Can't shift your property ? How about this for a novel idea, which I found in the Telegraph this morning
The latest offer from a property company in Huelva province in southwestern Spain promises a free divorce lawyer to couples who buy one of their three bedroom houses for 68,000 euros (£61,000).
The deal by Geimsa realtors hopes to capitalise on the number of married couples delaying divorce proceedings because they cannot afford to set up new homes in the current economic climate.
"A divorce is very expensive," said Vanesa Contioso of Geimsa. "So we are offering new clients the free use of our lawyers to handle the process."
Who said romance was dead ?
However their previous offer almost redeems their poor taste, as this initiative follows a 100,000 euro offer by the same company of a brand new apartment and all-expenses-paid wedding for partners thinking of tying the knot. This deal has already been taken up by dozens of couples.
It's certainly clever marketing of the apartments as this news was reported worldwide. How can they beat this ? Perhaps offering discounted funeral packages, should you buy an apartment and pop your clogs whilst living there......
Adios for now,
Jackson.
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Friday, 17 April 2009
Phil's lost his bounce.... Kirstie's on the up.
Poor old Phil Spencer. I only wrote about him a couple of postings ago, first his business goes belly-up, a victim of the housing collapse that price-inflating property shows like Location, Location, Location helped induce. Now his TV sidekick has gone solo.
I suppose that makes him the Andrew Ridgeley of the pair. But Kirstie Allsopp may find she needs Phil rather more than she imagined.
In Location³, she’s brusque, overbearing and matronly, but her Thatcher-like traits are largely softened by the emollient presence of Spencer.
In Kirstie’s Homemade Home (Channel 4), she’s served up neat, like a great gulp of undiluted squash. Yuk.
It was a hard show to take an opinion on. I liked the way it championed local artisans. I thought Kirstie's tour around her parents' pad was unwise; but that's Kirstie fatal flaw... she doesn't appear to have any idea how unusually privileged how own background is or how that alienates a certain sector of her viewers.
Interestingly, the result is a programme that appears to assume the hard part of renovating a house is choosing the cushion covers and crockery, rather than paying the workmen to make it structurally sound.
Make your own cushions, she suggests. Craft your pots. Fish furniture out of skips.
Above all, curb your spending. All sound advice, you may think, but a little hard to take from the daughter of the sixth Baron Hindlip, whose parental pile appears to feature a lake.
The show is built on the shaky foundations of a gimmick. Kirstie’s bought a near-derelict house in Devon at auction and plans to do it up week by week, starting with the kitchen.
So where to begin with a wreck of a room with no fixtures, no fittings and an urgent need of the attentions of a builder, plasterer and electrician?
Exactly. The crockery.
Kirstie paid a visit to a ceramics studio and learned how to make pots.
Then she went to a glassblower and made her own tumblers. Perhaps you could do all that, too, if you had a handsomely-paid TV job that left you with plenty of free afternoons.
Oddly, though, these were the bits that worked best of all – heartfelt tributes to the skills of Britain’s artisans that made you itch to have a go.
But Kirstie has an unfortunate knack for snapping you back to rude reality.
“You don’t have to go abroad to find great stuff,” she advised. That’s a relief, eh blog readers?
To prove it, she went skipping, which apparently means poking about in builders’ bins. Recycle, recycle, recycle, that’s her new mantra. She found a mirror she seemed chuffed with. “Skipping is the ultimate in environmental friendliness,” she beamed.`
On that thoughtful note, she changed gear in her 4x4 Land Rover, and headed back to Chelsea.
Patronising though she is - I still like her though.....;-)
Take it easy & don't get injured hunting around in skips
Jackson.
I suppose that makes him the Andrew Ridgeley of the pair. But Kirstie Allsopp may find she needs Phil rather more than she imagined.
In Location³, she’s brusque, overbearing and matronly, but her Thatcher-like traits are largely softened by the emollient presence of Spencer.
In Kirstie’s Homemade Home (Channel 4), she’s served up neat, like a great gulp of undiluted squash. Yuk.
It was a hard show to take an opinion on. I liked the way it championed local artisans. I thought Kirstie's tour around her parents' pad was unwise; but that's Kirstie fatal flaw... she doesn't appear to have any idea how unusually privileged how own background is or how that alienates a certain sector of her viewers.
Interestingly, the result is a programme that appears to assume the hard part of renovating a house is choosing the cushion covers and crockery, rather than paying the workmen to make it structurally sound.
Make your own cushions, she suggests. Craft your pots. Fish furniture out of skips.
Above all, curb your spending. All sound advice, you may think, but a little hard to take from the daughter of the sixth Baron Hindlip, whose parental pile appears to feature a lake.
The show is built on the shaky foundations of a gimmick. Kirstie’s bought a near-derelict house in Devon at auction and plans to do it up week by week, starting with the kitchen.
So where to begin with a wreck of a room with no fixtures, no fittings and an urgent need of the attentions of a builder, plasterer and electrician?
Exactly. The crockery.
Kirstie paid a visit to a ceramics studio and learned how to make pots.
Then she went to a glassblower and made her own tumblers. Perhaps you could do all that, too, if you had a handsomely-paid TV job that left you with plenty of free afternoons.
Oddly, though, these were the bits that worked best of all – heartfelt tributes to the skills of Britain’s artisans that made you itch to have a go.
But Kirstie has an unfortunate knack for snapping you back to rude reality.
“You don’t have to go abroad to find great stuff,” she advised. That’s a relief, eh blog readers?
To prove it, she went skipping, which apparently means poking about in builders’ bins. Recycle, recycle, recycle, that’s her new mantra. She found a mirror she seemed chuffed with. “Skipping is the ultimate in environmental friendliness,” she beamed.`
On that thoughtful note, she changed gear in her 4x4 Land Rover, and headed back to Chelsea.
Patronising though she is - I still like her though.....;-)
Take it easy & don't get injured hunting around in skips
Jackson.
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Free Fire Engine....
It's long been said that the time and care taken over viewings is diminishing, but how about this? Ray and Christine Buckler look around a house in Somerset, decide they want it... and only later discover a fire engine in the garden.
The truck, nicknamed "Dennis", measures 10ft (3m) tall, 23ft (7m) long and weighs 11.5 tonnes. It belonged to the previous owner of the house who is a fire engine enthusiast.
The full story can be found here on the BBC website . How could they miss that ?
I'm off into my own overgrown garden now - who knows, perhaps I'll find one too.
Short and sweet until next time.
JJ.
The truck, nicknamed "Dennis", measures 10ft (3m) tall, 23ft (7m) long and weighs 11.5 tonnes. It belonged to the previous owner of the house who is a fire engine enthusiast.
The full story can be found here on the BBC website . How could they miss that ?
I'm off into my own overgrown garden now - who knows, perhaps I'll find one too.
Short and sweet until next time.
JJ.
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Phil's Bouncy Prediction....
Down South this week, I was fortunate enogh to meet with Phil Spencer (I knew him before he was famous) at the Kent Design Awards. The popular presenter of TV's Location, Location, Location, predicted that the housing market is set for an "almighty bounce".
Phil admitted to me over a pot of tea and a jammy dodger (take note Pater) that the present situation was not very encouraging but it was just a question of time before the market returned.
He said the number of housing transactions had fallen by 60 per cent, but in normal times around a million people moved every year.
Phil said it was quite possible that two million people would want to move when confidence came back, especially if interest rates stayed at their present low level. "Things are going to get very busy," he said.
With housebuilders mothballing developments, he was worried that there would not be enough properties to satisfy demand.
"The longer the downturn lasts, the greater the shortage of housing is going to become. It adds weight to my belief that at the end of all of this, there is going to be an almighty bounce in terms of activity and pricing levels."
Well lets hope he's right and things get back on track quickly. Prepare to move fast if he's right...
Although I like Phil, I'd have much preferred to get Kirsty's views on this ;-)
Yours until next time.
Jackson Jr.
Phil admitted to me over a pot of tea and a jammy dodger (take note Pater) that the present situation was not very encouraging but it was just a question of time before the market returned.
He said the number of housing transactions had fallen by 60 per cent, but in normal times around a million people moved every year.
Phil said it was quite possible that two million people would want to move when confidence came back, especially if interest rates stayed at their present low level. "Things are going to get very busy," he said.
With housebuilders mothballing developments, he was worried that there would not be enough properties to satisfy demand.
"The longer the downturn lasts, the greater the shortage of housing is going to become. It adds weight to my belief that at the end of all of this, there is going to be an almighty bounce in terms of activity and pricing levels."
Well lets hope he's right and things get back on track quickly. Prepare to move fast if he's right...
Although I like Phil, I'd have much preferred to get Kirsty's views on this ;-)
Yours until next time.
Jackson Jr.
Monday, 13 April 2009
The Squatters Are Back - In Style...
I know it's a bank holiday, but I just can't stay away ! Especially after reading this report in the Telegraph.
A group of squatters has moved into a mansion worth £4.5 million in Hampstead, north London. Thankfully we don't have squatters rights here !
They have been living for free in the nine-bedroom house, since apparently finding it empty and boarded up about a month ago.
After "fixing up" the mansion, which has a half-acre garden, the group padlocked the gates and displayed a sign warning that they would "prosecute" any unwanted visitors.
The property sits round the corner from a street known as Millionaire's Row, which has been home to members of the Saudi royal family, the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and the publisher Richard Desmond.
One of the squatters, who gave his name as Phil, 37, said: "I have squatted in some very nice houses but this is probably the most expensive.
"What is a £4.5 million house doing empty for three years? If you have got empty houses like this then give people like us somewhere to live."
Solicitors from the company which owns the house will attempt at a County Court hearing later this month to have the squatters removed. They have taped a warning notice to the house's front gate.
However, the squatters have fixed their own message in a front window. It reads: "Any attempt to enter in to this property without our permission is a criminal offence. If you attempt to enter by violence or by threatening violence we will prosecute you."
Earlier this year two groups of squatters were evicted from multi-million pound mansions in London after being ordered out by the courts.
A group of young artists had been living in a £22.5 million, Grade II*-listed property in Mayfair, since before Christmas.
A second group had been living in two adjoining blocks, worth £11 million in total, which overlook Hyde Park.
Seems the recession isn't affecting them at all.....
Until next time.
Jackson Jr.
A group of squatters has moved into a mansion worth £4.5 million in Hampstead, north London. Thankfully we don't have squatters rights here !
They have been living for free in the nine-bedroom house, since apparently finding it empty and boarded up about a month ago.
After "fixing up" the mansion, which has a half-acre garden, the group padlocked the gates and displayed a sign warning that they would "prosecute" any unwanted visitors.
The property sits round the corner from a street known as Millionaire's Row, which has been home to members of the Saudi royal family, the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and the publisher Richard Desmond.
One of the squatters, who gave his name as Phil, 37, said: "I have squatted in some very nice houses but this is probably the most expensive.
"What is a £4.5 million house doing empty for three years? If you have got empty houses like this then give people like us somewhere to live."
Solicitors from the company which owns the house will attempt at a County Court hearing later this month to have the squatters removed. They have taped a warning notice to the house's front gate.
However, the squatters have fixed their own message in a front window. It reads: "Any attempt to enter in to this property without our permission is a criminal offence. If you attempt to enter by violence or by threatening violence we will prosecute you."
Earlier this year two groups of squatters were evicted from multi-million pound mansions in London after being ordered out by the courts.
A group of young artists had been living in a £22.5 million, Grade II*-listed property in Mayfair, since before Christmas.
A second group had been living in two adjoining blocks, worth £11 million in total, which overlook Hyde Park.
Seems the recession isn't affecting them at all.....
Until next time.
Jackson Jr.
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Back Home....
You'll all be pleased to hear Mr Jackson Snr is now back home, well I say back home, he's living with us presently in Lossiemouth. He passes on his regards to all his blog readers and thanks them for his cards and their best wishes.
He seems to be on the mend - but it will take a while yet. Whilst I'm on the subjuect of living with your parents, the number of rent-free adults has more than tripled in a year to just under 2m !
That's 18 to 34-year-olds living rent-free with parents, other relatives, friends. This time last year, the figure was around half a million. Now - according to research by Abbey Mortgages - it's 1.6m. And there's a further 300,000 aged 35 to 54. It reminds me of Timothy Lumsden in the sit-com 'Sorry'. Come on kids, get your own place !
I've called in to see Dave & Paul's new property centre in Lossie this week - Wow ! Have you seen their wallpaper ! This is just what Lossiemouth needs to bring it up to date, a modern trendy and professional property centre. Coupled with the new Harbour Tea Rooms - And Virgin's Spaceport We're headed in the right direction !
They were just putting up their ARLA certificates when I popped in - Well done guys - It's not an easy qualification to get ! Already with plenty of properties available to let and buy, may I wish you luck - though I'm sure you won't need it.
I forgot to mention tea and cakes in this post, so here goes, blueberry muffin and an expresso..... That will keep Dad happy.
Until the next time, all the best.
Jackson Jnr.
He seems to be on the mend - but it will take a while yet. Whilst I'm on the subjuect of living with your parents, the number of rent-free adults has more than tripled in a year to just under 2m !
That's 18 to 34-year-olds living rent-free with parents, other relatives, friends. This time last year, the figure was around half a million. Now - according to research by Abbey Mortgages - it's 1.6m. And there's a further 300,000 aged 35 to 54. It reminds me of Timothy Lumsden in the sit-com 'Sorry'. Come on kids, get your own place !
I've called in to see Dave & Paul's new property centre in Lossie this week - Wow ! Have you seen their wallpaper ! This is just what Lossiemouth needs to bring it up to date, a modern trendy and professional property centre. Coupled with the new Harbour Tea Rooms - And Virgin's Spaceport We're headed in the right direction !
They were just putting up their ARLA certificates when I popped in - Well done guys - It's not an easy qualification to get ! Already with plenty of properties available to let and buy, may I wish you luck - though I'm sure you won't need it.
I forgot to mention tea and cakes in this post, so here goes, blueberry muffin and an expresso..... That will keep Dad happy.
Until the next time, all the best.
Jackson Jnr.
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