Falling Down

Sarah Beeny revisits Paul and Clare Baker, whose house in Essex was cracking apart and infested with rats.

Paul and Clare Baker bought their house in Essex as the perfect home for their four children, but peeling back the wallpaper revealed a terrifying crack all along the back of the property. It turned out their dream home was sitting on six metres of sludge and splitting in half.

Sarah and her team discovered that the problems literally ran very deep, and they also tackled a rat infestation, sewage seeping into the ground floor, and black mould that made the children ill.
A year on, Sarah revisits the family to see if they are finally free of their problems.

4onD link –

Wintershall

See this news item on the Daily Mail –
Wintershall, home for 40 years to Gary Brooker, writer of A Whiter Shade Of Pale, is on the market for £2million

Chiddingfold Road, Dunsfold, Surrey GU8 4PB

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-2023668/Our-2m-Procol-Haven-Whiter-Shade-Of-Pale-writer-sells-house-bought-27k-1971.html#ixzz1UWvSQLn6

Listed building

Can’t see it on rightmove at the moment but will keep my eyes open on the other house sellers sites too.

Wreck or Ready on BBC 1

Wreck or Ready.Wreck or Ready is a new property program on BBC1.

Property experts Jonnie Irwin and Jane Farnham hunt for run-down renovation projects and already-perfect homes to tempt buyers looking to relocate.
Episode 1/15. Jonnie and Jane help beekeeper Tony and his wife Pauline in Staffordshire.

It’s a battle between buying a wreck to do up (Jonnie finds these) or a ready to move in property (Jane finds these)

They’ve only viewed 8 houses and can’t decide whether to buy a project or a finished house.

It sounds like a good excuse to go and look at loads of properties to me!
They show 4 properties – 2 of each.
I’m not sure the last one of the “ready” was really as ready as it could have been.
BBC tv wreck or ready

They pick the “ready but not ready” one. It needs some major work and it’s the most expensive.
They don’t put an offer in on it though.

Perfect house in Drayton

Drayton, Langport, SomersetThis former rectory in Drayton is perfect. Swimming pool, tennis court, loads of space, beautiful house and gardens.
There’s only 1.7 million things stopping me from buying it.

It’s a listed Grade II and the former rectory for St Catherine’s Church, built in the early 19th Century.

It’s got a private driveway so is set back from the road. The village is quiet with a pub.
This one is really lovely. It is a very special house.
As well as the pool and tennis court it has a gym and a small property suitable for family or staff. From the roses around the door to the 6 bedrooms and lovely range of reception rooms – this would be a serious contender when I win the lottery!

Hammer Hill House

Hammer HIll HouseHammer HIll House is in Romsley, Bridgnorth, Shropshire.
It’s massive and was originally designed by Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC, known chiefly as creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales.

Grand hall & 5 reception rooms
6 en suite bedrooms
Two gatehouse cottages
Garage/office complex
About 28.2 acres

You’ll need bucket fulls of cash as its on for offers over £5,500,000.

Barratt and the shared equity sell off

Barratt depends on shared equity for around 25% of its sales.
This is interesting to know when you realise that they’re looking at selling off that part of their loan book.

Shared equity is a horrible idea! It’s propped up house prices for many years now and will continue to do so whilst it’s supported by these idiotic schemes.

It makes a mockery of trying to help someone by offering to let them buy a share of a property they can’t afford. Whilst some people might be able to staircase the whole thing is going to start hurting sooner or later.
On various forums there are horror stories about low valuations meaning people are struggling to sell their SE home.

Why would you buy 25% of something and volunteer to pay for repairs on the whole 100%? Even to the most simply person that should strike them as unfair. But swathes of people have been convinced that this is their only chance to get on the property ladder.

The worrying idea of bundling up of mortgage debts and playing financial pass the parcel with them is strongly reminiscant of the sub-prime bundle selling that happened in the recent past. Has no one learnt anything from the financial disaster still unfurling?

Debt is bad. Encouraging poor people to get into debt is bad. Selling that debt on to someone else is bad.

Let’s just be honest and say that house prices are overinflated and until they come down to sensible levels, some people shouldn’t buy a house.

The telegraph has a story about how first time buyers are at an all time low – one can only hope it’s because they have realised house prices are unafforable and that the shared equity schemes are a bad financial decision.