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However I’ve read that a 10 year fixed rate mortgage offer has been withdrawn from the market, and rates are starting to rise on other mortgages available.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
The castle style house – Auchtermuchty
If you like castles then you’ll love this house in Auchtermuchty, Cupar, Fife. It’s £3,500,000 but has 10 bedrooms.
It’s a lovely looking house that’s part castle, part mansion.
A very historic home – The castle date from around 1530 and formed part of the lands of the Earl of Fife. The castle has had many illustrious owners but in 1887 Myres Castle was sold to James Fairlie who had been Private Chamberlain at the Vatican to three Popes
It’s got a tennis court and plenty of outside space making it fit for a princess!
Secret Shopper – Estate Agents
Tonight on Channel 4 at 9pm there’s an episode of Mary Portas’s secret shopper. This week it’s focusing on estate agents so it’ll be fascinating for anyone with any interest in the UK’s housing market.
A must watch program!
“Mary is granted access to the sales team of a north London agency where she tries to improve relations with customers, but soon she is clashing with the boss, who seems to have a very different opinion on what good service is”
You can watch the previous episodes of Secret Shopper here on 4onD – they’ll put this episode up sometime after it’s shown.
Update:
Well I watched this and was intrigued to hear some of the comments. I still don’t know what prestigious turning means. Do estate agents work for the seller or the buyer? They work for the seller but they can only do that by finding a buyer. No mention of pricing was included in this program at all which I thought was interesting.
It did seem to focus on the need for good details and information.
I tried to add up how many times I’d been shown round a property by an estate agent compared to a seller. It’s about even – and once I was shown round by a relative of the seller as they were abroad. I found the estate agents often don’t know the information about the property, or can’t answer every question you might have. However in the case of some properties I’ve viewed it’s been because it’s a probate or repossession property so they just won’t know.
The idea of adding the positives and the negatives to the property detail is one I approve of. One property I viewed once had a major damp problem and needed a damp proof course. The owner new this and wanted the estate agent to tell viewers before they arrived. They weren’t though, and viewer after viewer pitched up and found the most amazing mess of a damp problem on display. A little honesty – requested by the seller – had been ignored. Why? I don’t know – those serious about buying a property that needed work wouldn’t be that put off, and the ones that would be put off would just be having a wasted trip anyway.
I agree with Mary that honesty and openness is needed – but how many sellers would want to advertise the fact their house lacked a feature, or even be upfront about having been burgled.
Worth a watch if only for some of the silly estate agent speak they use, and the amazing hair of “gel-boy”.
For sale and to rent…
One thing you should probably check when you’re looking at houses to buy, is the rental market in the same area. You don’t want to be buying a house that’s just been let to tenants as it’ll massively delay the process.
With property bee installed you can see whether the property has also recently been let too!
Not sure what property bee is? It’s an addon for firefox that keeps track of the properties you browse on various property websites.